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biomedicine that featured Peter Agre, Aaron Ciechanover, Martin Evans, and Ferid Murad. The panel discussed the promise of stem cells and personalized medicine, but felt that it would be decades before much of this promise will really come to the fore. But that doesn't mean that big gains in health aren't possible in the short-term—it's just that they don't involve progress in the field of medicine.
Aaron Ciechanover, who won the Nobel in chemistry, was very excited about the prospects of personalized medicine, which will require appropriate genetic profiles, including a genome sequence and an understanding of epigenetic modifications. Both of these are available to researchers and a few individuals now, but this sort of information won't be mainstream for a while yet. Ciechanover suggested we'd also need to profile things like the expression of small RNAs and chemical modifications of proteins; neither of these are anywhere close to being able to be performed for large populations.
If we ever get there, however, Ciechanover's expectation is that it will place a heavier emphasis on preventative medicine, as people will have some sense of what diseases they're susceptible to, and can adjust diet and activity accordingly. It will also allow therapies to be targeted specifically to diseases; instead of giving someone a therapy and waiting to see if they respond, we should be able to pick the appropriate one based on genetic information. Of course, that may require additional genetic profiling of the disease state.
Ciechanover also pointed out that it had non-medical implications: maintaining privacy of the information, and the potential for conflicts between commercial interests in genetic information and the individuals that should, in theory, "own" their own genomes. He also said that cost could be a barrier to its widespread application, a point that was echoed by a Pakistani doctor in the audience—we may end up needing to decide whether only the wealthiest nations or individuals will have access to the full suite of our medical technology.
The issue of cost is already plaguing wealthy nations, though, as Ferid Murad reminded the audience. (Murad got the Prize for elaborating the signaling role of nitric oxide, which regulates blood flow; this has implications for heart disease and has been targeted by drugs like Viagra). Murad blamed a couple of issues that may be US-specific: a tendency to sue over everything and an over-reliance on emergency medicine for basic health services. The fear of lawsuits isn't just felt in terms of malpractice insurance; Murad suggested that doctors perform lots of unnecessary tests to limit their risk of lawsuit. Personalized medicine, Murad thought, might help control some of this by letting us more rationally target treatments, but it won't be able to overcome these more general issues.
Nearly the entire panel had some thoughts about how we tend to spend huge quantities of money on end-of-life care, often after a patient has no chance of recovery, although nobody had a good idea about how to constrain these costs. They were also concerns raised about the high price of some recent drugs, like those based on antibodies that bind to the proteins that drive certain diseases.
Martin Evans suggested stem cell therapies also showed enormous promise. We spoke to him about the prospects for these therapies, and we'll have his detailed thoughts in another story.
Hope for the near term
Both future prospects—stem cells and personalized medicine—also may end up exacerbating the problem of medical costs. And, even though everyone was optimistic, panelist Peter Agre cautioned that the sort of progress the panel expected doesn't always come to pass in the way we expect. Depressing enough?
Fortunately, the panel did offer hope for some shorter-term improvements. The surprise was that none of them involved medical advances; most involved policy or education.
Murad suggested the solutions for the problems he identified involved policy changes, including a cap on the amount of money that can be paid in malpractice suits; Ciechanover suggested the same might apply to drugs, as he considered Vioxx a "fantastic" drug that was taken off the market primarily due to the threat of lawsuits, even though relatively few people were at risk of fatal complications. Murad also called for greater education, some of it devoted to physicians, who he suggested could use a refresher on what tests are actually medically necessary.
Peter Agre (an MD himself) quickly pointed out that patients are a problem too. He and Murad concluded that patients need to have a better understanding of how to use the care that's available to them cost effectively, and to use the drugs that are prescribed to them well. Taking drugs improperly can not only harm the patients themselves but, in the case of antibiotics, has helped produce drug resistance that place all of society at risk.
The education shouldn't stop at drugs, however. Agre also noted that many of the biggest public health problems are a result of lifestyle choices. Cigarette smoking is a major cause of preventable illnesses, but it's far from the only one—Agre mentioned melanoma and colon cancer as being similar in nature. Public awareness and education, in the form of the surgeon general's statement on the risks of cigarette smoking and cancer and the recently updated FDA warnings on packaging can have a significant impact here, he argued. But their impact is much greater if they're packaged with actual enforcement efforts; Agre praised New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's efforts, which included education, resources for quitting, indoor smoking bans, and an increase in the tax on cigarette packages.
The panel in general felt that good governance and the infrastructure it enables are an essential part of healthcare. Murad contrasted the occurrence of post-earthquake experience in Haiti and Japan (only one has suffered severe epidemics) to note just how significant the role of effective governance could be in the case of natural disasters, but suggested that the role extended beyond crises, as things like basic sanitation and clean water can help improve health under all circumstances. And Agre suggested there might be places for more efforts like the one spearheaded by Bloomberg; as more nations are increasing their standards of living, the health problems that the industrialized world is now facing, like obesity and smoking, are striking them, as well.Senate Democrats said Saturday that they had closed ranks in support of legislation to overhaul the nation's health-care system, ending months of internal division and clearing a path for quick Senate passage of President Obama's top domestic policy priority.
Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) secured the pivotal 60th vote after acceding to the demands of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) for tighter restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions, along with increased federal aid for his home state and breaks for favored health-care interests.
"Change is never easy, but change is what's necessary in America," Nelson said at a morning news conference, announcing his support as a snowstorm raged outside.
Speaking at the White House, Obama said it appears that a vote is certain on a bill that would provide coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. "After a nearly century-long struggle, we are on the cusp of making health-care reform a reality," said Obama, who had dispatched senior administration officials to help lock down Nelson's support.
Republicans excoriated the bill as a threat to Medicare -- cuts to the program for the elderly would offset much of the cost -- and to the employer-based insurance system, which provides health coverage to most Americans.
"This bill is a monstrosity," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "This is not renaming the post office. Make no mistake -- this bill will reshape our nation and our lives."
GOP leaders, who have vowed to use every available tactic to keep the measure from advancing, invoked a rarely used Senate rule to require that the entire 383-page package of amendments introduced by Reid Saturday morning be read aloud on the floor, a process that consumed about seven hours.
But Republicans were running out of options in their quest to derail the overhaul. Securing Nelson's support allows Reid to maneuver the legislation through a complex parliamentary minefield without obstruction. A bloc of 60 votes is the exact number required to choke off the filibuster, the Senate minority's primary source of power, and the GOP's best hope of defeating the bill.
Unless the GOP yields and the vote comes sooner, the bill is expected to pass in a final Senate vote at 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Negotiations to merge the bill with the House version would begin early next month.
Many liberals, however, were bitterly disappointed with the bargains Reid struck to win support from moderates in his caucus, any member of which could demand alterations in exchange for his or her support.
Democratic leaders dropped a government insurance option and the idea of expanding Medicare to younger Americans. Reid also omitted language that would have eliminated the federal antitrust exemption for health insurers -- another nonstarter for Nelson.
Savings forecast
Congressional budget analysts reported Saturday that the revised package would not worsen the nation's fiscal situation, as GOP critics have warned. The analysts said the updated Senate bill would spend $871 billion over the next decade to extend coverage to the uninsured by dramatically expanding Medicaid and by offering federal subsidies to those who lack affordable coverage through employers.Third Coast Hotel Rendering.jpg
Third Coast Development announced the new 142-room hotel in the Mid Towne Village will be operated as a Hampton Inn and Suites.
(Rendering courtesy of Third Coast Development)
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Construction on a new 142-room 5-story Hampton Inn & Suites hotel will begin this spring in the Mid Towne Village development near Michigan Street and College Avenue NE, its developers announced Monday, March 10. Third Coast Development announced the new hotel will be managed by
, a Mount Pleasant firm that owns and operates 15 hotels in central and western Michigan, including a 94-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites located behind the Green Ridge Square Shopping Center in Walker. "We believe the Hampton Inn & Suites property will become instantly beneficial to the growing Mid Towne portion of Michigan Street,” said Dave Levitt, a partner with Third Coast, which bought up houses in an aging residential neighborhood to create the village, which includes the Women’s Health Center, Park Row Condos and 545 Michigan Street, a mixed-use office and restaurant building, “Third Coast Development is very excited to offer this lodging option to the greater Grand Rapids region,” Levitt said in a news release. The hotel will be located on Dudley Street NE near the Women’s Health Center and will include a covered parking deck. Construction is expected to begin in April. “As a Michigan- based company we are excited to work with Third Coast Development on this landmark project for the city of Grand Rapids,” said Michael Smith, President of Lodgco Management. “This new Hampton Inn & Suites expands our footprint in the Grand Rapids market and brings a great product and good jobs to the Mid Towne area. It’s a great win for everybody.” The Hampton Inn & Suites will also offer guests a complimentary hot breakfast, free internet, a multi-level parking garage, indoor pool, fitness center and other amenities, the announcement said. The $27 million hotel project originally was proposed in 2008 and then shelved when credit dried up at the outset of the Great Recession. It was one of four pending hotel projects canceled in Grand Rapids that year. The project was revived last summer when it qualified for a $3 million low-interest loan from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Third Coast has been one of the city’s most active developers along the “Medical Mile” extending east along Michigan Street NE from Spectrum Health’s downtown campus, the Van Andel Institute and Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. Last year, Third Coast redeveloped a former lumberyard at Michigan Street and Houseman Avenue NE into medical offices, a retail meat market, a Snap Fitness facility and a row of second-story apartments. Third Coast also replaced an abandoned gas station at Michigan Street and Eastern Avenue NE last year with a combination car wash/dog wash. Mount Pleasant-based Lodgco Management opened its first hotel in 1996 and now owns and operate 15 hotels throughout Michigan. They are affiliated with Hilton, Marriott, InterContinental Hotel Group, and Wyndham franchises.
Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.Associated Press Virginia Tech's Brandon Facyson and CB Kendall Fuller combine to form college football's top DB tandem.
College Football 24/7's look at the game's top tandems concludes with a look at the 10 best defensive back duos entering the 2015 season, taking into account both college production and pro potential.
(As an added bonus, we'll also list the best duos in each league if that league is not represented in our top 10.)
10. Penn State: FS Marcus Allen and SS Jordan Lucas
Lucas is following in the footsteps of former Nittany Lions safety Adrian Amos, who was drafted in the fifth round by the Chicago Bears in May. Amos was a starting corner before moving to safety for his senior season, and Lucas (6-foot-0, 199 pounds) is making the same move and will replace Amos in the starting lineup. Lucas was a two-year starter at corner who had three picks and 23 pass breakups in that span; his coverage ability will be a big plus at safety. Allen (6-2, 206) was a part-time starter as a true freshman last season and looks to have an extremely high ceiling. His strong play last fall was somewhat surprising, considering he had missed all but three games of his senior season of high school in Maryland because of torn ligaments in his right ankle. He is strong in run support and also possesses good ball skills. His godfather is Pro Football Hall of Fame r Curtis Martin.
9. Minnesota: CB Briean Boddy-Calhoun and CB Eric Murray
Boddy-Calhoun (5-11, 188) and Murray (6-0, 196) are going into their second season as a starting tandem. Boddy-Calhoun is a former JC transfer who will be a two-year starter and Murray is going to be a three-year starter. They combined for six interceptions and 16 pass breakups last season, and both are solid in run support as well. Boddy-Calhoun also starred in basketball and track in high school in Delaware and plays bigger than his listed height.
8. LSU: S Jamal Adams and S Jalen Mills
Adams (6-0, 206) was an important part of LSU's secondary rotation as a true freshman last season; he saw extensive time, including two starts, and finished with 66 tackles. Adams -- who was a consensus national top-40 prospect in the 2014 recruiting class -- is a big hitter who will be expected to do more in coverage this fall. Mills (6-0, 194), like Adams a Texas native, will be a rare four-year starter for the Tigers; he started at cornerback in his first two seasons before moving to safety last fall. His versatility and coverage skills are a big selling point. Mills, who toyed with the idea of turning pro after last season has had legal issues, and must prove to NFL scouts that he can stay on the straight and narrow.
7. Ole Miss: S Tony Conner and SS Trae Elston
This is the biggest-hitting defensive back duo in the nation. Conner (6-0, 215), a junior, spends a lot of time as an in-the-box safety in Mississippi's 4-2-5 defense and is a big-time presence against the run. Conner, who has been a starter since he set foot on campus, needs to show more in coverage this season; he has 14 tackles for loss and eight pass breakups in two seasons. Elston (5-11, 195), a senior, is going to be a four-year starter for the Rebels, and as with Conner, he lays the lumber but is lacking in coverage ability. He had his first career interception last season. Two of Elston's former teammates at Oxford (Ala.) High were drafted in May: Memphis CB Bobby McCain and LSU LB Kwon Alexander
6. Kansas State: CB Danzel McDaniel and SS Dante Barnett
As with numerous K-State players, McDaniel (6-1, 205) is a former junior college standout. He was a touted JC cornerback and stepped right into K-State's starting lineup last season. He is strong in run support, and while he lacks elite speed, he is a good athlete and has excellent instincts. Barnett (6-1, 186), a senior, is heading into his third season as a starter. He had three picks and 11 pass breakups to go along with 77 tackles last season. He is physical and can cover a lot of ground. Barnett will be one of three senior starters in the Wildcats' secondary. He was a teammate of Seattle Seahawks rookie WR Tyler Lockett in high school in Tulsa.
5. USC: CB Adoree Jackson and CB Kevon Seymour
Jackson (5-11, 185), who also plays wide receiver and is an excellent return man, was one of the best true freshmen in the nation last season. He has excellent speed and is a legit cover corner; despite his youth last season, he played with a discernible swagger, and he should be the best corner in the Pac-12 this season. Seymour (6-0, 185) will be a three-year starter. He has 19 pass breakups in the past two seasons and had a strong spring.
4. Ohio State: CB Eli Apple and S Vonn Bell
After redshirting as a true freshman in 2013, Apple (6-1, 200) started for the Buckeyes last season, finishing with three interceptions and 10 pass breakups; he also was solid in run support. While Apple lacks top-end speed, he is quick and instinctual and has good size. Bell (5-11, 205) played a lot as a true freshman reserve in 2013, then emerged as a key starter last season. He led the Buckeyes with six interceptions and was second in 92 tackles, numbers that show off his vast skill set. Bell, who was a national top-30 prospect out of high school in the Atlanta area, has a high football IQ and a knack for coming up with a big play at the right time.
3. Florida: CB Vernon Hargreaves III and S Keanu Neal
Hargreaves (5-11, 198), a junior, is heading into his third season as a starter and should be the nation's top corner this fall. He is a legit cover corner, with the necessary speed, athleticism and instincts. He runs in the low 4.4s in the 40 and has a vertical jump of 41 inches. Hargreaves also is solid in run support, but it's his coverage ability that is going to make him a lot of money at the next level. He has six picks and 24 pass breakups in two seasons. Neal (6-1, 209), also a junior, is a ferocious hitter who had three interceptions last season. He was a key reserve as a true freshman in 2013 before becoming a starter last season. His work in run support stands out, but he is underrated in coverage.
2. FSU: CB Jalen Ramsey and S Nate Andrews
Rams ey (6-1, 201), a junior, is moving back to cornerback from safety this season. He started the 2013 season opener at corner, becoming the first true freshman corner at FSU to start a season-opener since -- wait for it -- Deion Sanders in 1985. Because of injuries, he moved to safety four games into the '13 season and he remained at safety last season. He has started all 28 games in his FSU career and should vie for All-American honors at corner this fall. He has excellent speed, is one of the best college long jumpers in the nation and possesses impressive size. Rams ey was a consensus national top-40 recruit. Andrews (5-11, 205) played a lot as a true freshman reserve in 2013, leading the Seminoles with four picks. He became a starter last fall and had a strong season. He was second on the team with 93 tackles and added three interceptions, five pass breakups and two fumble recoveries. He is excellent in run support despite not playing much defense at all until he got to college; he mainly was a quarterback and receiver in high school in Alabama.
1. Virginia Tech: CB Brandon Facyson and CB Kendall Fuller
Putting this duo No. 1 is a gamble of sorts because Facyson (6-2, 184) missed all but three games last season with a shin injury; he then suffered a broken leg in December. But if he is healthy, he and Fuller give the Hokies two shutdown corners. Facyson has excellent size, is physical and can run; he started for the Hokies as a true freshman in 2013 and had five interceptions and eight pass breakups. Fuller (6-0, 197) is entering his third season as a starter, and he is in the discussion with Florida's Hargreaves and FSU's Rams ey when talking about the nation's best corner. Fuller has eight interceptions and 26 pass breakups in two seasons, and he also has shown well against the run. He has nice size, good speed and a high football IQ, not surprising considering three brothers have played in the NFL.
Best in other leagues:
AAC: Houston, CB William Jackson and SS Adrian McDonald
Conference USA: Louisiana Tech, S Kentrell Brice and S Xavier Woods
Mid-American: Northern Illinois, CB Paris Logan and SS Marlon Moore
Mountain West: Boise State, CB Donte Deayon and S Darian Thompson
Sun Belt: Louisiana-Monroe, CB Trey Caldwell and S Mitch Lane
Mike Huguenin can be reached at [email protected]. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.A new material composed of nanospheres is the stiffest organic material ever reported and could lead to everything from tougher metals and composites to better, lighter body armor.
Printable body armor, better bulletproof glass, and tougher steel are just a few of the applications for a new materials technology developed by Israeli researchers. A team of scientists there have developed a transparent material made of self-assembling nanospheres that is the stiffest organic material ever created, surpassing the properties of stainless steel and even Kevlar.
Developed by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University, the nanospheres are similar to the beta-amyloid proteins that make up the plaques found in the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. But the new nanospheres are reinforced with an additional protective layer that makes them really, really strong.
And really, really small. They range in size from about 30 nanometers down to just two microns (by comparison, human hair averages something like 80 microns in diameter). But when assembled the material is extremely tough. In tests, only a diamond-tipped probe was able to dent the material, and then only by applying considerably more force that it takes to damage Kevlar.
Naturally, such a thin, strong material could lead to revolutionary improvements in body armor, and one of the researchers even told Discovery News that in principle you might be able to print custom body armor from the material. But it also could be used for a variety of other purposes, like strengthening existing metals and composites, creating medical implants, or improving the mechanical properties of ceramics and glasses. The researchers even think it might push forward technologically sci-fi projects like a space elevator.
But there's still a lot of work to be done in the lab before the material sees mainstream usage. Patents are pending, but don't expect to see printable, nanosphere body armor hitting the market anytime soon. Or diamond-tipped ammunition for that matter. For those who wish to comb through the nano-particulars, the paper is here.
[Chemistry World via Discovery News]South Street Protected Bike Lane opens to bicyclists Copyright by KHON - All rights reserved Video
The South Street Protected Bike Lane is now open.
A maile lei untying ceremony marked the opening of Honolulu's second on-street protected bike lane.
The new lane provides a mauka-makai connection with the King Street Protected Bike Lane, allowing bicyclists to ride to and from Kakaako.
It runs along South Street from King Street to Pohukaina Street. Makai of Pohukaina Street, standard five-foot wide bike lanes and sharrows have been installed to provide connections to Ala Moana Boulevard and Kaka‘ako Makai.
Twenty-nine metered parking stalls were taken away to create the new bike lane. The project cost $80,000 and was completed by in-house staff at the Department of Facility Maintenance.
"You can see around us the reconstruction, the future rail project, which is just a couple blocks away from where we are," said Michael Packard, administrator of the city's Complete Streets program. "We're looking towards a changing community and trying to provide more complete streets so people can get where they need to go in a safe manner using alternative modes."
The city also plans to widen the sidewalk fronting the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building near the intersection of King and Alapai streets, and construct a designated bike ramp to improve shared travel between pedestrians and bicycles in the area.Introduction to text manipulation on UNIX-based systems
Using standard utilities
A basic tenets of UNIX philosophy is to create programs (or processes) that do one thing, and do that one thing well. It is a philosophy demanding careful thought about interfaces and ways of joining these smaller (hopefully more simple) processes together to create useful results. Normally textual data flows between these interfaces. Over time, more and more advanced text processing tools and languages have been developed. For languages, earlier on there was perl, later came python, and ruby. While these and other languages are very capable text processors, such tools are not always available, especially in a production environment. In this article, a number of basic UNIX text processing commands are demonstrated and may be used individually or in conjunction with each other to solve problems which may also be addressed with newer languages. For many people, an example provides more information than long winded explanations. Please note because of the variety of UNIX and UNIX-like systems available, command flags, program behavior, and output differs between implementations.
Use of cat
The cat command is one of the most basic commands. It is used to create, append, display, and concatenate files.
We can create a file with cat using the ‘>’ to redirect standard input ( stdin ) to a file. Using the ‘>’ operator truncates the contents of the output file specified. Text entered after that is redirected to the file specified to the right of the ‘>’ operator. The control-d signals an end-of-file, returning control to the shell.
Example of cat to create a file:
$ cat > grocery.list apples bananas plums <ctrl-d> $
Use the ‘>>’ operator to append standard input into an existing file.
Example of cat to append a file:
$ cat >> grocery.list carrots <ctrl-d>
Examine the contents of the grocery.list file, using cat without flags. Notice how the file contents include input from the redirection and append operator examples.
Example of cat without flags:
$ cat grocery.list apples bananas plums carrots
The cat command can be used to number the lines of a file.
Example of cat to count lines:
$ cat -n grocery.list 1 apples 2 bananas 3 plums 4 carrots
Use of nl
The nl filter reads lines from stdin or from specified files. Output is written to stdout, and may be redirected to a file or piped to another process. Behavior of nl is controlled through various command-line options.
By default, nl counts lines similar to cat -n.
Example default usage of nl:
$nl grocery.list 1 apples 2 bananas 3 plums 4 carrots
Use the -b flag to specify lines to be numbered. This flag takes as its argument a “type”. The type tells nl which lines need to be numbered – use ‘a’ to number all lines, ‘t’ tells nl to not number empty lines or lines that are only whitespace, ‘n’ specifies no lines be numbered. In the example a type of ‘p’ for pattern is shown. nl numbers the lines specified by a regular expression pattern, in this case, lines starting with the letters ‘a’ or ‘b’.
Example of nl to number lines conforming to a regex:
$ nl -b p^[ba] grocery.list 1 apples 2 bananas plums carrots
By default, nl separates the line number from the text using a tab. Use -s to specify a different delimiter, such as the ‘=’ sign.
Example of nl to specify a delimiter:
$nl –s= grocery.list 1=apples 2=bananas 3=plums 4=carrots
Use of wc
The wc (wordcount) command counts the number of lines, words (separated by whitespace), and characters in specified files, or from stdin.
Examples of wc usage:
$wc grocery.list 4 4 29 grocery.list $wc -l grocery.list 4 grocery.list $wc -w grocery.list 4 grocery.list $wc -c grocery.list 29 grocery.list
Using grep
The grep command searches specified files or stdin for patterns matching a given expression(s). Output from grep is controlled by various option flags.
For demonstration, a new file was created to use with the grocery.list.
$cat grocery.list2 Apple Sauce wild rice black beans kidney beans dry apples
Example of basic grep usage:
$ grep apple grocery.list grocery.list2 grocery.list:apples grocery.list2:dry apples
grep has a sizable number of option flags. Following are some examples demonstrating usage of a few options.
To display the filename (if multiple files) with number of lines on which the pattern was found – in this case, count the number of lines the word ‘apple’ occurs in each file.
Example of grep - counting number of matches in files:
$ grep -c apple grocery.list grocery.list2 grocery.list:1 grocery.list2:1
When searching multiple files, using the -h option suppresses printing the filename as part of the output.
Example of grep - suppress filename in output:
$ grep -h apple grocery.list grocery.list2 apples dry apples
In many situations, a case-insensitive search is desired. The grep command has the -i option to ignore case-sensitivity when doing searches.
Example of grep – case insensitive:
$ grep -i apple grocery.list grocery.list2 grocery.list:apples grocery.list2:Apple Sauce grocery.list2:dry apples
Sometimes, only the filename needs to be printed, not the pattern-matching line. grep provides the -l option to only print filenames containing lines with a matching pattern.
Example of grep – filenames only:
$ grep -l carrot grocery.list grocery.list2 grocery.list
Line numbers can be provided as part of the output. Use the -n option to include line numbers.
Example of grep – include line numbers:
$ grep -n carrot grocery.list grocery.list2 grocery.list:4:carrots
There are times when lines not matching the pattern are the desired output. In such situations use the -v option.
Example of grep – inverted matching:
$ grep -v beans grocery.list2 Apple Sauce wild rice dry apples
Sometimes the pattern desired forms a “word” surrounded by whitespace or other characters like a dash or parentheses. Most versions of grep provide a -w option to ease writing searches for these patterns.
Example of grep – word matching:
$ grep -w apples grocery.list grocery.list2 grocery.list:apples grocery.list2:dry apples
Streams, pipes, redirects, tee, here docs
In UNIX a terminal by default contains three streams, one for input, and two output-based streams. The input stream is referred to as stdin, and is generally mapped to the keyboard (other input devices may be used, or could be piped from another process). The standard output stream is referred to as stdout, and generally prints to the terminal, or output may be consumed by another process (as stdin ). The other output stream stderr primarily used for status reporting usually prints to the terminal like stdout. As each of these streams has its own file descriptor, each may be piped or redirected separately from the other, even if they are all connected to the terminal. File descriptors for each of these streams are:
stdin = 0
stdout = 1
stderr = 2
These streams can be piped and redirected to files or other processes. This construct is commonly referred to as building a pipeline. For example, a programmer may want to merge the stdout and stderr streams, and then display them on the terminal but also save the results to a file to examine build issues. Using 2>&1 the stderr stream with file descriptor 2 is redirected to &1, a ‘pointer’ the stdout stream. This effectively merges stderr into stdout. Using the ‘|’ symbol indicates a pipe. A pipe links stdout from the left-hand process ( make ) to stdin of the right-hand process ( tee ). The tee command duplicates the (merged) stdout stream sending the data to the terminal and to a file, in this example, called build.log.
Example of merging and splitting standard streams:
$ make –f build_example.mk 2>&1 | tee build.log
Another example of redirection, a copy of a text file is made using the cat command and some stream redirection.
Example of redirection to make a backup file:
$ cat < grocery.list > grocery.list.bak
Earlier the nl command was used to add line numbers to a file displayed on stdout. The pipe can be used to send the stdout stream (from cat grocery.list) to another process, in this case, the nl command.
Example simple pipe to nl:
$ cat grocery.list | nl 1 apples 2 bananas 3 plums 4 carrots
Another example shown earlier was to do a case-insensitive search of a file for a pattern. This can be done using redirection - in this case from stdin, or using a pipe, similar to the simple pipe example above.
Example with grep - stdin redirection and pipe:
$ grep -i apple < grocery.list2 Apple Sauce dry apples $cat grocery.list2 | grep -i apple Apple Sauce dry apples
In some situations a block of text will be redirected into a command or file as part of a script. A mechanism to accomplish this is to use a ‘here document’ or ‘here-doc’. To embed a here-doc into a script, the ‘ << ’ operator is used to redirect the following text, until a end-of-file delimiter is reached. The delimiter is specified after the << operator.
Example basic here-doc on the command line:
$ cat << EOF > oranges > mangos > pinapples > EOF oranges mangos pinapples
This output can be redirected to a file, in this example the delimiter changed from ‘EOF’ to ‘!’. Then tr command (explained later) is used to upper-case the letters with a here-doc.
Example basic here-doc redirected to a file:
cat <<! > grocery.list3 oranges mangos pinapples! $ cat grocery.list3 oranges mangos pinapples $tr [:lower:] [:upper:] <<! > onions >! ONIONS
Using head and tail
The head and tail commands are used to examine the top (head) or bottom (tail) parts of files. To display the top two lines and bottom two lines of a file use the -n option flag with these commands respectively. Similarly, the -c option displays the first or last characters in the file.
Example basic use of head and tail commands:
$ head -n2 grocery.list apples bananas $ tail -n2 grocery.list plums carrots $ head -c12 grocery.list apples banan $ tail -c12 grocery.list ums carrots
A common use for the tail command is to watch log files or the output of running processes to see if there are issues, or to note when a process finishes. The -f ( tail –f ) option causes tail to continue to watch the stream, even after the end-of-file marker is reached, and continue displaying output when the stream contains more data.
Using tr
The tr command is used to translate characters from stdin, displaying them on stdout. In its general form, tr takes two sets of characters, and replaces characters from the first set with characters from the second set. A number of pre-defined character classes (sets) are available to be used by tr, and some other commands.
These classes are:
alnum - alphanumeric characters
alpha - alphabetic characters
blank - whitespace characters
cntrl - control characters
digit - numeric characters
graph - graphic characters
lower - lower-case alphabetic characters
print - printable characters
punct - punctuation characters
space - space characters
upper - upper-case characters
xdigit - hexadecimal characters
The tr command can translate lowercase characters in a string to upper case.
Example tr - upper-case a string:
$ echo "Who is the standard text editor?" |tr [:lower:] [:upper:] WHO IS THE STANDARD TEXT EDITOR?
tr can be used to delete named characters from a string.
Example tr - delete characters from a string:
$ echo 'ed, of course!' |tr -d aeiou d, f crs!
Use tr to translate any named characters in a string to a space. When multiple named characters are encountered in sequence, they are translated into a single space.
Behavior of the -s option flag differs between systems.
Example tr - translate characters to a space:
$ echo 'The ed utility is the standard text editor.' |tr -s astu'' The ed ili y i he nd rd ex edi or.
The -s option flag can be used to suppresses extra white space in a sting.
$ echo 'extra spaces – 5’ | tr -s [:blank:] extra spaces - 5 $ echo ‘extra tabs – 2’ | tr -s [:blank:] extra tabs – 2
A common problem when transferring files between UNIX and Windows based systems is line delimiters. On UNIX systems the delimiter is a new line, while Windows systems use two characters, a carriage return followed by a newline. Using tr with some redirection is one way to fix this formatting problem.
Example tr - remove carriage returns:
$ tr -d '\r' < dosfile.txt > unixfile.txt
Use of colrm
Using colrm columns of text can be cut from a stream. In the first example, colrm is used to cut from column 4 to the end of line for each line off the pipe. Next, the same file is sent to colrm to remove columns 4 through 5.
Example colrm to remove columns:
$ cat grocery.list |colrm 4 app ban plu car $ cat grocery.list |colrm 4 5 apps banas plu carts
Use of expand and unexpand
The expand command changes tabs to spaces, while unexpand changes spaces to tabs. These commands take input off of stdin or from files named on the command line. Using the -t option, one or more tab stop can be set.
Example of expand and unexpand:
$ cat grocery.list|head -2 |
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FANART
There is wonderful work done by ASKNEKOLE on Tumblr, she also has a DeviantArt account as "mLegend24" Please check out her wonderful work.
I am so honored by all the fanart done for this story.
Sicksketch has done some wonderful sketches over on Tumblr. Please take a look, just search under the tag "ill walk you home" and you will find them.
Fanart on Deviant Art; There is fanart for the story on DeviantArt;
Totalfanboy21 has a great picture of an older Toph and Sokka inspired by the story and Abi-chan14 and Cutubulla as well as Kawayui-Kage have created Fanart for the story. I am really honored that talented artists have liked the story so much that they have actually made art based on it. Please check them out.
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Thank you all so much for sticking with my story.
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Once again thank you to all those who have added this story to their alerts and especially their favorites, and a very special thank you to all who have added me to your author alerts and favorites. That is a real honor for me. I hope I have not disappointed you with this chapter.
Thank you to all for reading
All comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.Ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was subjected to FBI questioning about his conversations with the Russian ambassador shortly after 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 took office, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
While it is not clear what Flynn said in the interviews, he could face a felony charge if he was dishonest with FBI investigators.
Flynn resigned on Monday amid revelations that he discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country's ambassador in the month before Trump's inauguration. Administration officials, including Vice President Mike, previously denied that Flynn had done so.
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Flynn reportedly apologized to Pence for briefing him and other White House officials with "incomplete information," and blamed it on "the fast pace of events."
The Justice Department notified the White House on Jan. 26 that Flynn may be vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians, because of discrepancies between his account of the phone calls and what intelligence officials found.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said during his daily briefing on Tuesday that Trump was aware that Flynn misled administration officials for "weeks," before eventually asking for his resignation on Monday.
"We've been reviewing and evaluating this issue with respect to General Flynn on a daily basis for a few weeks, trying to ascertain the truth," he said.In the previous two articles, we took a detour in order to explore two interactions between theology and the science of astronomy. In the first, I argued that the oft-repeated narrative, which holds that Copernicus’s heliocentric model demolished a prideful, theologically inspired anthropocentrism, was not historically accurate. In the one that followed, I argued that a historically better-grounded challenge to Christian theology (but not to Judaic or Islamic) came from the direction of extraterrestrial life. Thomas Paine had confronted Christians with a difficult choice, between a redemptive scheme limited only to human beings, or a God who had reincarnated many times over in order to work out the redemption of alien beings as well. In this article, I’d like to return to Arthur O. Lovejoy’s Great Chain of Being.
The reason is that the story of Darwinian biology is often told something like this: Once, people believed that every species of living thing was a unique creation, patterned on a design plan. William Paley argued, in his famous thought experiment, that if you encountered a watch on a beach, you would reasonably infer the existence of a watchmaker, even if you couldn’t find him anywhere nearby. Animal life was just like that, according to William Paley. You could see that the animals were designed according to a plan, so you would naturally infer a designer—or, in other words, God. And God’s goodness was evident in the marvelous way that the animals were adapted to their environment. The eye, for instance, is an incredible piece of architecture. It shows that God wanted human beings to be able to see, so he designed the human eye for just this purpose. How could anyone believe that the eye could come about at random? If it did not come about at random, it must have done so as a result of a design. And the only being that could design something as wonderful and intricate as an eye was God. So, Paley argued, biology proved the existence of God. But then Darwin showed that you don’t need a design plan in order to account for species and their adaptations. Natural selection could account for the whole world of life, and all the adaptations of the animals, without any need for a designer. Since there was no need for a designer, there was no need for God. Science, if it doesn’t necessarily disprove the existence of God (though some scientists, such as Richard Dawkins and Victor Stenger, have argued that it does), at any rate renders God unnecessary. Science advances, God retreats, according to this story.
Well, the part about Paley and Darwin is true, as far as it goes. But framing things as a contest between Paley’s natural theology and Darwin’s biological science tends to exaggerate the importance of theology to the discussion. As I’ve tried to show in previous discussions of Lovejoy’s book, what science (certainly Darwinian science) has really changed is our conception of knowledge itself. Logically rigorous deductions from definitions, as one finds in geometry, used to count as knowledge about all sorts of topics. Today, the scope for this sort of thing has been greatly restricted. Not many people would think that starting from a definition of “life,” and then making deductions from those definitions, is a valid procedure in biology. But it used to be, and that’s what Darwin really changed. Paley’s “clocks,” i.e., the design plan of the animals in nature, was really another instance of Plato’s other-worldly forms. And, historically, people who have believed in the forms have tended to believe in God as well—for forms are thoughts, and how could thoughts get there without a thinker? And how could they structure the world of sense experience, unless that thinker was also the Creator? So, when people oppose natural theology to science in telling the story about Darwin, the result is to obscure the extent to which both natural and Christian theology were based on the inheritance of prior knowledge. Undermining the Platonic worldview has been a much more momentous shift in our intellectual orientation then undermining the authority of Genesis as a history of creation, although surely both are results of scientific discovery.
But Paley’s natural theology is only one instance of a much broader pattern, uncovered by Arthur O. Lovejoy. In a previous article, I described the great chain of being as the other, oft-forgotten, half of Plato’s philosophy. It was the view that God must have created everything that logically could exist, because God, being good, and therefore a stranger to envy, would not begrudge the privilege of existence to anything that could exist. Hence, God creates everything that can exist. So where Plato’s philosophy is often thought of as other-worldly, since it directs us to the contemplation of the invisible and eternal forms (and, by extension, to their Creator), there was also an exuberant, this-worldly element to it. Existence was packed to the brim with literally everything that could exist.
If we take this to be a valid deduction (which we will have to do, provisionally, to get inside the heads of pre-Darwinian naturalists), then several further deductions seem warranted. One was confirmed by the invention of microscopes: the existence of very small animals. It is logically possible for animals to come in all sorts of sizes, and hence we would naturally expect to find very small ones, if we acquire the capability to see them. No sooner than microscopes were invented, but the world of bacteria and other microscopic life was discovered. Indeed, the world is positively overflowing with microscopic life, so abundantly that we are still a very long way from even cataloging them, and their phylogenetic histories are still contentious. This part, at least, was good for believers in a great chain of being. It also entailed the existence of very large beings—as large as it was logically possible for them to be—and that was not so good. Where were these creatures? No one had ever seen them. (I should mention, incidentally, that the great chain of being was also used, in the medieval times, to argue for the existence of angels, i.e., since it was logically possible for such beings to exist, they must. Neuroscience hadn’t happened yet, so most people didn’t see any trouble with the concept of an immaterial soul.)
A somewhat different, though similar, problem was created by the discovery of fossils. They certainly appeared to be the remains of living things. When we look at a Tyrannosaurus skull, for instance, it seems just obvious that it is… well… a skull, a remnant of a living thing. But there were no such creatures in the eighteenth century, plainly, so how could the fossils be accounted for? The whole concept of extinction was offensive to believers in the great chain of being because it would create a gap in that chain. Recall that the continuity of the chain was one of logical necessity. Logical necessity is not a temporal or a spatial construct—it’s supposed to apply equally, always and everywhere. The law of non-contradiction does not apply on just Tuesdays and Thursdays, it applies every day. It does not apply on earth, but on the moon and in the Virgo Supercluster and every other conceivable place. So logical necessity has nothing to do with time and space, it’s an atemporal, aspatial, totally uniform concept. So, if the existence of all creatures that logically could exist was itself a logical necessity, then species could not come into being and could not go out of being. They could not be created, and they could not become extinct. (At least on the creation part, theologians obviously have tended to disagree with Plato, but Christian theology was a mixture of Greek and Hebrew ideas, and as Hebrew Scriptures plainly involved the idea of creation, Plato could not be authoritative there.) How, then, to account for fossils?
The answer was a device with which we are perhaps familiar, albeit in other contexts. If you take any number of minerals, subject them to more or less random forces of distribution, pressurization, erosion, and so on, then at least some of the time you’re bound to get rocks that look like fossils—so the argument went. It’s like looking up at clouds. You think one looks like a camel, another like a house or an airplane, etc., but actually it’s just a pattern that you superimpose on the cloud, it’s not in the cloud itself. Eighteenth-century biologists who were committed to the chain of being idea referred to these fossils as “sports of nature,” or in other words, games of nature. They could be misleading at first glance, but since it was already known that extinctions could not occur, and no such animals seemed to exist, they could not actually be the remains of animals.
This approach did not satisfy everyone, however. As it was increasingly realized that the chain of being was inadequate to explain the empirical evidence that naturalists had to explain, another proposal was offered. Some naturalists began to argue that, although not every kind of living being did exist, they all would exist, in time. So the chain of being was reinterpreted as the unfolding of cosmic necessity. The “always and everywhere” character of logical necessity was compromised in order to fit the chain of being idea into the evidence. This had the advantage of allowing naturalists to interpret fossils as what, to all appearances, they really were. And it became more important as more fossils were being discovered. In Paley’s time (roughly 1800), geologists began to realize that fossils were neither evenly nor randomly distributed. Simpler organisms appeared in the lower rocks, more complex in the higher. So this seemed to indicate a progression from lower to higher forms of life. And it was argued that this progression was the unfolding of the logical necessity of the great chain of being. So evolution, before Darwin, was an adaptation of the very Platonic philosophy which, disguised under accounts about William Paley’s natural theology, is often held up as the antagonist of evolution.
Now, I don’t want to claim that Darwin himself was only acting out a Platonic idea of nature, because that wouldn’t be true. Darwin represented a radical break with past conceptions of the world of life, but not because he argued for evolution. This is another fact of the history of biology that is sometimes obscured by the Paley vs. Darwin story discussed earlier. Evolution had, in fact, been proposed in the eighteenth century, even by Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus. The most famous pre-Darwinian theory was that of Lamarck, who wrote about 50 years before Darwin’s Origin of Species. It was argued for again in an 1844 book by Robert Chalmers, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. The official scientific establishment of the first half of the nineteenth century was opposed to evolution, partly for reasons having to do with paleontological evidence, partly because no convincing mechanism for evolution had been proposed, and partly because evolution had acquired associations with political radicalism during the French Revolution. (Erasmus had been sympathetic to the Revolution, Lamarck had been appointed by Napoleon.) So evolution was around, but it was a contested idea, and in the decades immediately prior to Darwin it was not well established. What Darwin changed was that he proposed a mechanism for explaining evolution—natural selection. But even then it would be another 50 years (approximately) before Gregor Mendel discovered the laws of heredity. With Darwin, evolution became firmly established.
Darwinian biology is a large part of the reason that Platonic ways of thinking, as exemplified by the chain of being idea, are less attractive in our time. Darwin showed that the world of life was not composed of discrete species, built on an other-worldly design plan. In fact, there are no species—there are only interbreeding populations. The concept of “species” is a useful abstraction. It has nominal utility for describing the world of life, but when you start really getting into the biological science and looking at larger timescales, you see that what looks like static species from the standpoint of our normal experience of time is actually very fluid on the timescales of evolutionary biology. If species were not fixed, there could be no design plan, and hence Paley’s argument to the effect that the adaptation of species to their environment showed the existence and benevolence of their Creator, failed. But if Platonic idealism was false, then that made materialism much more attractive. The philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus, long since considered discredited, was to enjoy a tremendous revival as a consequence of Darwin’s discoveries. Indeed, that revival has continued right up to our own time.
This essay is part of a series; the previous essay can be found here.
Daniel Halverson is a graduate student studying the History of Science and Technology. He is also a regular contributor to the PEL Facebook page.- Advertisement -
For all practical purposes, President Bush is now a lame-duck President. If that’s the case, then why is his administration working so hard to take away even more of America’s constitutional rights and his departmental heads are ramping-up their efforts to increase the spying on Americans? The common logic is that when Bush leaves office, some semblance of sanity will return to the United States and we will continue conducting whatever “war on terror” that needs to be undertaken without violating the constitutional rights of innocent Americans. We are all hoping the 2008 elections will bring back the rule of law to Washington, and these illegal and unconstitutional programs will be dismantled. That’s what we are hoping…
But, the signals coming out of Washington speak of a different story - one that is too horrific to imagine! Based on the rush to dismantle almost off of America’s rights to privacy - and these actions and initiatives are being carried out at a dizzying speeds, it would appear that Bush has no plans of leaving office or this Presidency fully expects the next President to follow in his footsteps of tyranny and oppression. The stage is being set for these violations of our civil rights to escalate and careen out of control until eventually - perhaps within months, nothing Americans use their personal computers for will remain private. No, I’m not being melodramatic.
I’ve warned people myself that S 1959, The “Thought Crime Prevention Bill” is being partially implemented even though its still in committee and hasn’t been passed into law yet. Yesterday, a brilliant essay was a written on exactly what privacy the government is attempting to negate by Elliot Cohen, and he describes why this is happening within America. People must be noticing that none of the Presidential candidates are speaking in depth in regard the way that Americans are losing some of their most basic constitutional rights, and none are pledging to stop the constant fear-mongering that our government is using to push its policies through, nor are they pledging to stop those policies that infringe on our constitutional rights. The following Op-Ed is powerful and covers many of the issues that seem to be intertwined with S 1959:
The End of Privacy - Advertisement - Posted on Jan 24, 2008 (Excerpts) By Elliot Cohen Amid the controversy brewing in the Senate over Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform, the Bush administration appears to have changed its strategy and is devising a bold new plan that would strip away FISA protections in favor of a system of wholesale government monitoring of every American’s Internet activities. Now the national director of intelligence is predicting a disastrous cyber-terrorist attack on the U.S. if this scheme isn’t instituted. - Advertisement - It is no secret that the Bush administration has already been spying on the e-mail, voice-over-IP, and other Internet exchanges between American citizens since as early as and possibly earlier than Sept. 11, 2001. The National Security Agency has set up shop in the hubs of major telecom corporations, notably AT&T, installing equipment that makes copies of the contents of all Internet traffic, routing it to a government database and then using natural language parsing technology to sift through and analyze the data using undisclosed search criteria. It has done this without judicial oversight and obviously without the consent of the millions of Americans under surveillance. Given any rational interpretation of the Fourth Amendment, its mass spying operation is illegal and unconstitutional. But now the administration wants to make these illegal activities legal. And why is that? According to National Director of Intelligence Mike McConnell, who is now drafting the proposal, an attack on a single U.S. bank by the 9/11 terrorists would have had a far more serious impact on the U.S. economy than the destruction of the Twin Towers. “My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens,” said McConnell. So the way to prevent this from happening, he claims, is to give the government the power to spy at will on the content of all e-mails, file transfers and Web searches. McConnell’s prediction of something “horrendous” happening unless we grant government this authority has a tone similar to that of the fear-mongering call to arms against terrorism that President Bush sounded before taking us to war in Iraq. Now, Americans are about to be asked to surrender their Fourth Amendment rights because of a vague and unsupported prediction of the dangers and costs of cyber-terrorism. The analogy with the campaign to frighten us into war with Iraq gets even stronger when it becomes evident that along with the establishing of American forces in Iraq, the cyber-security McConnell is calling for was, all along, part of the strategic plan, devised by Dick Cheney and several other present and former high-level Bush administration officials, to establish America as the world’s supreme superpower. This plan, known as the Project for the New American Century, unequivocally recognized “an imperative” for government to not only secure the Internet against cyber-attacks but also to control and use it offensively against its adversaries. The Project for the New American Century also maintained that “the process of transformation” it envisioned (which included the militarization and control of the Internet) was “likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” All that appears to be lacking to make the analogy complete is the “horrendous” cyber-attack—the chilling analog of the 9/11 attacks—that McConnell now predicts. It would be a mistake to underestimate the resolve of the Bush administration. But it would be a bigger mistake for Americans not to stand united against this familiar pattern of government scare tactics and manipulation. There are grave dangers to the survival of democracy posed by allowing any present or future government unfettered access to all of our private electronic communications. These dangers must be carefully weighed against the dubious and unproven benefits that granting such an awesome power to government might have on fending off cyber-attacks. (Emphasis added.) Elliot D. Cohen, PhD, is a media ethicist and critic. His most recent book is “The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-Hungry Government Are Turning America Into a Dictatorship.” He is a first-prize winner of the 2007 Project Censored Award.
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Only selected excerpts are published and this is an Op-Ed worth reading.
Using a rationale that can only be described as bizarre, the government’s position is that if we don’t allow them (NSA, CIA, etc.) unfettered access to our private computer activities, documents, searches, and downloads, it opens-up the United States and make us vulnerable to being hacked in a “terror attack” on a massive scale.
So the way to prevent this from happening, he claims Mike McConnell, is to give the government the power to spy at will on the content of all e-mails, file transfers and Web searches.
Next Page 1 | 2by Guest
contribution by David Malone
The Irish are now openly saying they want to make the Senior bond holders take some of the bank losses. That is most definitely not in the European Financial Class’s game plan.
Neither France nor Germany nor the UK will like the sound of it. Because for senior bond holders read their banks, big funds and insurance companies. Not only would it be a very public humiliation but it would also tell the world which banks were weakest. Ireland doesn’t even have to go through with it. They need only engender a worry that they might.
Of course the obvious answer is for the big European players to use the ECB to quietly and confidentially buy up those bonds and make all Europe’s tax payers pay by a more indirect and less democratic route. The problem is, while it prevents a convulsion and a nasty leak of raw truth in the short term, it doesn’t undo the real damage.
The real damage is that if Ireland sticks to their threat nearly all possible outcomes for the Big Banks become very bad. Which, providing they have the balls, puts Ireland in a very strong position.
It would also mean people in other countries, who are being told day after day that they ‘have no choice’ but to impose even greater ‘austerity’ measures or that they ‘must’ have an IMF/EU ‘rescue’ package imposed upon them, might decide they too are going to simply call everyone’s bluff and say ‘no’.
Even the possibility of such a contagion of rebellion would be quite sufficient to induce another credit crunch of banks refusing to lend to each other.
Who would know which banks would be affected next if Portugal or Hungary or even Spain or Italy were to start talking about their senior bond holders? That kind of uncertainty is what stopped banks lending to each other the first time.
Equally bad for the Big Banks and the financial class/senior bond holders is if the ECB bails them out and buys the bonds. Because once that happens for Ireland, after all the adamant proclamations that it would never happen, then who is going to believe that Portugal or even Greece, couldn’t force the same concession? Or Spain?
Then it becomes a political nightmare. Merkel is already wounded. If it looks to her domestic enemies that she is further losing control then the fragile Franco/German unity, such as it is, will collapse. The UK will not hold it together.
—
Davi Malone is author of Debt Generation. A longer version of this post is here.The unexpected beauty of PLANKTON: Magnified photographs showcase the microscopic creatures’ incredible diversity
Dr Richard Kirby has dedicated his career to studying and photographing plankton
His book puts plankton under the microscope, so people can appreciate their varied and usual features
The organisms include drifting animals, microorganisms, algae and bacteria that live in the sea, or fresh water
Plankton underpin the marine food chain, provide the world with oxygen and play a role in the global carbon cycle
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Some people may think that plankton are nothing but characterless food for fish and whales.
But one marine scientist has highlighted the incredible diversity and beauty of the group of marine organisms, which to the untrained eye can look like miniature aliens.
Dr Richard Kirby has dedicated his career to studying and photographing plankton, which live in huge numbers in the ocean.
One marine scientist has highlighted the incredible diversity and beauty of the group of marine organisms, which to the untrained eye can look like miniature aliens. Crab megalopa larva is pictured. The creature will one day grow into a tiny crab, if it is not eaten by a larger marine animal
His book, 'Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves', puts plankton under the microscope, so people can appreciate their varied and usual features, from the bulbous eyes and hairy legs of larger zooplankton to the strange geometric shapes of smaller phytoplankton, which can be a type of algae.
The organisms include drifting animals, microorganisms, algae and bacteria that live in the sea, or fresh water.
The microscopic algae and the tiny animals that eat them float freely in the sunlit surface of the sea, where they underpin the marine food chain, provide the world with oxygen and play an essential role in the global carbon cycle.
Dr Richard Kirby has dedicated his career to studying and photographing plankton, which live in huge numbers below the ocean waves. From left to right, a paddle worm, spider crab larva and Maja Sqinado, which is a type of plankton are pictured using a microscope
The book includes high-magnification photographs as well as explaining how the creatures are being affected by global warming, which could have wide-ranging ramifications for the ecology of the planet, if plankton drop in numbers. A Hyperiid Amphipod larvae - the young of a small aquatic crustacean - is pictured and it is possible to see its developing eyes and even the hairs on its legs
The book includes high-magnification photographs and explains how the creatures are being affected by global warming, which could have wide-ranging ramifications for the ecology of the planet, if plankton drop in numbers.
The organisms cannot swim against the current and are at the very beginning of the marine food chain and are eaten by fish which in turn are consumed by other sea creatures like seabirds, sharks, dolphins, turtles and seals.
‘Without the plankton there would be no fish in the sea, or creatures that feed upon them,’ said Dr Kirby, a senior lecturer at Plymouth University in Devon.
The organisms cannot swim against the current and are at the very beginning of the marine food chain. They are eaten by fish which in turn are consumed by other sea creatures like seabirds, sharks, dolphins, turtles and seals. Echinoderm Luidia sarsii - a type of microscopic worm - is pictured left and a minute jellyfish called Velella velella, which has been magnified 10 times, is pictured on the right
'Without the plankton there would be no fish in the sea, or creatures that feed upon them,' said Dr Kirby, a senior lecturer at Plymouth University in Devon. Despite its exotic-looking strands, this microscopic animal is actually worm larva
Many people might think of plankton as simply a source of food for larger animals, but these photos highlight their complex features, including bulbous eyes and jaws. The'mini monster' on the left is the planktonic larva of the nut crab Ebalia, a small, roughly diamond-shaped crab with a rough shell, which at its largest, reaches 12 millimetres long. On the right, another type of swimming crab larva, which has a scary-looking spike on its 'back' is pictured
‘Not only is the plankton a good place for the young of creatures that live on the seabed to feed and grow, but the currents at the surface also help disperse them to new places, very much like the wind disperses the seeds of plants on land.
‘Increasing global temperatures are raising sea surface temperatures, thereby altering the plankton's habitat and bringing about changes in their abundance, their distributions and their seasonality.
‘If you have ever swallowed some seawater while swimming you will almost certainly have engulfed some plankton too, just like a baleen whale.’
Dr Richard Kirby (pictured) said: 'If you've ever swallowed seawater while swimming you will almost certainly have engulfed some plankton too, just like a baleen whale.'
Dr Kirby warned that ‘Increasing global temperatures are raising sea surface temperatures, thereby altering the plankton's habitat and bringing about changes in their abundance, their distributions and their seasonality.' Stinging Medusae of Obelia is pictured left and is a tiny polyp that can sometimes be found attached to rocks and shells, appearing as a delicate whiteish fur in large numbers. Pictured right is the zoea larva of crabs, a type of plankton which have been magnified 150 times
Larger zooplankton, which include tiny crustaceans and other animals eat phytoplankton - algae that live near the water's surface - provide carbon to the food web, either by breathing or by dying. A Phyllosoma larva of a Spiny lobster is pictured, complete with its incredible eyes
As well as providing larger marine animals with food, plankton ecosystems play a role in regulating the ocean’s carbon cycle.
Larger zooplankton include tiny crustaceans and other animals that eat phytoplankton – algae that live near the water’s surface – to provide carbon to the food web, either by breathing or by dying as their bodies decompose.
Because organic material is denser than seawater, carbon sinks deep into the ocean in a process known as the biological pump, which is one reason why the oceans are considered to be the largest carbon sink on Earth.KEN Hinkley is contractually halfway along the path to being Port Adelaide’s longest-serving AFL coach — and still far from his real ambition as a premiership master at the Power.
Hinkley’s original four-year contract — that ended next season — has been extended to the end of 2018. This six-season term is half the 12-year, 274-game record set by premiership mentor Mark Williams from 1999-2010.
“There are days when I think this job could go on forever — it is the greatest job in the world,” Hinkley said today.
“But I didn’t start this job to be okay. We’re doing this as a team to be great — and we’re still chasing greatness.”
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas confidently declared Hinkley would have other contract extensions. Hinkley told the club faithful at last night’s season launch that he hopes Thomas is right.
“I can’t imagine myself coaching another football club,” Hinkley said.
And while Hinkley appreciates the vote of confidence in his football program, he rejects the security of a long-term contract will put him in a comfort zone that has undermined other AFL coaches.
“I know where I am going to be for the next four years — and that is comforting for security and the family,” Hinkley said. “But it won’t change anything I do.
“This is a tough job. You have tough days. But I will be working just as hard (as before the new contract was signed).
“And we still have lots of things to do at the football club. Footy is a tough game — and things can turn quickly.
“What looks promising one day can look not so promising the next.
“The real question (on how long a coach can work at a club) is not am I going to wear out? It is more about whether the players will need a new message at some stage? We all think that happens at some point along the journey — I’m not silly enough to say it won’t happen.”
Hinkley already ranks at No. 2 on the Power’s tally for AFL coaching with 48 games (29-19 win-loss). His reputation as an AFL coach — after being a constant runner-up for senior vacancies — has been made for not only saving Port Adelaide on the field with consecutive finals appearances, but also for delivering an attractive game style.
Hinkley signed his new deal — that was negotiated from just before Christmas — to continue Thomas’ deliberate plan of locking in key staff to long-term deals. This strategy is endorsed by Hinkley, a former Fitzroy and Geelong player.
“Stability is the key to success,” Hinkley said. “You need the right people — and then you have to back them in. Our club has been able to do that all the way through.”
Hinkley, 48, says the threat of his being lured away from Alberton was never real.
“They never had to worry about losing me,” Hinkley said today. “For me (this contract) was simple. The question was asked if there was interest to extend — and there was not one moment of hesitation from me.
“I love Port Adelaide. It is impossible to not connect to this club. My family feels at home and wants to make Adelaide home for a long time. And I am working with a group of people, a team, I really trust and we share the same vision.”
Hinkley arrived at Alberton at the end of the 2012 season after many candidates for the coaching job walked away from a club considered to be on death row. He boldly announced himself as the “right man standing” not the “last man standing”.
“It is nice to know that a couple of years on we have progressed in an upwards direction — and we hope there is a lot more to come,” Hinkley said.
Hired on a four-year deal that began in Season 2013, Hinkley has lived up to his promise of being the “right man standing” rather than the last man to accept the once-unfashionable Power coaching role.
Hinkley’s contract extension is the headline act for the Port Adelaide Football Club season launch in the Adelaide CBD today.
Hinkley accepted his contract extension today saying: “I can’t imagine myself coaching another football club. I’ve only been here two seasons, but it feels like I’ve been part of the Port Adelaide Football Club forever.
“As a family we’ve just bought a house in Adelaide which means we want this city to be a long-term part of our life.
“My wife loves it here in Adelaide and my three children are very happy and content.
“This is my first contract extension here at Port Adelaide and hopefully there’s many more to come.”
Hinkley’s immediate influence at Alberton is underlined by his record of taking the Power out of its on-field mess with AFL finals appearances in each of the past two seasons in which Port Adelaide was a semi-finalist in 2013 and preliminary finalist in 2014.
Hinkley has 29-19 win-loss in 48 home-and-away and finals games.Santa Cruz stands with Standing Rock, chooses local banks over Wells Fargo.
Peter W Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 27, 2017
It’s been a tough week for Wells Fargo.
Local governments are firing back at big banks funding fossil fuel infrastructure, especially those funding the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), with Santa Cruz now following Seattle in going after Wells Fargo due to the bank’s support for the pipeline that threatens the the water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Santa Cruz Council unanimously passed a resolution banning Wells Fargo for up to five years and divesting from any institution funding DAPL. Looking on the brighter side, the city is now looking for local, socially responsible banking options.
Resolution to immediately ban Wells Fargo Securities as the City’s broker dealer and terminate within 90 days any investment holdings with institutions funding the Dakota Access Pipeline for a period of five years (such as the Certificate of Deposit with Comerica Bank) and guide the City Finance Director to issue a new competitive request for proposals (RFP) no later than March 31, 2018 to qualified financial institutions to provide banking services to the City of Santa Cruz, and include socially responsible banking and fair business practices performance as a significant factor in that bidding process.
- Santa Cruz Council Agenda, Wednesday 4/25/17
This comes just a day after Wells Fargo’s board of directors narrowly escaped an attempted shareholder mutiny during a meeting which was disrupted by protesters upset about the fake account scandal as well as the bank’s ongoing funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Wells Fargo claims to have learned from the global outrage over their funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline, saying “[a]s a result of issues that have arisen in this case, we have enhanced our due diligence…”, yet the company’s board advised shareholders to vote against a proposed Indigenous People’s Policy which calls on Wells Fargo “to develop and adopt a global policy regarding the rights of indigenous peoples which includes respect for the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous communities affected by WFC financing.”
The same day that Santa Cruz voted against Wells Fargo, even more unflattering news broke about the company:
Wells Fargo employees were ordered to “round up” undocumented immigrants and other workers and then herd them into branches so residents could be coaxed into opening checking accounts, court papers filed Wednesday claimed.
- Mercury News, 4/26/17
Seriously, this has got to be a tough week to be one of those executives at Wells. (Especially for those who learned that nearly half their shareholders want them off the board.)
But hey, it could be worse, right? If Wells Fargo thinks they took a lot of heat for their $467 million investment in DAPL or those millions of fake accounts, just wait until the carbon bubble pops and takes with it the bank’s “Oil and gas loan portfolio of $12.8 billion [report, p. 22]”; as even Citibank has acknowledged, the global losses when that bubble bursts will be enormous ( — YUGE!, in fact):
globally one-third of oil reserves, half of gas reserves and 80% of coal reserves would have to remain in the ground; we estimate that the total value of stranded assets could be over $100 trillion.
— Fast Company |
money to Obama.’ And if it was the Democrats I’d be like, ‘You know I’m a registered Republican.’ It was just like, take me off your list, I’m done.
…A new vision for the country we love. And a taste for dirt, no drama, progress. This guy’s different.
***
Mike: I was moving in with a then-girlfriend, and one of my big shareholders said, ‘We should get to vote on that because it’s going to affect your productivity.’ I remember being like, kind of reluctant. I don’t wanna put up every personal decision on this website. But then I look at it from the opposite side and I’m like, ‘But I would want that control if I had put shares into someone?’ That was kinda when I created this rule where anything that I would ask my friends advice for would become a shareholder question. I think I probably put the vasectomy thing up within 24 hours.
July 12 2008: Vasectomy
The population of the world is, according to the US Census Bureau, 6.7 billion. Children are a financial drain. While the joy of parenting far outweighs the costs, the costs are estimated to be about a quarter of a million dollars to raise a child to 18 years of age. The time investment of raising a child is immense. The responsibility is evident. Mike Merrill is great with kids. But he has experienced no desire in his 31 years to have his own, and claims, ‘While I look forward to hanging out with my friend’s kids, I don’t wish to have children of my own.’ In light of these factors, it makes sense to reduce the chances to nearly zero, and have a vasectomy performed.
Interviewer: And did you talk about this to your girlfriend?
Mike: We had talked about it, though not as far as putting it up for a vote. It came up later as a thing where I thought we had talked about, thought it was okay, and it clearly wasn’t. I had missed some cues. My defense at the time was something like, ‘Well then buy more shares.’
Interviewer: How did she respond to that?
Mike: Not well.
387 votes for yes, 456 votes for no. Proposal rejected.
Mike: The idea that you’re gonna measure someone’s influence based on how much money they’ve put into some system is probably not a great objective measure of how much someone cares. But at the same time I was like, ‘You don’t own that many and you are one of the closest people to me, you should at least be on the top 10.’ In the same way there’s a sense of, ‘Oh haha, I’m mad at you for putting something up for vote between us even though it’s actually very serious,’ I think the flip of that is also true where I’m like ‘Why doesn’t that person buy more shares?’ I get sad when my stock price goes down. What could be more arbitrary than a person’s stock value, I mean that’s not a real thing at all. I recognize logically that it’s in no way a reflection of my character. But I can’t help but think that this thing that I’ve been doing for 10 years is being devalued when the stock price goes down.
April 17 2012: Shareholder control of romantic relationships
It’s been about 10 months since our romantic breakup with Shareholder #7, and it seems prudent to set up the conditions under which we might enter future romantic relationships. It is is spring after all, and Tennyson says, “In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” Given the invisible power in a romantic relationship, the shareholders should have some control over the selection or approval of any possible romantic partners.
716 votes for yes, 113 votes for no. Proposal passed.
Recently the shareholders decided to take control of my romantic life. That’s right, I’m single. Using the latest in modern technology, we’ve created a system to give complete control with the shareholders. We call it the romance advisory board, and we think it’s really gonna change my life.
Mike: I set up a separate website that was password protected, had to be a shareholder to get in. Each person I went on date with I used a pseudonym for, and didn’t post any pictures of, and just described the date from my perspective.
Date with Jimmy (Wyoming) June 28 2012…Eva (Florida)…Maya (Colorado)…we met at Heart a few weeks ago for coffee…is a PhD student…so we went out for oysters after work…a shareholder recommended Maya and made a strong case for her qualifications…would she be weird, or would she be cool? Perhaps the sexual sparks did not cinematically fly…would she like the project, or think that it’s creepy?…had met someone he would love to be friends with, and engage with on future projects, including, but not limited to, softball…though Mike remembers the cocktails in somewhat unrealistic detail, in later data sheets submitted to his analyst, he will be unable to remember what Jimmy was wearing. Update June 26 2012: Maya emailed me today that she has taken herself out of consideration as a candidate…Mike enjoyed himself, finding Jimmy fun, cool, and in possession of a positive attitude.
***
Agassi Dakota, June 24 2012. This is a very strong candidate.
Marijke: Well when I first actually met Mike it was a friend’s house and we were all playing a board game.
Mike: It quickly became a chronicle of my dates with Marijke.
Marijke: We were playing this game called “What Were You Thinking,” which is the worst possible game you can imagine. There’s one loser and everybody else wins. You’re given a prompt and you make a list of five things from that prompt. So it might be things that are brown, and you’ll say well it’s poop and chocolate and hair and mud, or whatever your list is. And you’re trying to match your items to other people’s items. So what Mike would do is write his own name as the answer for each prompt, at least one time. And you knew if you couldn’t think of something, if it was some obscure question about basketball players, you could just write Mike Merrill and you would definitely get a point because you knew Mike was going to do that. So he was just messing with this game in a way that was so irritating to everybody. But it was also occasionally convenient to you if you needed to use it. I just remember being so aggravated by the way he wanted to needle the situation.
Mike: I was first interested when I heard that she was working part-time at a hedge fund, which I thought was incredibly fascinating.
Marijke: He asked me to lunch. And lunch was oysters and champagne, which I thought was a date, but he thought was a business lunch. So we just talked about what it was like working in finance. He certainly romanticized that.
She is self-possessed in a way that I find very attractive, and makes it very easy to talk to her. Right now I’d say I’m feeling very optimistic and excited. I feel challenged in a way that is pretty new for me.
Mike: Just that dance of discovery was very exciting, and she’s someone who’s very clear in her opinions and not accommodating. Because she doesn’t like something, she’s gonna tell you. And I was like, oh, OK.
Last night I went over to Agassi’s and we read finance reports. The plan was to watch a movie but I couldn’t find one we wanted to watch. Today she sent me a flirty text message about supply chain management. This is a little too perfect. Am I being played?
Shareholder: Has Agassi ever expressed that they don’t fully understand, like, or support the romance project?
Mike: Agassi seems fully supportive of the project. She has expressed concern about what happens if she drops below 50% — concerns I share — but also understands that I need to continue to go on dates.
Shareholder: What do you mean when you say you feel challenged? How does she challenge you?
Mike: Good question. Agassi works to improve herself. She applies herself to things and then gets very good at them. I find this intimidating, as I tend to rely on a very general knowledge of anything. My own weaknesses are brought out and I want to work on them. I find myself wanting to try harder, to be more studious, in order to catch up with her.
Shareholder: Can you tell us more about her, as a human? I’m not sure we have enough information to vote on. What’s her vibe? What’s her deal? What are her life goals? Do you have similar politics? What are her big interests? What, more specifically, do you like about her?
Mike: I’m not sure I know how to describe these things about myself much less another person, but I understand what you’re getting at. She works at a hedge fund, but that’s pretty recent. She was in coffee before that. She’s admitted she prefers a smaller group of people to a larger one. She’s athletic, she prefers dogs to cats. She plays the piano. This is just a list of things, which isn’t really the answer you’re looking for.
Mike: Marijke bought shares soon after we started dating. Which then meant that she was reading all of the reports. She later told me that she voted herself up and everybody else down. And I was like, ‘Hey all’s fair, that’s how the system works, you didn’t break any rules, that’s probably a good sign.’
Interviewer: What was your scheme at that point?
Marijke: Um, to win the game probably. To play it and to mess with him. Because he likes to mess with people, I thought wouldn’t it be fun to mess with Mike.
Mike: And I took that as another great sign. If you believe as a shareholder that you’re the best candidate then that’s the action you should take.
Interviewer: Isn’t that insider trading or something? What would the FTC say about this?
Mike: You know insider information is not illegal, only insider trading is, so it’s only if she profits off that, that it’s actually insider trading. Uh yeah, I dunno. That’s an arguable gray area.
Marijke: I encouraged him to go on more dates. It was a little bit of a cuckold situation, where he felt stuck in this thing of his own creation, and that’s very funny to me, that the thing you made is torturing you a little bit.
Interviewer: Were there specific recaps of dates that stood out to you in your memory?
Marijke: Yeah there was one. He had a little tryst at a wedding.
I was at the amazing desert wedding of friends in LA. At some point in the evening I met Jordan.
Marijke: It came out later that this person at the wedding was not a woman, and I was surprised by that. But also it was like, this person really is confused about what they want, and they actually need this project because they truly have no clue what they’re up to. They need to be able to let loose. And he needs the shareholders’ permission to do that. I think Mike likes having the shareholder permission to do things because he doesn’t trust his own instincts. I think that he would just rather not decide for himself.
Interviewer: Is that something you can relate to?
Marijke: No I’m the complete opposite. I want to do everything myself because I don’t think anyone else will do it well.
***
Marijke: I liked how inclusive Mike was, he was just an open book. He was like ‘Hey meet my friends, hey come to this thing.’
Mike: Marijke being up for this stuff is very exciting to me. She’s fully a participant in my life in that way. Her ability to let me do that at all, like any of this stuff, is sometimes surprising.
Ongoing report, August 2, 2012
Things are progressing in the realm of Mike’s romantic life. Agassi has gone from a promising candidate to full-on girlfriend status. He is now able to be open to another person in a new way. This feels good to him. When discussing it, he very nearly radiates an unearthly glow of happiness. The die has been cast. Phase 2, Relationship, has been entered.
Mike: I thought of dating someone seriously as almost like bring on a vice president. Before things ever get to a vote, you’re gonna have talked about it to this person. Thinking, what does a corporation do when it brings somebody on in this role? I’m sure there’s a contract involved.
Interviewer: I love that you say this as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Mike: Yeah like I have a bracelet, but instead of WWJD, it’s What Would a Corporation Do?
GENERAL RELATIONSHIP AGREEMENT
This agreement establishes an exclusive romantic relationship between the following undersigned parties. Marijke Jean Dixon, Girlfriend, and Kenneth Michael Merrill, Boyfriend, herein referred to as Couple…
Section I: Partnership outline
1.1) The Couple will at all times faithfully, industriously and to the best of their skill, ability, experience, and talents, perform all of the duties required as an active participant in the relationship
1.2) The Couple will make available their geo-location via the Find My Friend iPhone application, at all times. Excepting instances in which revealing their location would compromise a pleasant surprise
4.2) The Couple will work to replace IKEA furniture. No additional IKEA furniture is to be acquired for the house
5.1) A minimum of one evening per week is to be dedicated to spending time together, with or without guests, as negotiable
Spending leisurely morning together in matching Brooks Brothers pajamas, is encouraged…Sexual relations with the goal of mutual satisfaction must take place at minimum three times per week, excepting period of illness, separation, and conditions that prevent the enjoyment of sex…Nicknames will not be given to genitalia… Pornography restrictions include: a. Porn that is illegal as defined by US law and/or the state law of Oregon
b. Porn in which an acting party is a personal acquaintance, unless watched together…the couple will keep fingernails clean and neatly trimmed. Nail length will not exceed 1/4 inch…
Section 11: Contract termination and death
The couple will provide shareholders one-month notice of their intention to terminate the relationship, with the exception below…
11.4.1) Should both parties be rendered incapable of decision, the shareholders will decide if the relationship should say in place.
Signed: Boyfriend (Kenneth Michael Merrill) & Girlfriend (Marijke Jean Dixon)
***
Marijke: We made a funny little worksheet to make sure we were doing all the things, little checkboxes.
Mike: Starting at the top there was social obligations, oh and sexual relations per week, and oysters, we got a certain number of oysters.
Interviewer: There’s a section called ‘Brooks Brothers’?
Mike: Yeah so she was required to wear a Brooks Brothers item at least once a week.
Marijke: We would get to the end of a period and be like, ‘Oh shit we have to go do these seven things that we don’t wanna go do, in order to get an A on our project.
Interviewer: I have to say the checkboxes of ‘had sex three times’ does not appeal to me at all.
Marijke: No! Well it doesn’t appeal to anybody! But you know what if you talk to any relationship therapist that’s like actually what you’re supposed to do. Whether you wanna do it or not, you’re supposed to have sex. Guess what, it’s good for your relationship.
Mike: It was very much a joint negotiation of this thing.
Marijke: I thought it was really good, like prenups for people who just started dating. Because then you could say what you want, or you could be forced to talk about things that you wouldn’t otherwise talk about in a relationship.
***
Nov 9 2016: Proposal proposal
Today I am excited to come to the shareholders with the most important shareholder proposal yet. Should I ask Marijke to marry me? The shareholders have successfully guided me in finding the most amazing and beautiful woman I have ever met. So it’s only prudent that I should heed their advice in taking the next step. A proposal for marriage is a triumphant conclusion to the shareholders’ involvement in my romantic life. Through good times and bad, the shareholders have been there to advise and direct me; I am a better person and boyfriend because of them. If this proposal passes I’m sure they will also make me a better husband.
5044 for yes, 51 votes for no. Proposal passed.
Mike: I think of a marriage like a corporate merger. The joint nature of this new venture, what are those goals? It’s not the same as mine individually or hers individually. Those can still be pursued, but what are the joint goals?
Interviewer: So what would you do if a shareholder wrote in to say, I think you need to put up to a vote to end your relationship.
Mike: That’d be interesting. In all honesty…
Interviewer: I love that your first reaction is to kind of smile, oh that’d be really fascinating.
Mike: Well again, I have to think about it from the outside point of view. I would probably put it up for a vote. I would go and whip some votes, and know that I’ve got a certain number of people on lock, and talk that over with Marijke. I would minimize the risk, I would work within the system to make sure it went the way that I wanted, but I’m pretty okay with that.
Interviewer: What if you’ve miscounted?
Mike: Right, and it’s over? I mean, in an ideal world, I would follow through with it. In a very practical way I don’t know how that would work. If they were just like, ‘Don’t be married to that person.’ Let’s say it’s as simple as that. There’s this technicality, I could say I’ll go through the technicality of a divorce, but everything else would be the same.
Interviewer: Do you think Marijke would be okay with that?
Mike: Absolutely not. And I wouldn’t either, really. But I like the idea of that. Figuring out a way to make it work, for all parties.
Marijke: Mike loves projects more than anything else. They’re his number one priority. Which, that can be hard in a relationship.
Interviewer: But you were saying earlier, that ultimately if things came to a head, he would pick you over the shareholders.
Marijke: That remains to be seen, but this is a separate point, which is that it’s where he wants to spend all of his time and his energy.
Interviewer: But that’s part of what you find attractive about him too.
Marijke: I don’t share a lot of interest in certain parts of the KMikeyM project. You know you’re a really nice guy and we’re having a nice conversation, but I would rather be gardening right now.
Interviewer: Why’d you say yes?
Marijke: As a consolation.
Interviewer: So you’re talking to me as a favor to Mike.
Marijke: Yeah. He primarily wants to give his attention to his projects, so I decided at a point that I didn’t want to give my attention to them also.
***
May 16, 2017: Shareholder approval rating
We the shareholders are glad that you’re alive and well, and we want to wish you some form of a happy birthday, but not in the traditional form of song and cake. Instead we wish you some percentage of a happy birthday based on how well we think you’re doing at being the world’s only publically traded person. This will be a regular vote to determine how much support you have from your shareholder community. A yes is a vote of confidence that KMikeyM is a ship on the right course. A no vote is a warning that you’re off the mark and we expect some changes. 1409 votes for yes, 2686 votes for no. Proposal rejected.
Mike: Hello this is Mike
Interviewer: Hey Mike it’s Nick.
Mike: Hey um should I put him on speaker? Uh, hey how’s it going?
Interviewer: How are you?
Mike: I’m OK. Not great.
Interviewer: I saw there was a vote saying the shareholders were disappointed with you.
Mike: Yeah they definitely took the opportunity to critique and point out the flaws. You know stock price had been flat, the votes were boring. Basically it was like, you seem to have back-burnered this project in your life, and it’s not as fun as it was.
Interviewer: And did that come as a surprise?
Mike: It doesn’t come as a shock, but just to have that overwhelming response was sort of crushing. I’ve relied on that structure of having shareholders and doing this thing, as a base level of my entire personality, that to have that attacked at the same time things are going difficult in other parts of my life…
Interviewer: Like what?
Mike: That’s a good follow-up question. I’m welling up a little right now which is strange. Staring at a stranger while doing it. I’m not gonna be able to talk about this without crying, which is probably going to make your editing a little harder. Um, relationship stuff is going really really bad right now. And to the point where it might not work. It might be over. Being publically traded means I get to interface with all these wonderful amazing people, and have these great adventures with them. But what I don’t do kind of because of that, is I don’t tend to go really deep with people. Which I didn’t think was a problem. until it presented as such with Marijke. And she sees that as well in me. My first defensive reaction to hearing that was — maybe still is — I prefer it this way. I should be allowed to have a lot of friends who I’m not as close to, and if that works for me, then who’s anyone to say otherwise? But this weird tiny stupid little birthday vote ended up kind of like — not in a way that the crowd decided or anything — but it reflected that back that I think that’s true. The way that I kind of keep people at arm’s length and don’t share those things, and also don’t share those with her either. I’m good at just putting it in a box and stuffing it way down deep inside. And I think doing this project facilitates that to a certain extent. It hurts when I think about the lack of connection, specifically with Marijke. Because I’ve treated her like a shareholder. I mean maybe like the most important shareholder. But still a shareholder.
Interviewer: And how should you have been treating her?
Mike: I don’t have yet a very good model for that, which I think is part of the frustration from her end. She knows that I’m not very good at that. At figuring out what that means, at dealing with it, at anything. It’s gonna take a while before I can tell you the answer to that.
***
I’m moving to Los Angeles. I accepted an offer to become the major domo of Sandwich Video. While this would normally be a time for high fives and champagne, as a publically traded person there is some disappointment that such a massive and life-altering decision was not put to a shareholder vote. Historically my rule of thumb for what to put for vote, has been anything I’d ask my friends advice about. This heuristic has meant that I ask shareholders about big life decisions (who should I date) as well as the smaller questions (should I get a car). The last time I made an executive decision without shareholder approval, I was chastised, and my recent low approval reveals the shareholders feel disengaged from my life, which is reflected in the stagnant stock price.
2017 has been a chaotic year. I’ve been underemployed after leaving the company I co-founded. My romantic relationship is currently up in the air. My shareholders gave me a 34% approval rating on my 40th birthday. On the other hand, I’m about to launch a new project I’m incredibly excited about, I’m going to be profiled in Playboy, and I recently got to walk the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. These ups and downs have me asking a lot of questions of myself, just as the shareholders are asking me questions, like: ‘If huge life decisions can be made without the input of shareholders, what’s the point of the shareholders? It seems like shareholders are only consulted if it’s somewhat convenient for you. Maybe the project should end.’ I have been asking the same questions. My conclusion is that not everything in my life is a shareholder question. I understand the disappointment in not voting on my move to Los Angeles and the acceptance of a new job. But shareholders can still make their voice heard. Because my stock price has always been the true measure of shareholder approval. If you’re excited about me moving to LA, you should buy shares. If you feel the project is damaged by not putting this to a vote, you should sell shares.
Mike: Hey this is Mike.
Interviewer: Hey how are you?
Mike: Doing well. I’m in this apartment with no furniture. I did borrow an inflatable bed from a friend so that’s helpful. First night was on the floor with just a bunch of blankets.
Interviewer: What happened to the share price after you announced that you were moving to LA?
Mike: There was a fair amount of trades, it stayed roughly the same place, but is definitely down a little bit. There was some pretty amazing negative comments:
I think it’s bullshit that you made this decision without consulting the shareholders, it’s a decision that should’ve been put up for a vote 100%. Will I sell my shares? Probably not, just because it’s much more difficult for me to get my money. But this decision completely destroys the concept of a publically traded person. This job might’ve been great and maybe most of the shareholders would’ve voted for it, but you had no right to accept this offer. Even if you wanted to accept this offer, you could’ve asked them to wait a day and held an emergency vote, or even just a couple of hours. But you didn’t and that disappoints. You make stupid votes for piano lessons that have no impact on our well-being, but you don’t make a vote on a job. That’s just bullshit.
Marijke: Well Mike lives in LA. That happened really quickly. I encouraged him to do it. And I’m here in Portland, living my little bachelorette life, with the dogs. That’s the basic update.
Interviewer: Do you ever imagine that you’re gonna sell your shares?
Marijke: Yeah. I think I would sell my shares if it became clear to me based on my insider information that Mike was going to sunset the project. So for all you shareholders out there, if I sell my shares, that means Mike’s probably gonna destroy the project.
Interviewer: Do you think that’s gonna happen?
Marijke: No I don’t think that’ll happen. Well, it’s hard to say.
Interviewer: Do you ever foresee a point where you would consider retiring the project?
Mike: I’ve thought about that a lot recently. I think the way that it currently works, I’ve explored most of what the system we’ve created can do.
Interviewer: I mean what if someone did a hostile takeover and they told you you had to jump off a bridge. What would you do?
Mike: Um, I don’t have to do anything the shareholders say. And in fact I haven’t always done what they say. I haven’t learned to play the piano, and they did mandate that. And the share prices probably lowered for that. I think in the same way, if somebody bought all the shares and then mandated something that I didn’t do, ultimately I’m still free to choose if I want to participate or not. You know we’re all free to choose our actions, we don’t always get to choose the consequences of those actions. In my case the consequences are sort of measured daily, by the share price.
***
Mike: I have a project that recently got approved, that hopefully will launch a couple months from now.
Kenneth Michelangelo Maximilian, Michael to his friends, of which he had several, sighed. Like any Angelo worth the name, he too wanted juice. The healthier and more costly, the better.
Mike: It’s a collaborative choose-your-own adventure story.
Michael was 37 years old. Yet already he manifested the status symbols of a corporate titan. Although it was 10 AM on a Saturday, he was nearly fully kitted out in his businessman costume. An impeccable blue Ermenegildo Zegna suit, white Brooks Brothers shirt, no tie, the gleaming hint of silver and blue from the Breitling Navitimer on his wrist, and the kind of haircut that simply could not be procured at a barber that took walk-ins.
Mike: It’s erotic fan fic about me that’s being ghost-written.
As a rule Michael was incredibly sexy and compelling to women. Yet in his eyes there was nothing of the flinty murderous hardness that one might expect from such an evidently successful man of international business.
Mike: But the idea is that you’d write a certain amount, then put up a vote about what direction should the story go next. You only ever pursue one path. You don’t go back and have the option to pursue the missed path.Caro Matteo,
so che non leggerai mai questa mia lettera, ma te la scrivo lo stesso nella speranza che qualche ipotetico lettore, incuriosito dall'intestazione, possa decidere di spendere cinque minuti del suo tempo per capire cosa ho da dirti sul lavoro.
Lo spunto per il tema me l'hai dato tu con quell'improvvida intervista, rilasciata a Il Messaggero, in cui contesti il reddito di cittadinanza e proponi invece un "lavoro di cittadinanza".
Non ti nascondo che di primo acchito, a leggere quelle parole, ho avuto un travaso di bile. Poi ho lasciato decantare i miei sentimenti bellicosi e alla fine ho deciso di prendere carta e tastiera per provare a dirtene quattro. E non, bada bene, per un'antipatia politica nei tuoi confronti (che non ho: mi sei del tutto indifferente).
Ma per la ferma convinzione che un reddito di cittadinanza incondizionato sia ormai improcrastinabile (per chiarezza: il reddito di cittadinanza che propongono i cinquestelle è un'altra cosa; io penso a una erogazione monetaria mensile e incondizionata, cioè priva di qualsiasi condizione o ricatto, in grado di consentire una vita minima dignitosa a chiunque sia dotato di cittadinanza).
Tu affermi che il lavoro non è solo stipendio, ma anche dignità. Ebbene, mi spiace dirtelo ma non sai cosa dici. La mia occupazione prevalente consiste nello studiare le parole. E credo fermamente che sia scorretto - soprattutto in politica - non conoscere il senso profondo dei termini che usiamo per dare forma ai nostri pensieri (ti è capitato recentemente di confondere la decrescita con la recessione: ma di questo ti scriverò un'altra volta).
Se solo avessi una minima idea del significato profondo del termine lavoro, capiresti tu stesso che il lavoro non ha nulla a che fare con la dignità, e men che meno lo si può considerare un diritto. Semmai è un maledettissimo dovere: infatti si deve lavorare per vivere. Ma non divaghiamo e stiamo al punto.
Il lavoro è una disgrazia. Questa considerazione, del tutto ovvia, può sembrare provocatoria e paradossale solo a chi, come te, ha ormai smarrito il senso etimologico del termine labor: voce latina da cui deriva "lavoro".
Labor è sia un sostantivo, sia la prima persona del presente, modo indicativo, del verbo labi, che significa "cadere", "scivolare", "lasciarsi andare", ma anche "tramontare", "declinare", "venir meno fino a morire".
Questo tendere allo sfinimento rende il labor una disgrazia, una sventura che fa diventare deboli, tremanti e fa vacillare. Ma trema e vacilla ciò che è destinato a una rapida scomparsa, e che è quindi labile, perché sfiancato dal travaglio (travagliare, dal latino popolare tripaliare, significa torturare e tormentare sul trepalium o tripalium: strumento a tre piedi che nel mondo cristiano sostituì la croce), termine che è passato nel francese travail, nello spagnolo trabajo, nel portoghese trabalho, nel catalano treball, nel galiziano traballo, così come anche in alcuni dialetti italiani, quale ad esempio il siciliano travagghiari, il piemontese travajé e il sardo traballari.
Il lavoro quindi destruttura, affatica e travaglia l'uomo rendendolo labile, fuggevole, passeggero, perché sfinisce fino a distruggere, fino a far morire chi resta curvo sotto il peso della fatica. Da questo, lo comprendi bene anche tu, deriva che il lavoro è sempre nocivo. Non esistono lavori buoni, e non può essere considerato lavoro ciò che non produce sfiancamento e sofferenza fisica. Il lavoro è una tortura, mai una vocazione cui anelare, un'arte da alimentare o un valore da difendere.
Forse non conosci il testo della canzone La sopravvivenza di Enzo Del Re: uomo del sud refrattario alla fatica, allo sfiancamento, alla distruzione fisica. Comincia così: "La Repubblica è fondata sul lavoro. Viva il lavoro. Non importa quale. Non importa dove. Non importa come, con chi e perché". Faresti bene ad ascoltarla, dura solo pochi minuti, e in quest'ultimo periodo credo che tu ne abbia di tempo.
Nell'intervista a cui facevo riferimento prima, dici che il reddito di cittadinanza non risponde al primo articolo della Costituzione, e proponi quindi un lavoro di cittadinanza. E lo fai perché credi che il primo articolo abbia senso. E lo credi perché non sai che già Calamandrei, discutendo con gli altri padri costituenti, si pose il problema: Cosa dirò ai miei studenti - disse - quando dovrò spiegare loro questo articolo? Che significa L'Italia è una Repubblica democratica fondata sul lavoro? E chi non lavora? E i bambini? E gli anziani, non sono forse anch'essi parte della comunità?
E stiamo parlando dei dubbi sollevati da un uomo, come Calamandrei, che nel corso della sua vita successiva difenderà strenuamente la Costituzione. Ma tu no. Tu il problema non te lo poni. E passi.
C'è però un'altra questione di non poco conto. Tutti gli esperti del settore tecnologico continuano a ripetere che nei prossimi anni l'automazione esploderà. La tecnica, finalmente, viene a liberare l'uomo dal giogo del lavoro. Non è una buona cosa? Certo che lo è. Ma al contempo ci troviamo nel bel mezzo di un pasticcio.
Perché il mondo distopico che abbiamo costituito prevede che l'unico modo per accedere alle merci è il denaro. E chi non lavora non riceve danaro (ma a volte capita pure che lavori senza ricevere alcun compenso, come accade alle casalinghe: non sarebbe invece il caso di darglielo uno stipendio?). Chi non lavora non ha quindi il danaro necessario a soddisfare i suoi bisogni.
È proprio questo il punto. A fronte di una progressiva espulsione dell'essere umano dal processo lavorativo, diventa urgente pensare a una nuova declinazione dell'uguaglianza. E tu cosa proponi? Il lavoro di cittadinanza come principio di valore! Ma il lavoro non ci sarà più. Ce ne sarà sempre meno. E non sarà sufficiente inventarselo.
E poi lasciami dire un'ultima cosa: è abbastanza singolare che a difendere strenuamente il valore del lavoro siano persone che spesso nel mondo del lavoro non ci sono capitate nemmeno per sbaglio. Absit iniuria verbis.
La questione è lunga e complicata, dovrei fare ancora diversi ragionamenti, ma in questa mia prima lettera mi premeva chiarire soprattutto la questione linguistica. Il lavoro è una disgrazia. Chi dice che è un valore e un diritto, o è ignorante o è in malafede. O forse non ha mai lavorato.
A presto. Mai tuo AlessandroCallum McManaman: Referee Mark Halsey said he would have sent off the Wigan midfielder, had he seen this challenge
Chiefs were prompted to act after their own rules meant Wigan's Callum McManaman escaped a ban for a knee-high tackle on Massadio Haidara that saw the Newcastle defender taken off on a stretcher.
Referee Mark Halsey admitted he had missed the challenge and would have otherwise sent off McManaman but, because one of his assistants did see it, the FA claimed it was powerless to act.
Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias slammed the FA's disciplinary process as "not fit for purpose" after the incident, which prompted a pitchside fracas |
you see among many of our favorite shows that go to Walt Disney World – including Full House, Step By Step, and last year’s Blackish – is that characters from the show end up joining Disney parades or other shows in the parks. I think this because there is a subconscious, or maybe even conscious, feeling by many people that they want to be part of the show. Guests who take part in the Star Wars Guided Tour get to live out their theme park fantasy by being a part of Captain Phasma’s march of the First Order. Guests meet up up with Captain Phasma and the gang as soon as they come onstage and you travel directly behind the stormtroopers as they make their way down Hollywood Blvd.
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# 5 – Guaranteed Spots in the Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple
One of the most fun shows to watch in all of Walt Disney World – but especially for Star Wars fans – is Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple. You basically get to see young kids live out the dream most of us had growing up, battling Darth Vader and the Dark Side as Jedi padawans. Guests on the Star Wars Guided Tour don’t need to battle the crowds to check out this extremely popular show, as there is a front row spot waiting for you. Even better, any kids in the group aged 4 through 12 will get to participate in the show.
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# 4 – ALL Food and Snacks Are Included During the Tour
Good news, guests will not be going hungry during their seven hour tour. Popcorn and soda is offered during the outdoor activities, followed by a Star Wars themed dinner at Backlot Express, and the event is capped off with a next level bananas dessert party (which we’ll get to later.) The meal at Backlot Express is something else, as choices include the bonkers Royal Guard Burger and the is this real Dark Side Chicken and Waffles. One great touch that the tour has is that guests are assigned planets at the beginning of the tour. We were given Alderaan (we’re 90% sure that this doomed planet wasn’t given because we were from the SATURDAY SIX). When you get to Backlot Express, the tables are reserved for each particular planet. Small things like that make a huge difference when looking at how special a theme park experience is. Guests also place their order for dinner at the beginning of the tour, and it is brought directly to you at Backlot Express.
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# 3 – The Best Spots for Every Star Wars Related Show
We mentioned earlier that guests in the Star Wars Guided Tour get right up front for the Jedi Training show, but you also get that same type of reserved viewing area to every Star Wars related show in the park, including the A Galaxy Far, Far Away stage show and the A Galactic Spectacular fireworks show. Guests are also given priority access to the Path of the Jedi movie, Star Tours – The Adventure Continues, and exhibits in the Launch Bay.
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# 2 – The Dessert Party
There is no denying that some of the offerings sound just plain goofy (c’mon, Grape Saber?) but the overall amount of offerings at the dessert party inside the Star Wars Launch Bay was very impressive. Pretty much ever type of snack was available. Fruit, cheeses, flatbreads, cookies, cupcakes, rice krispie treats, brownies, bread pudding, ice cream, and even freeze-fried Nutella truffle (which shockingly was not called Carbon-froze Nutella truffle). Drinks included Lunar Lemonade (watermelon lemonade) and Jettison Juice (everyone’s favorite POG juice with mango syrup) for the non-alcohol drinkers, and Galactic Punch, Cosmic Citrus Twist, and Light Speed Margarita for those aged 21 and over.
It is important to note this is not a dedicated dessert party solely for Guided Tour guests, but the tour does get let into the party area first. This dessert party alone costs $69, so it is something to factor in when considering the overall value of the Guided Tour. While enjoying the dessert party, guests are encouraged to participate in the meet and greets with Kylo Ren and Chewbacca in Launch Bay. Guided Tour guests recieve immediate access to the characters whereas the other party guests had to wait in line.
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# 1 – Tour Guides Giving Fun Facts About Star Wars
The highlight of almost any tour at WDW is the actual Cast Members who guide you throughout the day, and the Star Wars Guided Tour is no exception. From the beginning of the tour all the way until the end, our guides were giving unbelievable details on everything we were experiencing. Some of our favorite bits of info included the cameo of Captain Rex in Star Tours – the Adventure Continues, pointing out the Droids hieroglyphic in the Great Movie Ride, and alerting us to the ice cream maker of Willrow Hood in the Launch Bay. Now we consider ourselves pretty big Star Wars fans, but even we never heard of Willrow Hood, but apparently there is a whole community that cosplays as his character. For Star Wars and Disney parks fans like us, this was the absolute highlight of the entire tour as it let us in on stories that combined two of our most favorite things.
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Check-in for the Star Wars Guided Tour is at 1PM, so to participate in attractions such as Toy Story Midway Mania or Tower of Terror, it is recommended to rope drop the park and get as much done possible before hand. The tours take place on Saturdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays. For more information or to book your own tour: CLICK HERE
So there you have it: The SATURDAY SIX Look at Disney’s Seven Hour STAR WARS Guided Tour! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! articles, or, for your listening pleasure, check out the E-Ticket Report podcast. You can also follow Your Humble Author on Twitter (@derekburgan).
If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following:
How to Survive Star Wars Weekends in Six Easy Step
The SATURDAY SIX Looks at STAR WARS in Walt Disney World
Six Of Our Emotions Coming Out of the D23 Expo (featuring Star Wars Land)
Six Things We STILL Can’t Believe Actually Happened at WDW
Six Reasons We Love Univesal’s Toothsome Chocolate Emporium
Six Pieces of Disney Merchandise That Don’t Exist (But Totally Should)
Special Thanks to crack staff photographer Brandon Glover, the Sommelier of Tony’s Town Square Brian Carey, the Patron Saint of Theme Park Bloggers YoPaulieNJ, and blogger to the stars Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. Be sure to also check out Brandon on The Park Blogger podcast with goofballs co-hosts Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHyde, while fellow Potterheads may enjoy Meg’s work on the Central Florida Slug Club.
FINAL PLUG! Did you know The 2017 Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando has a special edition of the SATURDAY SIX in it? Finally, someone came up with an actual reason to read a book. ORDER this baby now and support SIX NATION (boy do we need a better name than that.)This is a list of the fonts most commonly used on my website along with links to download them. The first few are handwritten and primarily used in speech bubbles, and the rest are used for headlines and other copy.
This is the handwritten font I use the most, created by Kimberly Geswein
Sample use:
Also by Kimberly Geswein
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Created by the wonderful Exljbris Font Foundry. I also use this font in my logo.
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Also by the Exljbris Font Foundry
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Comes pre-installed on most operating systems
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This comes pre-installed on most Mac computers, you might have to search around for Windows though. I use this as my default font on TheOatmeal.com as well.
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Sample use:The Recording Academy announced its 2017 Special Merit Awards recipients. The Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are Shirley Caesar, Ahmad Jamal, Charley Pride, Jimmie Rodgers, Nina Simone, Sly Stone, and the Velvet Underground. Thom Bell, Mo Ostin and Ralph Peer are Trustees Award honorees; Alan Dower Blumlein is the Technical GRAMMY Award recipient.
The Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates performers who have made outstanding contributions of artistic significance to the field of recording.
Additionally, The Recording Academy and Hal Leonard Books will release in early January A GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends, a hardcover book that collects two decades of artist-written tributes to The Academy’s annual Special Merit Awards honorees. The tributes were originally commissioned for the annual GRAMMY Awards program book and never published widely until now.
Read more at GRAMMY.org.
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commentsA Theory of Justice The Musical! Original Oxford production poster Music Ramin Sabi
Toby Huelin
Eylon Levy
Tommy Peto Lyrics Eylon Levy
Ramin Sabi
Tommy Peto Book Eylon Levy
Ramin Sabi
Tommy Peto Basis A Theory of Justice by John Rawls Productions 2013 Oxford
2013 Edinburgh
2015 Cardiff
2018 London Workshop
A Theory of Justice: The Musical is a 2013 musical comedy by Eylon Levy, Ramin Sabi, Tommy Peto and Toby Huelin. Billed as "an all-singing, all-dancing romp through 2,500 years of political philosophy", the musical tells a fictionalised account of the writing of A Theory of Justice (1971), the classic philosophical treatise by American political philosopher John Rawls. It premiered in Oxford's Keble O'Reilly Theatre in January 2013 and was revived for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2013. In 2018, a reworked version was presented for a rehearsed reading in London's West End.
The musical follows John Rawls on a journey through time to gain inspiration for A Theory of Justice from a chorus of singing and dancing political philosophers, including Plato, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Mill, and Kant.[1] As he pursues his love interest, a beautiful student named Fairness, Rawls is menaced by villainous libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick and his lover Ayn Rand, who plot to stop Rawls writing his liberal theory of justice.
The musical was nominated for four awards during its 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival revival.
Synopsis [ edit ]
Act I [ edit ]
The musical opens behind the veil of ignorance, with Immanuel Kant promising to tell the audience a two thousand year-long musical story about justice ("Overture"). In Harvard University in 1971, students are excited to change the world but think philosophy is pointless ("Harvard Yard!"). John Rawls, starting his first day as a young philosophy professor at Harvard, realises he needs his own theory of justice to inspire them ("I Need a Theory"), and is quickly enamoured with a beautiful student who gives him an idea, whom he calls Fairness ("Justice as Fairness"). Meanwhile his boss, the sinister Robert Nozick, decides to write his own theory ("Nozick Needs a Theory")—a libertarian philosophy to shrink the role of the state, which Rawls fears hurt the poor ("No, No, No, Nozick"). By a stroke of luck, the physicists accidentally open a time vortex in Harvard Yard ("It's A Vortex") and Fairness falls down it. Rawls jumps down the vortex to save Fairness and meet the classical philosophers for inspiration on the way ("I'll Have a Theory!").
Robert Nozick returns home to his lover, the villainous Ayn Rand. They realise Rawls is trying to write a liberal egalitarian theory that would promote wealth redistribution, and Nozick resolves to pursue Rawls to stop him.
Fairness arrives in Ancient Greece, where the eccentric philosopher Zeno offers to take her to a wise man who can help her get home, and they walk there in ever smaller steps. Rawls wakes up and is led to the Piraeus, an ancient Athenian nightclub, to watch the ventriloquist artist Plato and his dummy Socrates singing about justice ("Philosophy on a Plato").
Rawls tries in vain to impress Fairness by criticising the Republic ("What Plato is Ignoring"/"What I Love about His Theory"), and she leaves. Fairness sings that the only men she falls in love with are intimidated by her own intelligence, but she is determined to find her perfect man ("My Philosopher-King").
In Civil War-era England, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke compete for control through a rap battle ("The State of Nature"), which Rawls attempts to mediate ("Rebuke of Hobbes and Locke"). Fairness is abducted by the gangs, but Rawls saves her by outsmarting them ("The Fairest Girl"). Fairness rebuffs his advances again and leaves. She sings that Rawls might be the man she is looking for ("My Philosopher-King (reprise)") and agrees to give him a chance.
In an 18th-century Swiss town square, Rawls and Fairness rescue louche lothario Jean-Jacques Rousseau from his chains, and Rousseau immediately seduces Fairness ("Man Was Born Free"). Nozick appears to foil Rawls's efforts, and Fairness elopes with Rousseau when Rawls fails to refute him.
Nozick is determined write his own theory to upstage Rawls ("Nozick: When I Write My Theory"), but his lover Ayn Rand is frustrated by his slow progress. She teaches him that he must be completely selfish and that her love for him is conditional on his defeating Rawls, in a sexy tango number that culminates in a rousing Act I Finale ("You Must Be Selfish") with the entire cast.
Act II [ edit ]
Nozick finally comes up with his own libertarian theory that argues against wealth redistribution by the government ("Nozick's Theory of Justice"), performing with his two dancing showgirls, Transfer and Acquisition. Fairness laments that Rousseau cheated on her ("My Philosopher King (reprise 2)") and is comforted by the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft.
On a Victorian promenade, a miserable Rawls stumbles upon the Utilitarian Barbershop Quartet, a travelling troupe that sings to make people maximally happy. Fairness offers to help Rawls write his theory, but is incensed by his refusal to take her ideas seriously ("Woman Was Not Born Free"). She calls on her new feminist friends to tell him about the importance of female voices and women's rights in a jazzy number led by Mary Wollstonecraft, backed by suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and suffragist Millicent Fawcett ("Break Out Your Gilded Cage"). Fairness runs away again.
At an abandoned railway station in a dystopian America, Ayn Rand reveals she has been travelling through history seducing different philosophers (including Martin Luther, Alexander Hamilton, and Adam Smith) to advance or destroy their careers in a powerful showstopper ("The Leading Lady").
A downhearted Rawls ("I'd Be A Great Thinker") encounters Karl Marx, a crazy homeless man who depresses him further. He is about to give up, but instead decides writing his theory means going back to square one ("Forget It All"). Enter his fabulous "deontological fairy Gottmutter" Immanuel Kant who urges Rawls in a power ballad not to give up and gives him clues to complete his theory ("You're a Rational Being").
Inspired by Kant, Rawls devises the Veil of Ignorance: justice is the set of rules we would agree on if we did not know who we would be in society ("The Veil of Ignorance"). He finds Fairness trapped behind the Veil, but she refuses to leave with him until he finally explains what justice is. Nozick threatens to shoot Rawls but allows him to present his ideas ("The Principles of Justice"). Ayn Rand arrives to finish Rawls off with the other philosophers in tow, having persuaded them that Rawls opposes their ideas. Rawls convinces the philosophers that he has taken the best of their work and synthesised it ("Historical Synthesis"). After the philosophers are tricked into falling behind the Veil of Ignorance, they forget their own interests and converge on Rawls's principles of justice, vindicating his theory ("The Formal Principles of Justice").
Fairness pushes Ayn Rand behind the Veil, and she disappears, because having forgotten her own interests, "there was nothing left of her". Nozick storms off, promising to return in three years with his own theory. Fairness and Rawls finally kiss ("We Have a Theory").
Musical numbers [ edit ]
Characters [ edit ]
Leads [ edit ]
John Rawls, a young Harvard philosophy professor and liberal hero
Fairness, a beautiful Harvard student and Rawls's muse
Robert Nozick, the libertarian villain and Harvard professor
Ayn Rand, an evil Objectivist philosopher and Nozick's lover
Main Philosophers [ edit ]
Supporting Cast [ edit ]
The musical can be performed by a minimum cast of 11 actors (6 male, 5 female).
Production history [ edit ]
The book and lyrics were written by Eylon Levy,[2] Olivier Award-winning producer Ramin Sabi,[3] and Tommy Peto[4] —undergraduate students of Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. The music was composed by Ramin Sabi and Toby Huelin,[5] an Oxford music student, together with Levy and Peto.
The writers described A Theory of Justice: The Musical! as a "light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek, camp and intellectually profound addition to the musical theatre canon”,[6] as well as "irreverent and self-deprecating".[1] They have said it is "very much based on traditional Broadway, Disney-style musicals" and satirises that genre of musical.[7] Co-writer Eylon Levy has revealed that the music "very often sprang out of the philosophy itself", and that the writers used the rhythm of lines of philosophical texts, such as Rousseau's The Social Contract, for inspiration.[8]
2013 original Oxford production [ edit ]
A Theory of Justice: The Musical! enjoyed a sell-out world premiere in Oxford's 180-seater Keble O'Reilly Theatre, 30 January - 2 February 2013.[9] It was produced by writers Sabi and Levy for DEM Productions, directed by Esmé Hicks[10] and choreographed by Dana Mills, with musical direction by composer Toby Huelin. To create the time vortex, the production used the "biggest lighting budget ever" for a show at the O'Reilly Theatre.[11]
The musical received rave reviews. Philosopher Nigel Warburton called it "brilliant: hilarious, witty, and profound", saying he "cried with laughter for most of two hours".[12] The Cherwell (newspaper) gave the musical five stars, calling it "spectacularly, delightfully nerdy... both entertaining and educational, a truly remarkable musical. You would be a fool to miss it."[13] Reviews in the Oxford Theatre Review called the musical "utterly brilliant" and "supremely funny, deftly pressing complicated philosophical jargon... into service as comedic fodder". Philosophy Now wrote: "A Theory of Justice melds exuberant song and comedic gold with legitimate intellectual heft, resulting in a work that is at once eminently highbrow and infectiously funny".[14] The Philosophers' Magazine wrote: "[It] had me laughing until the tears streamed down my face and my cheeks were aching... Utterly hilarious!".[15] One bologger described the musical as "the best thing to come out of an Oxford University PPE degree since the PPE in PPE twitter feed".[16][17]
2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival revival [ edit ]
A Theory of Justice: The Musical! was revived for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, running from 31 July - 26 August 2013 at C Venues.[18][19] The revival was produced by DEM Productions using the same cast and crew, with minor changes. The Edinburgh revival included a new song: "My Philosopher-King", a solo love ballad for Fairness.
The musical was nominated for Best Musical, Best Book, Best Lyrics and Best Music at the Musical Theatre Network Awards.[20]
FringeGuru.com described A Theory of Justice: The Musical! as "bizarre, brave, deranged, intelligent, creative and ever-so-slightly magnificent"[21]. Reviewer Chris Grady wrote: "I sat watching A Theory of Justice desperately trying to remember who wrote it... Only on leaving... did I realise this is a wholly new, original work."[22] EdFringeReview.com described the musical as "probably the most unashamedly intellectual musical ever written... It is best not to take this show too seriously since thankfully it doesn’t seem to take itself seriously either... entertaining and thoroughly original".[23] A review on BroadwayBaby.com called it "a humorous and enlightening musical… ambitious and brave".[24]
2018 London (rehearsed reading) [ edit ]
In February 2018, the musical was workshopped by award-winning director Josh Seymour[25] with a cast of West End actors, including Matthew Seadon-Young[26] as John Rawls and Alex Young[27] as Ayn Rand.[28] It was staged for two performances at the 350-seater Arts Theatre in London's West End on 19 February 2018.[29] The reworked version included several new songs, including a grand Act I finale leading out of "A Selfish Kind of Love", a new villain's song for Ayn Rand ("The Leading Lady"), and a powerful ballad for John Rawls ("Forget It All").
Amateur productions [ edit ]
A Theory of Justice: The Musical! received its Welsh premiere University of Cardiff, Wales, in Spring 2015.[30] The Cardiffian called the musical "an absurd, exorbitant and playful show" that "explains opaque political philosophy in cheeky dialogues, cheerful songs and sexy acting", describing the script as "hilarious".[30]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival revival [ edit ]
Year Award Ceremony Category Nominee Result 2013 Musical Theatre Network Award[20] Best Musical Eylon Levy, Ramin Sabi, Tommy Peto, Toby Huelin Nominated Best Book Eylon Levy, Ramin Sabi and Tommy Peto Nominated Best Music Ramin Sabi, Toby Huelin, Eylon Levy and Tommy Peto Nominated Best Lyrics Eylon Levy, Ramin Sabi and Tommy Peto Nominated
See also [ edit ]The woman who was assaulted by former Stanford University student Brock Turner has received international attention for her powerful statement describing the trauma she and her family have experienced. One particularly compelling part of the victim’s testimony is her anguish over Turner’s refusal to express remorse and take responsibility for sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious – an attack that led a jury to convict him of three felonies.
The Guardian has since obtained a copy of Turner’s full statement to judge Aaron Persky, who gave him a lenient sentence of six months in county jail, sparking widespread outrage and a recall campaign.
Ex-Stanford swimmer gets six months in jail and probation for sexual assault Read more
The letter from the former swimmer offers a close look at the many ways Turner has refused to even acknowledge that he assaulted the woman, despite the guilty verdicts, and has instead continued to place blame on a “party culture” of “drinking”.
Although the victim and the prosecutor raised concerns about Turner’s hollow apology and his continued unwillingness to admit that he committed an assault – despite overwhelming evidence that the woman was unconscious – the judge said this should not count against him at sentencing.
Stanford sexual assault: dozens of letters to judge urge leniency for Brock Turner Read more
“I take him at his word that subjectively that’s his version of his events,” Persky said. “I’m not convinced that his lack of complete acquiescence to the verdict should count against him.”
Turner’s statement, along with many of his letters of support, provide insight into what activists describe as rape culture in the United States, meaning an environment in which assault and sexual violence is normalized and victims are blamed for being attacked.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, the victim said it was important for people to recognize the harms of Turner’s statement.
“People need to know that this way of thinking is dangerous. It’s threatening. More than my emotions, it’s my safety, everyone else’s safety. It’s not just me feeling sad and defeated. It’s honest fear.”
She added: “The anger everyone is expressing has so many levels of being hurt and feeling that fear. Anger is how a lot of us are expressing it, but it comes from a place of pain. It’s unacceptable. There’s no way you can wiggle out of this.”
Below, the Guardian has published a portion of Turner’s statement that illustrates, as the victim described in her original statement, the ways in which Turner “failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct”.
_________
The night of January 17th changed my life and the lives of everyone involved forever. I can never go back to being the person I was before that day. I am no longer a swimmer, a student, a resident of California, or the product of the work that I put in to accomplish the goals that I set out in the first nineteen years of my life. Not only have I altered my life, but I’ve also changed [redacted] and her family’s life. I am the sole proprietor of what happened on the night that these people’s lives were changed forever. I would give anything to change what happened that night. I can never forgive myself for imposing trauma and pain on [redacted]. It debilitates me to think that my actions have caused her emotional and physical stress that is completely unwarranted and unfair. The thought of this is in my head every second of every day since this event has occurred. These ideas never leave my mind. During the day, I shake uncontrollably from the amount I torment myself by thinking about what has happened. I wish I had the ability to go back in time and never pick up a drink that night, let alone interact with [redacted]. I can barely hold a conversation with someone without having my mind drift into thinking these thoughts. They torture me. I go to sleep every night having been crippled by these thoughts to the point of exhaustion. I wake up having dreamt of these horrific events that I have caused. I am completely consumed by my poor judgement and ill thought actions. There isn’t a second that has gone by where I haven’t regretted the course of events I took on January 17th/18th. My shell and core of who I am as a person is forever broken from this. I am a changed person. At this point in my life, I never want to have a drop of alcohol again. I never want to attend a social gathering that involves alcohol or any situation where people make decisions based on the substances they have consumed. I never want to experience being in a position where it will have a negative impact on my life or someone else’s ever again. I’ve lost two jobs solely based on the reporting of my case. I wish I never was good at swimming or had the opportunity to attend Stanford, so maybe the newspapers wouldn’t want to write stories about me.
Stanford sexual assault case: victim impact statement in full Read more
All I can do from these events moving forward is by proving to everyone who I really am as a person. I know that if I were to be placed on probation, I would be able to be a benefit to society for the rest of my life. I want to earn a college degree in any capacity that I am capable to do so. And in accomplishing this task, I can make the people around me and society better through the example I will set. I’ve been a goal oriented person since my start as a swimmer. I want to take what I can from who I was before this situation happened and use it to the best of my abilities moving forward. I know I can show people who were like me the dangers of assuming what college life can be like without thinking about the consequences one would potentially have to make if one were to make the same decisions that I made. I want to show that people’s lives can be destroyed by drinking and making poor decisions while doing so. One needs to recognize the influence that peer pressure and the attitude of having to fit in can have on someone. One decision has the potential to change your entire life. I know I can impact and change people’s attitudes towards the culture surrounded by binge drinking and sexual promiscuity that protrudes through what people think is at the core of being a college student. I want to demolish the assumption that drinking and partying are what make up a college lifestyle I made a mistake, I drank too much, and my decisions hurt someone. But I never ever meant to intentionally hurt [redacted]. My poor decision making and excessive drinking hurt someone that night and I wish I could just take it all back.
If I were to be placed on probation, I can positively say, without a single shred of doubt in my mind, that I would never have any problem with law enforcement. Before this happened, I never had any trouble with law enforcement and I plan on maintaining that. I’ve been shattered by the party culture and risk taking behavior that I briefly experienced in my four months at school. I’ve lost my chance to swim in the Olympics. I’ve lost my ability to obtain a Stanford degree. I’ve lost employment opportunity, my reputation and most of all, my life. These things force me to never want to put myself in a position where I have to sacrifice everything. I would make it my life’s mission to show everyone that I can contribute and be a positive influence on society from these events that have transpired. I will never put myself through an event where it will give someone the ability to question whether I really can be a betterment to society. I want no one, male or female, to have to experience the destructive consequences of making decisions while under the influence of alcohol. I want to be a voice of reason in a time where people’s attitudes and preconceived notions about partying and drinking have already been established. I want to let young people now, as I did not, that things can go from fun to ruined in just one night.As with many of the parts that contribute to the success of some of the fastest machines on the planet, Formula One wheels have been perfected over the course of more than 60 years of professional racing.
The wheels you see adorning cars driven by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have morphed substantially from the rims-with-spokes design that supported F1 cars in the immediate post-war years.
The light but relatively brittle design used back then was, in fact, not technically a wheel, although the greater load that came with faster speeds meant that change had to occur during the fifties.
The early versions of the first true F1 wheel did not resemble the modern wheel in a technical sense. The axle was connected to the flange by a metal plane, and the wheels, which were made of steel, were usually composed of two parts--the wheel itself and the rim. These were fastened together by welding or rivets.
Subsequently, the flat wheel was shaped to improve its ability to cope with lateral loads, although wheels of this design still continued to be relatively heavy.
The next major development came with the introduction of six-spoke cast wheels made from light aluminum and magnesium alloys. These wheels appeared in Europe by the early sixties, and continued as a feature in professional racing cars until the early nineties. Initially, racing teams cast the wheels themselves before sourcing them from specialists.The Magicka series has a lot of die-hard fans, and 2015's sequel trimmed some of the fat and sped up the pace for a much better game. You can get Magicka 2 for a huge 80 percent off today on Bundle Stars.
It's a top down co-operative adventure where you play as wizards able to cast all manner of spells. You have eight different base elements to cast with, and you can combine them any which way to create new spells. The amount of variables means there are tens of thousands of combinations to play with, of varying usefulness. Our review of Magicka 2 says it is like Magicka 1 done over again, in a more polished, streamlined, bite-size package.
Magicka 2 wasn't that expensive to begin with, so with 80 percent off, you won't have to spend much at all to get hours of fun with your friends. The deal only lasts for 24 hours though, and then another game will take its place.
Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.Sometimes terrorists move on all fours. That’s what Chase Bank apparently decided when it wouldn’t clear a payment for a disabled man’s dog walker. It was the dog’s name that led to the payment being bounced and the Treasury Department being involved.
The nine-year-old service pitbull mongrel acts as a companion and friend to Bruce Francis of San Francisco, who has a rare form of MS and gets around by wheelchair.
According to Fox, Francis was doing his routine payment to his dog walker earlier in March, by using his online account with Chase Bank. He had filled in his dog’s name into the memo line of the form. But the dog walker told Francis he hadn’t got the check.
Read more
The owner logged into his account to investigate, and found the following message: “Please explain what Dash means.”
Yes – that is one of the most common names a dog could have in an English-speaking country. But if that’s the case with your dog, just think of something else when you fill in that form, preferably something that doesn’t sound like 'Daesh' – the Arabic name for Islamic State (IS/ISIS, formerly ISIL).
Francis owes his predicament to increased background checks. The rule at Chase and other banks is that anything that may arouse suspicion gets flagged and sent over to the Treasury Department.
According to a statement by a spokesperson: “If a name on the OFAC list appears on a payment, we are required to review it. This is an important part of ensuring that crime does not filter through the US banking system. In this instance, the payment was flagged, reviewed and eventually released.”
Francis told Fox News: “Anything we can do to stop the terrorists and the funding of terrorists, let’s do it. And if it means an inconvenience to me and my dog walker then that’s a price I’m totally willing to pay.”
The problem has since been resolved.Court Finds Law Blocking Teachers From Friending Students 'Staggering'; Blocks Implementation
from the oh-look,-there's-a-first-amendment-after-all dept
Section §163.069.4 RSMo implicates the rights of Plaintiffs protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and the Missouri Constitution in that it prohibits all teachers from using any non-work-related social networking sites which allow exclusive access with current and former students. Even if a complete ban on certain forms of communication between certain individuals could be construed as content neutral and only a reasonable restriction on "time, place and manner," the breadth of the prohibition is staggering. The Court finds at based upon the evidence adduced at the preliminary injunction hearing, social networking is extensively used by educators. It is often the primary, if not sole manner, of communications between the Plaintiffs and their students. Examination of the statute indicates that it would prohibit all teachers from using any non-work-related social networking sites which allow exclusive access with current and former students. It clearly prohibits communication between family members and their teacher parents using these types of sites. The Court finds that the statute would have a chilling effect on speech.
Given the fundamental nature of the right implicated, a "chilling effect" constitutes an immediate and irreperable harm sufficient to support a preliminary injunction.
There was quite an uproar after Missouri passed a law to ban teachers from communicating with current or former students on social networking platforms like Facebook. It didn't take long before teachers sued, and it was even faster for the court to issue an injunction blocking the implementation of the law, noting that it violated the First Amendment (thanks to Eric Goldman for the pointer). The judge made quick work of it. Here's the relevant portion (and the full ruling is embedded below):Nice to see some courts willing to recognize that a First Amendment violation is irreparable harm. Too bad not all courts agree.This isn't the end for the law. It's just an injunction barring it from being implemented until a full trial can be heard on the merits, but it sure sounds as if the court is pretty skeptical about the legality of the law as a whole.
Filed Under: first amendment, free speech, friending, missouri, teachers
Companies: facebookMost important assessment of global warming yet warns carbon emissions must be cut sharply and soon, but UN’s IPCC says solutions are available and affordable
Climate change is set to inflict “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts” on people and the natural world unless carbon emissions are cut sharply and rapidly, according to the most important assessment of global warming yet published.
The stark report states that climate change has already increased the risk of severe heatwaves and other extreme weather and warns of worse to come, including food shortages and violent conflicts. But it also found that ways to avoid dangerous global warming are both available and affordable.
“Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in the message,” said the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, attending what he described as the “historic” report launch. “Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.” He said that quick, decisive action would build a better and sustainable future, while inaction would be costly.
Ban added a message to investors, such as pension fund managers: “Please reduce your investments in the coal- and fossil fuel-based economy and [move] to renewable energy.”
The report, released in Copenhagen on Sunday by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is the work of thousands of scientists and was agreed after negotiations by the world’s governments. It is the first IPCC report since 2007 to bring together all aspects of tackling climate change and for the first time states: that it is economically affordable; that carbon emissions will ultimately have to fall to zero; and that global poverty can only be reduced by halting global warming. The report also makes clear that carbon emissions, mainly from burning coal, oil and gas, are currently rising to record levels, not falling.
The report comes at a critical time for international action on climate change, with the deadline for |
. The cross of the dome, which was retained in compromise, is again visible during the current major restoration project.
Foucault pendulum [ edit ]
In 1851, physicist Léon Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the Earth by constructing a 67-metre (220 ft) Foucault pendulum beneath the central dome. The original sphere from the pendulum was temporarily displayed at the Panthéon in the 1990s (starting in 1995) during renovations at the Musée des Arts et Métiers. The original pendulum was later returned to the Musée des Arts et Métiers, and a copy is now displayed at the Panthéon.[4] It has been listed since 1920 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.[5] From 1906 to 1922 the Panthéon was the site of Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture The Thinker. In 2006, Ernesto Neto, a Brazilian artist, installed "Léviathan Thot", an anthropomorphic installation inspired by the biblical monster. The art installation was in the Panthéon from 15 September 2006 until 31 October for Paris's Autumn Festival.
Recent years [ edit ]
In late 2006, a "cultural guerilla movement" calling itself The Untergunther (part of the larger organisation les UX) completed a year-long project by which they covertly repaired the Panthéon's antique clockworks. The Government tried (unsuccessfully) to sue the group for the intervention.
The administration stopped the clock from working by removing one of its parts.[6][7][8]
Burial place [ edit ]
Crypt
By burying its great people in the Panthéon, the nation acknowledges the honour it received from them. As such, interment here is severely restricted and is allowed only by a parliamentary act for "National Heroes". Similar high honours exist in Les Invalides for historical military leaders such as Napoléon, Turenne and Vauban.
Among those buried in its necropolis are Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Jean Moulin, Louis Braille, Jean Jaurès and Soufflot, its architect. In 1907 Marcellin Berthelot was buried with his wife Mme Sophie Berthelot. Marie Curie was interred in 1995. Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion, heroines of the French resistance, were interred in 2015.[9] Simone Veil was interred in 2018, and her husband Antoine Veil was interred alongside her so not to be separated.[10]
The widely repeated story that the remains of Voltaire were stolen by religious fanatics in 1814 and thrown into a garbage heap is false. Such rumours resulted in the coffin being opened in 1897, which confirmed that his remains were still present.[11]
On 30 November 2002, in an elaborate but solemn procession, six Republican Guards carried the coffin of Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), the author of The Three Musketeers and other famous novels, to the Panthéon. Draped in a blue-velvet cloth inscribed with the Musketeers' motto: "Un pour tous, tous pour un" ("One for all, all for one,") the remains had been transported from their original interment site in the Cimetière de Villers-Cotterêts in Aisne, France. In his speech, President Jacques Chirac stated that an injustice was being corrected with the proper honouring of one of France's greatest authors.
In January 2007, President Jacques Chirac unveiled a plaque in the Panthéon to more than 2,600 people recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel for saving the lives of Jews who would otherwise have been deported to concentration camps. The tribute in the Panthéon underlines the fact that around three quarters of the country's Jewish population survived the war, often thanks to ordinary people who provided help at the risk of their own life. This plaque says :
Sous la chape de haine et de nuit tombée sur la France dans les années d'occupation, des lumières, par milliers, refusèrent de s'éteindre. Nommés "Juste parmi les Nations" ou restés anonymes, des femmes et des hommes, de toutes origines et de toutes conditions, ont sauvé des juifs des persécutions antisémites et des camps d'extermination. Bravant les risques encourus, ils ont incarné l'honneur de la France, ses valeurs de justice, de tolérance et d'humanité.
Which can be translated as follows :
Under the cloak of hatred and darkness that spread over France during the years of [Nazi] occupation, thousands of lights refused to be extinguished. Named as "Righteous among the Nations" or remaining anonymous, women and men, of all backgrounds and social classes, saved Jews from anti-Semitic persecution and the extermination camps. Braving the risks involved, they embodied the honour of France, and its values of justice, tolerance and humanity.
List of people interred or commemorated [ edit ]
Inside panoramic view of the Panthéon
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Panthéon at Centre des Monuments Nationaux
Panthéon - current photographs and of the years 1900
* Panthéon ou église Sainte-Geneviève? Les ambiguïtés d'un monument, Denis Bocquet, MA Thesis, Sorbonne University 1992 http://hal-enpc.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/81/72/87/PDF/BocquetPantheon1992.pdf
Panthéon at Structurae
Coordinates:Georgia voters could decide whether medical marijuana could be grown and sold in-state under legislation filed Thursday in the state House that clashes with a competing bill in the Senate.
House Resolution 36 is a long shot, but it offers a glimpse of what advocates say is the best solution for hurdles faced by hundreds of families legally allowed to possess a limited form of medical marijuana in Georgia.
Under a 2015 law, patients and, in the case of children, families registered with the state are allowed to possess up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil to treat severe forms of eight specific illnesses, including cancer, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.
But it’s up to patients how to get the drug here, a proposition made more fraught because federal law bans interstate transport of any form of the drug. State law does not allow in-state growing of the drug for medical purposes or allow some manufacturers to ship it here, including for legal use of the oil.
Advocates tried last year to persuade lawmakers to ease that restriction, but to no avail. A big sticking point for both policymakers and law enforcement officials in Georgia is the federal classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the most dangerous class of drugs with a high potential for abuse and addiction, and no accepted medical uses. Many Georgia officials, including Gov. Nathan Deal, have said that federal classification needs to change before the state’s law can be expanded.
“It’s clear law enforcement is still against growing marijuana in the state,” said state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, who authored the original law and sponsored HR 36. “There’s some faith-based organizations that are against it. Those are groups that have a lot of influence at the Capitol here. It’s clear we’re going to have a hard time passing a cultivation bill over the next two years. So why not put it in front of the voters when every poll shows there is clear evidence that voters support this?”
A poll done earlier this month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed widespread support for allowing growers to harvest and distribute medical marijuana in-state, although there was not support to allow recreational use of the drug. Peake, too, opposes full-scale legalization but said more people could be helped if the current law is expanded.
If passed, it would put the question on the 2018 ballot of whether to allow growing and distributing the drug in Georgia for medicinal purposes only. With Deal term-limited out of office and the race to replace him on the same ballot, Peake said the timing of the question would allow a new governor to play a part of planning how to implement cultivation if the question passed.
Still, just getting it through the Legislature will be an incredible test. Because it is written in the form of a constitutional amendment, HR 36 needs two-thirds approval in each chamber of the General Assembly.
Peake also filed a related piece of legislation, House Bill 65, that would expand the list of illnesses and conditions eligible for treatment with medical marijuana in Georgia to include Alzheimer’s disease, autism, HIV/AIDS, intractable pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and Tourette’s syndrome.
Peake’s filings come the same day the Senate introduced a much less aggressive medical marijuana expansion. Senate Bill 16 would back limited expansion of the law — adding only autism to the list of eligible illnesses — only if there’s a rollback of the allowable THC level in the cannabis oil now allowed here.
THC is the component in the drug that makes people high. The law allows the possession of cannabis oil with up to 5 percent THC. SB 16 would reduce that maximum to 3 percent.
“The higher percentage of THC means the more psychoactive that drug is,” said state Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, the bill’s lead sponsor and a doctor. “I have patients in the emergency room that had nausea and vomiting relating to marijuana, thinking it would do just the opposite. Certainly delusions and hallucinations from THC are common.”
Watson added that patients could use a bit more of the lower-THC oil to reach a concentration they felt comfortable using.
The effort represents an olive branch of sorts from the chamber’s conservative majority, which last year blocked attempts by the House to expand the 2015 law. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle acknowledged last week that it was coming, saying he thought Senate Republicans may be ready to compromise.
Proponents believe the law should be expanded to include more treatable illnesses and conditions. But many have scoffed at the Senate proposal, saying it would hurt more people than help.
“Why would we take away something that is helping people now by reducing the THC limit?” said Shannon Cloud, whose daughter, Alaina, has a severe form of epilepsy that has been treated in the past, in part, by the oil. Cloud and her husband, Blaine, have been at the forefront of an organized push by parents to expand Georgia’s medical marijuana law.
“What about the people that need more than 3 percent THC and have it now?” Cloud said. The Senate, she added, “will be hard-pressed to give any good reason why the 5 percent limit is having any kind of negative impact on anyone in Georgia.”To biologists’ delight, the extinct Azuay stubfoot toad has just leapt back to life in Ecuador.
Three independent teams of scientists were involved in the rediscovery of a small group of the toads living in mountain forests near Cuenca (map)—and most crucially, the newfound amphibians haven’t shown signs of chytrid, a deadly fungus that was blamed for their demise nearly 15 years ago.
The Azuay stubfoot toad rediscovery is particularly meaningful, since it was the first species in Central and South America confirmed to be infected by the now-widespread chytrid fungus.
These orange-to-olive colored toads (Atelopus bomolochos) were hit hard by the fungus that, combined with other factors, has devastated amphibian populations and pushed many toward extinction in the last 25 years. (Read about vanishing amphibians in National Geographic magazine.)
“Harlequin toads [the general term used for the genus Atelopus] are the equivalent of dodos or Tasmanian wolves,” says Juan Manuel Guayasamin, director of the Research Center on Biodiversity and Climate Change at Indoamerican University in Quito.
“We know they were abundant at some point in history,” Guayasamin says.
And then, they weren’t. “From time to time someone says they saw one, but it’s always a mistake. Until now.”
The Hopping Dead
An animal is believed extinct when “there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died” after exhaustive surveys in known or expected habitat, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“Atelopus bomolochos are diurnal [active during the day], brightly colored, and were common, so their sudden disappearance was noted not only by scientists but by locals,” says Guayasamin.
So deciding the species was gone for good, when it became impossible to find after 2002, “wasn’t a case of poor sampling or rarity.”
Second Comings
Though extinction may sound final, amphibians have returned from the dead before.
A few efforts to find critically endangered survivors have proved successful. In 2014, for example, two populations of the South Pacific streamside frog turned up in Costa Rica, a country rich in rediscoveries. (Also see "'Extinct' Amphibians Rediscovered After Nearly Half a Century.")
And in 2010, 15 rediscoveries (plus two new-to-science species) resulted from a sustained search for a hundred species biologists believed might still exist in small pockets of their original ranges.
'Ugly' Salamander, New Frog Found June 16, 2009—A bug-eyed salamander and a colorful poison frog are among 12 species possibly new to science recently found in the mountains of Ecuador.
That included two “extinct” African frogs and a lost Mexican salamander, plus six species in Haiti that hadn’t been seen in 20 years.
Still Fragile
Of course, even if the newfound stubfoot toads don't have chytrid, amphibian survival is never assured.
Not much is known about the rediscovered toad’s biology except that breeding is no quick task. “Couples are very stubborn when it comes to reproduction,” Guayasamin says.
They do it in streams and “amplexus [their sexual position, with the female carrying the male on her back] can last for more than a month, during which time the male doesn’t eat.”
The female may lay hundreds of eggs, but those are then vulnerable to predators, including non-native trout that can quickly swallow up the whole batch.
Other than chytrid, habitat destruction remains the biggest threat to Atelopus species and other Central and South American amphibians. The fast growth of oil-palm plantations in particular has many experts very concerned, and climate change is also worrisome.
So, while finding a lost species offers hope, the obstacles to keeping it from disappearing for real are Herculean.
“The most complicated part is ahead of us, figuring out what to do the ensure the persistence of the discovered population” in a country whose wild places are being radically transformed, Guayasamin says.
“It requires funding, collaboration among universities, government, and research centers,” and a continuous battle over how to live side by side with wildlife while taking advantage of the country’s natural resources.
It’s not easy, he says, but “every rediscovery gives us a second chance to do things right.”
Numerous groups participated in the frog's rediscovery, including the conservation group Tropical Herping; Amaru Zoo in Cuenca, Ecuador; and Indoamerican University. The initial sighting was reported by scientists from Ecuador's Ministry of Environment and the University of Azuay in Cuenca.Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Weapons Guide
Upgrades
Attachments
Unique Upgrades
Rifles and Shotguns
Long-Range
Explosive Weapons
Pistols
Energy Weapons
Non-Lethal
Explosives
DLC
Upgrades
Item Size Buy Sell
Rate of Fire 2x2 750 150
It takes at least a pair of Rate of Fire upgrades to really see an improvement for a weapon. These are best applied to weapons with a decent firing rate. Better to focus these on weapons like a machine gun or rifle.
Reload Speed 2x2 750 150
A very handy and versatile upgrade. Each one applied takes off.3 seconds of reload time. This is very helpful for the fast reload to make it even faster. The slow reload weapons takes heavy investments to get any real results.
Ammo Capacity 2x2 750 150
You see the best returns when applying this to weapons with large capacities to begin with. For weapons with low capacity, like the Revolver or Sniper Rifle, you will only get one extra bullet. This is best to be applied to your favorite weapon.
Damage 2x2 750 150
This is probably the one that you want to apply to your favorite. This is great for getting that one-shot-one-kill with high damage weapons. Apply these to the weapon you use the most or is most vital to your method of play.
Attachments
Silencer 2x1 750 150
For those stealth inclined players, attach this to the 10mm pistol, upgrade the damage, and you have a power house of a weapon.
Laser Sight 2x1 750 150
Substantial improvement to accuracy and it helps you find the range of the weapon itself. It removes the movement penalties to accuracy.
Unique Upgrades
Fragmenting Rounds 4x2 3000 600
Revolver Unique – Explosive Rounds
Armor Penetration 4x2 3000 600
10mm Pistol – Ignores Armor of enemies
Flechette Navigation System 4x2 3000 600
Machine Pistol, Combat Rifle – Gives shots limited homing ability
Cooling System 4x2 3000 600
Heavy Rifle, Plasma Rifle – Decreases cool down after extended use
Burst Round System 4x2 3000 600
Shotgun – Fire two rounds at once
Scope w/ Leading Software 4x2 3000 600
Crossbow, Tranquilizer Rifle – Compensates for target's movement and gives optimal firing position
Heat Targeting System 4x2 3000 600
Rocket Launcher – Allows rockets to home in on target's heat signature
Rifles and Shotguns
Combat Rifle
Capacity: 20 Reload: 3.5 Rate of Fire: 0.12 Damage: 8
Size: 3x1 Range: 50 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 9.2 Ammo Capacity: 30 Rate of Fire: 0.12 Decrease Reload: 3.5
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 10.4 Ammo Capacity: 40 Rate of Fire: 0.11 Decrease Reload: 3.2
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 11.6 Ammo Capacity: 50 Rate of Fire: 0.1 Decrease Reload: 2.9
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: 0.09 Decrease Reload: 2.3
Shotgun
Capacity: 6 Reload: 4 Rate of Fire: 0.8 Damage: 45
Size: 5x2 Range: 30 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 49.5 Ammo Capacity: 8 Rate of Fire: 0.7 Decrease Reload: 3.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 54 Ammo Capacity: 10 Rate of Fire: 0.6 Decrease Reload: 3.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 58.5 Ammo Capacity: 12 Rate of Fire: 0.5 Decrease Reload: 3.1
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: 63 Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Heavy Rifle
Capacity: 100 Reload: 6.2 Rate of Fire: 0.1 Damage: 9
Size: 6x2 Range: 45 meter
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 9.9 Ammo Capacity: 125 Rate of Fire: 0.09 Decrease Reload: 5.9
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 10.8 Ammo Capacity: 150 Rate of Fire: 0.08 Decrease Reload: 5.6
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 11.7 Ammo Capacity: 175 Rate of Fire: 0.07 Decrease Reload: -
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: 200 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Long-Range
Sniper Rifle
Capacity: 3 Reload: 5 Rate of Fire:.9 Damage: 50
Size: 8x2 Range: 900 Meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 55 Ammo Capacity: 3 Rate of Fire: 0.8 Decrease Reload: 4.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 60 Ammo Capacity: 4 Rate of Fire: 0.7 Decrease Reload: 4.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 65 Ammo Capacity: 5 Rate of Fire: 0.6 Decrease Reload: 4.1
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Crossbow
Capacity: 1 Reload: 4 Rate of Fire: 2 Damage: 60
Size: 5x2 Range: It's a crossbow
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 80 Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 3.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 100 Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 3.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 3.1
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Explosive Weapons
Rocket Launcher
Capacity: 1 Reload: 6 Rate of Fire: 1 Damage: 160
Size: 8x3 Range: 1000 meters Blast Radius: 5 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 5.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 5.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 5.1
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 4.8
Pistols
10mm Pistol
Capacity: 10 Reload: 2.6 Rate of Fire: 2.6 Damage: 12
Size: 3x2 Range: 40 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 13 Ammo Capacity: 13 Rate of Fire: 0.45 Decrease Reload: 2.3
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 14 Ammo Capacity: 16 Rate of Fire: 0.4 Decrease Reload: 2
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 15 Ammo Capacity: 19 Rate of Fire: 0.35 Decrease Reload: 1.7
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: 16 Ammo Capacity: 22 Rate of Fire: 0.3 Decrease Reload: 1.4
Revolver
Capacity: 5 Reload: 3 Rate of Fire: 0.65 Damage: 30
Size: 3x2 Range: 35 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 33 Ammo Capacity: 6 Rate of Fire: 0.5 Decrease Reload: 2.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 36 Ammo Capacity: 7 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 39 Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.1
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Machine Pistol
Capacity: 30 Reload: 3.1 Rate of Fire: 0.1 Damage: 7
Size: 4x3 Range: 35 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 7.6 Ammo Capacity: 40 Rate of Fire: 0.09 Decrease Reload: 2.8
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 8.2 Ammo Capacity: 50 Rate of Fire: 0.08 Decrease Reload: 2.5
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: 60 Rate of Fire: 0.07 Decrease Reload: 2.2
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: 70 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 1.9
Energy Weapons
P.E.P.S.
Capacity: 1 Reload: 5.2 Rate of Fire: 3 Damage: -
Size: 4x2 Range: 30 meters
Plasma Rifle
Capacity: 20 Reload: 3.5 Rate of Fire: 0.3 Damage: 25
Size: 6x2 Range: 100 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 27.5 Ammo Capacity: 30 Rate of Fire: 0.25 Decrease Reload: 3.2
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 30 Ammo Capacity: 40 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.9
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 32.5 Ammo Capacity: 50 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.6
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.3
Laser Rifle
Capacity: 500 Reload: 6 Rate of Fire: 0.012 Damage:
Size: Range: 15 meter
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 55 Ammo Capacity: 600 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 5.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: 60 Ammo Capacity: 700 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 5.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: 65 Ammo Capacity: 800 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 5.1
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: 900 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Non-Lethal
Stun Gun
Capacity: 1 Reload: 2.5 Rate of Fire: 0.35 Damage: 100
Size: 3x2 Range: 8 meters
Tranquilizer Rifle
Capacity: 1 Reload: 3.5 Rate of Fire: 1 Damage: 15
Size: 6x2 Range: -
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 3.2
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.9
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.6
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Explosives
Frag Grenade/Mine
Damage: 160 Blast Radius: 4 meters Grenade Size: 1x1 Mine Size: 2x1
Concussive Grenade/Mine
Damage: - Blast Radius: 8 meters Grenade Size: 1x1 Mine Size: 2x1
EMP Grenade/Mine
Damage: - Blast Radius: 4.5 meters Grenade Size: 1x1 Mine Size: 2x1
Gas Grenade/Mine
Damage: 20 Blast Radius: 5.5 meters Grenade Size: 1x1 Mine Size: 2x1
Downloadable Content
Double Barreled Shotgun
Capacity: 2 Reload: 3 Rate of Fire:.8 Damage: 76
Size: 6x1 Range: 30 meter
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: 79.8 Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 2.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Silenced Sniper Rifle
Capacity: 5 Reload: 5 Rate of Fire:.9 Damage: 30
Size: 8x2 Range: 900 meters
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: 6 Rate of Fire: 0.8 Decrease Reload: 4.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: 7 Rate of Fire: 0.7 Decrease Reload: 4.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: 8 Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: 4.1
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Grenade Launcher
Capacity: 6 Reload: 5 Rate of Fire: 1 Damage: 160
Size: 4x3 Range: -
Lvl. 1
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: 0.9 Decrease Reload: 4.7
Lvl. 2
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: 0.8 Decrease Reload: 4.4
Lvl. 3
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Lvl. 4
Damage Increase: - Ammo Capacity: - Rate of Fire: - Decrease Reload: -
Remote Detonated Explosive Device
Damage: 160 Size: 2x1 Blast Range: 4 meters
Comment posting has been disabled on this articleTwo conservative taxpayer advocacy groups filed suit Wednesday against Denver over campaign finance disclosure rules that they say will violate the privacy rights of their donors when the groups get involved in city elections.
The lawsuit, filed by the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute on behalf of the two groups, says changes approved by the City Council in September violate the free speech provision of the First Amendment. The city ordinance requires clubs, associations, corporations and groups that advocate for or against local ballot measures to meet the disclosure requirements of issue committees once they raise and spend at least $500.
Once it passes that threshold, an issue committee must identify by name and address each donor who gave $50 or more within that calendar year.
“We have donors who like to remain anonymous, and we’d like to honor their requests,” said Marty Neilson of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. “We think this is an unconstitutional ordinance.”
The lawsuit was filed in Denver District Court. Also joining as a plaintiff is the TABOR Committee, which advocates for protecting the state’s voter-passed Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
A broader definition for issue committees, along with a reporting schedule, were part of a package of campaign finance changes that are set to take effect Jan. 1. When the council considered the proposed changes, more attention was focused on the addition of spending and donor reporting requirements for independent expenditures and electioneering communications that favor or oppose candidates and ballot issues. But those latter provisions aren’t targeted by the suit.
Most of the changes were aimed at increasing transparency on money in local elections, Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson said at the time.
The city attorney’s office deferred comment to the Denver Elections Division, which declined through a spokesman to comment on pending litigation.
The legal challenge, in targeting disclosure requirements’ impact on nonprofit groups, raises an issue that goes back more than a decade in Colorado, pitting donor privacy against the interest of campaign transparency.
In 2008, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld a similar state law in a case brought by the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute. The court found that the law, which required disclosure of donors who gave $20 or more once a nonprofit spent $200 on election advocacy, was appropriate.
The Goldwater Institute, which has challenged similar laws in other states, argues that two more recent rulings by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver have changed the legal landscape.
In the more recent of the two, the court ruled in early 2016 that the burdens imposed by the law on the nonprofit Coalition for Secular Government, which expected to spend $3,500 challenging a proposed “personhood” amendment, were greater than the “government’s modest informational interest” in requiring donor disclosure.
The state legislature reacted to that ruling by exempting “small-scale” issue committees that raise or spend up to $5,000 from disclosing their donors. Until they reach that threshold, groups must only register as a committee.
Matt Miller, an attorney for the Goldwater Institute, argues that a requirement for donor transparency makes more sense when a group is advocating for or against a candidate, given concerns about corruption. But that concern is less common when the passage of a ballot measure is at stake, he said.
“The 10th Circuit has made it very clear that under the First Amendment, the government’s interest in this information is very minimal,” Miller said. “So we now believe that (the 2008 state ruling) was wrongly decided.”Intel has planted some solid stakes in the ground for the future of deep learning over the last month with its acquisition of deep learning chip startup, Nervana Systems, and most recently, mobile and embedded machine learning company, Movidius.
These new pieces will snap into Intel’s still-forming puzzle for capturing the supposed billion-plus dollar market ahead for deep learning, which is complemented by its own Knights Mill effort and software optimization work on machine learning codes and tooling. At the same time, just down the coast, Nvidia is firming up the market for its own GPU training and inference chips as well as its own hardware outfitted with the latest Pascal GPUs and requisite deep learning libraries.
While Intel’s efforts have garnered significant headlines recently with that surprising pair of acquisitions, a move which is pushing Nvidia harder to demonstrate GPU acceleration (thus far the dominant compute engine for model training) for deep learning, they still have some work to do to capture mindshare for this emerging market. Further complicating this is the fact that the last two years have brought a number of newcomers to the field—deep learning chip upstarts touting the idea that general purpose architectures (including GPUs) cannot compare to a low precision, fixed point, specialized approach. In fact, we could be moving into a “Cambrian explosion” for computer architecture — one that is brought about by the new requirements of deep learning. Assuming, of course, there are really enough applications and users in a short enough window that the chip startups don’t fall over waiting for their big bang.
Among the upstarts that fit the specialization bill for deep learning is Wave Computing, which in many ways could have served as a suitable acquisition target for an Intel (or other another party) over Nervana Systems. Although the execution and technology are different from Nervana, the fundamental belief that it is practical to do large-scale deep learning training on ultra-low precision hardware with low-level stochastic rounding and other techniques is the same. And while the company’s Jin Kim tells The Next Platform they see high value in their own technology for companies like Intel, the Nervana acquisition is actually a positive element for the field overall because it proves that there is a need for non-general purpose hardware for such a market.
One could make the argument that Intel was just as interested in Nervana for its Neon software framework as it was for the chip, but Wave Computing’s Kim says that there is another unmet need that has companies scrambling. “There are development boards and accelerator boards, but as we talk to people in the field they want a single system that is designed for the specific needs of deep learning.” Of course, something like this already exists in Nvidia’s DGX-1 appliance, which is outfitted with Pascal-generation GPUs and has all software ready to roll for both training and inference. However, Kim says that they have mastered both the hardware and software and can (in theory—they don’t yet have a DGX-1 appliance on hand) beat out Pascal with lower thermals and far faster training times. More on that in a moment; for now, however, the key point is this is one of the first systems to take on deep learning aside from DGX-1, but of course, it is based on a novel architecture.
The Wave Computing approach is based on a dataflow architecture via their DPU processing elements. Like Nervana, Wave has a highly scalable shared memory architecture (with hybrid memory cube or HMC) at the core. “We are both taking the perspective that there are some familiar characteristics of deep learning compute workloads—this means we can take advantage of the fact that these algorithms are resilient to noise and errors. That, coupled with data parallelism and the opportunity to reuse data are just a few things that give this an advantage over general purpose hardware.”
Instead of selling accelerator boards, Wave is focused on delivering a full system for both training and inference. This is designed as what Kim calls a “plug and play node in a datacenter network with native support of TensorFlow as well as Hadoop, Yarn, Spark, and Kafka.” The systems will come in 1U and 3U configurations starting in Q2 of 2017. They have a 28nm test chip that was delivered two years ago they have been validating with, but the forthcoming 16nm FinFET chips, which are being taped out now with delivery late in the year will offer a sizable boost. The first 28nm implementation could put 16,000 of the simple processing elements on a piece of silicon, but with the 16nm FinFET chips coming soon, they can scale up to 64,000, Kim says. These will first be available via a private cloud to foster early users who want to experiment before the systems become available. “Our business model is not to deliver services via our own cloud, but demand is high and private cloud offers a faster option for those who want early access.”
So, just what is inside the dataflow architecture (DPU) chips and the systems?
Get |
say she knew.
"Megumi." said a low, deep voice from across the room. Erina saw her friend's head turn. And all of the pieces in her head, all of the dreadfully unresolved pieces she'd been harboring for so long, all clicked together.
"Just a minute, Ryo-kun. I'll be right there." She said, before turning back to the subject of her attention.
"I want that." Said Erina decisively, a fire behind her eyes where they'd been so dim before.
"Eh?" asked Megumi, blinking. The expression on Erina's face was one of determination. And passion. Where before she'd just been sad and lost. What had caused it to change so quickly?
"Megumi-chan. The way Kurokiba-kun looked at you, and the way you looked at him in turn…it's that. I want that with Soma."
Megumi understood and she smiled, happy that her friend had finally seemed to figure things out.
"You know, I should warn you. There's no guarantee that Soma feels the same way. You could just end up with your heart broken."
"Impossible." stated Erina.
"I-It is?" Megumi asked, surprised.
"Even if Yukihira-kun doesn't feel the same way today, I'll just come back tomorrow. And the next day. I'll make him fall for me."
Megumi could scarcely believe this was the same girl who'd been sobbing and indecisive not five minutes before. She really wished she could believe in her and just send her off to win the first seat's heart as she was, but she needed to be sure that Erina had all of the facts. She refused to let her friend go off unprepared, not to this.
"But what if you never do Erina-chan? What if you try and try, and he never comes around? There IS a point where enough is enough, as they say. What will you do then?"
Erina's confidence wavered, just a bit, but she didn't let that faze her. What her friend was saying was the simple truth. She needed to go into this with both eyes open, she wasn't a child.
"Well, if that happens. If I…if I open my heart to Yukihira-kun and he rejects me, and I can't convince him. Then I suppose I'll have to just live with the fact that I tried my best and pray that I can be happy without him."
It wasn't a perfect answer, not by any means. She knew that if she was actually rejected, she would be crushed. It would be definitive proof that the boy she held in her heart, the one who'd rescued her from her father's bird cage, was forever out of her reach.
But she had faith in herself. Nakiri Erina didn't begin and end with Yukihira Soma, and she had to believe that she would survive his rejection if that's what awaited her, painful as it would be.
Megumi smiled, a bit sadly, and placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Sometimes that's all we can do, Erina-chan. So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to find Yukihira-kun. And tell him how I feel."
It was after Erina had already marched out of the door and made it halfway down the hallway that she remembered exactly why the strong willed chef wasn't in the room. And she found her resolve paired alongside an equally large amount of nervousness.
She contemplated just turning back to the party. It wasn't as if Soma was going anywhere. She could always just find him tomorrow. But then she thought about just what he was probably doing right now and she felt her urgency double. Even though it had already been going on for weeks and weeks now, she couldn't bear the thought of Soma with another woman. Not until she had some closure at the very least.
It was that thought that took her all the way to Soma's door. She raised her hand to knock, but found her hand trembling. What was she doing here? What would she say? What would HE say? She tried opening her ears, but she couldn't pick up any sounds from inside. Not over the sound of her own heartbeat, anyway.
She raised her hand, searching for the confidence that she'd felt after seeing the way Megumi and Ryo looked at each other. With a deep breath, she knocked, the sound seeming to resound through the hall. She stepped back, fiddling with her hands, trying her best to not hyperventilate as she heard the sounds of muted shuffling inside.
As the knob started to turn, she fought down the urge to just bolt away. Or to come up with some excuse as to why she was here, knocking on his door at eleven o'clock at night.
"Oh. Nakiri? What's up? Did you need something?"
She was staring down at her hands, trying to prepare herself. After a few seconds, she clenched her fists to her sides and looked up at the boy, who took a step back at the intensity of her expression. She went to speak but paused, stunned by the sight before her.
Soma was clearly in bed, or just about to be, based on his attire. He had on no shirt, giving Erina a view of his chest and abs that she had never seen before. The boy wasn't overly muscled or defined but he clearly kept in some sort of shape. All he wore was a pair of pajama pants. Erina could confirm this because they were currently riding low on his hips, giving Erina a clear view of his waistband and its lack of adornment.
Erina found her eyes drawn to the set of muscles outlining his pelvis that formed a V that her eyes could almost follow, straight down to his…to his…
"Like what you see, Nakiri?"
The familiar teasing tone broke her from her reverie and Erina gasped, holding her cheeks as she turned away, trying and failing to calm herself down. She'd had a plan, she'd known what she wanted to say, but Soma and his stupidly prominent abs had knocked each and every coherent thought from her head.
"Nakiri? You alright?"
Stupid, stupid, stupid! Even now Soma was messing things up for her. Why did she fall for such a blockhead?
"I'm fine, Yukihira-kun…I just needed to talk to you, if that's alright?"
God, was that a simper? Erina would've thumped her head on the wall if she wasn't so conscious of the object of her affections standing right behind her.
"Sure, that's no problem. Just give me a minute here."
With a click, he shut his door and Erina sighed, finally feeling like it was safe to turn back around. She could hear some shuffling from inside and she wondered what was going on. After a second of thought, she remembered that Soma had left hand in hand with Ryoko. To get more comfortable…
By the time Soma opened the door again, Erina was beet red and looking anywhere but at him.
"Come on in then, Nakiri."
Erina blinked. He was inviting her inside? But wasn't Ryoko still…
"Are…are you sure, Yukihira-kun?"
Soma nodded, waving off her concern and opening the door wider.
"Sure, it's no problem. Come on."
He left the doorway, walking inside the room. Erina stepped towards the door, her heart pounding. She had hoped to speak to him alone. She didn't particularly relish the thought of baring her innermost feelings in front of the girl Soma was sleeping with, even if that girl was one of her friends.
She needn't have worried though, she soon found out, entering the room and finding that Soma was the only other occupant. She looked around, a bit confused.
"Something the matter?" asked Soma, pulling his chair out and setting it in front of his bed before flopping onto the mattress himself and reclining against the wall. Erina turned to him, intending to ask about Ryoko but found her attention diverted by something else.
"You put on a shirt?"
Indeed. Soma had pulled on one of his long sleeved Yukihira shirts, his body now covered up to Erina's relief (and dismay) Soma looked up at where she stood, putting his hands behind his head as he leaned back further.
"Well, yea. I figured you'd be more comfortable if I was like this. I mean, you seemed nervous enough earlier with me and Ryoko-chan."
At the mention of the girl, Erina couldn't help but ask after her.
"Huh? Ryoko-chan? She's in her room, I think. We split off after we left the party a little while ago."
"And…that's all?" Erina ventured, wishing she could find a more definitive way of asking what she wanted to know.
"What do you mean by all?" asked Soma. After a few seconds though, he grinned wickedly.
"Ne Nakiri. Did you come all this way to gossip? That's so unlike you."
"Of course not!" she snapped. She stomped over, taking the seat in front of him with a hair flick that she'd perfected on the boy over the years. "I am well aware that you and Sakaki-chan have been…doing….that. And I assure you I have no interest in what you do with her."
"Then why'd you come all the way over here to find me?" he asked, tilting his head at her.
Erina faltered, trying to find the words she'd thought up during her walk here from Marui's room. It had seemed so straightforward when she was by herself in the hall but now, she couldn't remember a single part of her carefully constructed confession.
"I…Well, Yukihira-kun. You see, I just…ugh! You are so frustrating!" she lashed out, defaulting to her usual method of dealing with the boy, who seemed even more surprised at her random outburst.
"Is that all? You came into my room to yell at me?"
"Of course I didn't, you moron!"
"Your words and your voice don't exactly match." He pointed out, grinning at the usual look of scorn that it earned him.
"Just…stand up! Right now!"
Soma blinked, caught between following the order out of habit and protesting at taking orders in his own room. Regardless, he stood to his feet, holding his hands out as if to ask 'now what?'
"Turn around."
"Why do you-"
"Just listen to me, Yukihira! For once in your life just do what I say."
Soma shrugged, turning around and facing his wall. After a few seconds of wandering just what had gotten into the girl, he stiffened as two arms wound themselves around his abdomen, settling over his chest. He felt them squeeze him once, as if checking to see if he was still there and he felt the rest of her body follow suit, molding into his back, like a puzzle piece that had figured out just where it wanted to be.
Before he could question what was going on, he heard Erina start to speak.
"Yukihira. I have something to say. But I need you to promise me that you won't say anything until I'm finished. Can you do that?"
Her voice was low and muffled, and he felt the heat of her breath directly over his spine, sending shivers up and down it. His throat felt dry but he still found the wherewithal to say something, even if it was only two simple words.
"Sure, Nakiri."
He could feel her pressed against him, and the deep breath she took did little but press her chest more firmly into his back.
"Yukihira Soma…when I first met you, you were a nuisance. Scratch that, you were a complete pain in the ass that seemed to exist purely to send me to new depths of infuriation. I can say without a doubt that I wanted nothing to do with you from the very first time you mouthed off to me at the transfer exam."
Soma felt the need to defend himself but he refrained, respecting her request that he remain silent.
"I tasted your Transforming Furikake Gohan. And it was delicious. I was blown away. I couldn't believe you'd made something so amazing out of a dish that was so commonplace. I was actually this close to passing you outright, when you just had to go and rub your competence in my face. And I snapped at you, as I always did. I rejected your application. I came very close to losing you because of my own pettiness. Before I'd even gotten the chance to know you."
Soma was more than a little surprised. While he'd always wondered whether Erina had been bluffing, at least a little bit, about the quality of his dish all that time ago, he'd still had a little seed of doubt from that time. A dissatisfied customer wasn't something Yukihira Soma tolerated well.
"Then you were here. And I was seeing you all the time. I'd see you in class. Outside of class. At the training camp. The elections. The festival. It was like you were going out of your way to pester me or I simply just had the worst luck in the world. And then soon after that…my father came back."
Her voice hitched and Soma found himself reaching up to where her hands sat, clasping one of them with his own. He vividly remembered those times, when everything they knew at Totsuki was at stake, for none more so than Erina.
"Everyone…everyone did so much. So many things happened. I thought I'd never be free of him. That I'd always be stuck at his behest. But you changed all that. Everyone here in this dorm helped me, sheltered me. But you…Yukihira-kun…Soma…"
Her hands gripped him even tighter, and he could practically feel the warmth of her gratitude flowing into him.
"You did the most. You went above and beyond for a girl who did nothing but yell at you and insult your talents. Even when I thought it was hopeless, when I'd given up on myself. You never stopped believing in me, even though I'd never given you a reason to. And you…you saved me. Arigato gozaimasu Yukihira Soma."
"You saved me from my father. You saved me from myself, from being the scared little girl that sat at his side. And while I don't know when exactly it started happening, I know that it was soon after that I started falling for you."
Soma froze. Did he just hear those words come from the mouth of Nakiri Erina? The woman set to be the veritable master of the cooking world once they graduated in a few short months? Who'd not a week ago yelled at him for always being late to Elite Ten meetings and passing his work off to Hayama?
"I didn't really know what I was feeling. Not for a long time, anyway. I just found that I couldn't stand being around you. You made me feel so…strange. But I couldn't stand being away from you either. I'd make up the dumbest excuses to come by and see if I'd catch a glimpse of you in the halls or in the kitchen. I must've borrowed almost all of Yuki-chan's collection by the time I realized that I was head over heels for you."
"After that, I tried my best to stay away from you. I didn't want to feel this way. I didn't want to…to…"
"Be in love with me." Soma finished, breaking his promise to stay silent. Erina didn't scold him for his violation, she merely nodded, the motion pronounced against his back.
"Why?" he asked, gripping the hand he held.
"Yukihira-kun…please, you promised to-"
"I know what I said, Nakiri." He said, cutting her off. He pulled at her hands, turning around faster than she could've anticipated until they were facing each other. He gripped her shoulders and leaned in, their noses almost touching, and she saw anger in his eyes. And hurt.
"Was it because I was a commoner? A simple diner chef not fit for someone as high class as you?"
Erina blinked, surprised. She'd never seen Soma react like this.
"Yukihira-kun…It's wasn't that. I just-"
"Don't lie to me." He snapped, cutting her off again, his voice sharp and biting. The expression on his face gave new meaning to the term "spitting fire".
Needless to say, Erina was shocked. She'd never seen the chef so furious, not even during some of his worst shokugekis.
"You couldn't stand the thought of actually caring about someone so far beneath your station, could you? Even after what we went through, what I did for you, all you could see was your own pretty little mansion with your butlers and private cars. There wasn't any room for me in your little perfect bubble."
His voice was resentful and angry. His attitude spoke of feelings that he'd held in reserve for much longer than a single night. Was this not the first time such a thing had crossed his mind? That Erina would disregard him for something as pointless as birth status?
"You're wrong, Yukihira-kun."
He released her shoulders, stepping back and staring down into the eyes of Totsuki's Empress. Their purple gaze was hypnotizing, and he found that he couldn't look away from them, no matter how he tried. He felt his anger drain away as swiftly as it had come about in the first place.
"You think I didn't want to love you because you weren't worthy of me. But the truth is that I didn't want to love you because I didn't deserve to."
Soma's jaw dropped and he found himself, for the first time in quite a while, utterly and completely stunned. She, Nakiri Erina, the almost literal goddess of the culinary world didn't deserve to love him? The idea was ludicrous.
Erina stepped forward, reaching her hands up to cradle his face. She ran her fingers over the sides of his profile, smoothing his hair back and out of his eyes. Her hands were trembling and her face felt like it was about to burst into flame, but she refused to back down here.
"You stopped being a common diner chef to me a long time ago Soma-kun. If there was anyone worthy of me in this world, it would be you. But who was I to ask you to love me? The girl you'd had to save from her own father, the girl who treated you like dirt and laughed at the thought of you getting expelled? I didn't deserve your love. I still don't."
She cupped his face, bringing hers even closer to it, staring into those pools of molten gold that Soma called eyes.
"I think some part of me hoped that things would change one day. That I'd accomplish something that would make you recognize me, something that would give me the freedom to tell you how I felt without feeling as if I was flying too close to the sun. But that never happened and tonight…"
"I saw you with Sakaki-chan. And I just…I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Like someone had taken my heart, pulled it from my chest and locked it back into that lonely little cage. I felt like you were well and truly out of my reach forever. I probably would've burst into tears on the spot if Megumi-chan hadn't been so quick to explain to me just what kind of relationship the two of you had. And, after speaking with her, I realized that even if that was the case tonight, who could say what would happen tomorrow? Maybe you'd find feelings for Sakaki-chan, or for some other girl that wasn't…that wasn't me."
Erina brought her face further towards him, their noses now barely grazing one other. As she spoke, Soma could feel her warm breath glazing over his lips.
"So I decided that enough was enough. That even if I didn't deserve to, I would ask you. I would tell you how I felt and I would ask you for your love in return."
Erina closed her eyes, her arms going around Soma's neck. As she spoke her next words, her lips ghosted over his.
"So…Yukihira-kun…Soma…what do you say?"
She waited, expectant. This was it. She'd said what needed to be said and now it was up to Soma to accept her. Or reject her. Seconds passed and she felt his lips open against hers.
"You can't ask me for something you already have, Erina."
His words were barely a whisper but the kiss he gave her was anything but quiet. He leaned in, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her towards him, their bodies fitting together as if they were made for each other. Erina felt his tongue probe at hers, as if requesting permission, before she enthusiastically granted it, pulling Soma even closer as she tangled one of her hands in his long red locks.
The kiss was full of years of repressed tension and passion. It was fire and electricity and warmth. Erina felt as if she could lose herself in it. In him. She felt her body growing warm, in places she wasn't used to, but she welcomed the unfamiliar feeling, moaning into Soma's mouth as she felt her legs grow weak.
Before they could buckle beneath her, Soma's grip at her waist tightened and he broke their kiss, staring down at her with eyes dark and lidded.
"Erina…"
"Soma…"
Their eyes met and Erina found herself wanting to…to…to what?!
With a gasp, she put her hands on Soma's chest and pushed against it with what feeble strength she could muster. If he'd wanted to keep hold of her, there was no way she could break his grip but he released her, staring down at her as they both panted, cheeks equally flushed.
"We…we can't do this, Soma-kun!" she said, her eyes looking anywhere but at him.
"I have firm evidence to the contrary, Erina-chan." He countered, his eyes roaming over her flushed figure in a way that made her want to just stop talking and let him do what he wanted with her.
"No. Not…I mean…just let me focus for a second! There's some things we need to clear up."
Erina stepped away, fighting the voice in her head that told her she was an idiot for taking even one step that wasn't in Soma's direction right now. She closed her eyes, breathing in and out, trying to calm down, if even just enough to say what she needed to say.
"Soma-kun. I love you. Deeply and truly. But I…I've never felt this way about anyone before or been in a situation like this so I don't really know how to say…that is, I would really appreciate it if you would…if you could just…"
"Let me guess. You'd like me to stop seeing Ryoko-chan?"
Erina nodded, hoping she didn't seem too eager.
"I know that may be selfish of me to ask. Especially since I'm not…the most experienced in these sorts of matters. And I'm not exactly ready for things to go too quickly. And I really want this to work, but I'm scared you'll get sick of me since I don't know a thing about romance or dating or when it's a good time to invite you over versus when it's not, and I-"
Soma cut off her rant with a kiss. A kiss that left Erina speechless. His arms snaked out and encircled her, pulling her into his chest as she blushed, burying her face into the dark fabric of his shirt.
"Erina-chan. It's fine. What Ryoko and I do…did…was something we did for fun. We agreed from the start that if either of us found someone that we wanted to get involved with, we would stop outright. And I'm sure she would approve of my current choice." He added cheekily, running his hand through her hair.
"Alright then. Good." said Erina, hoping Soma couldn't tell just how relieved she was by his answer. The last thing she would want to do is start off their relationship by being some stereotypical jealous harpy.
"But then, does that mean you're willing to take her place?" Soma teased, leaning in to nip at the girl's ear. Erina squeaked and batted at the boy's face, eliciting a laugh from him.
"Soma-kun! That's…it's much too soon!"
Or at least she thought so. It was, wasn't it? Then again, she had read a few novels where the couple had ended up being intimate on the night of the romantic confession…was that what Soma wanted? Was that what was expected of her in this situation?
"Actually...if it's Soma-kun, then it's alright…" mumbled Erina, reaching up with shaking fingers to loosen her tie. Before she could get there, she found her hand stopped by Soma who looked down at her with a mixture of mirth and compassion.
"I can assure you, Erina-chan. Despite my earlier enthusiasm, we're not sleeping together. At least not tonight." He amended hastily at the crestfallen look on her face.
"I'm not rushing anything with you. We've both waited over two years for this. If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right."
Erina looked up at him, at the confident grin she'd grown so familiar with over the years, and she smiled. Her eyes closed and her cheeks ached with the force of her smile. She leaned in and pecked him on the cheek, giggling at the way it made him blush and grin back at her.
She leaned in to rest her head on his chest, wrapping her arms around him tightly and listening to his heart beat strongly in his chest.
Thump…Thump…Thump…
It may have just been her imagination, but she would've sworn that it was beating on time with hers.Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
Lego has built its empire just like the interlocking bricks themselves, by connecting kids and adults, using pop-culture and mass appeal. On July 31st, A Lego Brickumentary will premiere. It’s the very first full-length documentary chronicling the powerful toy brand.
The film is narrated by a minifig voiced by Jason Bateman, who maintains a lively and chipper, Everything Is Awesome-type feel, which really resonates for fans. Beginning back in the 1930s when the company was first founded by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen, the history of Lego is recreated through a series of stop-motion Lego scenes. It’s a pretty effective way to cover the major moments in the company’s history. The stop-motion scenes were also spliced with archival footage and photographs. By the 1950s the company was on a course for world domination, once it realized the formula of success lay in their revolutionary interlocking design, which meant the possibilities for building were virtually limitless. It is actually pretty awesome watching the history of Lego told through Lego stop-motion.
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However, it’s not all rainbows and minifigs. There have been plenty of issues that have popped up over the past few decades that shed light on the perpetuation of gender constructs, by launching sets aimed squarely at ‘girls’. In response, the film highlights Alice Finch, an AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego) known for her amazing builds. Unfortunately, Finch feels a bit like a token, and there are many, many women AFOLs out there the filmmakers could have reached out to or at least referenced more heavily. For instance, Mariann Asanuma was a Lego Master Model Designer until she branched out to become the world’s first and only female Freelance LEGO Artist.
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I would have liked just a bit more in-depth analysis of gender issues, since Lego clearly didn’t always have a gender problem.
The filmmakers Daniel Junge and Kief Davidson come from a place of socially-conscious documentary filmmaking, and I was really hoping A Lego Brickumentary would go into more detail as to the social impact of Lego, from its use as a therapeutic method for autistic children and people suffering from PTSD, to the toy company’s reinforcement of gender stereotypes with sets such as the Lego ‘Friends’ series. As mentioned, these were only touched upon, which is a shame, because non-Lego fans will likely take the film as a very well-done infomercial.
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Junge won the Oscar in 2012 with Saving Face, which exposed the horrible acid attacks against Pakistani women, and Davidson was nominated for an Oscar for Open Heart, about impoverished Rwandan children in need of open heart surgery. Don’t get me wrong, the film does cover child psychologists using Lego with autistic children, but I felt like it just touched the tip of the iceberg.
For me, Lego has always been more than just a toy. Even when I was young. It was the first toy, and pretty much only toy for kids of the 80’s, that didn’t come prepackaged with a story. Sure, you had Lego Space sets and Lego Pirate sets, but the point was to build these sets and then make them your own, add your own narrative to them. Barbies, Transformers, G.I. Joes, all those Mattel and Hasbro toys fit a certain mold and didn’t require too much imagination, and certainly didn’t require creativity to build. Even Transformers, simply transformed from one thing to another. Mostly, you just recreated scenarios you saw on the shows that promoted the toys sets.
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Lego is different from those other toys. Lego grows with you. That’s one of the more salient points the documentary makes and gets absolutely right. How many toys from childhood have the versatility and aesthetic appeal to grow with you?
One thing to keep in mind with Lego, there are no rules or directions. Sure, you can following instructions for building a set, or you could just let your imagination run wild. This is nowhere more impressive than the AFOL crowd. Seeing what Master Builders and amateur super-fans can design and build can be truly inspiring. Not only are these mega-sculptures engineered impressively, but they also show that there’s an art to the build. The film highlights Nathan Sawaya, a Lego artist who uses the bricks to create three-dimensional sculptures.
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The film ends with the building of an almost life-size replica of a Star Wars X-wing fighter. What I wanted more of was the company’s comeback from near collapse in 2003. Critics of the brand at the time argued that the company was inundating the brick market with too many custom pieces and that the brand was getting diluted.
Some may criticize the documentary as being too niche, too focused on people who are already fans of the 80-year old toy brand. But, what the film does so well is use its charm to showcase just how diverse the toy company is in its appeal, spending a great deal of time exploring the evolution of Lego, from its humble beginnings as a wooden Danish toy, to the global enterprise that all but dominates the modern toy industry. I wouldn’t necessarily consider it one long infomercial for Lego. Would a documentary about ice cream make me want to run out to an ice cream shop? Hell yes.
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While there may be a few bricks that don’t quite fit, I loved the film for what it was. I just wanted more.
Here’s where you can rent or purchase it on Amazon.
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You’re reading Leg Godt, the blog with the latest Lego news and the best sets in the web. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.Mary Sendek was a homeowner on Queens Boulevard who refused to sell her home to Macy’s when they wanted to build a store on her plot. She was the only one on the block who refused to sell. She remained in the house, next to the Macy’s that was built, until her death.
Why Didn’t She Sell?
The mystery will never really be solved. One neighbor told the New York Times she just wanted to start and end her life at the same place. (Although she actually bought the house when she was 24 years old). Newsday reported she refused to even sell her yard to Macy’s because her dog needed that area to run around in. Her son Victor said he didn’t want to discuss it further, that it was a private matter. I recently tried to reach the descendants of the family, no change, I got no answers from them as well.
Queens Boulevard of 1920’s Quite Different
The Queens Boulevard the Sendek’s moved onto in 1922 was much more rural and narrow than the street we know today. One lane each way, sparsely lined with farmhouses, stores and churches, it looks like the country. But the Queensboro Bridge had just been completed in 1909 and the road was being transformed into the main approach from Queens to Manhattan. It was being widened into the multi-lane, multi section road we know it to be today. In order to accomodate the widening, the buildings on the south (or west) side were being demolished or relocated fifty feet to the south to make way for the new wide road. Luckily, the Sendek house was on the north side and did not have to go.
Who Were The Sendeks
The story of Mrs Sendek and her refusal to sell may have made her a local hero at the time, but up until 1965 there was really nothing unusual about her and her family. Mary and her husband Joseph were Hungarian immigrants, both families having come over around 1898.The Sendeks bought the small house on Queens Boulevard in 1922 for $4,000. They had a girl followed by four boys. Husband Joseph passed away in May 1938.
The Sendek’s were members of the Old Netwown church a couple blocks up the road. Children Victor, Edward and Mary sang in the church choir and took part in pageants there. Oldest daughter Mary was the leader of local Girl Scout Troop Troop 4-375 and became a teacher at nearby PS 11 in Corona. From all we can tell they were a humble, quiet, contributing part of the community.
A New Street, A New Corner
The Sendek house was originally situated in the middle of a block of houses between Broadway and 56th Avenue, but that changed when a new road, 55th Avenue was placed right through the block. In order to build the road the three buildings to the west of the Sendek house were demolished (see the above photo). If the Sendek house had been a few more feet to the west, it might have gone too (and saved Macy’s a lot of headaches).
The Plot Thickens
Macy’s set its sights on the Elmhust plot between 55th and 56th avenues for a new store in the early 1960’s. It was large, open, and had fairly few houses on it. It was centrally located, just a couple blocks west of Woodhaven Boulevard.
But the plot had an odd shape, particularly on its east side. William Robbins of the New York Times described it as looking ‘like a ham.’ This would make it difficult to build adequate parking for the store, so chief Architect William Brown conceived of a unique store in the round that would include the parking within the building itself. It would be 426 feet in diameter, contain six parking levels, accommodate 1,500 cars, and no parking space would be more than 75 feet away from an entrance, and every space was completely covered.
Everything was ready to go until Macy’s ran into the unassuming but defiant homeowner on the corner. She refused every offer made for her land, Macy’s biggest one being at $200,000. Macy’s had no choice but to adjust its huge circular store so that it stayed out of Sendek’s air space, at a cost to them of $50.000. The Sendek plot was only 169 by 52 feet. It also cost the store its plans to put landscaped plazas on that corner, and according to planning architect Michael Keselica it had a negative effect on the way the entire building was percieved.
Uneasy Neighbors
Mrs. Sendek stayed in her house, right next to the big Macy’s for 15 years. I always wondered if she went shopping there. Mrs. Sendek died in 1980, her children then sold the house to Diplomat Enterprises who elected to destroy it and put a strip mall in its place. Maybe they should have considered moving it and keeping it as a testament to the woman who stood on her principles over monetary gain, instead it is no more.
Changes at Round Macy’s
While the Macy’s design may have seemed fresh in 1965, the opening of a new mall, the Queens Center a few blocks away in 1973 seemed to age it very quickly. The new mall was bigger, more modern, more centrally located, and had more stores. Macy’s even moved itself over to Queens center in 1996. It’s parent company tried a Stern’s store at the location but that too closed in 2000. The original Macy’s only outlasted Mrs. Sendek by 16 years. Now the building houses a number of smaller stores, including a Macy’s furniture gallery. No word if the Sendek descendants have ever shopped there.
Advertisements33 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2013 Last revised: 24 May 2014
Date Written: 2013
Abstract
This article is targeted at the criticisms of the quality of legal education, criticisms that law schools fail to prepare graduates to succeed in the profession. We propose a modest improvement to the law school curriculum that may make graduates more capable to serve their clients. We propose that law schools add a new type of clinical course that teaches law students how to use and deploy technology to assist law practice. The changes we propose will affect about four percent of the average law school curriculum. If widely adopted, the changes we propose will help law students to learn core competencies needed in an increasingly technological profession, while they build tools and write content to help low-income, self-represented litigants overcome serious barriers in their pursuit of justice.
Specifically, we propose that law schools offer a new clinical experience — the Access to Justice Technology Clinic, or A2J Clinic for short. The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), in partnership with IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, has launched its Access to Justice Clinical Course Project to develop and refine A2J Clinics. In these courses law students build web tools and other interactive content to help low-income people achieve their justice goals. Courses of this type have been taught by several law schools during the past decade. |
the $10 million lab will be large enough to test transit buses and fire engines in a range of temperatures, an important feature for Manitoba, which is home to a number of heavy-duty vehicle companies, said Ray Hoemsen, executive director of research partnerships and innovation for Red River College.
The industry produces about $2 billion in sales and 6,500 jobs in Manitoba, said Hoemsen, and includes companies such as New Flyer Motor Coach and Fort Garry Fire Trucks.
Red River College has been working with the industry for about 10 years, Hoemsen said.
"So we have a fairly strong track record," he said.
Students who use the new lab can work on industry projects and receive training, he said.
Local vehicle manufacturers have already asked for 60 to 70 testing days to use the new equipment, he said.
"Currently they would have to go to other parts of Canada or the U.S. for that testing," said Hoemsen.
"We'll be a unique facility in Western Canada."
Manufacturers design their vehicles on a year-round basis, said Hoemsen.
"Sometimes the seasons just don't line up properly, so you might have to do winter testing when it's summertime outside," he said.
Red River College's new climatic chamber will begin operating in January 2018.Image caption The sun sets behind the Fairlee Drive-in as cars pull into the lot for the Friday double feature
Nestled in a mountain valley on the border between the states of Vermont and New Hampshire, the half-century-old Fairlee Drive-in cinema is in danger of going out of business. It is a threat that drive-ins across the US face as new technology puts this most American night out at risk.
On a typical Friday afternoon in the tiny town of Fairlee, Vermont, you can usually find Peter Trapp huddled in a cement bunker in the middle of a rolling field.
He is busy splicing together the five reels of 35mm film that have just arrived in the mail.
It is a ritual that he has engaged in every summer since 2003, when his family bought the drive-in that he went to as a boy at summer camp in the 1960s.
Fundamentally, the point is if you don't convert, you'll die David Hancock, IHS Screen Digest
"It's a real family business," he says with a laugh, noting that his wife and three sons normally rotate between working in the snack bar and taking tickets each night.
On this balmy evening at the tail end of a heatwave, it is 17-year-old Cooper Trapp at the ticket booth.
"Not a bad summer job," he says with a smile.
As he sells tickets for tonight's screening of the 20th Century Fox film Epic to dozens of cars and trucks filled with families, he passes each one a flyer.
On it is the image of a barely filled thermometer: the results of the Fairlee's year-long fundraising campaign for a new digital projector.
Image caption Peter Trapp attaches metal stickers to signal to the audience when the film is over
"I think last year we raised maybe $15,500 [£10,000], which is great but it's not close to what we need," says Mr Trapp.
If the Trapps cannot raise the $76,000 it costs to buy and install the new projector by the end of this summer - a necessity, as all new movie releases switch to digital by the end of the year - it is very likely that the Fairlee, a mainstay in this community for more than 60 years, will close.
Inevitable change
The switch from film to digital projectors has been happening since the late 1990s.
"It was a relatively slow take-up at the beginning," says David Hancock, director of film and cinema at IHS Screen Digest.
Image caption Drive-in cinemas had their heyday in the 1950s
"3D pushed it forward, and then in the last two years we've seen the industrial-level roll-out around the world."
According to IHS data, more than 90% of US cinemas have already converted to digital projection.
You could take out a loan but you wouldn't be able to pay it back Peter Trapp, Owner, Fairlee Drive-In
There are just 5,000 holdouts, mainly small independent cinemas and, of course, the classic American drive-in.
Only 368 drive-ins remain, down from 4,000 in the 1950s, their heyday. Of the remaining drive-ins, around 40% - or 139 theatres - have converted, according to the United Drive-in Theatre Owners Association.
"It is a pivotal year in the drive-in's future," says April Wright, director of the documentary Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-In Movie.
Ms Wright noted that 2013 is the 80th anniversary of the opening of the first drive-in cinema in Camden, New Jersey.
"This is kind of the year that is a juncture of how the industry's going to move forward."
Costly upgrades
Although the switch to digital projection is often billed as a money-saving move - it costs around $100 for each digital film, as opposed to somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 for each 35mm print - the projectors are expensive.
"The cost is exorbitant for many of our members," says United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association president John Vincent, himself the owner of a drive-in theatre in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.
Image caption Sylva Rostan and her daughter settle down for their drive-in night out
A new digital projector for a drive-in can cost anywhere between $70,000 and $150,000.
Mr Vincent notes that many drive-ins have been using the same projector technology that they installed when they were first built in the 1950s.
"Are these new projectors going to last 50 years? I don't think so."
But Mr Hancock says refusing to upgrade is not an option.
"Fundamentally, the point is if you don't convert, you'll die."
No Plan B
The uncertainty surrounding the depreciation of digital projectors has made it difficult to secure a bank loan, says Mr Trapp.
Furthermore, bad weather this year - it snowed the first official weekend of the summer in Vermont - has kept attendance low.
"You could take out a loan but you wouldn't be able to pay it back," says Mr Trapp.
So he has turned to the community to help with donations - throwing a fundraiser and creating a webpage for donations.
He has even entered a contest sponsored by car maker Honda to raffle off five projectors to needy drive-ins.
But right now, if he cannot reach his funding goal, he says "there is no Plan B".
Dewy memories
If it went out of business, it would bum a lot of people out because it's one of the main things we do around here Erin Bullard, Fairlee Drive-in patron
For tonight at least, Fairlee's residents and visitors can continue to experience the classic double feature, a steal at just $9 a ticket.
Fifteen-year-olds Jasmine Jamieson, Erin Bullard and Jenny Ulz are crammed into the back of Sheryl Ulz's compact car, giggling conspiratorially.
Shy at first, when asked about why they like what seems to be an experience that belongs to an older generation, they immediately become enthusiastic.
"It's more fun than the movie theatres because you can meet a lot more of your friends and talk a lot more and do a lot more than just watch the movie," says Erin.
Image caption Jasmine Jamieson, Erin Bullard and Jenny Ulz say the drive-in is their summer tradition
"If it went out of business, it would bum a lot of people out because it's one of the main things we do around here."
As the sun sets and the vintage advertisements roll on screen, the girls settle in chairs, sleepy with the summer heat.
It is an experience that Mr Trapp remembers well from his youth, spent in front of this very same screen, nestled in the back of a sawdust truck with his sleeping bag.
"I would only remember half the first movie and then I'd fall asleep," he remembers fondly with a laugh.
"Then, all of a sudden, there'd be someone waking you up and everything you have would be soaked because of the dew."Calling all math experts and Pizza Hut fans alike! National Pi Day is here and this is your chance to win free “pie,” that’s 3.14 years of Pizza Hut pizza (awarded in Pizza Hut® gift cards)! Take a look at the math problems below and provide your answer to Option A, B, or C in the comments section. Please be sure to note which you are trying to solve. Answers will be time stamped to determine the potential winner and participants can only win once.
Best of luck!
– Pizza Hut & John H. Conway
OPTION A: SOLVED – WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED WITHIN 24 HOURS
I’m thinking of a ten-digit integer whose digits are all distinct. It happens that the number formed by the first n of them is divisible by n for each n from 1 to 10. What is my number?
OPTION B: SOLVED – WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED WITHIN 24 HOURS
Our school’s puzzle-club meets in one of the schoolrooms every Friday after school.
Last Friday, one of the members said, “I’ve hidden a list of numbers in this envelope that add up to the number of this room.” A girl said, “That’s obviously not enough information to determine the number of the room. If you told us the number of numbers in the envelope and their product, would that be enough to work them all out?”
He (after scribbling for some time): “No.” She (after scribbling for some more time): “well, at least I’ve worked out their product.”
What is the number of the school room we meet in?”
OPTION C: YET TO BE SOLVED, No one has gotten this one exactly right yet! Hint: It helps to show your work!
My key-rings are metal circles of diameter about two inches. They are all linked together in a strange jumble, so that try as I might, I can’t tell any pair from any other pair.
However, I can tell some triple from other triples, even though I’ve never been able to distinguish left from right. What are the possible numbers of key-rings in this jumble?
NO purchase necessary to enter, win or claim a Prize. Contest open only to eligible legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S. and D.C. who are at least 18. Void in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and where prohibited. Official Rules found at http://blog.pizzahut.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Pi-Day-Rules-FINAL-03-03-16-2.pdfImage: Gatebox/Youtube
Gatebox is new holographic home assistant that's similar to the Amazon Echo's Alexa, only more anthropomorphic—and creepier. Made by the Japanese company Vinclu Inc, the device is a transparent, voice-activated cylinder that displays a tiny holographic character named Azuma Hikari (presumably, other characters can be added later). Pre-orders for a limited production run of 300 units began today on Gatebox's website.
Hikari was created to be a "comforting character that is great for those living alone." The purpose of this cutesy anime character, blue hair, mini skirt, knee high socks and all, is to "do all she can just for the owner"—also referred to as "master." It seems designed specifically to appeal to lonely bachelors.
In this ad, Azuma wakes her master up in the morning, notifies him of the weather ("Take your umbrella"), and even coddles him with emotional support. During the day, while he's at work she texts him things like "Come home early" or "I can't wait to see you." When he finally gets home at the end of the day, she's already made sure all the lights are on and jumps up and down inside her little glass frame, exclaiming "Missed you, darling."
Azuma's character even comes with her own profile. She's 20 years old, likes donuts, dislikes insects, and her dream is "to become a heroine to help people who are working hard." She's also shown as wearing a wedding ring—needless to say, Gatebox plays up the virtual stay-at-home wife role Azuma is meant to embody.
Azuma lives inside the Gatebox, which is equipped with human detecting sensors and a camera that recognizes the faces and movements of its owner. Moreover, Azuma's character understands words spoken to her and responds as if in natural conversation. "When you're tired or just have some free time, why not just touch the button and have a little therapeutic fun with your character," Gatebox suggests on its website.
The Gatebox also has Bluetooth and infrared data communication technology, which helps it better understand its owner's life. It comes with a microphone and camera, and even has a built-in humidity sensor. It can connect to other electronics, the internet, and smartphones.
Azuma's character is meant to have a "healing voice," while "supporting her master every day." The more the owner speaks to her, the more she learns about their life and can offer a sense of emotional, albeit virtual, support. According to Gatebox, Azuma allows the owner to "enjoy a life with someone while still retaining your freedom."
That "freedom" with Azuma doesn't come cheap: on its website, Gatebox is accepting pre-orders for its initial production of 300 units at 298,000 yen per device, or just over $2,580 USD, with deliveries scheduled for December 2017 (a year from now).
Get six of our favorite Motherboard stories every day by signing up for our newsletter.Ferguson: The Safety of Citizens is Lost with The Unaccountability of Police — Paul Craig Roberts
Ferguson: The Safety of Citizens is Lost with The Unaccountability of Police
Paul Craig Roberts
Events in Ferguson unfolded as most aware Americans thought they would. A white prosecutor guided a grand jury to the decision that the white policeman who shot and killed a young black male had just cause and committed no crime.
The black majority but politically powerless community in Ferguson consists of Americans who are constantly harassed and abused by police. The black community responded predictably to the exoneration of the white policeman. The results were riots, looting, and the destruction of property.
This response hardened the whites in their view that black people are criminally inclined and a threat to the safety of the lives and properties of whites.
The issue has been cast as white-black racism.
Actually, the situation is far more serious than racism.
I can remember times when police in America were reliable. They had themselves under control and saw their role as helpful to citizens and investigators of crimes. They took care not to bring charges against innocent people and to kill citizens without cause. Police would put their lives on line in order to avoid making a mistake in the use of their power.
Those times are gone forever. The police have been militarized, especially after 9/11, but even before. Police are taught to regard the public, especially any suspect or traffic offender as a potential threat to the police. The new rule taught to police is to apply violence to the suspect or offender in order to protect the police officer, and to question suspects only after they are safely secured, it they are still alive after being beaten, tasered, or shot.
This police training, together with police incompetence, which is difficult to understand in these days of GPS addresses, results in massive assaults in the homes of totally innocent American civilians who have done no wrong, but, despite their innocence, lose family members and pets to gratuitous police violence.
Taxpayers pay the police to investigate crimes, not to attack members of the public. But the police have been taught to see their role as protecting themselves from a criminally-
inclined public, black and white.
Police reside in the executive branch, and since 9/11 the executive branch has succeeded in removing itself from accountability to law and to the Constitution. This unaccountability has filtered down to the militarized police who can now murder with impunity as their numerous murders of citizens are given a pass.Microsoft is dipping its toe in the legal marijuana business.
The giant tech company is partnering with a startup that makes software for the booming legal cannabis industry. Los Angeles-based Kind Financial said Thursday that Microsoft will help it market its software to local and state government agencies that monitor marijuana growers or distributors for compliance with regulations governing pot production and sales.
Microsoft Corp. is best known for making software for personal computers. But as PC sales have declined, the company has been building a "cloud computing" business that provides online services for big businesses and organizations, including software that runs in Microsoft's data centers. Kind's software will run on Microsoft's "Azure Government" cloud, a network that provides online services for public agencies.
Marijuana sales aren't allowed under U.S. federal law, but states are taking the matter into their own hands: Colorado, Oregon and Washington state have all legalized marijuana and a handful of others, including California, are voting to potentially do the same this fall.Tarot Cards have a life and an energy all their own. Some people think I am insane for creating rituals that feed, bless, and protect them. They can think whatever they want, it has been with the benefit of over 30 years experience reading cards that I wholeheartedly believe that your tarot cards, as well as all your other divination tools, need to be honored and respected in order to deliver the best results. For optimum performance intelligent people keep their car in a garage and give it regular tune ups and care, your cards are also a useful tool to get you somewhere, a spiritual vehicle so to speak, so you better take care of them too.
Personally my tarot altar, or more correctly shrine ( a repository for sacred energy and power,) is located in a place of prominence and is an ever changing creation. There are items to cleans the cards, items to amplify their energy, personal items, items from ancestors, mentors, friends, and lovers. Sometimes I will add things such as a pendulum or dowsing rods to help all the divination tools attune to each other. It doesn’t matter what spiritual tradition you follow, or even if you choose not to follow any at all, the powerful forces of the universe surround all things and are available to help you gain access to spiritual knowledge. Pagans from every walk of life value the power of the earth, air, fire, water, and spirit just as our ancestors did. The following list draws on those energies and more to help you set up your tarot altar.
Earth item– This could be a small bowl or pinch of dirt, herbs, or something similar. Air item– Traditionally the element of Air is represented by things like incense, and feathers … some people I know simply use their breath to charge an item and give the element of air from deep within themselves. This is a time to think creatively, or breathe outside the box so to speak. Fire item– Fire is warmth, fire is light, fire is transformation. This element can be present on your Tarot Card Altar in the form of a candle or oil lamp. Water item – Water can be represented on your altar with a chalice of spring water, a bottle of Florida water, or a sprinkling of holy water. I even know one Pagan person who uses tap water to signify the spirit of place, use your best judgment. Spirit item – The spirit item for your altar can be a symbol, an image, or other offering. Personal item – Part of the key to understanding the sacred language of the Tarot Cards lies in the reader’s connection with their deck. This can be done by using a lock of hair or a favorite piece of jewelry on your Tarot Altar. Opening item– Many religions and spiritual traditions use some kind of ceremony or item to help open the way to spiritual experience. Here on your Tarot Card Altar this could be a key, a doorknob, or a bell. Cleansing item – Cleansing is very important when dealing with Tarot Cards in particular because they are frequently touched by others. A cleansing item for your altar could be a quartz crystal or bowl of black salt. Communication item – This component is going to be a bit of a wildcard. It can be an oil, incense, or traditional symbol to help with communication. The Tarot Cards themselves – The deck you use most often can go on your Tarot altar, or all your decks can rest there, it is up to you.
For more information on Tarot Card Blessings please see my post 5 Creative Ways to Recharge Your Tarot Cards, and if you would like to schedule a reading with me please give me a shout at [email protected] ITV News correspondent Juliet Bremner
The bosses of the BBC today criticised the government decision to force the corporation to fund a free TV licence for those aged over 75. Rona Fairhead, the chairman of the BBC Trust, said the recent announcement was made without sufficient public consultation - and said the decision "fell well short of what the public should expect."
BBC bosses have criticised the government Credit: PA
The Director General Lord Hall echoed her views, adding: "It was not a good process or one that met public expectations" - and said it would cost the corporation around £750 million. However, he said, the deal had now been done and it was time to move on. Speaking at the launch of the BBC Annual Report, he made it clear there were no plans to reduce the size or scope of the BBC, as some critics had demanded, as there was "no evidence " the public want to see a reduction in the amount of entertainment.
The public shows no appetite for a far smaller BBC. The BBC does not belong to the staff, it doesn't not belong to the government, it belongs to the public. – Lord Hall, BBC Director General
In an apparent rebuff to those who have suggested that BBC should think about shutting down its 24 hour news channel and downsize its online operation, he pledged to fight for the continued diversity of the corporation.
BBC New Broadcasting House in London Credit: PAUsing a clever mix of 3D printing and a few well-placed shadows, this sundial designed by Mojoptix projects the actual time as if displayed on a digital clock. The plastic component that casts the shadow—called a gnomon— is printed with extremely tiny holes that create pinpoint dots of light in the form of digits as the sun shines through during the day.
The sundial does have its limitations. The time only shows in 20 minute increments and it only works from 10am to 4pm during the day. Regardless, the results are no less miraculous when you see it in use in the video below (skip to around 13:00 to see it in motion).
The completed device is available for purchase here, or you can download the design files and print your own. (via My Modern Met)DreamWorks founder David Geffen closes on citizenship-renouncing socialite Denise Rich's NYC duplex penthouse for record-breaking $54million
David Geffen, 69, is said to have purchased penthouse listed by Grammy-nominated songwriter and socialite Denise Rich
Rich recently renounced her American passport and will now live in London
Sold 12,000 square-foot Fifth Avenue co-op for $11m less than asking price
Record executive and producer David Geffen finalized a deal last week to buy the luxury penthouse apartment owned by socialite Denise Rich on Manhattan's Upper East Side for record-smashing $54million.
Rich, 68, the Grammy-nominated songwriter who renounced her American passport in November, was originally asking $65million for the stunning 12,000 square-foot Fifth Avenue dwelling, but settled for a sum nearly 17 per cent lower than her asking price, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Still, the deal marks the highest price ever paid for a co-op in Manhattan, according to Jonathan Miller, president at Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants.
Moving on up: Media mogul David Geffen has just bought the seven bedroom, 11 bathroom penthouse on Fifth Avenue owned by Denise Rich
Grand views: The co-op offers a sweeping panorama of Grand Army Plaza and Central park
Shiny new beginnings: There are marble floors and 11-ft ceilings throughout
New and old: DreamWorks founder David Geffen, left, reportedly purchased Denise Rich's home for $54million; he currently lives one floor below in the exclusive Fifth Avenue co-op
By dumping her U.S. passport, Rich will likely save tens of millions of dollars or more in U.S. taxes over the long haul, tax lawyers say. However, she will still have to pay exit tax on her penthouse.
It is a matter of much speculation that the wealthy Ms Rich left the States so as not to pay any income tax - if that is the case, than she can afford a few million dollars loss.
The New York Post’s Page Six exclusi vely reported the massive sale, noting that Geffen already lives in the building and will likely spend two years renovating the space.
Geffen’s apartment is directly below the one he just purchased. Sources tell Page Six that Geffen plans on selling his old place rather than combining the two properties.
The penthouse sits on Fifth Avenue, right outside of Grand Army Plaza, the Plaza Hotel, and Central Park. Th e Corcoran listin g for the apartment calls it ‘the epitome of luxury and grandeur.’
Complete with 11ft ceilings and custom mahogany doors, the apartment boasts seven bedrooms and 11 baths, as well a library, two fireplaces, and wraparound terraces.
The plush apartment offers sweeping views of the city, all the way across Central Park and to Columbus Circle. The dining room, which is off of the chef’s kitchen, can seat 22, and leads to one of three terraces.
Hearth and home: The property's library features a wood-burning fireplace, one of two in the 12,000 square foot home
Fancy feasts: The dining room, which overlooks one of three terraces, seats 22, and has an attached chef's kitchen
The suite life: The plush apartment offers sweeping views of the city, all the way across Central Park and west to Columbus Circle
At a loss? Geffen purchased the sprawling duplex for a reported $54million, $11million less than the listing price; he currently lives in an apartment on the floor below
Dream big: The Master Suite has two bathrooms and closets galore
Gutted: Rich had a professional recording studio in her home; it is reported that the DreamWorks founder will likely tear it out
The incredible space also has two kitchens, a full gym, and a professional recording studio that was used by Rich. Page Six reports that the DreamWorks founder will likely tear it out.
But aside from the $54million price tag, Geffen will have to pay a monthly maintenance fee of $25,000.
Rich has written songs recorded by Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore, to name a few.
When she listed the apartment in January, Rich told the Post that she had outgrown the space, as her daughters had recently moved out. ‘My greatest hope is that the next family loves and enjoys this home as much as we did.’
She now plans to live in London, it is said, and is a frequent habitué of Cannes, Monte Carlo, and St. Tropez, often sailing to each port on her 157-ft yacht, Lady Joy.
Dining in style: This is one of two kitchens in the co-op, complete with granite counter tops and stainless tell appliances
Feel the burn: In case too much time was spent in the kitchens, the apartment also comes with a fully-equipped gym
Blueprints: The floor plan of Geffen's new lavish home shows the sprawling space over two levels
Panoramic views: Looking out the window, one can see the Plaza Hotel, left, and the southern entrance to Central Park, with Columbus Circle to the west
View from the top: The private rooftop terrace also affords a sweeping view of Central Park
But Geffen and Rich were supposedly not on the best of terms.
According to Page Six, Geffen threatened to take Rich to court after her Jacuzzi flooded, soaking parts of Geffen’s apartment. She later settled with him out of court.
Geffen, 69, is a stalwart in the media world, with properties both in New York and Malibu. He is the proud owner of a 453-foot yacht called the Rising Sun, which he bought from Larry Ellison.
He expanded his maritime collection after he reportedly purchased one of Roman Abramovich’s yachts, the 377-foot Pelorus, for $300million.
Forbes ranks t he University of Texas dropout’s net worth at $5.5billion. He began his career sorting mail at the William Morris talent agency, the magazine reports, and worked his way up from there.
He parted ways from his much younger boyfriend, Jeremy Lingvall in February, the Post said. Lingvall, 28, is a graduate of the University of Santa Barbara.
Sources said that there was no one else involved in the split.
Media mogul: David Geffen and Oprah Winfrey at a special screening of the documentary 'American Masters Inventing David Geffen'CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela is building unmanned drone aircraft as part of military cooperation with Iran and other allies, President Hugo Chavez said, in a move likely to heighten U.S. anxiety over his socialist government’s role in the region.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (L) smiles during a meeting with military members in Caracas June 13, 2012. Picture taken June 13, 2012. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout
Referring to a Spanish media report that U.S. prosecutors are investigating drone production in Venezuela, Chavez said late on Wednesday: “Of course we’re doing it, and we have the right to. We are a free and independent country.”
In a televised speech to military officers at Venezuela’s Defense Ministry, Chavez said the aircraft only has a camera and was exclusively for defensive purposes. “We don’t have any plans to harm anyone,” he said.
“We are doing this with the help of different countries including China, Russia, Iran, and other allied countries,” he added, apparently referring both to drone construction and to other projects including a munitions and weapons factory.
During the lengthy broadcast, Chavez spoke by satellite link with a Venezuelan military officer at the state-owned arms maker Cavim.
The officer stood by a small drone labeled Harpy-001. He said it was 13 feet by 8 feet, could fly as high as 10,000 feet and for as long as 90 minutes. Venezuela has produced three of them, he said.
“They are made in this country with military engineers who went to do a course in the sister Republic of Iran,” said the officer.
Chavez, whose stridently anti-Washington politics are highly popular in his OPEC nation, has expanded ties with Iran amid growing pressure by the United States and other nations on Tehran over its nuclear program. Iran denies Western charges that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons.
Spain’s ABC reported this week that U.S. prosecutors in New York were looking into Venezuela’s construction of drones and purchase of drones from Iran, citing sources familiar with the investigation.
‘INTERNAL DEFENSE’
In March, U.S. News and World Report’s military blog DOTMIL quoted General Douglas Fraser, the head of U.S. Southern Command, as saying Iran planned to build “fairly limited capacity” drones in Venezuela for the Venezuelan military that were similar to the U.S.-made unarmed ScanEagle class of drones.
“It’s not up into the Predator class,” DOTMIL quoted Fraser as telling reporters in Washington, referring to the bigger drones that can be armed with air-to-ground Hellfire missiles.
He said the drones were likely for “internal defense.”
Iran in December said it shot down a U.S. military drone that had violated its airspace and demanded an apology from Washington. Iranian officials said later they were close to cracking the Lockheed Martin Corp aircraft’s technology.
Chavez said Venezuela would soon receive visits from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who came to Caracas in January, as well as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (R) salutes next to Venezuela's Defense Minister General Henry Rangel during a meeting with military personnel in Caracas June 13, 2012. Picture taken June 13, 2012. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout
He scoffed at what he said would be the likely U.S. reaction to Venezuela building drones.
“Pretty soon someone is probably going to say there’s an atomic bomb on the tip of it,” joked Chavez, dressed in military fatigues, adding that the drone could be used in oil and mining exploration.
Armed drones have become a key weapon in the U.S. fight against Taliban and other militants in Pakistan, sparking outrage by Pakistan’s government. U.S. officials said last week a drone strike in Pakistan killed al Qaeda’s second-in-command.People in the 40′s used to laugh in major keys. Man’s guffaws and woman’s’ cackles were tuned to each other―an octave apart―and the glee of their sons and daughters lol’d like a pop choir. But those were jazzier times then, when it was okay for boys to laugh like birds, and girls to cry like dolphins. People didn’t just eat their words in those days, but full sentences as well, and whole songs too.
One such song from the Golden Age of Joke Songs with cow-bell-slinging kazoo-toting Spike Jones and nice-and-keen shaven Benny Bell, is the Woody Wood Pecker Theme that features Mel Blanc’s major laugh melody below.
The laugh is an F# Major chord in Second Inversion meaning the root is transposed to the 5th, the C# in this case. The whole thing ends with a series of triplets on the major 3rd, the A#. Though the melody is in F#, it only hits the root in passing in the rising triplets.
The Woody Woodpecker laugh sounds suspiciously like the “Charge Melody” played at Basketball games. They are both Second Inversion Major chords, played in the same arpeggiated manner. Did the Woody laugh melody inspire the early NBA organists to quote the well-known leitmotif in their charges?
Yes; yes it did.A sociological analysis of stem cell publications has generated data to back up an argument that stem-cell researchers have been making for years: hindering embryonic stem cell research also impedes technologies — such as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells — that don’t rely on embryos.
“It’s not fair to think of them as separate, independent technologies,” says Jason Owen-Smith, a sociologist at the University of Michigan and an author on the study. “The results suggest that we’re not going to be able to make a lot of sense of iPS cells without doing good work with embryonic stem cells alongside them.”
An ongoing lawsuit over the legality of US federal funding for embryonic stem cell research brought the issue to the fore last year. Although a preliminary injunction was recently lifted (see ‘US stem-cell funding ban overturned’) by a higher court, the case is awaiting a decision from the US District Court for the District of Columbia which could still rule against the funding. Meanwhile, the lawsuit may have already had an off-target effect by limiting research using a technology that derives embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos (see ‘Hidden toll of embryo ethics war’).
In an analysis published today in Cell, Owen-Smith and his colleagues found that a growing proportion of papers involving iPS cells also report data from embryonic stem cells. In 2008, 20% of iPS cell papers used both technologies. By 2010, that fraction had swelled to 62%.
The researchers also found that the senior authors who are most active in the field of iPS cells overwhelmingly tended to run labs that also work with embryonic stem cells. “It’s not the case that there is a whole new crop of folks who are only interested in iPS cells,” says Owens-Smith.
Meanwhile, a survey of 118 attendees at the International Society for Stem Cell Research annual meeting last year confirmed that researchers made the choice of which cells to use based on scientific utility, emphasizing the co-dependent relationship between the two technologies. Owen-Smith notes that recent concerns about differences between the two types of cells (see ‘Stem cells: The growing pains of pluripotency’) has only intensified the need for comparative research.
Image: stem cell cultures, NIHPatch 3.4 has ushered in a multitude of new adventures in the realm of Eorzea. In the hope that would-be adventurers can experience all that FINAL FANTASY XIV has to offer, we are pleased to announce the upcoming Free Login Campaign! If you or any of your friends are currently taking a break from your adventures in Eorzea, you won't want to miss out on this limited-time event!
Free Login Campaign Overview
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Users who have previously purchased and registered FINAL FANTASY XIV.
All registered services accounts are set as inactive during the campaign period.
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The Cambridge Edition of the Poems of Rudyard Kipling, Volume 3 (public library). It echoes the heart of Twain’s concerns with a satirical tone, perhaps ironically, more typical of Twain and his own little-known verses:
The Press Why don’t you write a play —
Why don’t you cut your hair?
Do you trim your toe-nails round
Or do you trim them square?
Tell it to the papers,
Tell it every day.
But, en passant, may I ask
Why don’t you write a play? What’s your last religion?
Have you got a creed?
Do you dress in Jaeger-wool
Sackcloth, silk or tweed?
Name the books that helped you
On the path you’ve trod.
Do you use a little g
When you write of God? Do you hope to enter
Fame’s immortal dome?
Do you put the washing out
Or have it done at home?
Have you any morals?
Does your genius burn?
Was you wife a what’s its name?
How much did she earn? Had your friend a secret
Sorrow, shame or vice —
Have you promised not to tell
What’s your lowest price?
All the housemaid fancied
All the butler guessed
Tell it to the public press
And we will do the rest. Why don’t you write a play?
Whether or not Twain’s essay was a direct influence on Kipling’s poem, of course, will never be known, for the anatomy of influence is a complicated matter. But what we do know is that all great art builds on what came before, every “new” idea a combination of past fragments, and creativity is a slot-machine of knowledge end experience. After all, it was Twain himself who told Helen Keller that “all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources.”Major League Gaming to Build First-Ever MLG Arena in China
MLG, Lai Fung Holdings Limited and eSun Holdings Limited to Develop Video Game Destination on Hengqin Island Near Macau
NEW YORK, April 24, 2014 – Major League Gaming (MLG), the global leader in eSports, Lai Fung Holdings Limited (Lai Fung) and eSun Holdings Limited (eSun) today announced plans to build the first-ever MLG Gaming Arena in the “V-Zone,” the first-in-the-world video game destination planned as a centerpiece of Lai Fung’s Renminbi 18 billion “Creative Culture City” development on Hengqin Island. Located off the coast of Macau and part of the city of Zhuhai, China, Hengqin Island is planned as a dynamic new special economic zone and a tourist complement to Macau that will feature a wide array of leisure and recreational activities. The Hengqin Creative Culture City will be the first development in China and in the world to house a permanent visitor attraction dedicated to video game and eSports activity. In addition to being the site of the world’s first MLG Gaming Arena, the V-Zone is slated to include an expo area for game developers to feature new and upcoming games, creative workspaces, gaming-themed restaurants, retail shops and more.
“MLG has been at the forefront of the global eSports phenomenon for over a decade and we’re taking our leadership position to new heights with this expansion into the world’s fastest growing eSports market – China,” said Mike Sepso, President and co-founder. “We’re very proud to partner with eSun Holdings Limited and Lai Fung Holdings Limited to build the first MLG Gaming Arena in Hengqin Island’s V-Zone to house MLG Pro Circuit competitions where we will welcome our fans 365 days per year and broadcast globally via MLG.tv. This is yet another step in our plan to make eSports and MLG a part of mainstream culture worldwide.”
V-Zone is intended to be developed in Phase 1 of the Hengqin Creative Culture City development, jointly by Lai Fung (80% interest) and eSun (20% interest), with a capital commitment of no less than Renminbi 3 billion. Both companies are members of the Lai Sun Group.
“We are very pleased and excited to be working closely with MLG and we hope to crystallize the MLG Arena in the V-Zone and bring it to fruition,” said Chew Fook Aun, Chairman of Lai Fung and executive director of eSun. MLG, Lai Fung and eSun will ensure that the MLG Gaming Arena and V-Zone will comply with all relevant PRC regulation.
MLG, Lai Fung and eSun will work with gaming companies around the world to develop the V-Zone with plans to open the space and the MLG Arena in 2017. The MLG Gaming Arena will be designed to showcase regular gaming competition geared for both a live audience and online viewers on MLG.tv, MLG’s global, digital broadcast network. MLG will work with regional organizations to operate ongoing competitive activity featuring the best players and games in the world.
Over the last few years, China has quickly grown to become one of the largest markets for online gaming, making it a prime location for MLG’s debut MLG Gaming Arena. According to recent reports, China is now the largest gaming market in the Asia-Pacific region and the second-largest gaming market in the world, with the largest online user base in the world. Hengqin, situated in the Pearl River Delta that is home to 64 million people and a center for global tourism, is located just five minutes from Macau, 30 minutes from Hong Kong, and within 100km of five international and domestic airports, making travel to the V-Zone simple for gamers around the world.
The MLG Gaming Arena in China will be the company’s second international expansion announcement this year following the launch of its first international franchise – MLG Brasil. MLG is currently focused on establishing competitive gaming platforms in underserved regions around the globe. Additional details about the V-Zone and MLG plans for further international expansion will be released in the coming months.
About Major League Gaming:
Major League Gaming (MLG) is the global leader in eSports. The company operates MLG.tv, the #1 online broadcast network for professional level competitive gaming; the MLG Pro Circuit, the longest-running eSports league in North America; and MLG: Play, the largest cross platform online gaming tournament system with 9 million registered users across the globe. MLG is one of the fastest growing digital networks worldwide with over 1557% growth in audience over the last four years. Each month, the company reaches millions of highly-engaged fans via web, mobile, connected TVs and gaming consoles making it the definitive property for major advertisers to reach young men (90% male, 50% 16-34 year olds, 76% 21+, and over 40% HHI $100k+). The robust MLG.tv programming line-up is available via www.MLG.tv, MLG.tv apps for iOS and Android and the MLG app for Xbox 360. For more information: www.majorleaguegaming.com.
About eSun Holdings Limited (571.HK):
eSun Holdings Limited (eSun) is a company listed in Hong Kong and is an investment holding company. The principal activities of its subsidiaries include the development and operation of and investment in media, entertainment, music production and distribution, the investment in and production and distribution of television programs, films and video format products, cinema operations, the provision of advertising agency services, the sale of cosmetic products as well as property development for sale and property investment for rental purposes (through its subsidiary Lai Fung). For more information: www.esun.com.
About Lai Fung Holdings Limited (1125.HK):
Lai Fung Holdings Limited (Lai Fung) is a company listed in Hong Kong and is the property development and investment arm of the Lai Sun Group in China. Lai Fung’s core businesses include investment in and development of serviced apartments, residential, office and commercial properties in prime locations in major gateway cities in China, in particular, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with excellent accessibility and infrastructure. With over fifteen years of extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of property development in China, Lai Fung is well poised to benefit from the growing demand for quality properties in China. For more information: www.laifung.com.GFW News: Jeff Jarrett's promotion announces first show dates and location
2015-03-30 09:10:04 The following press release was issued by Global Force Wrestling to Prowrestling.net on Monday. The glitz and glamour of Sin City will meet the hard-charging, high energy of professional wrestling when Global Force Wrestling brings its brand to Las Vegas for the first taping of its broadcast event shows on Friday, July 24 at the Orleans Arena. The gaming and "Entertainment Capital of the World" has been the site for some of the biggest boxing and MMA fights in history. Now, Las Vegas has another major sporting event to add to that list. "This time, what happens in Vegas will not stay in Vegas," said Jeff Jarrett, GFW founder and CEO. "Global Force Wrestling is looking forward to bringing the freshest brand of professional wrestling to fans from all over the world; and, it all starts right here in the fight capital of the world." GFW's first three shows at the Orleans Arena will take place on Friday, July 24; Friday, Aug. 21 and Friday, Oct. 23. GFW has alliances with 13 affiliates on five continents, including New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Mexico's AAA and federations in Europe, Australia and Africa. "Las Vegas hosts some of the world's best entertainment and sporting events -- we are thrilled to be the home of the GFW brand and introduce fans to the next great wrestling franchise," said Darren Davis, Executive Director of the Orleans Arena. "Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling promise to bring something new and exciting to the sport." Jarrett, a third-generation wrestling promoter, has been laying the groundwork for GFW for the past year. In addition to international partnerships, the former wrestling champion has been scouring North America for the newest and freshest talent professional wrestling has to offer. Details about tickets, special VIP opportunities and other important information about the inaugural GFW tapings will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information, visit www.GlobalForceWrestling.com or www.OrleansArena.com. Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #GFWVegas. Powell's POV: The Orleans Arena is the same venue that recently housed the Ring of Honor 13th Anniversary pay-per-view. TNA has also run there in the past. RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE:
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Theresa May has delivered her first speech to the Conservative Party conference since becoming UK prime minister.
It centred largely on how Brexit would work and what leaving the European Union would mean for the country. Here are some key quotes from her speech:
On the UK voting to leave the EU
"Even now, some politicians - democratically-elected politicians - say that the referendum isn't valid, that we need to have a second vote.
"Others say they don't like the result, and they'll challenge any attempt to leave the European Union through the courts.
"But come on. The referendum result was clear. It was legitimate. It was the biggest vote for change this country has ever known. Brexit means Brexit - and we're going to make a success of it."
On keeping the country informed
"We will not be able to give a running commentary or a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations, because we all know that isn't how they work.
"But history is littered with negotiations that failed when the interlocutors predicted the outcome in detail and in advance.
"Every stray word and every hyped up media report is going to make it harder for us to get the right deal for Britain, so we have to stay patient.
"But when there are things to say - as there are today - we will keep the public informed and up to date."
On waiting to trigger Article 50
"There was a good reason why I said - immediately after the referendum - that we should not invoke Article 50 before the end of this year.
"That decision means we have the time to develop our negotiating strategy and avoid setting the clock ticking until our objectives are clear and agreed.
"And it has also meant that we have given some certainty to businesses and investors. Consumer confidence has remained steady. Foreign investment in Britain has continued. Employment is at a record high, and wages are on the up.
"There is still some uncertainty, but the sky has not fallen in, as some predicted it would - our economy remains strong."
On the timing of triggering Article 50
"There will be no unnecessary delays in invoking Article 50. We will invoke it when we are ready. And we will be ready soon. We will invoke Article 50 no later than the end of March next year."
On Parliament's role
"It is not up to the House of Commons to invoke Article 50, and it is not up to the House of Lords. It is up to the government to trigger Article 50 and the government alone.
"Those people who argue that Article 50 can only be triggered after agreement in both Houses of Parliament are not standing up for democracy, they're trying to subvert it.
"They're not trying to get Brexit right, they're trying to kill it by delaying it. They are insulting the intelligence of the British people."
On Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
"Because we voted in the referendum as one United Kingdom, we will negotiate as one United Kingdom, and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom.
"There is no opt-out from Brexit. And I will never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious union between the four nations of our United Kingdom."
On repealing the 1972 European Communities Act
"Our laws will be made not in Brussels but in Westminster. The judges interpreting those laws will sit not in Luxembourg but in courts in this country. The authority of EU law in Britain will end."
On workers' rights
"Existing workers' legal rights will continue to be guaranteed in law - and they will be guaranteed as long as I am prime minister.
"We're going to see workers' rights not eroded, and not just protected, but enhanced under this government."
On Britain after Brexit
"We are going to be a fully independent, sovereign country - a country that is no longer part of a political union with supranational institutions that can override national parliaments and courts.
"And that means we are going, once more, to have the freedom to make our own decisions on a whole host of different matters, from how we label our food to the way in which we choose to control immigration."
On the new relationship with the EU
"The process we are about to begin is not about negotiating all of our sovereignty away again.
"It is not going to be about any of those matters over which the country has just voted to regain control.
"It is not, therefore, a negotiation to establish a relationship anything like the one we have had for the last 40 years or more.
"So it is not going to be a 'Norway model'. It's not going to be a 'Switzerland model'. It is going to be an agreement between an independent, sovereign United Kingdom and the European Union."
On immigration
"We will do what independent, sovereign countries do. We will decide for ourselves how we control immigration. And we will be free to pass our own laws."
On the single market
"We will seek the best deal possible as we negotiate a new agreement with the European Union.
"I want it to involve free trade, in goods and services. I want it to give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the single market - and let European businesses do the same here."
On Britain's future
"A truly global Britain is possible, and it is in sight. And it should be no surprise that it is because we are the fifth biggest economy in the world.
"Since 2010 we have grown faster than any economy in the G7. And we attract a fifth of all foreign investment in the EU.
"We are the biggest foreign investor in the US. We have more Nobel Laureates than any country outside America. We have the best intelligence services in the world, a military that can project its power around the globe, and friendships, partnerships and alliances in every continent.
"We have the greatest soft power in the world - we sit in exactly the right time zone for global trade and our language is the language of the world.
"We don't need - as I sometimes hear people say - to 'punch above our weight'. Because our weight is substantial enough already."
What others had to say...
Image copyright Reuters
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson used his conference speech to outline how the UK would be "liberated" by leaving the European Union. Here are some of his key quotes:
On the referendum result
"I know that not everyone will agree with this, but what the hell - I believe that vote on 23 June was for economic freedom and political freedom as well."
On leaving the EU
"I have to tell any lingering gloomadon-poppers that never once have I felt that this country would be in any way disadvantaged by extricating ourselves from the EU treaties.
"And indeed there are some ways in which we will be liberated to be more active on the world stage than ever before because we are not leaving [the continent of] Europe.
"We will remain committed to all kinds of European co-operation - at an intergovernmental level, whether it is maintaining sanctions against Russia for what is happening in Ukraine or sending our navy to help the Italians stem the migrant flow through the central Mediterranean.
"But we will also be able to speak up more powerfully with our own distinctive voice leading the world as we now are, in imposing a ban on ivory helping to save the elephant in a way that the disunited EU is unable to do."
Brexit Secretary David Davis hailed Brexit as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Britain to forge its new place in the world" in his speech to Conservative Party members. Here are a few of the key lines:
Image copyright AFP
On EU citizens staying in the UK
"When it comes to the negotiations, we will protect the rights of EU citizens here, so long as Britons in Europe are treated the same way - something I am absolutely sure we will be able to agree.
"To those who peddle hate and division towards people who have made Britain their home, let the message go out from this hall, we say 'you have no place in our society'."
On immigration
"The clear message from the referendum is this - we must be able to control immigration.
"Did you hear [Labour leader] Mr Corbyn last week, telling us all there's no need for any limit on numbers? Have you ever heard a political party quite so out of touch with its own voters?
"Let us be clear, we will control our own borders and we will bring the numbers down."
On trading relations with the EU
"History shows that the easier it is for us to do business together, the better it is for both Britain and Europe.
"We're looking at all the options. We'll be prepared for any outcome. But it certainly won't be to anyone's benefit to see an increase in barriers to trade, in either direction.
"So, we want to maintain the freest possible trade between us, without betraying the instruction we have received from the British people to take back control of our own affairs."They also discuss what a VP of UX Education is and is it an internal or external facing role (1:29). The common themes surrounding problems design teams face and possible solutions (4:46). How UX research fits into designing for emotion (8:30) and whether organizations are doing enough research upfront to guide their direction (13:01). The discovery process behind MailChimp Snap and how the ethnographic research process lead to new feature development (15:00). Strategies for ensuring research happens in parallel and doesn’t hold up other areas of a team and is in turn shared with the team (20:21).
How designers are often thrust into positions of leadership which often causes them internal conflict (24:40). What attributes are either required or often seen in a great design leader (28:26). How to create a successful UX team and how the process changes depending on a company’s level of maturity (31:11).
Helping designers finding the balance between being thoughtful and considered versus productive and frequently shipping (35:20). How convergent and divergent thinking can work together to achieve an optimal result (37:54). How organizations should measure success (39:17).
You can find Aaaron on Twitter - @aarron
Follow Shefik Bey on Twitter - @shefikbeyHis photograph suggested the image was taken in Costa Rica, prompting local police officers to investigate whether he is hiding in the country
The world's most wanted drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman may be hiding out in Costa Rica following his dramatic escape from Mexico's maximum security Altiplano prison in July.
Costa Rican authorities are now investigating whether the boss of the Sinaloa Cartel secretly fled to the Central American nation after his son appeared to accidentally reveal his hideout on Twitter.
While cocksure 29-year-old Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar regularly uses social media to boast about his father's prison bust and share new images of the fugitive, it appears he failed to disable a smart phone feature that automatically tags where an image was taken when it is posted online.
Hiding: The photograph is clearly designed to taunt Mexican authorities who have faced ridicule since El Chapo's escape. What Salazar (centre) probably hadn't realised is that the picture also published location data (circled) to each of his 149,000 Twitter followers
Most wanted man: El Chapo's escape in June humiliated Mexican authorities who had attempted to make every effort to avoid the embarrassment of the drug boss escaping yet another maximum security prison.
The image in question shows Salazar sitting at a dinner table with two other men whose faces have been obscured by large comedy emoticons.
Despite this, the mustache and build of the man on the left of the image has a strong resemblance to El Chapo himself and Salazar captioned the image: 'August here, you already know with whom'.
While the photograph is clearly designed to taunt Mexican authorities who have faced ridicule since the drug lord's escape, what Salazar probably hadn't realised is that the picture also published location data to each of his 149,000 Twitter followers.
Beneath the image the words 'Costa Rica' can be clearly seen. This location tagging typically occurs when the user has failed to switch off the auto-tagging function on Twitter's smart phone app.
The tweet has been enough to lead Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigative Police to announce they are now looking into the possibility that El Chapo is hiding in the country but added that the post is the first evidence they have received to suggest that this could be the case.
What the picture does show, however, is that wherever they are, Salazar and Guzman himself appear to be hiding in plain sight, brazenly visiting busy restaurants and taking group photographs.
If the notorious drug dealers are indeed in Costa Rica, it is clearly a place they feel relaxed about the possibility of being arrested - despite the huge rewards available to any possible informant.
On the lam: Sinaloa Cartel leader El Chapo has been on the run since July, when he escaped from a maximum-security prison in Altiplano
Guzman has been taunting the world on Twitter since his daring escape, vowing to escape again if caught
When not posting taunting messages and photos on social media, Salazar and two of his brothers run the Sinaloa drug cartel - one of the world's most feared organised crime syndicates.
It is their father who remains at the head of the group, now more than ever following his escape from prison in June - the second time he has vanished from a Mexican maximum security facility.
El Chapo was first jailed after being extradited from Guatemala in 1993 and escaped from a maximum security prison in 2001. 13 years later, an international manhunt led to his arrest in the seaside resort town of Mazatlan in February last year.
Mexican authorities have announced a $3.8million reward for El Chapo, who is believed to have a net worth of about $1billion - the vast majority raised from drug sales.
Last week the U.S. added a further $5 million to that reward and set up a special 'tip line' for anybody wanting to give information about the drug boss.
At the time acting head of America's Drug Enforcement Administration, Chuck Rosenberg, said he believed Guzman is still in Mexico, probably hiding in his home state of Sinaloa. He did, however, acknowledge that the elusive Guzman could be hiding anywhere.
Entryway: Guzman took out a 20-by-20 inch grill in the shower floor of his cell and climbed down a 32ft shaft into the complex tunnel system
A motorcycle adapted to a rail used by Guzman to move through a tunnel through beneath the prison
Seeking leads: The US has set up a tip line for Americans and Mexicans to give information on El Chapo
EL CHAPO'S COLLECTION OF LUXURY CARS AND MILITARY-GRADE WEAPONS ARE SEIZED More than 30 luxury cars and motorcycles were confiscated from alleged members of El Chapo's cartel in his hometown of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, as the drug lord still remains on the run, according to the Mexican Navy. The 33 vehicles - including a Dodge Viper, a fully-loaded Jeep Sahara and a Ducati - were confiscated in a series of raids by the Mexican government over the span of a week. Thirteen military-grade weapons were also confiscated during the raids in the Mexican state's capital, which serves as the home base of the all-powerful Sinaloa Cartel. In one of the raids, the Mexican Navy took part in a high-speed chase after the driver of a vehicle tried to run down security with his car, the Mexican Navy said in a news release.
El Chapo's escape in June humiliated Mexican authorities who had attempted to make every effort to avoid the embarrassment of the drug boss escaping yet another maximum security prison.
Mexican lawmakers have admitted that at least 18 minutes passed before anyone at the maximum-security Altipiano jail raised the alarm.
This raises the possibility that El Chapo could have bribed prison employees to turn a blind eye to his escape in the same way he'd done in his 2001 escape.
CCTV footage from inside the cell revealed that Guzman took out a 20-by-20 inch grill in the shower floor of his cell and climbed down a 32ft shaft into a complex tunnel system that built below.
The tunnel - which was air conditioned and even had a motorbike on tracks to hasten his escape - would have taken at least a year to build with four miners working 10-hour shifts - with digging and drilling going on under the guards' noses.
The prison is also fitted with censors which are meant to detect drilling but officials insist the had no idea something was amiss.It may not be as rare as a Christmas without snow, but city hall is poised to complete a major project well within its budget.
Winnipeg finance officials say the Waverley Street underpass at the CN main line between Taylor and Wilkes avenues is on track to be completed for $34.9 million less than its original budget.
A report to council's finance committee now pegs the price at $121.4 million, down from $156.3 million.
"The above projection is based on the fact that a majority of the work has been contracted with favourable pricing," public works engineer Brad Nierinck wrote in the report.
"In addition a number of risk factors have been reduced including delay risks surround the road/rail detours implementation as well as completion of a number of utility relocations."
The project is supposed to be completed in July 2020.18 October 2008. Thanks to Robert Eringer.
And now the Manchurian microchip Robert Eringer October 18, 2008 7:13 AM The geniuses at Homeland Security who brought you hare-brained procedures at airports (which inconvenience travelers without snagging terrorists) have decreed that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. This means The Investigator -- at the risk of compromising national insecurities -- would be remiss not to make you aware of the hottest topic in U.S. counterintelligence circles: rogue microchips. This threat emanates from China (PRC) -- and it is hugely significant.
The myth: Chinese intelligence services have concealed a microchip in every computer everywhere, programmed to "call home" if and when activated.
The reality: It may actually be true.
All computers on the market today -- be they Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Apple or especially IBM -- are assembled with components manufactured inside the PRC. Each component produced by the Chinese, according to a reliable source within the intelligence community, is secretly equipped with a hidden microchip that can be activated any time by China's military intelligence services, the PLA.
"It is there, deep inside your computer, if they decide to call it up," the security chief of a multinational corporation told The Investigator. "It is capable of providing Chinese intelligence with everything stored on your system -- on everyone's system -- from e-mail to documents. I call it Call Home Technology. It doesn't mean to say they're sucking data from everyone's computer today, it means the Chinese think ahead -- and they now have the potential to do it when it suits their purposes."
Discussed theoretically in high-tech security circles as "Trojan Horse on a Chip" or "The Manchurian Chip," Call Home Technology came to light after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched a security program in December 2007 called Trust in Integrated Circuits. DARPA awarded almost $25 million in contracts to six companies and university research labs to test foreign-made microchips for hardware Trojans, back doors and kill switches -- techie-speak for bugs and gremlins -- with a view toward microchip verification.
Raytheon, a defense contractor, was granted almost half of these funds for hardware and software testing.
Its findings, which are classified, have apparently sent shockwaves through the counterintelligence community.
"It is the hottest topic concerning the FBI and the Pentagon," a retired intelligence official told The Investigator. "They don't know quite what to do about it. The Chinese have even been able to hack into the computer system that handles our Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system."
Another senior intelligence source told The Investigator, "Our military is aware of this and has had to take some protective measures. The problem includes defective chips that don't reach military specs -- as well as probable Trojans."
A little context: In 2005 the Lenovo Group in China paid $1.75 billion for IBM's PC unit, even though that unit had lost $965 million the previous four years. Three congressmen, including the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, tried to block this sale because of national security concerns, to no avail. (The PRC embassy in Washington, D.C., maintains a large lobbying presence to influence congressmen and their staffs through direct contact.)
In June 2007, a Pentagon computer network utilized by the U.S. defense secretary's office was hacked into -- and traced directly back to the Chinese PLA.
A report presented to Congress late last year characterized PRC espionage as "the single greatest risk to the security of American technologies." Almost simultaneously, Jonathan Evans, director-general of MI5, Britain's domestic security and counterintelligence service, sent a confidential letter to CEOs and security chiefs at 300 UK companies to warn that they were under attack by "Chinese state organizations" whose purpose, said Mr. Evans, was to defeat their computer security systems and steal confidential commercial information.
The Chinese had specifically targeted Rolls-Royce and Shell Oil.
The key to unlocking computer secrets through rogue microchips is uncovering (or stealing) source codes, without which such microchips would be useless. This is why Chinese espionage is so heavily focused upon the U.S. computer industry.
Four main computer operating systems exist. Two of them, Unix and Linux, utilize open-source codes. Apple's operating system is Unix-based.
Which leaves only Microsoft as the source code worth cracking. But in early 2004, Microsoft announced that its security had been breached and that its source code was "lost or stolen."
"As technology evolves, each new program has a new source code," a computer forensics expert told The Investigator. "So the Chinese would need ongoing access to new Microsoft source codes for maintaining their ability to activate any microchips they may have installed, along with the expertise to utilize new hardware technology."
No surprise then that the FBI expends much of its counterintelligence resources these days on Chinese high-tech espionage within the United States. Timothy Bereznay, while still serving as assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, told USA Today, "Foreign collectors don't wait until something is classified -- they're targeting it at the research and development stage." Mr. Bereznay now heads Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems division.
The PRC's intelligence services use tourists, exchange students and trade show attendees to gather strategic data, mostly from open sources. They have also created over 3,500 front companies in the United States -- including several based in Palo Alto to focus on computer technology.
Back in 2005, when the Chinese espionage problem was thought to be focused on military technology, then-FBI counterintelligence operations chief Dave Szady said, "I think the problem is huge, and it's something we're just getting our arms around." Little did he know just how huge, as it currently applies to computer network security.
The FBI is reported to have arrested more than 25 Chinese nationals and Chinese-Americans on suspicion of conspiracy to commit espionage between 2004 and 2006. The Investigator endeavored to update this figure, but was told by FBI spokesman William Carter, "We do not track cases by ethnicity."
Excuse us for asking. We may be losing secrets, but at least the dignity of our political correctness remains intact.
Oh, and Homeland Security snagged comic icon Jerry Lewis, 82, trying to board a plane in Las Vegas with a gun -- no joke.
If you have a story idea for The Investigator, contact him at [email protected]. State if your query is confidential.At least 58 people were killed and more than 489 wounded when a gunman opened fire during a country music concert in Las Vegas Sunday night, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The suspected shooter, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, was found dead in his hotel room on the 32nd floor of at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, from which he had been firing at the crowd attending the outdoor concert across the street. Police said they found “numerous firearms” in Paddock’s hotel room.
At this time there is in excess of 50 deceased and over 200 injured individuals. — LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017
Prior to Sunday night’s massacre, the deadliest shooting in recent history had taken place at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla. in June 2016, where 49 people were killed, not including the gunman, Omar Mateen.
Mateen, 29, had opened fire inside the popular gay club Pulse at about 2 a.m. on June 12, 2016. According to police, the shooting — which authorities described as a “domestic terror attack” — quickly turned into a hostage situation as the 300-plus people inside the club tried to escape.
Mateen was killed by SWAT officers approximately three hours after he began shooting.
(AP/Yahoo News) More
It was initially reported that 20 people had been killed in the attack, but at a news conference later that Sunday morning, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the death toll was approximately 50, a number that included Mateen himself.
The U.S. has a long history of mass shootings. Prior to last year’s attack in Orlando, the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting had been the deadliest, with 32 fatalities in addition to the shooter.
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Read more from Yahoo News:OMFG you don't understand do you.
Go back up to my first post where I said "honest question" and you'll see that I never claimed to understand, that's what I'm trying to do. No need to get mad dude.
Boiling it right down to it's basics, the fitness standards are for how long a soldier can fight at 100% combat effectiveness.
But what are the metrics? You've not explained in any appreciable way how it is actually measured or any of the mechanics behind how it works in practise. How can you suggest we've got the balance right if you don't actually know how these things are judged to be in balance?
Can you not grasp that basic fact?
No because facts are based on evidence, all you've said is if we lower one thing the other will always lower, but you've failed to explain the causal link between the two.
Being a combat soldier is not sitting on their arse at a desk in an office. It's physical hard dangerous work.
You do realise I know that, right? But like I said fitness isn't some bottomless pit where the more fit you get the better you are at physical work, it gets to the point of diminishing returns. How do we know we've balanced our requirements right before the point where fitness starts to provide diminishing returns?NewsEnd of Life, Freedom, Politics - Canada
OTTAWA, April 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Liberal government’s euthanasia bill introduced Thursday will not protect vulnerable Canadians or the conscience rights of physicians, say anti-euthanasia activists.
While Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould’s Bill C-14 is more restrictive than the legislative framework the special joint parliamentary committee recommended in its February 2016 report, it essentially provides “a perfect cover for acts of murder, absolutely,” says Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
The draft legislation restricts eligibility for euthanasia and assisted suicide to competent patients 18 years of age and older who have “a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability” which “causes them enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable to them and that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable,” who are in “an advanced state of decline in capability” and whose “natural death is reasonably foreseeable.”
The legislation mandates that a |
. Injuries are common but can be fatal in magnitude if you develop too casual an attitude while training or exercising. Prevention is definitely better than cure and effectively ensuring the following on a regular basis will definitely help you prevent injuries during a workout.
Adequate warm-up before Workout
Optimum amount of warm up exercises is important before every workout session. Usually warm ups are high-rep, low intensity exercises that helps in increasing the blood flow to the muscles. As a result, the overall temperature of the muscles, increase and they become more mobile and flexible. You can say that muscles, when properly warmed up are more elastic and much lesser prone to injuries like muscle pulls, cramps, etc. Thus, effectively performing the warm up exercises is essential before every workout session to prevent injuries. You shouldfind a personal trainer for yourself if you are unsure about how to go about it yourself.
Optimum Levels of Training
You should first understand one thing clearly that overtraining does not yield quicker or more enhanced results. Needlessly overtraining will needlessly deplete your energy levels without too much of a marked improvement. A more than ordinary metabolism status depletes the levels of glycogen stores and does not allow the muscles to recuperate. This hinders the overall growth of the muscles, needless to say that it leaves you prone to injuries. A certified personal trainer will know exactly how much workout is required for your body and it is worthwhile to take it up as an advice. Avoiding overtraining definitely helps in staying injury free.
The Proper Attire is important
It is significant that you wear the proper attire to the gym. Now you might think that how much difference does it make with what clothes you wear. Well the answer is, ‘A lot‘. You can almost avoid few injuries completely of you are wearing the proper gear. For instance, during cardio sessions, try and get the perfect running shoes that best suits your body weight and figure. This can straight away eliminate potentially high riskankle injuries and ligament tears. Shoes that are not perfectly designed for you may prove to be fatal, as while running you might lose your balance or twist your feet, etc.
Cardio from Home – An Essential Guide. https://t.co/i91ZDcwmeN#Cardio #fitness #cardiokickboxing #heelkicks #highknees
— Amanda Barton (@StrongLeanHappy) November 14, 2016
Maintaining a Proper Diet
You must consult your certified nutrition specialist in order to strike the proper balance between carbs and proteins in your diet. A balanced diet with optimum quantity of both carbs and proteins is essential for the body. Your body needs to replenish the energy that it uses up during the workout session. A balanced diet is instrumental in rejuvenating the body with the required calories. This makes sure that you do not under-eat and go for a session as that can lead to injuries.
Rest and Recovery
You have to understand that at the end of the day, it’s your body and you have to allot considerable resting period to it. After the activities of the entire week, your body definitely deserves a day off. But that does not mean that you abuse your body by resorting to the most ‘delicious but unhealthy‘ meal ever. Just rest up and help your body recover from any spasms or stiffness that you might be carrying. This will help you conserve and restore your energy levels and you will be up and ready to hit the gym the next day.Graph search algorithms solve the following general problem:
Suppose you have a graph, and you begin at some node on the graph. This graph, for example, could represent a map of New York City — the edges could be streets, nodes could be intersections of streets, and the starting node could be your current location. The problem is to find a path with some property that ends at some goal node. On the graph of New York City, you might want to find the shortest route to a bar. On a graph of a game of chess (where nodes are game states and edges are moves), you might want to find any way for you to win. For our purposes, we will assume that the graph is connected, meaning there exists a path between every pair of nodes.
For now, we will consider two graph search algorithms: depth-first and breadth-first search. Depth-first search (DFS) simply finds any path from the start node to a goal node, and breadth-first search finds the shortest path. DFS search simply starts at the starting node and takes an edge over and over again until it reaches a goal node. Sometimes, if it reaches a situation where it can not reach any other node from where it is and has still not reached a goal node, it will backtrack up one level and try again with another node. If the graph is infinitely large, then DFS may go on forever.
Breadth-first search (BFS) takes it a different strategy: from the starting node, it iteratively expands a “search bubble” — all nodes within this bubble will be at most a certain distance away. It then looks for a goal node within this bubble. If it does not find one, then it expands the bubble. Even if the graph is infinitely large, it will find a goal node if it exists, and it will find the shortest path to it.
We should first think about how we can represent a graph. The important thing about a graph is that each node consists of some unique “label” and a list of “connections” to other nodes. Furthermore, if we have information about just a single node in the graph, we can recover the entire graph by just following the connections of each node to the the next node. If we do this process enough time (until we start visiting the same node twice), we can determine what the entire graph looks like. Therefore, we only need to have the representation of a single node (the node’s label and its connections), and the entire graph can be reconstructed automatically. We will call the node we choose to represent the entire graph with the “focus” of the graph. In Haskell, we can represent a graph the following way:
data Graph a = Node { label :: a, connections :: [Graph a] }
Therefore, we can represent a simple cyclic graph with 5 vertices the following way:
cycle5 :: Graph Int cycle5 = Node 1 [Node 2 [Node 3 [Node 4 [Node 5 [cycle5]]]]]
Note how, just like lists and trees, graphs in Haskell are defined recursively. This means that if we were to traverse this graph using some search procedure, we would keep cycling from 1 to 5.
It is often useful to prune the graph into a search tree so as to remove any cycles. In other words, we can transform cycle5 into the following:
pruned_cycle5 :: Graph Int pruned_cycle5 = Node 1 [Node 2 [Node 3 [Node 4 [Node 5 [Node 1 []]]]]]
And it will be understood that the node labeled 1 later in the graph is the same as the node labeled 1 that is the focus of the graph. Pruning turns the infinitely large, recursively defined representation of the graph into an only finitely large representation that can be used to reconstruct that very same graph. We can define the pruning function in the following way:
prune :: Eq a => Graph a -> Graph a prune g = prune' [] g where prune' ps (Node x xs) = if x `elem` ps then Node x [] else Node x (map (prune' (x:ps)) xs)
The prune function will traverse the graph by following connections and maintaining a list of node labels it has seen so far — if it encounters a node it has seen before, it won’t expand its connections. Pruning is useful in both DFS and in BFS. Without pruning, DFS may not terminate (if it encounters a cycle in the graph). Although BFS will always terminate, pruning speeds it up by eliminating cycles in the graph. This does not change the result of the BFS because the shortest path can never contain cycles — if it did, then we could always cut the cycle out of the “shortest” path, and we would get a shorter path. We will always prune the graph before feeding it into a search algorithm.
The easier search algorithm to implement is DFS because we only need to find a single path to a goal node, not necessarily the shortest one. In Python, DFS would be implemented with a stack like so (assuming the graph has already been pruned):
def dfs(isGoal, startNode): stack = [[startNode]] while len(stack)!= 0: path = stack.pop() if isGoal(path[-1]): return path else: for child in path[-1].connections(): stack.append(path + [child]) return None
Because we are using a stack, a last-in-first-out (LIFO) data structure, we always pop out the last path we extended. If we end up at a dead-end, we always end up popping out the last path we evaluated, which enables backtracking. In Haskell, we don’t need a separate stack to store all the paths — we can use recursion, which is essentially using the call stack as our LIFO structure. Here’s how we can do it:
dfs :: (a -> Bool) -> Graph a -> Maybe [a] dfs p (Node x xs) = if p x then Just [x] else fmap (x:). msum. map (dfs p) $ xs
First, let’s inspect the type signature and convince ourselves it’s the same as the Python program. The first argument is the “isGoal” parameter, which is a function that takes in a node label as an argument and returns a Boolean indicating whether or not it qualifies as a goal node. The second argument is a graph, with the starting node as its focus. The dfs function can either output a list of node labels representing a path from the starting node to a goal node wrapped in a Just constructor, or it can output a Nothing, indicating that there is no path from the starting node to a goal node. p is the goal predicate, x is the label of the node in focus, and xs is the list of connections for that node (recall that it is of type [Graph a] ).
The first part of the if-branch is relatively simple: if the currently focused node, x, satisfies the goal predicate, then the path to a goal is Just [x] — that is, we’re already at a goal node. To understand the second part, let’s first try to understand its components:
map (dfs p) takes a list of graphs and runs the same DFS procedure on all of them, with the same goal predicate. It will output a list of Maybe [a] s. msum takes a list of Maybe t values and returns the first one that is not Nothing. The “m” in msum :: Monad m => [m a] -> m a refers to “Monad”, in this case the Maybe monad. We can think of Nothing as a sort of “zero” element, and we are summing up all the Maybe t values in a list. Because zero is the identity for addition, it will be ignored in msum and we will, by convention, return the first Just value. fmap (x:) appends x to the beginning of the list inside a Just. Functor f => fmap :: (a -> b) -> (f a -> f b) is a “lifting” operation for functors, which are generally containers for elements. In this case, our functor is Maybe. As an example: (+1) :: Int -> Int fmap (+1) :: Maybe Int -> Maybe Int fmap (+1) (Just 3) = Just 4 fmap (+1) Nothing = Nothing fmap (1:) (Just [2, 3, 4]) = Just [1, 2, 3, 4] fmap (1:) Nothing = Nothing Note that fmap will return Nothing if you try to operate on Nothing.
Putting this all together, if x does not satisfy the goal predicate, then it will run the dfs p function on all the connections of the focused node, it will find the first one that succeeds in finding a goal node, and it will append x to the beginning of that path because x had to be visited before traversing that path. If DFS fails to find a goal node on all of the connections, then because fmap f Nothing = Nothing for all f, Nothing will be returned. Furthermore, msum [] = Nothing (intuitively, the sum of zero number of things is zero), and so if a node does not satisfy the goal predicate and it has no connections, then Nothing will be returned, as we expect. In all cases, therefore, this dfs function is correct.
However, it looks like this implementation of DFS is run on every single connection of a single node, whereas DFS should only run along a single path and backtrack only when necessary. However, thanks to laziness, that is not the case. msum will only have to evaluate the contents of the list map (dfs p) xs until it finds the first successful path, and DFS will not be run on the remainder of the list. Backtracking is not as explicit in this implementation, but it occurs when msum encounters a Nothing in the list and ignores it and moves on to the next element.
We can confirm that the entire graph is not being searched by using one of the tools in the Haskell toolbox, the :sp directive in GHCi. It will show you how a given variable is currently represented in memory: which portions are thunks and which portions have been evaluated. For example, if we define:
let x = 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : []
Then:
GHCi> :sp x ====> x = _
Which indicates that because of lazy evaluation, x is entirely a thunk. Now, if we evaluate the head of x :
GHCi> head x ====> 1 GHCi> :sp x ====> x = 1 : _
Which indicates that only the portion of x that has been evaluated is the head, and the tail is still a thunk. We can use :sp to determine which portions of a data structure a function evaluates — in this case, which nodes in a graph our DFS procedure touches. Let’s try it out:
GHCi> let g = Node 1 [Node 2 [Node 3 []], Node 4 [Node 5 []], Node 5 []] GHCi> let pg = prune g GHCi> :sp pg ====> pg = _ GHCi> dfs (== 5) pg ====> Just [1, 4, 5] GHCi> :sp pg ====> pg = Node 1 (Node 2 [Node 3 []] : Node 4 (Node 5 _ : _) : _)
Clearly, it does not have to process the entire search tree — once it finds a path to 5, it stops and returns that path.
BFS is a bit more difficult to tackle. But first, let’s discuss how we would implement BFS in Python:
def bfs(isGoal, startNode): queue = [[startNode]] while len(queue)!= 0: path = queue.pop(0) if isGoal(path[-1]): return path else: for child in path[-1].connections(): queue.append(path + [child]) return None
The only difference is that instead of a stack, we have a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue! The basic idea is to preserve the invariant that in each iteration, we always pop the shortest path out of the queue. This is because every time we extend a path, we add it to the end of the queue, and we always pop from the front, selecting the paths that haven’t been extended yet.
In Haskell, however, the implementation for DFS and BFS aren’t quite so similar. What complicates things is that while stacks can be implemented easily using ordinary recursion, queues don’t have a simple analogue. We would like to avoid using an extra data structure, if possible, and stick to recursion.
Recall that BFS accomplishes two things: it finds the shortest path to a goal node, and it does not touch any part of the graph outside the search bubble. Therefore, if we find that the shortest path to a goal node is 3 steps long, then all nodes that are more than 3 steps away from the starting node should remain untouched after the algorithm terminates.
First, let’s suppose we had a function, rankedPaths, which would take in a graph and output a list of all paths from the focus of the graph to every other node in order of increasing length. For now, we can simply leave this as undefined :
rankedPaths :: Graph a -> [[a]] rankedPaths g = undefined
Leaving it as undefined for now allows us to specify a type for rankedPaths without having to implement it, so that we can specify how it will interlock with other functions but put off actually writing the function for later.
We also have a function in the Data.List module called find :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> Maybe a which will find the first element in a list that satisfies a given predicate. If it finds it, it will return that element wrapped in a Just constructor; if it does not, it will return Nothing. Finally, we also have a function called last :: [a] -> a that will return the last element of a list. How can we put these together to implement BFS?
What we want to do is implement a function bfs :: (a -> Bool) -> Graph a -> Maybe a that will first generate a list of all paths in order of increasing length, and then select the first path whose last node satisfies our goal test. The following code does just that:
bfs :: (a -> Bool) -> Graph a -> Maybe a bfs p = find (p. last). rankedPaths
However, we need to make sure that rankedPaths is evaluated lazily — find will stop as soon as it finds an element that satisfies the given predicate, but we need to make sure that evaluating the first element of the list does not force evaluation of the entire list. We want only the nodes inside the search bubble to be touched.
To implement rankedPaths, we have to ensure that evaluating a given element of the list will not force the evaluation of any elements that come afterwards — we will do so by defining the tail of the returned list recursively and the head normally. First, note that if our graph is Node x xs (recall x will pattern-match as the label of the node currently in focus, and xs will pattern-match as the list of connections of this node), then the shortest path in this graph is [x], which is just a path starting and ending at x. The next shortest paths would be the paths from x to its connections, and then the paths from x to the connections of its connections, and so on.
So now we’ve learned a bit more about what rankedPaths should look like:
rankedPaths :: Graph a -> [[a]] rankedPaths (Node x xs) = [x] : undefined
Next comes the induction step: suppose we knew what map rankedPaths xs, or rankedPaths for every connection of the currently focused node, was. Can we combine this data to get rankedPaths for the currently focused node? If we have ranked lists of paths for all the connections of a node, can we combine them into a single ranked list of paths for the node?
We can, if we imagine we had a function called mergeRanked :: [[a]] -> [[a]] -> [[a]]. This function will take two ranked lists of paths, and merge them into a single ranked list of paths. Then, we can use foldr mergeRanked to merge a list of ranked lists of paths into a single ranked list of paths, and append an x to the beginning of each path using map (x:). Finally, we also have to consider the case of the single path beginning and ending at x, so we append the path [x] to the beginning of the entire resulting list. The following is how we can implement rankedPaths :
rankedPaths :: Graph a -> [[a]] rankedPaths (Node x xs) = ([x]:). map (x:). foldr mergeRanked []. map rankedPaths $ xs
Of course, we still have to implement mergeRanked. The basic idea is similar to how we implement the merge process in merge sort — we repeatedly take the smaller of the two heads from the two lists until one of the lists is empty:
mergeRanked :: [[a]] -> [[a]] -> [[a]] mergeRanked [] ys = ys mergeRanked xs [] = xs mergeRanked (x:xs) (y:ys) = if length x < length y then x : (mergeRanked xs (y:ys)) else y : (mergeRanked (x:xs) ys)
Altogether, we have:
bfs :: (a -> Bool) -> Graph a -> Maybe [a] bfs p = find (p. last). rankedPaths where rankedPaths :: Graph a -> [[a]] rankedPaths (Node x xs) = ([x]:). map (x:). foldr mergeRanked []. map rankedPaths $ xs mergeRanked :: [[a]] -> [[a]] -> [[a]] mergeRanked [] ys = ys mergeRanked xs [] = xs mergeRanked (x:xs) (y:ys) = if length x < length y then x : (mergeRanked xs (y:ys)) else y : (mergeRanked (x:xs) ys)
And that’s the implementation of BFS! Side-by-side with the python implementation, it isn’t quite as terse, but it is idiomatically using recursion and laziness to our advantage. We can ensure that BFS is actually lazy and doesn’t touch anything outside the search bubble by using the :sp tool again:
GHCi> let g = Node 1 [Node 2 [Node 3 []], Node 4 [Node 5 []], Node 5 []] GHCi> let pg = prune g GHCi> :sp pg ====> pg = _ GHCi> bfs (== 5) pg ====> Just [1, 5] GHCi> :sp pg ====> pg = Node 1 [Node 2 [Node 3 _], Node 4 _, Node 5 _]
And indeed, nothing outside of 1 step beyond our search bubble has been touched.
Please leave comments below and let me know if you have any corrections or need any clarifications.
AdvertisementsAndre Holmes has officially been reinstated onto the Oakland Raiders roster. Andre was suspended the first four games of the season for performance enhancing drugs but was reinstated by the NFL last week. The Raiders have now activated Andre to the active roster after confirming the release of QB Matt Flynn, both moves were confirmed by Dennis Allen at his Monday press conference.
Holmes was one of the most consistent targets for the Raiders in the preseason and is an interesting prospect. He is tall at 6'4, though not very heavy at 210lbs, so his ability to use his height advantage to make plays could prove to be a valuable asset. Its never a bad thing to add a 6'4 receiver into the mix, especially when you could use the size advantage in the endzone.
Andre had spent the previous two years on the Dallas Cowboys, mostly on the practice squad but he did play in 7 games in 2012. In those 7 games he had a total of 2 catches for 11 yards so he is a blank slate as far as production goes. It is expecting much of an unknown quantity to think he will be a key factor for the Raiders but he did show glimpses of potential this preseason.The eroticization of male dominance and female passivity in couple relations is a game in which there are no winners, a luring trap that blocks what makes human relationships human — an empathic connection — a hardwired drive to mutually know and compassionately understand one another that is rooted in our nature to matter as meaning-seeking relational beings.
This capacity remains dormant, however, unless developed. It is a learned ability that requires such skills as being open and vulnerable to one another, an essential aspect of growing the courage we need to love with our whole heart. (To love with our whole heart, in a nutshell, means to develop our capacity to remain empathically connected to self and other, in moments when core fears, such as inadequacy or rejection, get triggered.)
In a cultural context that relegates empathy, vulnerability and emotional closeness as weakness or “girly,” and emotions of pain, hurt or fear as signs of inferiority or defect, especially for men (to women who want to be “accepted” as “equals” in this milieu), is it any wonder why so many couples get tripped up in their attempts to create vibrant, mutually enriching relationships?
It has to do with the dehumanizing nature of these cultural norms.
For this and other reasons, looking more closely at the negative impact of these cultural stories opens up possibilities for men and women to see one another anew, and, rather than compete, to honor the intrinsic dignity and value of each in relation to the other, first and foremost, as human beings, with an amazing potential to work cooperatively as partners in forming a healthy relationship and an enriching context for one another to grow and self-actualize as uniquely contributing individuals.
Seeing the dehumanizing nature of dominance?
Cultural values that normalize addictive patterns of relating in couple relationships, and idealize interlocking dynamics of narcissism and codependency, cause a lot of emotional suffering for both men and women, and no doubt have far reaching effects on family, community and society at large.
Our human brains are wired to move toward pleasure and avoid pain. We learn and adopt behavioral patterns that release feel-good hormones such as dopamine or oxytocin. We are also wired to learn from pain, to seek to eliminate or avoid what produces pain and anxious sensations, such as the stress hormone cortisol. These processes are regulated by the mind of the body – the subconscious.
The body also releases feel-good hormones whenever we experience relief or lower anxiety through the specific ways we’ve learned to deal with stress, such as an angry outburst or an emotional shutdown.
Emotions shape and spark the firing and wiring of neurons that produce behaviors, accordingly.
Happy neurochemicals are released whenever our distress is relieved by behaviors that activate these feel-good neural patterns.
Oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin develop synapses each time they are released, strengthening any behavior patterns associated with feel-good sensations of relief.
These chemicals are released in accordance with our learned perceptions of what poses danger and how to deal with it.
Our earliest experiences of how we met our needs, for safety and love in particular, were imprinted in cellular memory, and left on their own can endure a lifetime.
Essentially, beliefs are perception filters that our body relies on to know when to activate its sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Our beliefs can, and do, for example, activate anger or fear to levels known to cripple our capacity to make wise choices. Nothing turns the otherwise amazing human mind into a prison than fear-based limiting beliefs.
Recent findings in neuroscience show the regions of the brain that regulate aggression and violence overlap with ones that regulate empathy, and that activation of neural patterns in one direction reduces activity in the other. Thus, encouraging aggression inhibits empathy, and similarly, growing empathy inhibits aggression.
The two hallmark traits of narcissism, a lack of empathy and taking pleasure in victimizing others, are key traits in antisocial personality disorder as well. In a recent post, psychologist Dr. Stanton Samenow points out these two personality disorders have a lot in common.
In his book, Dying to Be Men, Dr. Will Courtenay describes the cultural influences of “masculinity” that lead men to reject many healthy behaviors, and simultaneously to gravitate to numerous unhealthy behaviors instead, which put them at risk of death, injury and disease.
In the extreme, eroticized dominance in couple sexual relations, at least subconsciously, posits one or more of the following, that:
Sex is a weapon for personal gain to prove superiority via dominance (versus a key aspect of emotional intimacy in a couple relationship).
Primary goal is to ‘win’ by overpowering the will of another, to ensure they know ‘their place’ – and sex is a secondary goal.
Main pleasure is derived from causing (emotional) pain to the other, i.e., tricking or manipulating them for own gratification.
The other is seen as a weak or defective ‘object’ without feelings, thoughts, opinions, etc, of their own.
Love is regarded as overall sex-focused, sex is equated with intimacy, and emotional-intimacy is tactically avoided.
Women only respect men who dominate them, and respect is associated or equated with obedience.
Not surprisingly, these eroticized ideals form some of the core issues men and women struggle with, and often only discover in couples therapy, as they address the pain, confusion and sexual addiction and dysfunction rooted in desperate, and futile, attempts of each to find a way to matter to the other.
“Emotional groomers” and the “emotionally groomed”?
In what was first a parent guide by Ron Herron and Kathleen Sorensen, and now updated and available as a leader’s guide by Kathleen Sorensen McGee and Laura Holmes Buddenberg, the book, Unmasking Sexual Con Games: Helping Teens Avoid Emotional Grooming and Sexual Con Games, is one of kind. It provides practical tools for teens, parents and teachers to use, in educational contexts, that support adolescent girls to avoid the traps of “emotional grooming” and date rape. (A teen guide is also available.)
The reason it’s one of a kind, however, is that the authors discuss the elephant in the room that most leaders and professionals have ignored for decades, more specifically, that emotional grooming and other sexual predatory behaviors are not only associated with behavior patterns of sexual predators and offenders, as they are often portrayed, though they may be used more aggressively in these cases. The authors note that:
In varying degrees, emotional grooming and sexual predatory behaviors are widespread cultural norms, that we often minimize as “boys will be boys” behaviors.
And that boys first learn to exhibit these in middle school. Some boys bring more extreme versions from home, and learning processes, in a culture that normalizes male dominance, then take a natural course from there.
Emotional grooming is primarily a specific use of language.
A “groomer” skillfully plays with words, learns to identify what the perceived victim wants to hear, and uses this knowledge, for personal gain, to direct and to keep the focus of her attention exclusively to meeting his emotional and physical needs — at the expense of her own.
A groomer takes pleasure in skillfully causing pain to increase his sense of control in keeping her anxiously focused on not upsetting or angering him.
To a woman or teen, it can feel confusing, and is. It is a form of thought control known to jam up the otherwise amazing critical thinking capacities of human brains.
Why does emotional grooming work?
An emotional groomer would not be anywhere near as effective, however, were it not for complementary cultural conditioning that paves the way for women from girlhood to be at risk of falling into the mind traps. As a complement to the notion of rightful male dominance, the same cultural forces emotionally groom women from girlhood to believe one or more of the following:
To believe in romanticized notions of female passivity and accept these as norms.
To believe their value and worth as human beings, unlike men’s, is based primarily on meeting the needs of others, i.e., husband, children.
To hold that a good woman, according to this doctrine, never looks to her own needs, and that only “selfish” women do that.
To think it’s their job to meet men’s need to feel more important, entitled, etc., and thus, to behave like children, dependent, helpless, in need of men to take care of them, protect them, make decisions for them, etc.
To regard women who do not “know their place” bad, evil or dangerous to society, emasculating or hurtful to men.
Thus, to accept the notion that a ‘real’ man ‘should’ subdue women who do not know their place, much like parents do in response to unruly or disobedient children.
These expectations naturally promote distance and a parent-child type of relationship that, from the start, has no chance of developing into healthy emotionally intimacy. Safe to say, this is also a training that indoctrinates women into codependency behaviors as norms.
Notably, that these cultural expectations are also either-or thinking patterns that, in addition to denying our human nature, portray both men and women’s nature in extremes. Women are described as either passive and moral, or wild and dangerously out of control, for example, incapable of being good mothers and spouses. Similarly, men are either respectable and dominant (over women, children and weak men), or spineless doormats or gay.
Subconsciously, men and women’s behaviors are controlled by emotion taboos that instill them with shame, guilt and fear associated with their value as human beings.
What’s the worst thing to call a woman in our culture? Selfish.
And, the worst thing to call a man? A sissy (a girl).
These cultural values amount to training for men and women to adopt addictive relating patterns overall in the directions of narcissism and codependency, respectively. These can be, and are, uniquely expressed in as many ways as there are couples, and with varying degrees of overlapping in the dynamics. They also foster parenting that is characterized by narcissism that puts children at risk for abuse.
The emotional groomer’s tools, language, and tactics?
According to the authors of Unmasking Sexual Con Games, a groomer employs the following three basic tools to remain in control of a perceived victim’s emotions.
1. A ‘caring protector’ – The groomer portrays himself as a caring protector, and lulls her into thinking he is the only one she can and must trust and depend on for her emotional and physical care. He professes his “love” to get sex, i.e., “it’s okay…I’ll always take good care of you.”
2. A ‘loyal oath to secrecy’ – The groomer gets her to agree to secrecy, to loyally protect his image from being tarnished in any way; thus, she’s responsible for keeping secret any abuse or acting out on his part. He persuades her that their relationship is ‘special,’ and that if she were to disclose any abuse, no one would understand, that this would hurt him and make him feel insecure, and that she would be blamed for not making him or others happy. (In more extreme cases, he may threaten to hurt her, others, himself if she discloses.)
3. A ‘victim’ – The groomer also portrays himself as her victim. Like all narcissists, he has a very fragile ego and cannot handle not getting his needs met. He persuades her that it’s her fault whenever he acts out physically or sexually, and not his, and that he wouldn’t act out if she would stop making him angry. If she would just do what she’s supposed to do, he scolds, he wouldn’t have hurt her. He blames her for his unhappiness, often reminding her that she is incapable of making him happy, that she always fails him, that he has been hurt in the past, that he needs her to make up for what others have done to him, i.e., in his childhood, or past relationships, etc.
A groomer goes beyond the typical “pick-up lines,” and uses language in a distinct way that is specifically geared to:
Gain her complete and unquestioning trust, so she solely depends on him.
Isolate her from others, so he possesses exclusive rights to her attention.
Threaten and intimidate her to give in to his demands without questioning him.
Blame her for any abuse he commits against her, himself or others.
Treat her as an object that does not have feelings, wants, thoughts. etc., of her own.
Make her feel like he’s doing her a favor by keeping her around.
Reinforce his position as “the boss.”
To achieve the above aims, an “emotional groomer” skillfully uses some or all of the following tactics:
Jealousy and possessiveness – He lets her know she his “territory” and that it is natural for him to ensure no one else is “messing” with her mind or body. This reflects an insatiable neediness to be in control, and to have her attention completely focused on him, his needs, and so on.
– He lets her know she his “territory” and that it is natural for him to ensure no one else is “messing” with her mind or body. This reflects an insatiable neediness to be in control, and to have her attention completely focused on him, his needs, and so on. Use of insecurity – He vacillates between: (1) acting insecure, seeking pity, or asking for constant reassurance of her love and loyalty; and (2) instilling her with a sense of insecurity, making her think that no one else wants her, that she is stupid, or incapable of caring for herself, and so on.
– He vacillates between: (1) acting insecure, seeking pity, or asking for constant reassurance of her love and loyalty; and (2) instilling her with a sense of insecurity, making her think that no one else wants her, that she is stupid, or incapable of caring for herself, and so on. Anger powered by blame – He uses outbursts of anger to get what he wants and makes her think she’s to blame for his anger outbursts, and that, unless she gives in to his demands, her life will be miserable. (This can be potentially dangerous, if the anger becomes an addictive pattern associated with a “high” or a rush of power, even more so in cases where a pattern forms of first hurting her, then getting sex as a reward.)
– He uses outbursts of anger to get what he wants and makes her think she’s to blame for his anger outbursts, and that, unless she gives in to his demands, her life will be miserable. (This can be potentially dangerous, if the anger becomes an addictive pattern associated with a “high” or a rush of power, even more so in cases where a pattern forms of first hurting her, then getting sex as a reward.) Intimidation – Similar to anger, he uses an array of “don’t mess with me or else” tactics, which can be scary words, facial expressions, or physical gestures, or even sexually suggestive behaviors, all of which serve his intention to keep her at a perceived lower status than him, where she fears harm or disapproval.
– Similar to anger, he uses an array of “don’t mess with me or else” tactics, which can be scary words, facial expressions, or physical gestures, or even sexually suggestive behaviors, all of which serve his intention to keep her at a perceived lower status than him, where she fears harm or disapproval. Accusations – He turns minor or innocent events into occasions to accuse her of betrayal, disloyalty, etc. — and may even make up lies to |
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Jones, a longtime proponent of the idea that the U.S. government can manipulate and even produce weather systems like tornadoes and hurricanes, went on to say that if people saw helicopters or small aircraft in the area, then “you better bet your bottom dollar they did this.”
“But, who knows if they did?” he asked. “You know, that’s the thing. We don’t know.”
That almost seems like a first for the conspiracy radio host, who has in recent weeks been endlessly promoting theories about how he’s certain the Boston Marathon bombing was a “false flag” event set up by the Obama administration. Jones also claims intimate knowledge of the government’s alleged plot to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building and carry out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He’s also a proponent of the “Manchurian candidate” scenario for the mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut, but virtually all of his “evidence” in these matters is dubious at best and fabricated or misrepresented at worst.
Jones is also credited for pushing a bizarre and thoroughly debunked theory that President Barack Obama trying to buy up all the bullets in the country, both to enforce gun control and to prepare for the murder hundreds of thousands of American citizens amid what he believes is a planned period of civil unrest. Republicans in the House actually held a hearing about this matter, much to the disappointment of their Democratic counterparts. Of course, for years Jones has been telling his listeners that the government, particularly the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has Nazi-style death camps set up all around the country, although no evidence of this has ever surfaced.
Jones is being increasingly treated as a serious voice within the Republican Party, and lawmakers in statehouses across the country and in Congress are beginning to parrot his views, however bizarre they might sound. Even Fox News hosts and Republican freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has appeared on the Alex Jones Show, much like his father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), continues to do.
This audio is from “The Alex Jones Show” on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, as snipped by Media Matters.On Saturday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell argued President Trump is trying to make the healthcare system worse and “screw up people’s lives.”
Rampell said, “I go back and forth between thinking he actually believes he’s making the problem better, he’s making the insurance markets better. You look at what he said during the signing ceremony, it’s, ‘We’re going to give Americans more choice. Health care’s going to be better. Everybody’s going to love it.’ So I — does he actually believe that, or does he believe that he’s sabotaging it and making things worse? I mean, on some level…it doesn’t really matter, bad policy is bad policy. And I tend to err more on the side of, yes, he’s trying to screw things up. Because if you look at everything else that he’s done. And we haven’t talked about the other — the portions of the executive order that basically siphon off all of the healthy people in order to make the regular Obamacare plans much more expensive and loaded with sick people. But if you look at that, if you look at the fact that he’s pulled advertising money for open enrollment, that he’s actually used Obamacare money to run a PR campaign against it, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that he’s trying to make health care worse. He’s trying to screw up people’s lives.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchettANALYSIS/OPINION:
As a writer, I’ve gone out on patrol with police officers, accompanied narcotics squads on drug raids, observed detectives investigating murders and other crimes, and I’ve interviewed police commanders and commissioners in station houses and police headquarters.
I’ve witnessed how police officers are treated with suspicion, spite and scorn by some. But I’ve also witnessed crime victims and frightened citizens who were relieved and comforted by an officer’s presence.
There is a growing anti-cop campaign in the country that unfairly labels all police officers racists, crooks and murderers. The campaign includes public rants, violent protests, excessive lawsuits, political posturing and unflattering portrayals in popular culture. And too often, this anti-cop crusade leads to the murder of a police officer, as we’ve seen in New York, San Antonio, Washington D.C., and other cities around the country.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s preliminary mid-year officer fatalities report for 2017, there was a 30 percent increase in police officers killed in line of duty compared to the same time period last year. As of June 30, the report reveals that 65 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, a rise from 50 officers killed in the line of duty during the first half of 2016.
In my view, there is nothing more dangerous than a cop killer. The criminal, terrorist or political activist who is willing to take on an armed police officer and murder him or her will not hesitate to kill anyone, anytime, anywhere. A cop killer is a total outlaw and a true menace to all of us.
Considering this dangerous and tragic trend, one begs to ask the question — is there a war on cops?
Who better to ask than Joseph Wambaugh, a former detective sergeant and 14-year-veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, as well as the author of classic police novels such as “The New Centurions” and “The Choirboys,” and true crime classics such as “The Onion Field”?
“Not a war,” Mr. Wambaugh replied. “But a guerrilla action by partisans of the left who primarily control the media, and those who live and die immersed in identity politics.
“Isn’t it ironic that the poster child of the ‘Ferguson Effect’ was seen on camera intimidating and manhandling a shopkeeper before his fatal encounter with the officer? The partisan critics have a hard time finding an absolutely blame-free victim.”
Mr. Wambaugh, speaking in regard to what he called the media hysteria about cops being systemic murderers, suggested we all take a closer look at the shooting of Philando Castile in Minnesota, which resulted in a not-guilty verdict for second-degree manslaughter.
“Virtually every newsworthy police shooting results in an outcry for “better police training” when the fact is, cops in America are almost trained to death. A huge part of the law enforcement budget is spent on training, especially in community relations and in the handling of violent confrontations. But in that incident, the jury could see what the officer could see because of a patrol car camera. The officer on trial said with great emotion, “I didn’t want to shoot Mr. Castile. I thought I was going to die.” The officer can be seen screaming commands into the car, in terror and shock, and no fair person can think that 10 more years of non-stop training would have changed a thing.”
“The image of sudden death strikes in an instant and that officer’s survival instincts took over. Maybe another officer would have handled it differently, but there was no crime committed in this tragic case.”
While discussing the Ferguson riots and other violent street protests, I asked Mr. Wambaugh about the lessons he learned as an LAPD officer.
“The Watts Riot in 1965 taught me that the threat of overwhelming force works to quiet things down. We had no automatic weapons, but when the National Guard finally showed up a couple of days after it started, and a few of those young cowboys fired theirs to get the attention of looters, the streets quickly became quiet and deserted,” Mr. Wambaugh recalled. “Also, I learned that the average arrestee knew nothing about the incident that supposedly triggered what some critics called “an uprising of rage at the white establishment and their blue oppressors.” The vast majority of rioters, who were not angry at all, simply said in statements that they knew nothing of the arrest that supposedly caused the riot, but smashed, burned and looted because ‘everybody else was doing it.’ The media at that time were just getting started with the ‘police training’ rhetoric, which they have perfected by now.”
Should the war on cops concern all of us?
“What is happening today that should shock everyone is the unprovoked assassination of police officers by people with a perceived grievance,” Mr. Wambaugh said. “That’s a flagrant attack on all of us and emits a whiff of anarchy.”
• Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime, espionage and terrorism.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Turtle-headed seasnakes are melanic (black) in polluted sites, but not in other areas
Although classically associated with urban environments in invertebrates, melanism in terrestrial snakes is more often linked to occupancy of cool climates []. Thermal advantages to melanism do not apply in aquatic snakes [], but although turtle-headed seasnakes (Emydocephalus annulatus) are banded or blotched across a wide geographic range [], most individuals are melanic in polluted inshore bays of the Pacific island of New Caledonia []. Why has melanism evolved in these urban sites? Because trace elements bind to melanin, darker feathers enhance a bird’s ability to shed pollutants []. Reptiles in polluted habitats also accumulate trace elements, which are expelled when the skin is sloughed []. Might melanism enable snakes to rid themselves of harmful pollutants? We measured trace elements in sloughed skins of seasnakes from urban-industrial versus other areas and in dark versus light skin. For the latter comparison, we used data from laticaudine seasnakes (sea kraits Laticauda spp.), in which each individual is dark and light banded, facilitating comparisons between dark and light skin. As predicted, concentrations of trace elements were higher in snakes from urban-industrial areas and higher in darker than paler skin (even within the same slough). The rate of excretion of trace elements is further enhanced by higher frequencies of sloughing in melanic than banded individuals, even within the same population, because of higher rates of algal settlement on darker skin. Thus, melanism of seasnakes in polluted sites may facilitate excretion of trace elements via sloughing.
Heavy metal concentrations in northern water snakes (Nerodia sipedon) from East Fork Poplar Creek and the Little River, East Tennessee, USA.
Excretion of three heavy metals in the shed skin of exposed corn snakes (Elaphe guttata).
Intraspecific habitat partitioning by the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae): the effect of sex, body size, and colour pattern.
Intraspecific habitat partitioning by the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae): the effect of sex, body size, and colour pattern.
The Evolution of Melanism: The Study of a Recurring Necessity; With Special Reference to Industrial Melanism in the Lepidoptera.
Our mark-recapture data from a color-polymorphic population in New Caledonia [] show that the proportions of snakes that exhibited heavy algal fouling and sloughing at the time of capture were higher in melanic snakes than in banded snakes (logistic regression, algae χ= 20.86, degrees of freedom [df] = 1, p < 0.0001; sloughing χ= 9.12, df = 1, p < 0.003), but with similar seasonal patterns of sloughing in both color morphs.
Intraspecific habitat partitioning by the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae): the effect of sex, body size, and colour pattern.
Mean concentrations of the 13 trace elements in sloughed skins analyzed ranged from 0.14 μg.gfor Cd to 1,385 μg.gfor Fe, with a maximum concentration of 6,195 μg.gof Fe ( Figures 2 and S1 Tables S2 and S3 ). There was no significant difference in trace-element concentrations between E. annulatus versus the laticaudine species (MANOVA, F(1,13) = 4.74, p = 0.35; Figure 3 ). For all 13 trace elements, mean concentrations were significantly higher in urban-industrial sites than in non-industrial sites ( Figures 2 and S1 Table S2 ; for statistical results, see Table S3 ). Concentrations of five trace elements (Co, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) were significantly higher in darker bands than in lighter bands (for statistical results see Table S3 ).
Some sites were close to urban-industrial areas, some were non-industrial, and one site was near the mouth of a major river that carried significant volumes of sediment. The panels show data (mean ± SE) for levels of trace elements in light- and dark-colored rings of sloughs from sea kraits from each type of site.
Concentrations of Trace Elements (ln μg.g -1 Dry Weight) in Sloughed Skins of Sea Kraits (Laticauda spp.) from the Great Lagoon of New Caledonia
Figure 2 Concentrations of Trace Elements (ln μg.g -1 Dry Weight) in Sloughed Skins of Sea Kraits (Laticauda spp.) from the Great Lagoon of New Caledonia
We surveyed color morphs of turtle-headed seasnakes across their geographic range, using a combination of field observations and examination of museum specimens ( Table S1 ). Melanism was common in E. annulatus from urban-industrial sites within New Caledonia and in a remote Barrier Reef atoll used as a bombing range in Australia (association between % melanism with the categories of urban-industrial, non-industrial, and river-mouth: F(2,20) = 27.61, p < 0.001; post hoc Tukey tests show that urban-industrial > non-industrial or river-mouth), whereas most snakes from less heavily polluted sites were banded or blotched ( Figure 1 and Table S1 ).
(C) Frequencies of melanism in snakes from urban-industrial sites versus other areas.
Discussion
In the seasnake Emydocephalus annulatus, melanism is more frequent in urban-industrial sites than in less polluted locations. Melanic snakes slough more often than banded conspecifics, and sloughing eliminates more trace elements from darker skin than from lighter skin. In combination, these results suggest that industrial melanism enhances a seasnake’s ability to dispose of trace elements.
12 Eisler R. Vertebrates, Volume 2, Compendium of Trace Metals and Marine Biota. 13 Grillitsch B.
Schiesari L. The ecotoxicology of metals in reptiles. 14 Heydari Sereshk Z.
Riyahi Bakhtiari A. Concentrations of trace elements in the kidney, liver, muscle, and skin of short sea snake (Lapemis curtus) from the Strait of Hormuz Persian Gulf. 15 Rezaie-Atagholipour M.
Riyahi-Bakhtiari A.
Sajjadi M.
Yap C.K.
Ghaffari S.
Ebrahimi-Sirizi Z.
Ghezellou P. Metal concentrations in selected tissues and main prey species of the annulated sea snake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) in the Hara Protected Area, northeastern coast of the Persian Gulf, Iran. 16 Bonnet X.
Briand M.J.
Brischoux F.
Letourneur Y.
Fauvel T.
Bustamante P. Anguilliform fish reveal large scale contamination by mine trace elements in the coral reefs of New Caledonia. 17 Puls R. Mineral Levels in Animal Health. Diagnostic Data. 16 Bonnet X.
Briand M.J.
Brischoux F.
Letourneur Y.
Fauvel T.
Bustamante P. Anguilliform fish reveal large scale contamination by mine trace elements in the coral reefs of New Caledonia. 18 Migon C.
Ouillon S.
Mari X.
Nicolas E. Geochemical and hydrodynamic constraints on the distribution of trace-element concentrations in the lagoon of Nouméa, New Caledonia. 16 Bonnet X.
Briand M.J.
Brischoux F.
Letourneur Y.
Fauvel T.
Bustamante P. Anguilliform fish reveal large scale contamination by mine trace elements in the coral reefs of New Caledonia. 15 Rezaie-Atagholipour M.
Riyahi-Bakhtiari A.
Sajjadi M.
Yap C.K.
Ghaffari S.
Ebrahimi-Sirizi Z.
Ghezellou P. Metal concentrations in selected tissues and main prey species of the annulated sea snake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) in the Hara Protected Area, northeastern coast of the Persian Gulf, Iran. 19 Mann R.M.
Sánchez-Hernández J.C.
Serra E.A.
Soares A.M. Bioaccumulation of Cd by a European lacertid lizard after chronic exposure to Cd-contaminated food. 20 Weir S.M.
Suski J.G.
Salice C.J. Ecological risk of anthropogenic pollutants to reptiles: Evaluating assumptions of sensitivity and exposure. 21 Heatwole H. Sea Snakes. 22 Heatwole H.
Seymour R. Pulmonary and cutaneous oxygen uptake in sea snakes and a file snake. 23 Fisher N.S.
Reinfelder J.R. The trophic transfer of metals in marine systems. 24 Mathews T.
Fisher N.S. Dominance of dietary intake of metals in marine elasmobranch and teleost fish. 25 Furness R.W.
Camphuysen K.C.J. Seabirds as monitors of the marine environment. 26 Aguilar A.
Borrel A.
Pastor T. Biological factors affecting variability of persistent pollutant levels in cetaceans. Concentrations of trace elements in these sloughs were higher than most previous records for marine reptiles [], including seasnakes [] and fishes (including the eels consumed by sea kraits []), and higher than can cause health problems in mammals and birds []. Seasnakes in the Noumea Lagoon are exposed to pollutants via run-off from terrestrial systems []. New Caledonia’s rich mineral deposits create high levels of trace-element contamination, further increased by mining activities []. High trace-element concentrations in sloughs of sea kraits from close to a river-mouth (but far from urban-industrial activity) suggest that melanism may benefit seasnakes in many areas. The primary uptake of trace elements presumably comes via ingestion of prey, with predatory snakes accumulating trace elements through time (i.e., bioaccumulation []). These snakes also might take up trace elements directly from the water [], given their high ratio of surface area to volume, and significant rates of gas exchange across the skin []. However, radiotracer studies on other aquatic species suggest that feeding is the primary pathway for uptake of trace elements in invertebrates [], fish [], seabirds [], and cetaceans [].
27 Shine R.
Brischoux F.
Pile A.J. A seasnake’s colour affects its susceptibility to algal fouling. Importantly, concentrations of trace elements were higher in darker than in lighter bands within the same slough ( Table S3 ). As in birds, then, melanin-rich areas of a snake’s outer surface accumulate trace elements, and, hence, sloughing reduces the trace-element load faster in melanic snakes than in paler conspecifics. That effect is amplified by the higher sloughing frequency of melanic Emydocephalus ( Figure 1 A), presumably because algal spores settle onto dark substrates, enhancing rates of algal fouling [].
28 Cook L.M.
Saccheri I.J. The peppered moth and industrial melanism: evolution of a natural selection case study. 29 Lukoschek V.
Beger M.
Ceccarelli D.
Richards Z.
Pratchett M. Enigmatic declines of Australia’s sea snakes from a biodiversity hotspot. The melanic morph appears to be a derived trait in E. annulatus, but the number of independent evolutionary increases in the frequency of melanism is unclear. A single origin may have been involved, as in peppered moths [], but occasional melanism is geographically widespread in E. annulatus ( Table S1 ). The only sites where melanism in E. annulatus was common, but which were not urban-industrial sites, were Saumarez Reef, an isolated reef that is used as a bombing range, and Ashmore Reef ( Table S1 ), a site where seasnake populations have plummeted in recent years, possibly due to pollution from fishing boats []. Future work should measure concentrations of trace elements at these reefs, to quantify the correlation between melanism and pollutant levels more robustly, and compare trace-element concentrations to snake coloration in populations of E. annulatus where the banded morph occurs at a high frequency.
2 Majerus M.E.N. Melanism: Evolution in Action. 6 Chatelain M.
Gasparini J.
Jacquin L.
Frantz A. The adaptive function of melanin-based plumage coloration to trace metals. 30 Hansson L.A. Plasticity in pigmentation induced by conflicting threats from predation and UV radiation. 31 Shine R. All at sea: aquatic life modifies mate-recognition modalities in sea snakes (Emydocephalus annulatus, Hydrophiidae). What alternative hypotheses could explain the high frequency of melanism in seasnakes from urban-industrial habitats? Melanin plays diverse and important physiological roles. For example, enhanced immune function in melanin-rich individuals might be advantageous in polluted sites where the animals are subject to chemical stresses [], or melanism might protect snakes from high UV levels in clear shallow water []. Ecological advantages to melanism (such as local color matching to the habitat, to avoid visual predation) or reproductive advantages (mate choice) seem less likely: there are no clear differences in habitat use between banded and melanic snakes in our study populations, and a snake’s color appears to play little role in mate recognition [].
In summary, melanism has evolved under diverse selective advantages. Intriguingly, the seasnakes we studied in the Indo-Pacific exhibit the same correlation as seen in insects and pigeons in European cities: melanism is more common in urban-industrial environments. However, the selective advantages underlying that common pattern may involve antipredator camouflage and physiological benefits in insects versus trace-element excretion in pigeons and seasnakes.Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE is putting his mouth where CNN’s money is, demanding that all profits from the broadcast of next week’s GOP debate go to veterans.
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Following news that CNN has been capitalizing on Trump-mania by raising ad prices for the Sept. 16 debate to 40 times their normal rate, the GOP front-runner sent a letter to the news network’s president, Jeff Zucker, to insist that he share the wealth.
“While I refuse to brag,” Trump writes, “this tremendous increase in viewer interest and advertising is due 100% to ‘Donald J. Trump.’ ”
Given the record-setting audience for the first GOP debate on Fox News, Trump says it stands to reason that CNN’s audience “will be even larger.”
“I believe that all profits from this broadcast should go to various VETERANS groups, a list of which I will send to you in the near future,” Trump tells Zucker in the letter.
“The veterans of our country, our finest people, have been treated horribly by our government and its ‘all talk and no action’ politicians,” Trump continues. “In fact some would say they are treated like third class citizens—even worse, in many cases, than illegal immigrants.”
“It is about time that someone comes to their aid,” Trump concludes. "Let’s start now!”
Zucker and CNN have yet to respond to Trump’s request.Riot has released some information on their plans for upcoming balance changes to be released over the next two patches. Here's my analysis on these changes and summary.
Bloodthirster
So after all is said and done, Bloodthirster loses 20 AD, 3% lifesteal, and costs 300g more, and as a trade off gets this shield passive.
Offensively, this is a nerf. Bloodthirster was fantastic for Marksman because it just gave so much raw power and AD. With the heavy objective focus in the current metagame (specifically at the professional level), just having more AD to push towers and clear minion waves was exactly what you needed early.
There has been discussion that the shield is very cost effective, but health has never been a stat that Marksman itemize for, and it's not something you will always have up, there are just so many situations where you don't have the time or ability to go auto attack something before joining a fight. The shield is powerful, don't get me wrong, but it's something you shouldn't need. This item seems great on bruisers or melee champions who itemize for AD (Yasuo and Riven come to mind) who run right into fights.
Infinity Edge
Infinity Edge is looking much better in the future patch, not only for the nice 10 AD it gained, but also because Bloodthirster is losing a lot of it's damage.
As far as combat stats go, why get Bloodthirster when you you can pay an extra 300 gold to get 25% crit chance and the amazing passive from Infinity Edge? The Infinity Edge passive makes you scale so hard into the mid-late game with crits, it's really hard not to appreciate IE's damage potential.
Comparing the two items, Infinity Edge is far better offensively, while Bloodthirster is better defensively.
Vampiric Scepter
A nerf, plain and simple. Unless you have other forms of sustain, a Vamp is almost required for laning phase.
Doran's Blade
The other large change to Lifesteal itemization. Doran's Blade is going to have 3% lifesteal again. It will be a little weaker sustain in the early game, but it will scale with your items so much harder.
I find that these changes close the gap between current top item build (Vamp into BT) and other lifesteal options and it will give you choices in your itemization. If you want to go for that sustain focused build, Vamp is still a good source, but you now have an option to pick up a Doran's or two giving you enough sustain to get you out of the laning phase.
And these changes are a little less controversial so I'll go through these quickly.
Blade of the Ruined King
I think this is a smart change. The active was arguably the best part, used by Marksman to peel enemies, or to duel and catch out enemies. But you know it's a little too good when champions who aren't auto attackers are prioritizing it (Yasuo and Zed have been loving the active).
I think the changes are healthy for the game. This item should not be something you want to buy every game on any champion who can make use of the active, like it had been. Botrk should be something you itemize for when you are facing high health enemies, and Marksmen will make fantastic use of it.
Mercurial Scimitar
Great change and buff. This item was under-used and it's nice to see it getting some love. Banshee's Veil was just so strong it was hard to justify this item, but now both are looking really good.
B.F. Sword
Nothing but buffs here, paying 50g to get another 5 ad? Yes please, that AD is so cost efficient.
Cutlass
We're seeing an overall toning down of lifesteal items, Cutlass is no different.
Attack Speed items
Overall very slight buffs, but every bit helps. I'm especially hoping that Riot decides to make every item that builds out of Zeal (Phantom Dancer etc) cheaper by 75g also.
Randuins and Warden's Mail
While not direct change to Marksmen's itemization, nerfs to the strongest defensive items against you, this will help them out greatly. So many times I felt powerless in a situation when attacking a bruiser with Randuins, with both your damage and mobility hindered, these bruisers felt impossible to deal with. From a Marksman perspective these changes are heavenly.
Essence Reaver
The new item now on the PBE, Essence Reaver, seems to be for AD casters. Debate is still happening as to how good this will be for ability spamming marksman like Corki or Ezeal.
The build path is really nice with the exception of it not giving any mana until it's completed. All the stats on it are pretty nice though. The biggest problem here is it's cost and when you buy it. For 2625g, the laning phase is near over by the time you get it, and to be honest you shouldn't be having mana problems at this point of the game anymore. In my opinion, it's just not worth it on Marksman.
There is some discussion on the PBE forums about how this item could be stronger and make more sense with alternate build paths, and I honestly expect it to go through a change or two before it is released. If it does go live in a stronger state, it may end up as a niche item for Marksman, but I suspect that it will not be slot efficient, and like many mid tier items (Ghostblade, Executioner's Calling) that are cheap and strong it won't be worth holding onto in the late game, and it will just be slowing down your main build. If you are really having mana problems, spending some mastery points in the Utility tree, getting a few Mana Regen Glyphs, and just grabbing some mana pots is usually enough to get you by, you don't need to dedicate an entire item to it.
So what kind of build will be ideal when these changes go live?
With all the lifesteal changes I'm looking to experiement with builds that skip Bloodthirster. We can only speculate at this point, as changes are not final or live yet, but I'm looking at a build going something like Double Dorans, Infinity Edge, Zeal item, Last Whisper. As my last damage item, I would probably still close out my build with a Bloodthirster, and as the shield scales with levels it actually becomes more cost effective and stronger the later in the game it gets.
The extremely popular Bloodthirster first build that pretty much everyone is using right now will still be fine, yes Bloodthirster is still a viable Marksman item, but your damage output will be a little lower. On the up-side, your laning phase will be stronger than ever and trades against you will be difficult, and Bloodthirster may your go to item against assassins or dive teams.
And as for the AD casters who loved the huge AD from Bloodthirster to beef up their abilities rather than focus on auto attacks, some using the popular Legalas Build (just lots of AD and armor pen) may be a little disapointed with these new changes. I'm not sure how to feel about BT knowing it now gives 20 less AD. Lucian will be fine after the changes, Corki and Graves are in a decent spot too, but some other AD casters will really feel the damage nerfs by these changes.
Conclusions and Closing Thoughts
Overall lots of buffs for Marksmen, and I'm loving the nerfs to Randuins (sorry bruiser mains). I feel like Riot has managed to tweak a ton of items without massive power swings taking place, which is better than some of the crazy balancing Riot has done in the past. The change of Bloodthirster to a more defensive-focused item will take some getting used to, but I think people will get used to it and Bloodthirster will still be a common item for Marksmen. In the future patch, things look good for Marksmen.
And if you've made it this far, thanks for reading. If you liked this article and want to see more like it (or hell, if you didn't like it and have some constructive critisism) hit me up on Twitter @fox_nicholas.
Check out the article on Reddit and join the discussionToyota New Zealand says a small number of Kiwi owners may be affected by the Japanese carmaker's recall of four models of its Lexus luxury car due to steering problems, its latest move in a series of massive recalls.
The recall is likely to cover about 4500 cars in Japan and 3800 cars in the United States. The total could reach 11,500 worldwide, Toyota spokeswoman Mieko Iwasaki said.
The models in question were also sold in Europe and China.
The models covered by the recall are the LS460 and LS460L, and hybrids LS600h and LS600hL.
However, the number of those models sold in New Zealand were very low, Lexus New Zealand national manager Debbie Pattullo told NZPA today.
"It might be just one or two customers involved but we are awaiting for confirmation from Japan and then we will go ahead with the upgrade.
"The LS models are in the higher end of Lexus models, so there are very few sold to customers."
The company said at issue was an option called the "variable gear ratio steering" system that puts the steering wheel back in a centred position after certain manoeuvres were made.
The recall is the latest in a series of recalls and incidents that have tarnished Toyota's reputation for quality.
The carmaker has recalled more than eight million Toyota and Lexus vehicles worldwide in 2009 and this year, including 6.5 million in the United States, mainly due to complaints about unintended acceleration.
-With ReutersWNBA Rookie of the Year Breanna Stewart sits down with Kevin Pelton to discuss the challenges as she heads to Shanghai for her first year in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association. (4:37)
Four-time NCAA champion. No. 1 pick. Olympic gold medalist. Rookie of the Year.
It has been a whirlwind six months for Breanna Stewart as she completed her career at the University of Connecticut as the winningest player in NCAA women's history and began her professional life as the Seattle Storm's top draft choice, with a detour through Rio in the middle.
Now, there's one more first for Stewart: her first time playing overseas. Not long after Stewart's rookie season ended with a loss to the Atlanta Dream in the opening round of the WNBA playoffs, she headed to Shanghai to prepare for a new season in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA). Editor's Picks Stewart storms to Rookie of the Year honors Seattle's Breanna Stewart was named the WNBA's 2016 Rookie of the Year on Thursday. The 6-foot-4 forward led all first-year players in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots in the regular season.
We don't need another hero In ESPN The Magazine's Great Debates Issue, our roundtable tackles a tricky question that's rooted in a double standard: Are controversial personalities good or bad for women's sports? 1 Related
"For me, I wanted to be in a place that was competitive. It was one of the best leagues in the world but also had a shorter season," Stewart said during the WNBA season. "Coming off a long season with UConn, going right into the WNBA, the Olympics, finishing the WNBA, I think it was the smartest decision for my body, and I'm looking forward to it.
Playing overseas during the winter is common for women's basketball stars, who can make several times their WNBA earnings in foreign leagues without any maximum salary. (Kate Fagan of espnW visited Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury in Russia last season and wrote about their experience.)
Griner is one of a handful of notable WNBA players who have played in recent seasons in the WCBA, which allows teams to import one player to go alongside Chinese talent. That list also includes three-time MVP Lauren Jackson, 2012 MVP Tina Charles, 2014 MVP Maya Moore, 2015 Finals MVP Sylvia Fowles and two-time All-Star MVP Swin Cash. Though Stewart did not consult anyone who played in China previously, their experience helped make her feel confident heading to the WCBA.
"They've all been over there, and it's all worked out really, really well when they've been in China," Stewart said. "Just knowing that I'm not going to be the first one to go to a country and test the waters (makes me comfortable). They've already done that, and I know that it's going to be great when I go there."
"The WNBA offseason, it's not really an offseason because you're playing overseas, but any time that I have to improve and get better, I will," Stewart said. Getty Images
Still, there will be an adjustment. Stewart has never been abroad for more than a month at a time while playing for USA Basketball, and this will be her first time visiting Asia.
"I'm most curious about the style of living and that kind of thing, how people interact and just walking around the city," she said. "You walk around a city like Seattle and you can kind of get a vibe and a feel for people, and walking around in Shanghai, what kind of vibe and feel is that?"
The WCBA's style of play may require some getting used to as well. The league has a well-earned reputation for physical play. Stewart's going in with an idea of what to expect.
"I've definitely heard that it's physical," she said. "So hopefully the WNBA is just gearing me up for that, and the international competition with the Olympics. But you can't really get prepared for it until you actually are a part of it."
While part of the appeal of playing in China for WNBA stars is the fact that they can get back home for a month or two before training camp -- the league's finals end in early March -- that still doesn't leave much time for skill development. So part of the challenge for Stewart as a professional will be finding a way to improve during the WCBA season.
"I think that being a pro, having that be my job, if that's how you want to say it, you want to make sure that you're getting better," she said. "The WNBA offseason, it's not really |
I was bored in class one day and decided to check Twitter. As I scrolled through the tweets in my feed, I noticed one from the business college advertising a leadership conference put on by Principal Financial Group. On a whim, I signed up. Later, I got a notification that I was accepted, and I headed out to Des Moines for the conference.
Besides the hotel reserving my room under “Frank Thomas”, the trip was awesome and completely worth it. I learned a ton of valuable stuff, including professional dress tips, interviewing tips, and presentation strategies. However, the most valuable thing that came out of this experience was getting hooked up with a mentor. My mentor happened to be the Vice President of IT Infrastructure, which was awesome because I was one of the only IT majors at the conference. We ended up having a lot in common, and I was able to impress him with my IT experience. Over the next few months, we met up several times to talk about tech and look at the goals I had. Through this mentorship, I was able to nab a nice scholarship and an internship with The Principal.
Lesson to learn here: practice your networking skills. Sign up for events and conferences and then go to them. You really have no idea what can come of it.
Here are some more things I’ve learned specific to career fairs:
7. Keep applying for scholarships.
Unless you have parents who are both rich enough and nice enough to pay for your college, you probably spent a good amount of your time during the last two or three years of high school looking for scholarships. I certainly did; I think I ended up applying for 30 or 40 off of Fastweb before I graduated.
The final years of high school aren’t the only time to be looking for aid, however; if you didn’t end up getting enough to cover your college costs before you got your diploma, know that there are still a ton of scholarships out there for current college students. You should definitely be taking advantage of these if you still need some dough – each one you win directly reduces the likelihood that you’ll be crushed by student loans.
I think scholarships for college-aged students may even be easier to win than those meant for high schoolers; this is because not as many college students know about these scholarships, and not as many have crazy parents hounding them to apply. You also probably have more activities, awards, and work experiences you can cite in these applications, so you’ll look better as well.
Need some more prodding? Here’s a statistic for you: out of the five scholarships I’ve won during my life, four of them were won after I started college. So, yeah. Don’t hesitate.
You can find scholarships from a variety of sources. In my opinion, it’s easiest to win scholarships offered by your school – they have way fewer applicants than national scholarships (obviously), and there’s a better chance that the people writing your recommendations will actually know the people who judge the applications. All in all, the deck is stacked in your favor when it comes to school-specific scholarships, especially if you’re an active student who gets to know professors and staff members.
To find scholarship opportunities at your school, you can check the school’s financial aid web page, pay attention to bulletin boards and whiteboards in classrooms, and even keep tabs on your school’s Twitter feed if they have one. It also doesn’t hurt to literally go to the financial aid office in person and ask if they have a list of scholarships available.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to apply for scholarships offered outside of your school as well. Even if your chances of winning aren’t as great, it’s worth your time to apply for them if you need to dough. Check the math: Assume you apply for 10 scholarships, and win 1 at $1,000. If each application took you 1 hour, your payoff is $100/hr. Not bad, eh? And that’s assuming it actually takes you an hour to apply for each one. You can drastically cut down on the time it takes you to apply for multiple scholarships by using smart tactics, including:
Creating a master list of your activities, awards, scholarships, and work experience, and updating it regularly instead of trying to remember everything off the top of your head when you’re filling out applications
Saving every scholarship essay, personal biography, and goal statement you write, and re-tooling them for each scholarship instead of writing stuff from scratch (I have a “Scholarships” notebook in Evernote for this purpose)
Saving letters of recommendation for scholarships that don’t require the recommender to send their part in separately
You can find national scholarship opportunities at sites like Fastweb and Cappex. You certainly don’t have to go crazy and try to apply for 10 scholarships a day; even if you did one application every two weeks, you’d still be doing 26 a year – far more than most students do. There’s lots of money floating around out there – go prove that you deserve it!
8. You NEED to Build a Personal Website.
There’s a high probability that, at some point in your college career, you’ll have to take a class in which someone will give you advice on how to land internships and jobs.
Lots of suggestions and tips will be thrown at you like speeding dodge-balls intent on leaving a large dent in your cranium. Things like the proper way to format a resume, how to write a cover letter, the most common/tricky interview questions, why you should send your interviewer a thank-you note right after your interview, etc.
However, you probably won’t be told to build your own personal website. This is a damn shame – because you need to build one. Maybe these professors and advisers don’t tell you to do it because they assume it’s something only programmers can do, or maybe they only remember the pre-computer days when their resume was enough to land them a job.
In this day where differentiating yourself from the competition is key, though, building a personal website is essential. Here just a few reasons why you need one:
You’ll have a place to display your personal information, resume, accomplishments, and portfolio – on the internet where it’s highly visible.
Unlike a specific copy of a resume that you hand a recruiter, a personal website can stay up to date. The moment you do something, you can update it.
The moment you do something, you can update it. Building a website helps you to stand out, because not many students do it.
because not many students do it. As an added bonus, you’ll learn a new skill in the process of building your site: how to build a basic website.
I actually used to receive cold calls from recruiters who had run across my website. I’ve also had many professors, bosses, and interviewers tell me that they were really impressed with my site.
Luckily, building a personal website isn’t hard. After building several of my own websites, I wrote a complete guide that goes through the process step-by-step:
The Ultimate Guide to Building a Personal Website This 5-step guide will help you create your own website to show off your skills and impress recruiters.
9. Master the Pomodoro Technique.
For me, getting homework and reading done is a real challenge. I’ve always got a lot of things on my mind, so I’m easily distracted – especially if my homework isn’t particularly exciting (which is almost all the time). That’s why I went looking for ways to become more focused and less prone to distractions.
I found out something very interesting: it’s easier to make yourself focus if you externalize the mechanism that keeps you on task. Your brain only has a certain amount of mental resources, so you can only keep yourself disciplined internally for so long. Not only that, but using an internal (mental) mechanism for staying focused takes up resources that could be dedicated to actually working. This is why externalization is such a great idea – it keeps all your mental resources free to be applied to your homework.
So now the trick is to figure out how to externalize your discipline. My favorite way to do this is to use the Pomodoro Technique. This is a simple technique that I’ve also covered in my book’s chapter on procrastination. Basically, you put a timer in front of you and set it for 25 minutes. For that 25-minute period, you do nothing but the task at hand. In that period of time, you can let nothing distract you – not your phone, friends, girlfriend, or any random violent revolutions taking place outside. Just focus.
Once that period of time is over, you can allow yourself a break. However, at this point it’s unlikely that you’ll want to, as you’ll be “in the zone” – your period of focus will have gotten you engrossed in your work, and you’ll want to finish it.
Even if you’re not engrossed when the time’s up, you’ve still just done 25 minutes of solid work. Without distractions, you’ll probably have a lot done.
If you found this tip helpful, here are some more productivity tips I’ve learned:
30 Lightning-Fast Productivity Hacks to Help You Work Better Getting things done isn't always easy, but there are ways you can improve your productivity. Here are 30...
10. Once you’re done with English classes, not every grammar rule is worth following.
Let’s be honest; some grammar rules end up making your writing look like it was pulled out a court record. Following grammar to the letter may have been a requirement in your English classes, but once you’re writing things in the real world, readability is key. Don’t bog down your writing unnecessarily just to appease the grammar nazis.
For example, let’s take pronoun rules. If you’re following strict grammar rules, then it would be wrong to use the word “their” when talking about a single person; instead, you should use his/her or “his or her”. However, doing this can result in some pretty silly-looking sentences, like this one:
If a person loses his/her book, he/she will have to pay a fine.
Obviously, this sentence would be much more readable if we just broke grammar rules and used “their” and “they”. It’s most likely the way you would say the sentence out loud, so why not write it that way? Living under the thumb of your old English teacher is no way to live at all. Not only that, but writing conversationally will make people more likely to actually read what you publish.
Note: I’d like to take this moment to express gratitude for being forced to live under the thumb of my old English teacher back in high school. While I advocate using a conversational writing style for most occasions, I’m still thankful that I was forced to go through sentence structure boot camp and comma usage hell when I was a skinny 11th grader. The amount of college students (especially seniors) who can’t craft a sentence correctly is staggering and pathetic.
11. Study somewhere other than your dorm.
You know the old mantra: dorm rooms are for the three S’s – sleeping, studying, and Sega Dreamcast. Well, I’m going to step up and contest that mantra. I honestly don’t think dorm rooms are very good for studying, and here’s why.
Dorm rooms are set up for comfort. If you’re not a crazy psycho, you probably try to decorate your room and set things up in a way that’s comfortable and – well – fun. This is all good, but it probably ends up turning your room into distraction central. Don’t think so? Here’s a list of things you probably have in your room; read through them and then answer for yourself the question that follows.
A TV with cable
DVD player
Game system
Your favorite books
Posters of stuff you like
A crazy roommate who gets the munchies at random times and invites you to go out for mega-tacos at 2:00 AM
Alright, so now you should answer this question: are any of these things more interesting to you than your homework? If you answered no, you’re either a huge liar or a history major. If you answered yes, then it should be obvious to you that the best study environment would be the one that lacks any of these things. Your room is not such a place.
“Where’s the best place to study?” – You
I’m glad you asked, but I can’t give you the definitive answer. Different people have different study preferences, so the optimal place for you will be decided by your specific style of studying. That said, I do have some suggestions.
The library is probably the place most people think of when it comes to choosing study spots, and for good reason. There are few other places that have so much to offer when it comes to different styles of studying. The library at my school has five main floors, along with seven “tiers” (the much more compact floors of what composed the library pre-expansion). As you go up and deeper into the tiers, the environment seems to get quieter and lonelier. At the top and in most of the tiers, there are plenty of spaces for people who prefer to study in complete isolation. On the lower floors and closer to the entrance, the environment is a little louder and caters more to group work.
My school’s library even has an in-between option: our periodical room is a huge room full of magazines and newspapers. Its wide-open space makes you feel like you’re studying in public, but the room has a strict silence policy.
Of course, the library offers a lot more to students than just space; if you’re doing research, the books and access to research databases is unparalleled. Some libraries even have cafes so you can grab a bite and re-energize every once in a while. Libraries are probably my preferred place to study, but there’s just one problem: they’re preferred by lots of other people as well. Near big test dates, you might find that all the good spots in the library are taken – especially spots with outlets for your laptop. When the library gets too crowded to be acceptable, it’s time to look for other accommodation…
Cafes and coffee shops are another great choice if you like studying in a “public” environment (like me). While I’m not a huge coffee drinker, I do love the atmosphere and smell (and free wi-fi) at most coffee shops. When I move off-campus next year, these will probably be my new most-frequented study spots.
Private study rooms are a great option for those of you know want isolation, and they’re available to reserve by the hour on many campuses. These rooms are usually used for group work and will include things like projectors, conference tables, and computers. However, during non-busy times, it’s totally fine to use them for individual work.
My school’s IT help desk handles the reservation of these rooms, so if you need help finding out if they’re available at your school, that might be a good place to start. Be aware that these rooms will be booked during weeks when there are lots of tests and projects, so book ahead of time if you need one.
The great outdoors can make for a great study spot if the weather is nice. Sometimes there’s nothing better than sitting under a tree and reading a book. Even computer work can sometimes be done outside; many universities (including mine) have added wi-fi to certain outdoor areas on their campuses.
To be honest, there are countless places you can choose to study in. Just make sure they don’t contain things that will distract you from your work, and you’ll enter your zen state in no time. Once you’ve found your ideal spot, use the Pomodoro Technique to work even better.
If you’re looking for more on studying well, this post is a good resource:
The Mutant Guide to Studying for Finals Use these studying hacks to hit your finals harder than the Juggernaut.
12. Invest in some good headphones.
Sometime during my first semester of my freshman year, I got the brilliant idea of getting a big 5.1 surround sound speaker system for my computer. And you know what? It was a freakin’ great idea. I love that sound system and still use it today. However, it’s pretty loud, and my roommate didn’t always want to hear my amazing music. (no idea why)
To complicate matters, he got a system of a similar caliber during our sophomore year. And so, we ended up with a room containing two rather large, competing sound systems. Something had to be done.
The answer, obviously, was headphones. However, those crappy iPod earbuds weren’t going to cut it. I needed something that would sound good and – more importantly – block out the noise from my roommate’s speakers. I ended up finding quite a few good options, and I invested in a good pair of closed headphones that block out most external noise. I’m actually using them right now, and I absolutely love them.
I also ended up getting another pair of headphones with an open design. They don’t necessarily block out noise, but boy do they sound amazing. All I’ll say is this: if you enjoy music or have a noisy room, a good pair of headphones is something you shouldn’t be without. You can get some great recommendations in the $100 in my guide to the best headphones for students. If you’re looking for something a little cheaper, check out my broke-ass headphone guide for recommendations in around $50. I also wrote a guide to in-ear monitors you can hit up if you’re looking for a more portable option.
13. Pay attention to visceral fat.
You know the old adage about the Freshman 15 – many students who go to college will end up gaining a little weight during their freshman year due to the lack of parents and the abundance of food at the dining centers.
However, some people – guys especially – will eat, and eat, and keep on eating, and still feed a rock-hard wall of muscle in their abdomen. Great success, right? Maybe not… there still might be some visceral fat building up.
What’s visceral fat? Put very simply, it’s fat that is stored up beneath your abs. You know that guy you see at every party with the gut that sticks out and kinda makes him look pregnant? He might brag about how he still has rock-hard abs, but make no mistake – he’s still building a nice little keg underneath them.
Visceral fat is often the first fat that guys will pack on, and it can be pretty tough to get rid of. That’s why it’s important that you pay attention to what you’re eating – even if you’re not noticing any fat gain. If you’d like to learn more, check this Wikipedia article on adipose tissue.
I’m actually planning on writing a lot more content related to health in the coming months. Currently, I’m experimenting with a paleo diet along with an every-day workout regimen, so I’ll be posting my results and discoveries on those two fronts.
14. Be aware of perks that may be available to you.
College definitely has a way of bending your wallet over backwards and making it need a stick of Bengay in the morning, but this expensive, educational adventure doesn’t come without some extra perks and ancillary benefits. Students get a lot of things either free or way cheaper than the general public does, and you should take the time to make yourself aware of these benefits.
Here’s a short list of just a few things you can take advantage of as a student:
StudentRate is a website that tracks tons of student deals on all sorts of stuff.
As a student, you may be able to get a better deal when buying a computer. Check out student pricing options from Apple, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. These may not be the only ones – check your campus bookstore for more.
The same goes for software; many companies offer huge student discounts for their software. You can get Adobe’s usually crazily-priced Creative Suite at 80% off, and you can also get lots of Microsoft stuff at a discounted price. Visiting your campus bookstore may net you an even better deal than you’ll find online; for example, business and engineering majors at my school get Windows and Office for $10. Not a bad deal.
student discounts for their software. You can get Adobe’s usually crazily-priced Creative Suite at 80% off, and you can also get lots of Microsoft stuff at a discounted price. Visiting your campus bookstore may net you an even better deal than you’ll find online; for example, business and engineering majors at my school get Windows and Office for Not a bad deal. You can get Amazon Prime benefits for six months without paying a dime by joining Amazon Student.
If your campus has a theater or performing arts venue, tickets will usually be way cheaper than normal. Here at Iowa State, we got tickets to Spamalot for just $20!
I was actually able to set up a student deal of my own – if you’re looking to build yourself a personal website, you can get 35% off of web hosting at HostGator (the web host I use). Just go to this link. You can also follow my complete website building guide to get yourself up and running.
This is just a sampling of the discounts you can get as a student.
However, student discounts are just the tip of the iceberg. As a student, you actually get a lot of stuff for free (well, if you don’t think about the fact that your tuition and fees are paying for it). Here a list that will point you to some of the things sitting right on your campus that you probably have access to:
Fitness center access – you probably have an actual “health facility fee” that you’re paying every semester, but since most students don’t use this gym that they’re paying for, you might as well act like it’s free. You can also probably get access to free fitness classes like yoga and pilates and, uh, other wimpy stuff like that (I’m too busy bench pressing dump trucks and slamming protein shakes made with liquified nails to know about that stuff)
– you probably have an actual “health facility fee” that you’re paying every semester, but since most students don’t use this gym that they’re paying for, you might as well act like it’s free. You can also probably get access to free fitness classes like yoga and pilates and, uh, other wimpy stuff like that (I’m too busy bench pressing dump trucks and slamming protein shakes made with liquified nails to know about that stuff) Outdoor Excursions – Your school’s recreation department probably does more than just run the gym, too; for example, my school offers really cheap outdoor adventure trips that can last anywhere from two days to an entire week. Some of the trips include surfing in California, cave exploring in Kentucky, and hiking out in the woods of good ‘ole Iowa. If you want to get away, see if your school has a similar program.
– Your school’s recreation department probably does more than just run the gym, too; for example, my school offers really cheap outdoor adventure trips that can last anywhere from two days to an entire week. Some of the trips include surfing in California, cave exploring in Kentucky, and hiking out in the woods of good ‘ole Iowa. If you want to get away, see if your school has a similar program. Free newspapers – and not just your silly little school newspaper. Most universities provide access to the nearest major newspaper, as well as the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. If you’re one of those people who still like reading off of paper, take advantage of these.
– and not just your silly little school newspaper. Most universities provide access to the nearest major newspaper, as well as the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. If you’re one of those people who still like reading off of paper, take advantage of these. Free, or super-cheap, access to really fun things – your university probably has a lot of student-run clubs and organizations. These clubs get funding from your student government, so they can let their members do things for free or at least offer a discount. We’re not just talking Chess Club and Campus Republicans here, either; there are a lot of awesomely fun clubs you can join as well. My school has Ski & Snowboard Club, Water Ski Club, Skydiving Club, Mountain Boarding Club, Equestrian Club, Paintball Club, and Video Game Club, just to name a few.
– your university probably has a lot of student-run clubs and organizations. These clubs get funding from your student government, so they can let their members do things for free or at least offer a discount. We’re not just talking Chess Club and Campus Republicans here, either; there are a lot of awesomely fun clubs you can join as well. My school has Ski & Snowboard Club, Water Ski Club, Skydiving Club, Mountain Boarding Club, Equestrian Club, Paintball Club, and Video Game Club, just to name a few. Bus service all over town – this may vary from school to school, but some of your probably have buses that take you from class to class. In some cases, the buses will also go all over town, which can eliminate or greatly reduce your need for a car. Here in Ames, I can go almost anywhere without driving; sure, it can be a pain to carry a bunch of groceries onto a bus, but it saves me money on gas and helps to prolong my car’s impending doom.
– this may vary from school to school, but some of your probably have buses that take you from class to class. In some cases, the buses will also go all over town, which can eliminate or greatly reduce your need for a car. Here in Ames, I can go almost anywhere without driving; sure, it can be a pain to carry a bunch of groceries onto a bus, but it saves me money on gas and helps to prolong my car’s impending doom. Really fast internet – maybe it’s just because Iowa State is the birthplace of the computer, but the internet speed here on campus is ridicucrunkulous. If you used the internet a lot back home and you live on campus now, you probably can recognize the difference. Enjoy it while it lasts – once you move to an off-campus apartment or house, you’ll quickly realize that it costs a pretty penny to get that kind of speed again.
– maybe it’s just because Iowa State is the birthplace of the computer, but the internet speed here on campus is If you used the internet a lot back home and you live on campus now, you probably can recognize the difference. Enjoy it while it lasts – once you move to an off-campus apartment or house, you’ll quickly realize that it costs a pretty penny to get that kind of speed again. Free condoms – for, you know, when you get the urge to fill condoms with mayo and throw them at cars. You can probably find these at your school’s health center, as well as the main desk of your dorm if you live in one.
– for, you know, when you get the urge to fill condoms with mayo and throw them at cars. You can probably find these at your school’s health center, as well as the main desk of your dorm if you live in one. Free tax preparation – a lot of campuses participate in the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. This program is basically made up of a bunch of accounting/finance majors who volunteer their time to help you do your taxes. They get tax prep experience, and you get your taxes done for free. Sure, you can do them yourself, but doing them manually is a pain in the butt and TurboTax isn’t always free.
– a lot of campuses participate in the (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. This program is basically made up of a bunch of accounting/finance majors who volunteer their time to help you do your taxes. They get tax prep experience, and you get your taxes done for free. Sure, you can do them yourself, but doing them manually is a pain in the butt and TurboTax isn’t always free. Free counseling/stress management services – most campuses offer free counseling services. If you’re having issues or feeling stressed about classes, you can take advantage of these at no cost. Additionally, some campuses are now offering biofeedback testing to measure your stress levels.
– most campuses offer free counseling services. If you’re having issues or feeling stressed about classes, you can take advantage of these at no cost. Additionally, some campuses are now offering biofeedback testing to measure your stress levels. Free lectures and guest speakers – many university organizations will bring in speakers to talk to students, and these lectures are usually free. Don’t think they only bring in boring people – we’ve had quite a few awesome personalities grace our campus in the time I’ve been a student – Grant Imahara (Mythbusters), Jeff Ma (The guy who inspired the movie 21), Bo Burnham, and Max Brooks (Zombie Survival Guide) and tons of others.
– many university organizations will bring in speakers to talk to students, and these lectures are usually free. Don’t think they only bring in boring people – we’ve had quite a few awesome personalities grace our campus in the time I’ve been a student – Grant Imahara (Mythbusters), Jeff Ma (The guy who inspired the movie 21), Bo Burnham, and Max Brooks (Zombie Survival Guide) and tons of others. Free movies – check out your school’s library to see what movies they offer. Ours is basically a bottomless pit of movies – I haven’t found a movie I wanted to watch yet that they didn’t have available for free checkout. Additionally, your student activities department might put on movie nights every so often that you can hit up. Your dorm’s hall desk might have free movies as well (as well as other things)
– check out your school’s library to see what movies they offer. Ours is basically a bottomless pit of movies – I haven’t found a movie I wanted to watch yet that they didn’t have available for free checkout. Additionally, your student activities department might put on movie nights every so often that you can hit up. Your dorm’s hall desk might have free movies as well (as well as other things) Free laptop/equipment rental – many universities will let you rent stuff like laptops, cameras, projectors, and other cool toys for approximately nil. The most likely place for stuff like this will be the IT department, although the communications center is a good place to check as well. If you’re a journalism student, you probably have access to lenses, mics, and other stuff as well.
– many universities will let you rent stuff like laptops, cameras, projectors, and other cool toys for approximately nil. The most likely place for stuff like this will be the IT department, although the communications center is a good place to check as well. If you’re a journalism student, you probably have access to lenses, mics, and other stuff as well. Free FOOD – a day never goes by on a college campus when there isn’t an organization putting on some event with free food. If you’re resourceful and keep abreast of campus news, you could probably score a free meal once a week. Keep your eyes peeled!
This list of free stuff isn’t the end of it, either. You may be involved in specific programs or organizations that make other benefits available to you as well. For example, as a member of the George Washington Carver program here at Iowa State, I get a $300 “self-improvement” fund that I can use to travel to conferences or pay for other things that will further my development. Keep your eyes out for benefits like this that you can take advantage of.
For more on saving money in college, here’s another massive article I wrote:
39 Ways You Can Cut the Cost of College Don't let college become a giant money-sucking space robot. Save money with these strategies.
15. Don’t bring so much stuff to college.
Bringing all my stuff home after my freshman year ended was a pain in the ass. I brought way too many clothes, random computer parts, and other junk up to my dorm, and I ended up not even using most of it.
When sophomore year rolled around, I made sure to bring up a lot less. When it came time to pack up my clothes, I first started by figuring out how often I wanted to do laundry. I didn’t want to do have to do it every week, but then again I didn’t need to be going as long as a month between loads. I settled on two weeks, and made sure to pack only 14 shirts. I split this up between t-shirts and polos. I then threw in a couple dress shirts for special occasions.
Jeans and shorts don’t get dirty nearly as fast, so I only brought up a combined seven pairs of those. This might be a controversial tip, but I recommend not being a whiny little neat freak who washes their jeans after one day. You can make jeans last up to three days – but I’d rotate them so that people don’t notice.
After getting shirts, jeans, shorts, and other daily items packed, I picked a few special items and called it good. My clothes box was still pretty full, and I was still pretty far from becoming the next Colin Wright, but it was quite an improvement over the entire wardrobe I had brought up freshman year.
When it came time to pack everything else, I took some time to sit down and think about the things that I actually had used freshman year. I was definitely bringing back my computers, but did I also need to bring a giant tangled ball of extra cords and computer parts that I “might need later?” Nope. Likewise, I didn’t need to bring up a ridiculous amount of dorm cookware either – I always ate my meals in the dining centers and never once touched the silverware, bowls, and other assorted crap my mom had sent up freshman year. That stuff stayed home as well.
Basically, you should only bring up the stuff you know you’ll use – especially if home is less than a couple hours away. If it is, you can always run back (I mean that – get your Reeboks) on some random weekend and grab what you forgot.
16. Make an “impulse buy” list.
When you were a little tike, you always had a nice little wall between yourself and the things you wanted – your tightwad parents. Now that you’re on your own, however, that wall might be gone. Sure, if your parents are still paying for your college and managing your finances for you, that might not be the case – but didn’t I tell you to manage your own finances last year? Get on it, mama’s boy.
If you are managing your finances now – in other words, feelin’ the power – then you may be tempted to buy literally everything that enters your optic nerves. The college demographic is under a full marketing assault from all sides, and your bank account is constantly being threatened by new video games, clothes, and whatever other junk gets you excited. To top it off, there are now a countless number of “deal sites” out there that make frivolous spending even easier – Groupon, Woot, LivingSocial, and tons of others constantly bombard you with crazy lows prices – problem is, these prices are for shit you don’t need.
This is why you should start making an impulse buy list. Any time you find something you really want or see a crazy deal, add that item to your impulse buy list. Then, wait a while before making the purchase. Oftentimes, you’ll come back to the list and realize you didn’t really want some of the stuff on it that bad. In fact, the number of purchases you decide not to make will probably end up helping you to recoup even more than you’ll spend paying full price for something that was on sale when you first saw it.
17. Get a mutual fund.
Everyone – your parents, your grandma, your professors – will tell you that you need a savings account for college. All their really concerned about, though, is that you’re not spending all that money. What about making it grow?
A savings account is a pretty poor place to be socking away your money. Most of them don’t even make 1% interest! With inflation hovering around 3-4%, you’re doing yourself no favors by keeping all your money there. A better option is to put some of that money into a mutual fund. I did this about halfway into my sophomore year, and while I haven’t realized any amazing returns, my money is growing much faster than it would if it were in my savings account.
Some people might say that you’re better off paying your loans than saving your money. Maybe – but that depends on the type of loan you have. If you have loans with a current interest payment, then that’s good advice. It’s best to take the money you’re making and try to pay those down. However, if you have subsidized loans, it might be smarter to put your money in a mutual fund.
Subsidized loans – like federal Stafford loans – don’t need to be paid back until after you graduate, and they don’t start accruing interest until that time either. Because of this, you might actually be better off sticking your money in a mutual fund and getting into the investment game early. Then, when you graduate, you can leave lean and pay off your loans with the money from your awesome new job. If you end up not finding a job for a while, you can pull out your money to start paying off your loans (or ask for a deferment).
There are a lot of choices when it comes to mutual funds, and all the advice out there can be conflicting and overwhelming. When I was researching funds for myself, I was certainly confused. However, after a lot of reading, I came to one conclusion: non-managed index funds (funds that automatically follow an entire market like the S&P 500, instead of being invested in specific companies picked by a manager) generally out-perform most managed funds. I ended up going with a fund that’s somewhat close to this – although I couldn’t get a straight index fund because I needed something with a lower minimum investment. I don’t want to disclose the fund that I bought, because I want you to do your due diligence if you’re thinking of buying one. For more information, check out this article on mutual fund information for students.
Mutual funds are something you should think of as a long-term investment. When you do your research, you’ll notice peaks and valleys – but you’ll also see that all the good funds have a positive return over several decades. This is the kind of investment you make with retirement in mind, and it’s a really smart one to make while you’re young.
Note: Bro, I am NOT a licensed financial advisor and you should NOT take this as professional financial advice. As with all investments, mutual funds carry a degree of risk and you could actually lose money by putting your money into one. I assume no liability for your decisions, and you may want to consult a real financial advisor before making any move.
You’ll find some more great money-related advice in this podcast episode:
Mastering Your Money with the Listen Money Matters Guys Matt and Andrew are on the podcast today to answer questions about debt, budgeting, investing, and more.
18. Make sure your to-do list doesn’t become a to-do in itself
There are a lot of blog posts out there that detail what the author thinks is the “best” task management system, and there are also a ton of different web apps and tools floating around, |
pole lap that there was almost no wheelspin out of the lower speed corners.
The team has a tremendous momentum now and must be considered the favourites for the championship as the car is coming good at just the right moment, especially as Ferrari seems to be struggling to make updates work on its car.WE’VE known for months that the Bulldogs wouldn’t figure in the finals this season and finally it’s official, with Des Hasler’s impeccable top eight record at the club ending in ugly fashion.
The Panthers won a game that never hit any heights, with Hasler’s side beaten at a game he’s perfected in his six-year stint at Belmore.
Of all the clubs that hang their hat on grinding to victory, the Bulldogs have set the benchmark since 2012 but that was exactly how they were beaten, 16-8, by a Panthers side that rarely produced the killer blow they’re capable of.
To make the loss even harder to swallow, Sam Kasiano had to be helped from the field, clearly in pain and clutching at his sternum, potentially ending the big prop’s Canterbury career.
While Hasler survived a board meeting during the week and may still be at the helm of the Bulldogs next year, the cult hero who played a big part in delivering two grand finals will start a new phase of his career in Melbourne.
MATCH CENTRE: Panthers v Bulldogs
It’s symbolic of a changing of the guard that will be spearheaded by the arrival of Kieran Foran and Aaron Woods, with the Bulldogs in desperate need of a revamped attack that is run by its playmakers rather than creative forwards like Kasiano.
Since Hasler has arrived at Canterbury he has consistently got his side into the top eight on the back of an unyielding defence that allowed them to win without dazzling in attack.
That is no longer the case and this loss only hammered that point home, with a Penrith side missing star five-eighth Matt Moylan toughing out the two points in a game the Dogs rarely would of lost in the five seasons prior to this one.
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While much of the contest was a stalemate, the Panthers turned on the flair in the moment that mattered most, with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak making the most of a freakish flick pass from Waqa Blake to touch down for a try that broke an 8-all deadlock in the 57th minute and seemed to crush Canterbury’s spirit.
Even with 23 minutes still to play and their extremely faint finals hopes on the line, Hasler’s men never looked likely to snatch the momentum back and the game was won in the 70th minute when a Will Hopoate mistake handed a try to Panthers centre Tyrone Peachey.
Three minutes before that the Bulldogs’ 2017 was summed up in one last tackle play when they went backwards 25 metres before getting tackled with the ball after both halves, Josh Reynolds and Matt Frawley took poor options at the end of a listless attacking set.
In that moment the frustration of the fanbase was put into pictures and it’s why the harsh glare of the spotlight on coach Hasler will be unrelenting again in the week to follow.
While Kasiano was helped off with injury, another departing favourite son, Reynolds, tried his heart out as usual but was unable to inspire his teammates to lift for a much-needed victory.
He had his moments, most notably in the 28th minute, with Reynolds putting on a big left foot step and powering through Penrith’s goalline defence to score his side’s first try.
The conversion that followed brought Canterbury within two points after an early Peter Wallace try and a Nathan Cleary penalty goal had given the Panthers an 8-0 lead.
By half-time a penalty goal had locked the scores together, giving the Bulldogs a huge lift as they went into the sheds well and truly in a game in which they'd largely been outplayed.
THE GEAR BULLDOGS DON’T HAVE
If ever there was a time for Hasler to rally his troops, this was it, and the second half started brightly enough for Canterbury, with some good field position on the back of a shocking attempted torpedo bomb from Nathan Cleary that sailed well and truly over the sideline.
But they were unable to turn pressure into points or repeat sets, with Panthers rookie Dylan Edwards showing a cool head and a slick pair of hands as he was put to the test by the kicking game of Frawley.
It wasn’t long before momentum turned back the Panthers way and they looked the far sharper side in attack, forcing the Bulldogs to defend for their lives to turn away three consecutive sets.
Penrith looked certain to score in the 53rd minute when they took advantage of an overlap on the left edge but just as Peachey was getting away what would have been a try assist, a desperate effort from Chase Stanley to knock the ball down saved his side.
It was a warning shot that wasn’t heeded by the Bulldogs, with the Panthers finally breaking through four minutes later, as powerhouse centre Blake got an arm free and popped the ball over the top to Watene-Zelezniak.
Canterbury skipper James Graham came charging at the referee demanding the play be looked at as he claimed he’d been taken out illegally on the inside.
The bunker was duly called on but rightfully came to the conclusion that even if Graham was interfered with, he was in no position to impact the try-scoring play.
If Graham’s passionate appeal was the last attempt to fire up a side that needed to find something it failed, and the Bulldogs finished the game in the same way they started it — big on effort but low on ideas.
Re-live the action in our blog below!PLANTATION, FL -- A woman who lost control of her car while driving through her neighborhood ended up crashing through three backyards and hitting a sunbather, according to Plantation Fire Rescue.
The driver was eastbound on Southwest 21st Street around 5 p.m. Friday when, witnesses told investigators, she lost control near Southwest 52nd Avenue and plowed through a backyard fence, battalion chief Joel Gordon said.
"[She] ran through a second fence in a second backyard and struck a sunbather who was a resident at that second address and then ran into the backyard of her own residence," he said. "Tire tracks actually showed her car jumped over a pool in another yard."
The driver, 65, came to rest on the screened patio deck of her home, narrowly missing her swimming pool. Both the driver and the sunbather, 29, required hospital care, he said.
"The sunbather was taken to Broward Health Medical Center," he said. "The driver was also taken to Broward Health with minor injuries."
The sunbather's condition was downgraded from serious to critical late Friday. She was tossed in the air when hit by the car, Gordon said. No names were available Friday.
The wooden shadowbox fences splintered as the silver four-door Mercedes burst through, witnesses said. The car briefly went airborne before it came to rest with flat tires just feet from the pool, witnesses told investigators. ___
(c)2013 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.comPaypal is the world's leading online payment service Web payment firm Paypal has said it will block "unsafe browsers" from using its service as part of wider anti-phishing efforts. Customers will first be warned that a browser is unsafe but could then be blocked if they continue using it. Paypal said it was "an alarming fact that there is a significant set of users who use very old and vulnerable browsers such as Internet Explorer 4". Phishing attacks trick users into handing over sensitive data. Paypal said some users were still using Internet Explorer 3, released more than 10 years ago. It lacks many of the security and safety features needed to protect users from phishing and other online attacks. Legitimate sites Paypal said it supported the use of Extended Validation SSL Certificates. Browsers which support the technology highlight the address bar in green when users are on a site that has been deemed legitimate. The latest version of Internet Explorer support EV SSL certificates, while Firefox 2 supports it with an add-on but Apple's Safari browser for Mac and PCs does not. "By displaying the green glow and company name, these newer browsers make it much easier for users to determine whether or not they're on the site that they thought they were visiting," said Paypal. The steps were outlined in a white paper on managing phishing, written by the firm's chief information security officer Michael Barrett and Dan Levy, director of risk management. In it, they said: "In our view letting users view the PayPal site on [an unsafe] browser is equal to a car manufacturer allowing drivers to buy one of their vehicles without seatbelts." Paypal described the battle against phishing as a "fast-moving chess match with the criminal community".
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StumbleUpon What are these?Image copyright PA Image caption The report predicts the population aged 65 and over will increase by almost 26%
The population of Northern Ireland is projected to rise by 5.3% to 1,938,700 by 2024.
The figures come from a report produced by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).
It uses assumptions about births, deaths and migration to project population changes.
It predicts that the working-age population will rise by less than 1% but the population aged 65 and over is projected to increase by almost 26%.
The report also assumes that the level of migration to Northern Ireland will continue to be very low.
It breaks down population changes by local government district and predicts the largest rise of 10.4%, or 21,400 people, in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon.
Growth
The smallest increase is predicted for Derry City and Strabane, up by 1.5% or 2,200 people.
Derry City and Strabane is one of seven out of 11 areas projected to see a decline in their work-age populations.
Over the longer term, the population of Northern Ireland is projected to reach two million by mid-2034.
By mid-2038, annual population growth is projected to fall below 0.2% for the first time since mid-1999, due to a falling number of births and rising number of deaths as a result of an ageing population.
The population aged 65 and over is projected to increase by 74.4%, or 498,500 people, from mid-2014 to mid-2039, with the result that one in four people (24.7%) will be in this age category.
The report does not attempt to predict the impact that future government policies or changing economic circumstances might have on demographic behaviour.Snoop Dogg’s future in the United States seems to have gone up in smoke after Donald Trump‘s historic election win.
Shortly after Trump was announced the 45th president of the U.S., the outspoken hip-hop star took to Instagram looking for real estate advice from none other than Toronto-based rapper Drake.
“My new home. @champagnepapi I need the hookup on some property,” Snoop wrote under a photo of Toronto’s skyline. “Nefew f–k this s–t I’m going to the. 6ix.”
The California-based rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, Jr., took time to express his dismay at Trump’s election-night win and showed support for California’s decision to legalize recreational marijuana statewide in a series of social media posts.
“I’ll smoke 2that,” he wrote under a screen grab of the legalization results on Instagram. “We just legalized marijuana in Cali. #smokeweedeveryday,” he added on Twitter.
If Snoop does end up following through on a move north of the border, it wouldn’t be his first business venture into the country.
READ MORE: Donald Trump is fine with American celebs moving to Canada if he’s elected
Leafs by Snoop, the rapper’s U.S. medical marijuana company, teamed up with Canadian licensed producer Tweed late last month and released a trio of strains available to patients countrywide — with names such as “Oceanview” and “Sunset.”
WATCH: Late Show host Stephen Colbert tells Americans who were thinking of moving to Canada following Donald Trump’s presidential victory that they shouldn’t quit on America.
Snoop Dogg also isn’t the first celebrity to pledge to move to Canada if Trump won, with others including Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham, Brian Cranston, Barbra Streisand, Miley Cyrus and Jon Stewart making similar comments in the past.
Snoop Dogg’s reaction to U.S. election results and California vote to legalize marijuana:A sign is pictured at a makeshift memorial for victims of a mass shooting, outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston Thomson Reuters By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Relatives and friends of the victims of last month's shooting in a Charleston, South Carolina church traveled to Washington on Wednesday to demand that U.S. lawmakers vote on legislation to expand background checks on gun sales.
But their chances of success are at best considered slim. Similar legislation failed a Senate vote two years ago after 20 children were shot to death in the Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut.
"I'm here today to speak up on behalf of the Charleston community and all who are sick and tired of Congress ignoring the problem of gun violence," said Andre Duncan, whose aunt Myra Thompson was slain in the Charleston church on June 17.
Duncan urged Congress to close loopholes in the so-called Brady law, which requires licensed firearms sellers to check whether a buyer is prohibited from owning a gun because of a criminal history.
The Brady law, passed in 1993, was named after named after President Ronald Reagan's press secretary James Brady, who was shot and wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt on the president.
"I will not rest until our legislators do what's right by expanding Brady background checks at gun shows and online sales. This will save lives," Duncan declared in the visitors' center of the U.S. Capitol, standing alongside friends and family of the Charleston victims and of other casualties of gun violence.
The shooting deaths of nine black Charleston church members last month sparked an intense dialogue over the legacy of slavery and its symbols, after photos surfaced of Dylann Roof, a white man charged in the shooting. They showed him posing with the Confederate battle flag on a website that displayed a racist manifesto.
But there has been little outcry for Congress to pass more gun control legislation. "It hasn't been the loudest cry," Representative Mike Thompson, a Democratic co-sponsor of legislation to expand Brady background checks, said at Wednesday's event.
The bill was introduced in March. The measure also was introduced in the last Congress but failed to get a hearing, and a similar measure failed a Senate vote in 2013.
The current bill has four Republican co-sponsors, but none attended Wednesday's event.
Opponents of enhanced background checks, including the influential National Rifle Association, say it would not stop criminals from getting guns, because criminals would just steal them or have someone else buy guns for them.
But Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said he was tired of cynics who say that if Congress could not act after the Connecticut school shooting, lawmakers will not be able to act now.
Gross said that since the Connecticut school massacre, six states had passed laws expanding Brady background checks to all gun sales, "and it's time for Congress to catch up."
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)First and foremost I would like to say that I adore these films. Yeah the CG is dated and the cheesiness of character interactions and the story can be argued back and forth over, but that's what made me love them so much as a kid and why I still love them now. This steelbook is worth owning not just to have the set, but because it is quite a nice steelbook (love the design and it's cool that for the area where the key would go, the case is debossed and the letters for "The Mummy" are embossed. It's a nice texture difference from the rest of the case). My one and only gripe is I wish that the steelbook was thicker so that it allowed for trays to hold the discs instead of the stacked on top of each other style we get with this particular release. Aside from that, I am very happy with this purchase and highliy recommend it.
Read moreDavid Cameron’s announcement of yet another immigrant “crackdown” is beyond cynical. In 2010 he made a pledge to bring down immigration to the tens of thousands. We now know that the last official quarterly net migration figures revealed net migration was 298,000 last year. Far from cutting the numbers of migrants, there are 54,000 more.
The truth is that legal migration is influenced by underlying economic factors. Contrary to what Conservative and Labour politicians insist on implying, migrants come to work not to claim. So stigmatising them will make their lives more difficult, but it will not stop them coming. The economic drivers of migration in a globalised economy are too strong to be affected by ill-thought out “anti-immigrant” measures.
Cameron’s signature proposal is creating new powers to prosecute illegal immigrants and confiscate their wages. This is more breathtaking cynicism. In 2013, the last year for which figures are available, the Tory led government prosecuted a mere 13 employers for employing illegal immigrants. If the government was serious about stopping illegal immigrants working why is not it having a major drive against their employers?
Cameron is also saying that he wants to confiscate the wages of illegal immigrants. But this will largely be ineffectual, because illegal immigrants are paid cash in hand. Why is he not also talking about confiscating the profits of employers who employ illegal immigrants? The failure to target employers is the clue that Cameron’s proposals are more about stigmatising immigrants and pandering to UKIP voters rather than doing anything practical about exploitation in the labour market.
Cutting the number of skilled workers from outside the EU allowed into the UK will be bad for business and the economy. Employers are already talking about skill shortages. Cameron’s proposals will make matters worse.
Other proposals are either pointless, should be already happening or are impossible to implement without more spending on manpower and resources.
For instance Cameron’s proposal for satellite tracking tags for foreign criminals awaiting deportation, so government always knows exactly where they are might sound like a common-sense idea. But foreign criminals awaiting deportation would be in prison originally. But there is reason that it has not proved possible to deport them direct directly from prison. The reason is that the disorganized Home Office bureaucrats cannot seem to get the information, about a convicted criminal being subject to deportation, from the Immigration Department to the individual prisons in a timely fashion. Without the file from the Immigration department prisons are obliged to release foreign prisoners into the community. But satellite tracking sounds exciting but is simply masking existing organizational failure.
Cameron’s proposals will not bring down the level of immigration, legal or illegal. What they will do is contribute to an atmosphere where “immigrants” are increasingly demonized. And only one political party ultimately benefits from that – UKIP.
Diane Abbott is the MP for Hackney North and Stoke NewingtonSHARE Tim Cullen
By of the
Madison - State Sen. Tim Cullen quit the Senate Democratic caucus Tuesday, saying Senate Democratic leader Mark Miller had snubbed him by refusing to give him a meaningful committee chairmanship.
"It's an insult to my district," Cullen of Janesville said. "I'm going to leave the Senate Democratic caucus. I will be bound by nothing they decide."
Cullen said his relationship with Miller has long been rocky, and that at one point recently, Miller hung up on him when they discussed committee assignments.
Miller declined interview requests but issued a statement saying he was disappointed in Cullen's action.
"Senator Cullen turned down the chairmanship of the Committee on Small Business Development and Tourism," Miller said in his statement. "He told me that if that was the committee offered to him, he would rather chair no committee at all. It was an important committee as small business is the economic engine for Wisconsin."
Cullen, who has a reputation for working with senators from both parties, said he is quitting the Senate Democratic caucus but is undecided about whether to leave the Democratic Party. If he quits the party, he will become an independent and not a Republican, he said.
Senators from both parties said they believed Democrats retain a 17-16 majority because Cullen is still a member of the party. If Cullen remains a party member, the Democratic margin would change to 17-15 on Aug. 5, when Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-City of Pewaukee) plans to resign to become Gov. Scott Walker's deputy chief of staff.
But the majority is up for grabs in the Nov. 6 election, when 16 of 33 seats will be on the ballot.
The flap comes just a week after Democrats took control of the Senate after winning a recall election last month in Racine County. Miller then ascended to majority leader and restructured the committees.
Cullen said Miller called him this month to tell him he could serve as chairman of a committee overseeing small business and tourism. Cullen said those issues were important, but he knew the committee would have little clout. He said he told Miller he wanted to chair a committee that dealt with education, health or corrections.
Cullen said Miller suggested the two meet in person to discuss it, and Cullen said he welcomed that idea. On July 16, an aide to Miller called to set up the meeting for a couple days later.
But two hours after the meeting was arranged, Miller called and said he had to release the list of committee assignments immediately and told him to take or leave the chairmanship for small business and tourism, Cullen said. Cullen told him he didn't want the appointment, and Miller released the list of assignments.
Cullen served in the Senate from 1975 to 1987, when he left to serve as then-Gov. Tommy Thompson's health secretary. After a career in insurance, he returned to the Senate last year.
Miller led the Democrats last year when they fled to Illinois in an attempt to block a Republican bill to all but eliminate collective bargaining for public workers. During their three week absence, Cullen and Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) met with aides to Walker to attempt to reach a compromise. They never reached a deal, and Republicans passed the measure while Democrats were out of state.
Cullen said Miller opposed his efforts to broker a deal on collective bargaining, but he did not know if that influenced Miller's actions.
"He may not like that I don't just take what's handed out," Cullen said.
Cullen said he might change his mind on leaving the caucus if Miller reverses course on committee assignments, but Cullen said he was certain Miller would not change his mind. He said his departure would give him more freedom as a legislator.
Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said he hoped to talk to Cullen about working together, even though he didn't expect him to join the Republican caucus.
"I think if he truly is frustrated with that caucus, then maybe there is a way for him to work with us on issues or individual legislation," Fitzgerald said.
Miller won support from the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. The group's executive director, Scot Ross, issued a statement thanking Miller "for refusing to buckle to Sen. Tim Cullen's self-serving demands."
Though Miller did not given Cullen any chairmanships, he gave him seats on four committees - the Joint Committee on Legislative Council; the Committee on Agriculture, Elections and the University of Wisconsin System; the Committee on Education and Corrections; and the Committee on Children and Families, Disability Rights and Housing Sustainability.JYJ member Junsu will make a comeback in March this year, according to his talent agency C-JeS Entertainment.
On January 16, an agency representative announced, “Junsu will be making his solo comeback in March. After releasing the new album, he will continue to hold concerts in both Korea and Japan. Junsu is currently putting a lot of effort into making the new album’s title track. Listeners will be able to see a huge change in style in the new album.”
Junsu made his solo debut in 2012 with the album “Tarantallegra,” and followed it up with the sophomore effort “Incredible,” which dropped over a year and a half ago. The latter album was a blend of R&B, dance, nu-soul and funk musical stylings, so fans will be keen to see in which musical direction the JYJ star decides to embark for his new release.TEMPERATURES in Australia are dropping but forecasters warn this isn't just a brief cold snap - winter is here.
In the past few days much of the country has experienced the coldest temperatures of the year, despite winter not officially starting until June 1.
In Sydney the temperature dropped to 7.3C yesterday while residents in Adelaide awoke to 5.2C. In Brisbane the mercury was at a low of 7.9C at the weekend.
Although Melbourne hit a low of 3.5C last Tuesday, the city was basking in 11C yesterday.
In Hobart yesterday it was almost balmy, with a minimum temperature of 12.3C. But that appears to be an odd break after temperatures there sunk as low as 3.2C at the start of the month.
Bucking the trend is WA, with temperatures in Perth milder in the last two weeks than they were at the beginning of the month.
There will be some relief from the cold snap on the way – but don’t expect it to last long.
A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the cold snap was caused by a high pressure system to the west of Tasmania.
“We have had a high pressure system to the west of Tasmania that has brought cold air from the south,” he said.
Over the next couple of days we should have a high over the southern states and that should bring more normal, milder conditions again.”
He warned that winter temperatures would stay. “Get those stockings and boots out, we are going into winter."
La Nina is dead but more wild weather to come
After flooding rain across much of Queensland and a terrifying Category 5 Cyclone, one of the strongest La Nina events on record has officially ended.
Weatherzone meteorologist Alex Zadnik said La Ninas were characterised by colder than usual sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean (near South America), with warmer than usual waters near Australia.
These sea surface temperature anomalies drove stronger than usual southeast trade winds across the tropical Pacific Ocean, boosting moisture levels across eastern and northern Australia.
A return to near normal sea surface temperatures through the Pacific had occurred over the past month.
"We can safely say the La Nina has concluded, following a once-in-a-lifetime event," Mr Zadnik said.
However, The Courier Mail reports, an International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists meeting on the Gold Coast yesterday warned of more radical weather events to come.
Chairman Rajendra Pachauri said climate change would see the world face more such extreme events, including cyclones, floods, droughts, heatwaves and fire.
Disasters "not linked to climate change"
But according to the world's leading authority on climate change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman Rajendra Pachauri, linking the latest weather disasters to climate change would be wrong.
Mr Pachauri told the Australian the general observation that climate change was bringing about an increase in extreme weather events was valid but scientists needed to provide much finer detail.
"Frankly, it is difficult to take a season or two and come up with any conclusions on those on a scientific basis," Dr Pachauri said.
"What we can say very clearly is the aggregate impact of climate change on all these events, which are taking place at much higher frequency and intensity all over the world.
"On that there is very little doubt; the scientific evidence is very, very strong. But what happens in Queensland or what happens in Russia or for that matter the floods in the Mississippi River right now, whether there is a link between those and climate change is very difficult to establish. So I don't think anyone can make a categorical statement on that."
With the Courier Mail / The AustralianReference
Reference plunker: http://plnkr.co/edit/otv5mVVQ36iPi3Mp0FYw?p=preview
Explanation of the issue
Suppose that we have two directives, first-directive and second-directive. Now suppose we only have access to first-directive which we hope to wrap second-directive with and pass to it our own manipulated attributes.
app.directive('firstDirective', function() { return { scope: true, priority: 1000, transclude: true, template: function(element,attributes){ console.log('template') return '<second-directive two="{{one}}"></second-directive>' }, compile: function(element,attributes) { console.log('compile') return { pre: function(scope){ scope.one = 'foo' console.log('cpre') }, post: function(scope){ scope.one = 'foo' console.log('cpost') }, } }, controller: ['$scope','$attrs',function($scope,$attrs){ console.log('controller'); $scope.one = 'foo'; }], } }) app.directive('secondDirective',function(){ return { template: function (element,attributes){ console.log(attributes.two) //{{one}} not 'foo' or 'test' return 'Hello {{two}}' } } });
first-directive is being called as follows:
<first-directive one='test'></first-directive>
console.log output as follows:
template compile {{one}} controller cpre cpost
So from this I've learned that template is called before compile. This is a peculiar from my novice eyes because there isn't anyway to manipulate the value passed back by the template function through compile, controller, pre, or post link!
The question is this:
How can I call the second-directive with the dynamic attribute value that I want? Keep in mind that second-directive is completely independent and we can't add code there.
PS - One possible idea I have is to call the second-directive as follows:
template: function(element,attributes){ console.log('template') var explicit =???? /* how to access scope? */ return '<second-directive two="'+ explicit +'"></second-directive>' },
or alternatively
template: function(element,attributes){ console.log('template') return $interpolate('<second-directive two="{{one}}"></second-directive>')(scopeObj) /* how does one access scopeObj with current scope values here? */ },
Yet, again, I'm not sure how to get the value being passed to first-directive before any of the other functions are called. Controller has access to $scope and it is called AFTER template.
Your suggestions greatly appreciated.ORLANDO, Fla. - New evidence has been released in the case of a 2-year-old boy who was found unresponsive in a hotel room in June.
For the first time, the State Attorney's Office has released the 911 call made when the child was found not breathing. Interviews with the mother's coworker and a neighbor also detailed the family's dynamic.
Merissa Anderson was living at the Countryside Inn and Suites with her three children and boyfriend, Jon Charapata.
Back in June, Charapata reported the boy hit his head when he fell from the bead.
While no one has been charged with murder, the death prompted an investigation into child abuse.
The 911 call details the moment when 2-year-old Justin Polk Jr. was found unresponsive.
Caller: "Hello, please come, please come."
Dispatcher: "Alright, sir, listen, listen. We have help on the way there. Are you next to the baby?"
Caller: "Yes."
Dispatcher: "Okay, we have to start CPR on the baby."
Caller: "He got blood coming down his nose [inaudible]."
Charapata was taking care of his girlfriend's children while she worked. One of the adults in the home called for help, then a person who sounds like Charapata frantically takes over, stating that he can't lose his baby.
The dispatcher proceeded to walk them through CPR and the 911 call continues as deputies begin to arrive to the motel.
Dispatcher: "Did he fall on the ground?"
Caller: "He fell on the ground again. So, I gave him a bath. When he got back from the bath he was laying on the bed [inaudible] and he fell off the bed and hit his head."
The death also opened up an investigation into abuse of the other children.
One neighbor interviewed by deputies stated she always saw the children bruised.
"It would always be consistent," she said. "It was always like a black and blue, or it would kind of look like an impact, like something hit him."
The neighbor told deputies when she would ask Anderson about it, she would say it was an accident.
"There's no way that a child should have two black eyes at the same time," the woman told deputies.
Anderson and Charapata have both been charged with child abuse and remain in the Orange County jail.
Copyright 2014 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Young players attend the world's biggest football academy in China
That China is dreadful at football is no secret.
It currently languishes in 103rd place in the Fifa World Rankings, just below Equatorial Guinea.
Its national league has been mired in corruption and match-fixing scandals of such scurrilous depths that, in one infamous incident, a team coach was seen urging his players in the dying minutes of a game to take shots on their own goal.
The Evergrande Football School is meant to change all that.
An hour or so outside the southern city of Guangzhou, palm trees line the road to the front gate.
Beyond it lies what must be one of the most extraordinary symbols of sporting ambition and expectation ever built.
The school's turrets and towers rise above the surrounding countryside like a Transylvanian Castle. The courtyards and galleries give the feel of an English public school and the facilities - an Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts and 42 full-sized football pitches - would be the envy of many of them.
In the 2,300-place boarding school, pupils attend normal academic lessons but get their football - at least an hour a day - from a team of Real Madrid-trained coaches.
The whole thing was built in less than a year at a cost of almost $200m (£117m), the brainchild of the billionaire owner of one of China's biggest football clubs, Guangzhou Evergrande.
But the school claims high-level political support too.
"Chinese President Xi Jinping has three wishes," the school's headmaster, Liu Jiangnan told me. "To qualify for, to host and to win the World Cup."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The school is considered the largest football academy in the world
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Students are trained by professional football coaches
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption In addition to football training, students must also attend daily academic lessons
Out on the field, instructions are shouted out in Spanish and are then translated into Chinese.
One of the coaches, Bruno Mesquita, a man who served time at Real Madrid and FC Porto, is a believer. He believes the school can help lift the quality of football in China, if nothing else, because of the sheer scale of the project.
"Maybe we are not crazy enough to build something like this but the Chinese recognise that they have some space to grow professional football and they decided to invest," he said.
"We have the material and the human resources here. We are good coaches, we believe in the point, the target… to grow national football players and to grow Chinese football."
Image caption Football coach Pablo Amo has some reservations about the school's ambitions
His colleague, former Spanish professional footballer Pablo Amo, is equally impressed with the facilities they have been given but seems a little less certain about the mission.
"In my career, I played with some amazing players who never got to be professional," he said.
"So from all these kids, maybe just a few are going to be professional but for all of them, we have to try to see that they love the sport, to give them happiness using football."
Image copyright AP Image caption Fields and open spaces to play football in, are rare in China's rapidly developing landscape
In fact, therein lies the real problem for China.
Despite the popularity of football as a spectator sport and the massive television audiences it generates, very few young Chinese people are actually enjoying the real thing.
In between the high-rises of the big cities, you might catch sight of kids bouncing a ball around a basketball hoop.
But an honest-to-goodness jumpers-for-goalposts kick-about? Very rare indeed.
The reasons are many.
Firstly, the rampant building boom of the past few decades has left very few surviving fields and open spaces.
The education system is another challenge - the intense pressure on children to study long hours for exams leaves little room for extra-curricular activity.
For that reason, the few that do play youth team football have often given up by the age of 14.
China is kind of weak in football right now but when I grow up, I want to win honour for Chinese football and to win the World Cup A 10-year-old Evergrande student
Then there's the Communist Party's suffocating prohibition on any social organisation outside of its control which makes the setting up of local sports clubs a difficult task.
I was once told by the organiser of a football youth league in Beijing, which was established after long and tortuous negotiations with the authorities, that he was ordered to close the whole thing down for a few weeks over the summer of 2008.
The reason? The government deemed any large gathering of people a potential security threat to the Olympic Games that the city was proudly hosting that year amid much talk of a sporting legacy for China's youth.
And lastly, if all the above are not enough to kill off an outdoor sporting culture, then the choking country-wide pollution should do the trick.
Above anything else, it is the resulting lack of grass-roots involvement in football that might best explain why a country of 1.3 billion people cannot find 11 players good enough to qualify for the World Cup, let alone win it.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some critics wonder if the school will be able to field professional football players
Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney and Beckham, to take just four football stars, all had the benefit of prestigious youth football academies run by big top-flight clubs. But they were given places at those academies because their young precocious talents had already shone amongst thousands of their contemporaries enjoying sports for sports' sake in school sides and local youth leagues.
The Evergrande Football School |
still learning the language and culture," she said. "It was then that I realized how American I am."
Photo: IC
Being Asian-American
The social discrimination, stereotypes and prejudice against Asian-Americans, a minority group in the US, has been a problem for quite some time.
A January post titled "Asian-American writes emotional essay to Chinese parents - Do not immigrate to America, your kids will suffer" on social networking site reddit.com has sparked discussion on racism toward Asian-Americans.
The essay is written by a Chinese man who grew up in the US. In it, he shares his experience of growing up in the "true circumstance" of a Chinese-American. He said Chinese-American kids could face "psychological persecution, such as a permanent cultural barrier, a lifelong status as a second-class citizen (especially Chinese boys), and a multitude of irremovable barriers to successful business ventures."
But Rory Zia, an American-born Chinese who grew up in Hawaii, has a different perspective.
"I can't say anyone whose experience is different from mine is wrong. But this is not how it is for all Chinese-Americans," he said.
Zia is the founder of the Young Asian American Professionals Group on WeChat and is active in Beijing's Asian-American community.
"If you grow up in Hawaii, you would not face that feeling because the majority of the people there are Asians," he said.
Some areas on the West Coast are home to large Asian communities, but the writer grew up on the East Coast, which is notorious for isolating Asian-Americans, Zia explained.
"A lot of the times families just move to the suburbs, or they just move there because the father or mother has a job opportunity. There aren't many Asian-American communities outside of New York or Washington DC," he said.
Zia also said a local Chinese who moves to the US might also feel somewhat isolated because many of the Chinese who reside in the US speak Cantonese, not Putonghua.
However, he conceded that the writer did speak some truth when he wrote about Chinese boys not being valued in the US.
"Asian males in the US are not valued as highly as other groups," Zia said. "I think it's a historical issue that dates back over 100 years. It has been a consistent attitude toward Asian-American men."
Despite this, Chinese-Americans have attained high positions in the US government. The Trump administration recently named American-born Chinese Elaine Chao the Secretary of Transportation, and politician Gary Locke, the former US Ambassador to China, is of Chinese descent.
Different types of Chinese?
Discrimination and prejudice also exist between Chinese-Americans and Chinese, according to Zheng.
"A lot of Chinese-Americans feel that they are superior to the Chinese who grow up in China. I observed this in my college where there were lines between ABC students and Chinese students. They disliked each other," he said.
"Some Chinese think Chinese-Americans don't appreciate their roots, while some Chinese-Americans think they can never be friends with Chinese."
The sentiment between the two groups is so strong that sometimes words like "hate" come into play during everyday conversation.
"I have an ABC friend who would say, 'I hate Chinese.' Then I asked her, 'If you hate Chinese, do you hate yourself?'" said Zheng.
"She replied, 'Well, I'm not Chinese. I'm not like them.'"
"'What about your parents?' I asked. She replied, 'My parents, that is complicated!'"
Chinese prejudice against Chinese-Americans is reflected in a recent Huffington Post article titled "A note to Asian-American activists about new arrivals" by Chinese-American Frank H. Wu.
In the piece, Wu speaks of the stereotyping of new Chinese immigrants to the US as "too much bling, not enough lining up in an orderly manner; nose-picking, spitting, bad driving, passive-aggressive conduct and, let us hope, at least no dog-eating" and asks Chinese-Americans to reach out to them.
His statements, such as "If we do not win them over or ally with them, they will overtake us numerically and render us politically irrelevant" caused an uproar in the Chinese community.
After being criticized for stereotyping new Chinese immigrants, Wu, who is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, wrote another article, "A public letter to new Chinese immigrants," days later in an attempt to explain that his "good intentions" were misperceived.
"I had hoped to promote cooperation. I urged an audience of progressive activists to reach out and respect their cousins who have arrived more recently and might not agree with all of their advocacy," the second post said. "However, good intentions are not enough; consequences matter. I was insensitive to how the words would be received, including in translation and repetition. Many people interpreted my message as its opposite."
Proud to be a huayi
From Zheng's perspective, American-born Chinese who do not desire to understand or visit China have overly separated themselves from their roots.
Peng said American-born Chinese should embrace who they are instead of fighting their heritage and identity.
"You are going to face discrimination everywhere. Life is hard everywhere. There is no wonderful rainbow just because you have a US passport," she said.
Zheng has embarked on a career in "self-media" where he creates and promotes his own articles and videos on his social media accounts. A local Chinese company also helps him promote some of his work.
In his latest article, "I am an ABC without story," he said one of the companies that had rejected him due to his Chinese appearance hoped to cooperate with him.
"The boss said my identity as a huayi is very important. They hope to continue to consult my opinion from the perspective of a huayi on future projects," he said.
"My goal is to help people on both sides of the Pacific have a stronger mutual understanding of each other's culture."Shown here are representative species for the three most populous ruminant families, all residents of the eurasian steppes and contemporanous species with Avisapiens Borealis.
1: Northern tusked-deer (Family Paencervus) - the tusked deer are not, in fact, deer, but are very close to what would have become the Palaeomerycidae. Males are marked by their large tusks (modified incisors), used mainly in sexual display. The tusked-deer fulfill a niche very similar to that of deer or antelope - small to medium-sized grazers and browsers. Most species live in small herds, but many forest species are more solitary.
2: Steppe Chulengo (Family Merycauchenia) - The chulengos (a phrase used in reality for juvenile guanacos) are long-necked grazers who live fairly social lives. They evolved from an ancestor in N. America, and are among the most variable (in body types) of any ruminant group - ranging from long-necked browsers to small, antelope-like forms.
3: Greater Korova (family Notobovidae) - The Korovas (russian for cow) are the closest to bovids as this world has. Much like the tusked-deer, the korovas sport tusks instead of horns. However, among other morphological differences, the korova family always have four tusks - (or at the very least, vestigial incisors). They usually live in large herds, and are often keystone species in maintaining steppe/prairie environments.
Notes - These are my prototype ruminants, and so far, I kind of like them. My main thoughts for these ungulates were these - how do I make ungulates that are distinctly different from the real worlds without being stupidly so? How can you have some of the fantastic sexual display organs without just using horns or antlers? Then I remembered the babyrousa. Enough said.
For the Chulengo, I basically took all my favourite ungulates - the macrauchenia, saiga antelope, and dromedary - and mashed them all together.
Thoughts? Comments? Etc?The desire to represent somehow the will of the majority through our electoral system is a futile quest.
The biggest problem with the current debate over electoral reform in Canada is that critics of the existing system are making demands that no voting system could ever satisfy.
One of the most common objections to the first-past-the-post system is that it violates the majority-rule principle, by allowing individuals to be elected, and parties to form government, even when they have received less than 50 percent electoral support.
This sounds like a serious defect, until one considers the fact that no electoral system that permits more than two political parties is able to satisfy this principle.
One can see the problem quite easily by considering recall elections — which allow individuals in a riding to fire their elected representative if a majority votes for a change. The obvious objection is that, with three or more political parties in serious contention, as we have in most ridings in Canada, there is no reason to expect that anyone will be supported by more than 50 percent of voters, so people could theoretically keep recalling and re-electing representatives forever.
This realization is what drives a lot of support for so-called ballot reform (such as ranked-ballot arrangements), which allows voters to not just select their top pick but also to rank all the candidates on the ballot. Then, through some complex procedure (people disagree about which one is best), these preferences can be aggregated and a winner chosen.
“Surely,” the advocates of ballot reform will say, “if you look not just at top picks, but at second and third choices as well, you can find a candidate that has majority support.”
Actually, you can’t. (Or, to put it more precisely, there is no guarantee that you can.)
It may be one of the best-kept secrets in democratic societies, but over 200 years ago the Marquis de Condorcet showed that in many circumstances, in an electoral contest with more than three options, not only will there be no majority preference, but there will also be no way to winnow down the choices to produce a stable majority winner. If you pitch all three against one another, obviously there is no guarantee that any one will get more than 50 percent. If you break it down into a set of pair-wise competitions, however, you can get shifting majorities, such that any option can beat any other, depending on how they are paired off.
Consider the structure of a standard hockey tournament. We all know that there is some luck of the draw in the pairing of the teams, because which team you are matched against early on has a significant impact on your chances of advancing. But imagine a tournament in which everything depended upon luck of the draw, where any team could win, depending on the order in which they had to play one another. Condorcet showed that this is precisely what can happen with democratic voting – you can get one option that “wins” majority support, but any other option could have won had the options been paired off against one another in a different order.
Now, in a hockey tournament like this, it wouldn’t really make sense to ask, “which is the best team?” So it is with democratic voting, it simply does not make sense to ask, “what is the will of the majority?” because there often is no majority will — either there are too many options for the majority to favour just one, and if you winnow them down, then the majority preference changes, depending on how the options are presented.
Some people don’t like to be reminded of this result, because it seems to be rather nihilistic, or subversive of the authority of democratic institutions. Yet we have known about this problem with majority decision-making for more than two centuries, and it has not stopped us from developing successful, flourishing democratic societies.
What matters is how the result is interpreted. The correct way to understand Condorcet’s voting paradox, in my view, is that it shows us that every democratic electoral system is going to have an element of arbitrariness in it. Since the legislative process is based on the majority principle, every democratic system will need to do something more than just add up votes, in order to constitute the majority that will make legislative decisions.
This is why the mediating institutions of democracy are so important, and why we will never live in any sort of deep, decentralized democracy, or a techno-utopian “e-democracy,” where the people get to decide directly all major policy questions. Because majority will is often non-existent or indeterminate, we need to do something artificial, in order to create ruling majorities. Thus democratic institutions always include seemingly arbitrary rules, which introduce undemocratic values (such as a concern for “stability”) into the proceedings.
The first-past-the-post voting system illustrates this in a very straightforward way. Since there will often be no majority winner at the riding level, the system instead awards victory to the individual who gets the most votes. The net consequence of doing this in each riding is that it usually results in one party gaining a legislative majority. This may seem like an “artificial” majority, until we stop to consider the fact that, in many circumstances, any majority will be artificial.
We can imagine this element of arbitrariness as something like a bump under the carpet, a bump that can be moved around, but not eliminated. This is in fact that the major lesson learned from formal voting theory over the past few decades. One glance at this literature and it is easy to see that it gets complicated very quickly, with people developing increasingly arcane systems. And yet we know from first principles that each one of these systems is going to have a flaw, or contain an element of arbitrariness. The bump under the carpet can be moved around, but it cannot be eliminated.
One response to this situation is to drop the preference for elections that yield majority governments. This is, in effect, what proponents of proportional representation have been advocating. They take issue not so much with the fact that individuals can be elected with less than 50 percent support but with the fact that a party can win the majority of seats in the legislature with less than 50 percent support. In their view, parliamentary seats should be allocated based strictly on vote share.
The question one should ask, when considering proposals such as this, is “where does it move the bump?” The answer is that it moves it into the legislature — because after all, even if there is no majority government, a majority of votes in the House of Commons is still required to pass legislation. And since the majority will is often non-existent there, something arbitrary is going to have to happen, in order to get legislation passed.
Thus, the best that can be said for proportional representation is that it moves the bump somewhere closer to out of sight. Rather than having a voting system that reliably delivers majority governments it will be left to politicians in the legislature to put together a majority, using whatever backroom horse-trading and negotiation tactics they can come up with. We can rest assured that there will be an enormous amount of arbitrariness in this as well.
Photo: Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.com
This article is part of the Electoral Reform special feature.
Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the Policy Options discussion, and send in your own submission. Here is a link on how to do it. | Souhaitez-vous réagir à cet article? Joignez-vous aux débats d’Options politiques et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces directives.If you like to cook with rosemary, consider growing the herb in your garden this year, in a pot or in a sunny window so you can have a fresh supply at all times. Aside from the wonderful taste, rosemary has a variety of health benefit shown in studies, some of which may be a surprise.
Nontoxic home disinfectant
Bacteria in the home can be a health concern and there are ways to keep your home infection free with nontoxic natural remedies. Keeping you and your family safe from gastrointestinal and respiratory infections is a priority especially during cold and flu season.
The herb rosemary is popular for cooking, but you can also make a disinfectant spray to use on any surface in the home. The good news is it’s easy, takes little time and can leave your home with a scent that also has therapeutic properties from the aroma.
Researchers have studied the antibacterial properties of rosemary, finding it can kill Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, both common bacteria that can cause infection.
Other studies show the herb inhibits the growth of bacteria on food including Listeria monocytogenes, B. cereus, and S. aureus.
To make a spray, just simmer rosemary stems for 30 minutes. After they are cooled, strain and pour the solution into a spray bottle. You can keep the disinfectant fresh up to a week in the refrigerator. Make small batches to keep the germicidal properties fresh.
Acne treatment
A 2007 report in the journal Planta Medica found rosemary is effective against bacteria that cause acne - Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes).
Oil of rosemary was found to attach to the surface of P. acnes in low concentrations. Higher concentrations of the oil caused complete destruction of acne causing bacteria after 8 hours of exposure in laboratory experiments.
Boost brain power and mood
A 2012 study found the aroma of rosemary can boost brain power and produce a sense of calm. The finding that was published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology found the scent of the herb can enter the bloodstream through mucous membranes in the nose and mouth, leading to its ability to cross the blood brain barrier.
The reason the herb can boost cognitive performance is from terpenes in the plant that inhibit the breakdown of acetylcholine in the brain.
Eye Health
Rosemary might also help prevent degenerative eye disease that can affect various parts of the eye. Common degenerative eye diseases include age related macular degeneration and retinitis Pigmentosa that can lead to blindness.
Stuart A. Lipton MD PhD and colleagues at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute conducted lab studies showing a substance in rosemary known as carnosic acid stopped oxidative stress to cells in the eye in experiments conducted in Petri dishes. The study was published in 2012.
Protection from health consequences of high fat diet
Adding herbs and spices like rosemary, turmeric, cinnamon and other seasonings could help lower the health consequences that come from eating a sometimes irresistible high fat meal.
Researchers found adding spices to your meal boosts insulin response to regular blood sugar levels and increases antioxidant activity that can help protect from a variety of diseases.
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Increased immunity
Dr. Mehmet Oz recommends cooking with rosemary to give your immune system a boost. Adding rosemary to oven baked potatoes, chicken, turkey, soups and casseroles, especially during cold and flu season, might shorten the duration of a cold and even help prevent respiratory infections.
The herb contains a substance known as rosmarinic acid that can help block allergies.
Anti-cancer
Meat consumption, and especially grilling, is linked to cancer from by-products of cooking that are carcinogenic.
Adding rosemary to grilled meats can help lower the carcinogenic effects that accompany our favorite ways to cook foods.
Bloating
Dr. Oz also shares a rosemary tea recipe that can help reduce bloating. Steep 1 tablespoon of dried herb in 3 cups of boiling water, then strain, cool and enjoy. If you want to add sweetener, he recommends agave.
The herb is one of his top recommendations for women over age 40.
Might alleviate pain
The herb can also be used as a rub or liniment to reduce muscle pain associated with arthritis and minor injuries.
According to University of Maryland Medical Center, application of rosemary oil is approved by the It is approved by the German Commission E for treatment of muscle pain, though studies are lacking that it works.
Warnings
Ingesting too much rosemary can lead to vomiting and stomach upset. The herb can also help treat indigestion, used in proper doses. Recommendations are for no more than 4 to 6 grams a day. Rosemary oil should never be taken orally. Supplements should not be taken by pregnant women, but cooking with the herb is considered safe.
Ulcers, Crohn’s disease, colitis, diabetes medication use and high blood pressure are all contraindications for using rosemary for health benefits.
Rosemary could interfere with some blood pressure medications and can have a blood thinning effect, making it important to speak with your doctor if you are taking any medications. The herb can also potentiate the effect of fluid pills known as diuretics.
The herb rosemary has many health benefits and can be a healthy addition to the kitchen, placed strategically for aromatherapy, added to foods or used in the home as a disinfectant. The fragrant herb may also have an emerging role for helping fight food borne pathogens.
Resources:
PubMed.gov
"Investigation of antibacterial activity of rosemary essential oil against Propionibacterium acnes with atomic force microscopy"
AAS
"Antimicrobial activity of rosemary extracts (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) against different species of Listeria"
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
“Plasma 1,8-cineole correlates with cognitive performance following exposure to rosemary essential oil aroma”
Mark Moss
February 24, 2012
doi:10.1177/2045125312436573
Image credit: MorguefileAuthor Message
ecomoney
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Posts: 2183
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Joined: 25 Nov 2005Posts: 2183Location: Lincolnshire, England
Post subject: 10 pc Cybercafe for 30ukp!!!! Posted: Tue 14 Nov 2006, 12:11Post subject:10 pc Cybercafe for 30ukp!!!! (Updated 15 Jan 2007, see here
Software Setup for the cybercafe released, details
Hiya Everyone, I just wanted to share with you what has been made possible using Puppy Linux in our area. At our local community centre weve manged to literally piece together a ten computer Cybercafe and teaching suite with an I.T. budget of a mere �30 British pounds (about 50 Dollars)!!!! Most of this was spent on headphones (1 pound each), printer refills, a few ethernet cables and some 4 way mains adaptors.
The cybercafe has 9am-5pm Monday to Saturday internet access, with free uk landline calls from skype, word processing, spreadsheets, amsn etc etc. The computers range from a pentium 500/128 to 1ghz/256. All of these have been donated from local companies through freecycle or our local linux user group, a few schools, and even at times the odd skip!!! Weve used MU's supurb icewmultra package to theme them to look like xp. Most people dont even realise they are not running doze, but remark on how fast they are compared to their computers at home. Then they find out theyre using linux...
There is a beginners and intermediate computer class running there which is quickly becoming oversubscribed (we had to double up today!). We are also transferring the system used there onto peoples laptops and distributing Puppy CD's from the centre. Word is spreading quickly around the town about what has been achieved, and now other places want similar setups, even if they already have XP computers!!!
Just wanted to say a big thank you to you the puppy team from us and the people of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Without you this would not have been possible.
Software Setup for the cybercafe released, details here... Hiya Everyone, I just wanted to share with you what has been made possible using Puppy Linux in our area. At our local community centre weve manged to literally piece together a ten computer Cybercafe and teaching suite with an I.T. budget of a mere �30 British pounds (about 50 Dollars)!!!! Most of this was spent on headphones (1 pound each), printer refills, a few ethernet cables and some 4 way mains adaptors.The cybercafe has 9am-5pm Monday to Saturday internet access, with free uk landline calls from skype, word processing, spreadsheets, amsn etc etc. The computers range from a pentium 500/128 to 1ghz/256. All of these have been donated from local companies through freecycle or our local linux user group, a few schools, and even at times the odd skip!!! Weve used MU's supurb icewmultra package to theme them to look like xp. Most people dont even realise they are not running doze, but remark on how fast they are compared to their computers at home. Then they find out theyre using linux...There is a beginners and intermediate computer class running there which is quickly becoming oversubscribed (we had to double up today!). We are also transferring the system used there onto peoples laptops and distributing Puppy CD's from the centre. Word is spreading quickly around the town about what has been achieved, and now other places want similar setups, even if they already have XP computers!!!Just wanted to say a big thank you to you the puppy team from us and the people of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Without you this would not have been possible.
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Puppy Linux's
Sorry, my server is down atm!
_________________Puppy Linux's Mission Sorry, my server is down atm!
Last edited by ecomoney on Sat 16 Jun 2007, 08:29; edited 3 times in total
Pizzasgood
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 6266
Location: Knoxville, TN, USA
Joined: 04 May 2005Posts: 6266Location: Knoxville, TN, USA
Posted: Tue 14 Nov 2006, 15:34 Post subject: Cool. Hope they don't have leash laws over there....
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Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. --Muad'Dib
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gliezl
Joined: 06 Aug 2005
Posts: 322
Location: Manila
Joined: 06 Aug 2005Posts: 322Location: Manila
Posted: Tue 14 Nov 2006, 22:18 Post subject:
Good job! If I won't be reading your post, and just look at the pictures, you almost get me fooled. I thought the computer were running on winblows.Good job!
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"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
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MU
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 13647
Location: Karlsruhe, Germany
Joined: 24 Aug 2005Posts: 13647Location: Karlsruhe, Germany
Posted: Tue 14 Nov 2006, 22:30 Post subject:
Mark great, thanks for the fotosMark
raffy
Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 4839
Location: Manila
Posted: Tue 14 Nov 2006, 23:09 Post subject: Looking forward Hey, congratulations!
Looking forward to a presentation that we can show teachers and local officials in other parts of the world - say, HTML page with more pictures and text, or a video? With some info about your town...
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Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice?
_________________Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? Get the sfs (English only)
Lobster
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 15241
Location: Paradox Realm
Official CrustaceanJoined: 04 May 2005Posts: 15241Location: Paradox Realm
Posted: Tue 14 Nov 2006, 23:24 Post subject:
Have placed it on the Wiki news for 15 Nov 2006
http://puppylinux.org/wikka/LatestNews
Very inspirational story.Have placed it on the Wiki news for 15 Nov 2006http://puppylinux.org/wikka/LatestNews
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ecomoney
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Posts: 2183
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Joined: 25 Nov 2005Posts: 2183Location: Lincolnshire, England
Posted: Wed 15 Nov 2006, 15:18 Post subject: Video Hi all
Were actually holding a presentation at the centre on tuesday this week which will be webcast from our site (thanks to plinej!). We will also youtube the video. The presentation is to the local puppy linux group (LUG), and local voluntary agencies about the advantages of open source in the community/voluntary sectors....riveting stuff!!!!
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Ted Dog
Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 4013
Location: Heart of Texas
Joined: 13 Sep 2005Posts: 4013Location: Heart of Texas
Posted: Wed 15 Nov 2006, 20:46 Post subject: PLUG -N Puppy
Linux
User
Group
That is cool even a screen saver looks like XP. Good work eco.. and the rest of the PLUG
Lobster
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 15241
Location: Paradox Realm
Official CrustaceanJoined: 04 May 2005Posts: 15241Location: Paradox Realm
Posted: Wed 15 Nov 2006, 23:14 Post subject:
Let us know of the web cast and other details.
This is what I gleaned from your site:
Riddings Drop in Centre. This centre is open 9-5 Monday to Saturday.
I will try and pop in some time.
I would like to have attended but we have the tilers (new bathroom) coming Tuesday.Let us know of the web cast and other details.This is what I gleaned from your site:Riddings Drop in Centre. This centre is open 9-5 Monday to Saturday.I will try and pop in some time.
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jac1d
Joined: 16 Nov 2006
Posts: 3
Posted: Thu 16 Nov 2006, 01:09 Post subject:
Is it possible to get the ISO of your customizations? I'd like to try it out on some low end systems here for the same purpose.
Do you have any URLs for us?
Nice work! Thanks!
-Jeff Wow, this is very impressive.Is it possible to get the ISO of your customizations? I'd like to try it out on some low end systems here for the same purpose.Do you have any URLs for us?Nice work! Thanks!-Jeff
ecomoney
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Posts: 2183
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Joined: 25 Nov 2005Posts: 2183Location: Lincolnshire, England
Posted: Thu 16 Nov 2006, 02:53 Post subject: Erm
How we did this is create a stock pup001 file (Yes were still using 1.09ce!) to which we added Mark Ulrichs icewm ultra, plus rox 2.5, and the standard "Bliss" xp backdrop. We added amsn and skype and we were literally ready to roll.
We cloned the machines by using the smoothwall box as a dhcp server (most 4-port servers will do this). We shared the pup001 file on one machine using betaFTP and a symlink from /root/ftp to /mnt/home/pup001, then opened a console window and did "ifconfig" to find out the i.p. adress on the network that had been assigned to it using the ethernet wizard. We then booted a "new" machine using the "memory only" option and ran the ethernet setup wizard on that. We then went into either firefox and type ftp://192.168.0.xxx of the other machine, downloaded the pup001 file off the other machine into the root directory. We found if we did this with the 2.xx series puppy then we could use gparted at the same time to create swap partition first.
After I had transferred the pup file, I reloaded with 1.09ce and rebooted. On bootup the computer would drop to the command line where I ran "xorgwizard" to set up the graphics. I then typed "xwin" and ran the alsa sound wizard in the the wizard wizard and I had created a clone of the system!!! Average time about ten minutes and I could do several at once.
I really wouldnt know how to create an ISO, but any tips would be handy. A "public access" version of puppy for cybercafes with all of the privacy settings and software already poreconfigured would make an excellent puppy project though! Any feedback welcome. At a push I think I might be able to uploa the 256mb pup001 file to our webservers for interested parties to play with. Let me know.
Ecomoney Im afraid creating an iso is a little out of my league at the momentHow we did this is create a stock pup001 file (Yes were still using 1.09ce!) to which we added Mark Ulrichs icewm ultra, plus rox 2.5, and the standard "Bliss" xp backdrop. We added amsn and skype and we were literally ready to roll.We cloned the machines by using the smoothwall box as a dhcp server (most 4-port servers will do this). We shared the pup001 file on one machine using betaFTP and a symlink from /root/ftp to /mnt/home/pup001, then opened a console window and did "ifconfig" to find out the i.p. adress on the network that had been assigned to it using the ethernet wizard. We then booted a "new" machine using the "memory only" option and ran the ethernet setup wizard on that. We then went into either firefox and type ftp://192.168.0.xxx of the other machine, downloaded the pup001 file off the other machine into the root directory. We found if we did this with the 2.xx series puppy then we could use gparted at the same time to create swap partition first.After I had transferred the pup file, I reloaded with 1.09ce and rebooted. On bootup the computer would drop to the command line where I ran "xorgwizard" to set up the graphics. I then typed "xwin" and ran the alsa sound wizard in the the wizard wizard and I had created a clone of the system!!! Average time about ten minutes and I could do several at once.I really wouldnt know how to create an ISO, but any tips would be handy. A "public access" version of puppy for cybercafes with all of the privacy settings and software already poreconfigured would make an excellent puppy project though! Any feedback welcome. At a push I think I might be able to uploa the 256mb pup001 file to our webservers for interested parties to play with. Let me know.Ecomoney
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Puppy Linux's
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raffy
Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 4839
Location: Manila
Posted: Thu 16 Nov 2006, 07:58 Post subject: zip it You could zip a pup001 file that has no user files in it (that is, the /root is clean of user files) and then upload it - it must be much reduced in size.
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Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice?
_________________Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? Get the sfs (English only)
ecomoney
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
Posts: 2183
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Joined: 25 Nov 2005Posts: 2183Location: Lincolnshire, England
Posted: Thu 16 Nov 2006, 13:29 Post subject: Puppy File for Download
This is the pup file I created. Im just in the process of refreshing all of the computers in the suite with a fresh cloned copy as Im posting this.
Simply download this file and unzip the pup001 file contained in it t the root directory of any pc, boot with puppy 1.09ce, run 'xorgwizard', then 'xwin' and you should have a copy of the system that we use here.
Please note, the suite has not been operational for long so there are likely to be quite a few oversights. Here is a basic added package list.
-Streamtuner Radio
-Amsn 0.94 with the option for remembering email addresses turned off
-Firefox with cookies set to expire after a day, do not remember form fields or passwords etc.
-Skype Telephony
Heres the link.
http://www.ecomoney.eu/puppy/puppyfiles/cybercafepup.zip
Enjoy
Would anyone using it please make a post here with some picture, would be nice to see.
P.S. Have finished cloning the 9 pc's from one "master" pc over a 10mb network, took just 20 minutes!!!!! WOW!!!! 80mb zipped up!!!This is the pup file I created. Im just in the process of refreshing all of the computers in the suite with a fresh cloned copy as Im posting this.Simply download this file and unzip the pup001 file contained in it t the root directory of any pc, boot with puppy 1.09ce, run 'xorgwizard', then 'xwin' and you should have a copy of the system that we use here.Please note, the suite has not been operational for long so there are likely to be quite a few oversights. Here is a basic added package list.-Streamtuner Radio-Amsn 0.94 with the option for remembering email addresses turned off-Firefox with cookies set to expire after a day, do not remember form fields or passwords etc.-Skype TelephonyHeres the link.EnjoyWould anyone using it please make a post here with some picture, would be nice to see.P.S. Have finished cloning the 9 pc's from one "master" pc over a 10mb network, took just 20 minutes!!!!!
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klhrevolutionist
Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 1124
Joined: 08 Jun 2005Posts: 1124
Posted: Thu 16 Nov 2006, 19:39 Post subject: ecomoney: Congratualtions!!!
Good |
ipro Ltd, have been the leading recipients of H1B visas, which they use to send employees to work at customer sites in the US. The program has been instrumental in the rise of India’s $155 billion IT services industry.
But the approach has come under fire in recent years in the US, including from President Donald Trump. In April, his administration announced new measures to curtail the program’s use and eliminate what he called “widespread abuse."
The program is often criticized in India too, for causing a brain drain. But the authors took issue with that assertion also, arguing that Indian workers migrating to the US have led to the dramatic expansion of India’s own technology industry and contributed to a growing skilled workforce in the country. More students switched to computer science and engineering fields because of better prospects and those who did not migrate helped boost the Indian IT services industry. Some H1B visa holders returned with additional knowledge to improve the sector.
The increase in IT sector productivity allowed India to eventually surpass the US in software exports, the researchers said.
Because immigration led to better technology being built, the overall productivity of other sectors increased and consumers of computer-related goods benefited from better software and hardware prices, a 1% decline for US IT products and a 7.4% decrease for Indian products. BloombergHawaiian developer, Christian Miller, revealed his new point-and-click game, Neofeud. Neofeud is described as a dystopian cyberpunk point-and-click adventure game in the vein of Blade Runner, but with an overlay of Game of Thrones-like political intrigue, and hand-painted, stylized visuals.
The art, stories and gameplay of Neofeud are said to be a reflection of Christian’s experiences as a STEM teacher for the underserved youth of Honolulu’s inner city.
“Teaching robotics, programming, and sustainability is an often difficult, stressful, and even Kafka-esque endeavor – being in one of the richest, most beautiful places on Earth, yet dealing with families with working parents, who are living out of a van, or sleeping on the street. It is hard trying to keep the kids out of gangs, off of drugs, and on a path towards better opportunities, such as the ones I had growing up in a slum area of paradise while going to an upscale private school.”
Neofeud will feature 15+ hours of gameplay in an original dystopic sci-fi world and story, tricky yet satisfying, point-and-click detective work, interspersed with tense action shootouts, as well as handpainted, uber-gritty noir futureland.
The game is currently planned for a September 19th release on Steam, and will be priced at $14.99.
Enjoy!Guess what do we have here? Some kind of odd mushroom? Or a gut maybe? No, no, no...
You little jealous dude...it's exactly what you first thought: a double penis. Each penis on this pair is called a hemipenis (plural hemipenes). This type of copulatory organs belong to the males of the reptilian group of squamata ("scaly"): snakes, lizards and amphisbaenas.
Resting hemipenes are held inverted inside the cloacae, and during the copulation act, erectile tissue, like that in the mammalian and human penis, everted the hemipenes in erection. espite this nature's generosity, only one "gun" is used at a time, and scientific research revealed that males alternate the use of their weaponry between copulations.
This is because every hemipenis also ejaculates a gelatinous "mating plug", which delays remating by female, and continuous use of only one arm would deplete it of ammunition.
There is considerable inter-specific variation in hemipenial structure, involving size, asymmetry and simplification, which is described systematically and differences in hemipenis' structure can differentiate species.
In many snakes, the hemipenis possesses spines or hooks, in order to anchor the male within the female, as the lack of legs impedes males to grip the females. As if this had not been enough, some species even have forked hemipenes (each hemipenis has two tips).
Because hemipenes are everted and inverted, their anatomical structure is not like that of mammal penis: they do not have a completely enclosed channel for sperm conduction, but a seminal groove which seals as the erectile tissue the hemipenes.
In snakes, where there is asymmetry between many paired organs (kidney, testes), was observed an asymmetry between the hemipenes as well. In some lizards, the distal lobes of the retracted hemipenis are complexly folded and there is a well-defined supporting structure of dense connective tissue, the armature.This week, on May 2nd, Microsoft will be holding a hardware event in New York City, in which the company is expected to unveil new hardware and talk about Windows 10 and the cloud, with a focus on the education market. Unlike previous hardware events, we're expecting this one to be toned down dramatically when it comes to new hardware.
So, what do we expect to be announced? Well first, it's probably a smart idea to cross off the things we know won't be announced. According to our sources, both a Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2 are off the table for announcement on May 2nd. It's also incredibly unlikely that we'll see a Surface Studio refresh so soon. Oh, and definitely no Surface Phone. What's more, considering Microsoft's own BUILD developer conference is a week later, we probably won't be hearing about any future Windows versions just yet. So Project NEON, My People, etc. are all off the cards, unless Windows 10 Cloud is part of Redstone 3, which we don't think is the case. A new non-pro Surface We're expecting Microsoft to unveil some kind of new non-pro Surface device on May 2nd, aimed at the education market running Windows 10 Cloud. It's currently unclear what form-factor this device will take, however if recent rumors are anything to go by, it may be a traditional laptop style device without a detachable display. It could also end up being a successor to the Surface 3, with that traditional tablet form-factor with a detachable keyboard. I'm hoping for the former, however.
Considering this device is aimed at the education market, we assume Microsoft will want to keep the cost of this thing on the cheaper side. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll be super affordable, we're thinking somewhere along the lines of Surface 3 pricing. Remember, with the Surface line, Microsoft want to show other hardware makers how to build the best hardware possible, not undercut them with premium, low-cost devices. It's unclear how well spec'd the new Surface will be. It could be a mid-ranger, sporting an Intel Core Y processor (formally known as Core M chips), or maybe something a little more beefy such as an Intel Core i5 or i7. Maybe, it'll rock an Intel ATOM or even ARM processor, although we're not expecting Windows 10 on ARM to be ready until the fall. In regards to its name? CloudBook is the rumor. We're not so sure, as this device is aimed at schools. We'll know for sure on Tuesday. Windows 10 Cloud We're also expecting Microsoft to officially unveil Windows 10 Cloud (which we're hearing will actually debut as Windows 10 S) on May 2nd. Windows 10 Cloud is a new edition of Windows 10 that has been in the works alongside the Creators Update, and is a special version of Windows 10 that's locked to the Windows Store for all your apps and games, this means you can't download programs from the web.
If an app you want is in the Windows Store, then it'll run just fine on Windows 10 Cloud. Apps like Evernote, Slack and Photoshop Elements will all run on Windows 10 Cloud as they're available in the Store, but apps like Google Chrome won't. If you do want to run apps from outside the Store on Windows 10 Cloud, you can purchase an upgrade to Windows 10 Pro directly from the Windows Store. Windows 10 Cloud won't be a version of Windows you can buy on store shelves, but rather will be an edition of Windows 10 available to hardware makers for pre-loading on to their own hardware. Cloud will benefit mostly at the low-end of the laptop/tablet market, however it isn't limited to low-end devices. Hardware makers, if they so please, can pre-load high-end devices with Windows 10 Cloud too, something we expect Microsoft to do with its new non-pro Surface. Office 2016 Centennial In the light of a version of Windows 10 that's locked to the Windows Store, we're expecting Microsoft to officially announce that Office 2016 is coming to Windows 10 via Centennial apps, available in the Store. We already know this is coming, as the leaked Windows 10 Cloud builds have Word 2016, PowerPoint 2016 and Excel 2016 all pinned to the Start menu by default, but clicking them takes you to an empty page in the Store.
Office 2016 coming to the Windows Store means devices running Windows 10 Cloud won't be missing out on the full Office experience, and won't have to use the far more limited Office Mobile apps. I'd also say the ability to one-click install an app as complicated as Word or PowerPoint is super convenient to the user. Another benefit of bringing Office 2016 to the Windows Store is that you'll no longer have to download the entire suite if you just want to use Word 2016. Each app will have their own Store page and install buttons, which is excellent. Joe Belfiore! Joe Belfiore recently announced that he was back at Microsoft and working on improving the education market with Windows 10. Considering this hardware event is focused heavily on education, we wouldn't be surprised to see Joe Belfiore make an appearance to show us what the deal is with Windows 10 Cloud.At the end of October 2014, something very important came to an end. After 15 years of changing the way people communicated forever, Microsoft closed down its MSN Windows Live service.
Originally named MSN Messenger, its demise was not an overnight failure. Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype for £5.1 billion in 2012 meant it was only a matter of time before it was finally closed. China was the last territory to migrate the service to Skype; other countries did so 12 months earlier.
At its height, MSN Messenger had more than 330 million users after originally being launched to rival the emerging chat networks of AOL's AIM service and ICQ, followed by the entry of Yahoo Messenger. It was the social network of its day and as influential and dominant as Facebook is today.
The closure in October 2014 followed that of AOL’s Instant Messenger, which quietly axed its chat rooms in 2010. Two years later, Yahoo Messenger followed suit and closed its public chat service in 2012, explaining only that it was no longer a "core Yahoo product." More pointedly, the ubiquitous use of the mobile phone and messaging relevant to that more immediate platform had made them redundant.
The cessation of these networks signalled a nominal end to the first wave of chat networks before the tsunami of chat ingénues Snapchat and WhatsApp swept over them. While early chat networks went from thousands to millions of users, these chat networks have billions of users... and are worth billions of dollars.
WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook (who else?) for $19 billion (£13.5 billion) in 2013, and a $500 million (£350 million) investment in Snapchat in 2015 now values the company at more than $20 billion (£14 billion). More recently, the success of these giants has driven a new, third wave of chat networks, where emerging companies are offering all forms of niche content to attract and retain new users—but more on that later.
First, let's go back to the start and see how chat technology emerged to become the most important human connector of the age and how the rise of chat networks began.
Talkomatic
Like many digital technologies, multi-user chat started life in an American university and developed in a remarkably similar way to that of the Internet. In this case, the world’s first chat network happened in 1973 with Talkomatic, which was based on PLATO, a computer-based education program in Chicago’s University of Illinois.
It was primitive at its inception—Talkomatic had six channels, and only five people could chat at the same time—but what started as something for use in the classroom quickly became something for use outside of school; a place to chat with friends in a safe and personal environment. Sound familiar?
Talkomatic would continue to grow slowly over the next decade, but it was in 1980 when the emergent ISP CompuServe released its commercial CB Simulator to the general public that chat networks exploded into talkative life.
The CB prefix was important, because it represented citizens band radio, a technology that had earlier reached its apogee when the 1975 novelty song Convoy reached No 1 in the US, based on the worldwide fad for CB radio. This song by C. W. McCall was a three-way conversation between US truckers using CB radio and CB slang to create a narrative where users of the technology were able to undermine society’s mores, rather like the hackers of today. “We’re about to go hunting bear” (bear meant "police") was as popular a catchphrase in 1975 as any around in 2015.
Many chat pioneers liked to think of themselves as subversive, and the CompuServe CB simulator appealed to their outsider status. Like CB radio it had 40 "channels," and its similar CB nomenclature such as "squelch" and "monitor" only underscored this connection.
CompuServe CB was hugely successful, and other companies built on the shoulders of its gigantism when AOL acquired CompuServe in 1998 and used an updated chat network as one of its features to encourage Americans to buy dial-up subscriptions.
The company had launched Instant Messenger a year earlier and within 12 months had 19,000 chatrooms. What was once an almost insurrectionary network had gone mainstream. Over the next 15 years it would become a locked-in technology with further evolutions via the respective networks of Friendster and MySpace.
You call that a chat network?
So, that was the past. What's next? An October 2015 report, Connected Life, from market research consultancy TNS, polled 60,000 Internet users in 50 markets and revealed the sharp rise in instant messaging (IM) usage. More than half the planet’s population (55 percent) is using chat networks every day on platforms such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, Viber, and Line.
This trend is being led strongly by Asia, where daily usage jumps to 69 percent in China and 73 percent in Hong Kong. Chat networks are particularly dominant in emerging "mobile-first" markets, with daily usage rising in Brazil (73 percent), Malaysia (77 percent), and South Africa (64 percent). By contrast, some Western markets are lagging behind, including the UK (39 percent) and the US (35 percent).
“Apps such as Snapchat, WeChat, Line, and WhatsApp are sweeping up new users every day, particularly younger consumers who want to share experiences with a smaller, specific group, rather than using public mainstream platforms such as Facebook or Twitter," said Joseph Webb, global director of the Connected Life report. “As people’s online and mobile habits become ever more fragmented, companies need to tap into the growing popularity of IM and other emerging platforms. The need for a content-driven approach across IM, social and traditional channels has never been clearer."
With more than 606 million unique global users, one of the fastest rising networks is Viber, which gives its users the ability to connect in the way that works best for them for free, whether that is through individual or group text messaging, video and voice calls, or stickers.
Viber Games features mobile games for users to play socially against one another, using the Viber platform to send game invites, see what their friends are playing, and brag about their scores. It also features Public Chats, which allows its users to follow brands, celebrities, media, and entertainment content.
“Traditional social networks centre on the idea of users ‘broadcasting themselves’ to anyone who will listen. The recent growth in messaging app use reflects mobile users’ interest in real conversations with closed networks of friends and family," Viber CMO Mark Hardy told Ars. “With mobile now the primary screen, chat apps will continue to develop as leaders in the app space, expanding their services and functionality to act as a hub platform aggregating multiple mobile experiences. Now is the time for the chat apps to fully engage the huge audiences they have built."
Gamification... of chat?
Viber recently announced a $9 million (£6.3 million) acquisition of social gaming startup Nextpeer, the creators of a system that allows games developers to easily incorporate social gaming features into their apps. Such a social gaming feature is a huge incentive for chat network users to remain loyal to their network of choice and also one that drives user retention and acquisition.
Many of these new chat networks like to offer a games element, but one company, London-based Palringo, is offering a more innovative approach when it comes to games.
Palringo’s app has been downloaded more than 40 million times and not only offers in-chat games across more than 350,000 chat groups, it also publishes games on the main app stores to leverage its 40 million installed user base.
Some of these 350,000 chat groups have more than 2,000 members, and over the past 18 months the company has acquired mobile and social games developer companies in Finland and Sweden to bolster its games offering.
Its latest published game, Balloony Land, has been hugely popular on both the iOS and Android app stores, and, when prompted, players can click on the Palringo button within the game to further immerse themselves in the Palringo community.
Upcoming games from the company include Eternal Enemies, a clan-based game where users can play as Ninjas or Pirates and wage war against each other. Palringo then acts as a social and strategic hub where clan members share intelligence, pick targets, and unlock additional content in the game.
Palringo’s model appears to be working very nicely. Recently nominated for two categories in the annual Meffys awards, the company also came 7th in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100, a league table showing the 100 fastest-growing companies in the UK. This position was based on annual revenues of $14 million (£9.7 million), more than double those of 2013. On these figures, 85 percent of revenue was from games with a very steady profit margin of 50 percent.
“We’ve been in existence in different iterations since 2007, and it became increasingly clear two years ago that we should build a messaging-based business. Moreover, our data showed that our users wanted more than communication, they wanted entertainment," Palringo CEO Tim Rea told Ars.
“A lot of our customers were also on our network because if was fun to communicate with people they didn’t already know, but could come to know. That is people, who were into the same type of things, and not their existing base of people they did know."The clear, cold winter nights of the Southern Hemisphere often offer perfect conditions for stargazing.
Shaun Pozyn, Head of Marketing for British Airways, suggests the following places to do some amateur astronomy, as well as other attractions for each.
Hogsback: just over three hours’ drive from Port Elizabeth, this small town in the Amatole mountains of the Eastern Cape often has snow in winter and is frequently misty, but becasuse it also enjoys many very clear nights and, because there are very few artificial lights, it can offer good stargazing.
Some visitors say Hogsback reminds them of The Shire in The Lord of the Rings books and movies, and the area is said to have inspired the more idyllic, pastoral parts of JRR Tolkien’s epic works. While you’re no more likely to see short people with hairy feet there than anywhere else, it does have many other attractions,
Mountain-bikers love the trails in the area, which have hiking-trails to suit any level of fitness, and restaurants in the area offer everything from pub-grub to fine dining. See www.hogsbackinfo.co.za
Star-gazing can be very rewarding with just the naked eye and a flask of something to keep you warm, but if you want some technology on your side, you can head to Sutherland, about four hours’ drive from Cape Town. Sutherland is world-famous for its stars and its SALT (Southern African Large Telescope), one of the biggest optical telescopes in the world.
The SAAO (Southern African Astronomical Observatory) has set up several telescopes for visitors, and the Sterland guest-house, for example, has telescopes for guests’ use. Day-time attractions in the area include hiking and four-by-four trails. See www.sutherlandinfo.co.za. Sutherland is often one of the coldest places in the country, but that hasn’t stopped a steady flow of visitors going there to stare into the universe and to, appropriately, give the experience 4.5/5 stars on www.tripadvisor.com
Next up is Nambia, and away from its towns, it has very little light pollution. The desert climate has very few clouds, allowing for excellent stargazing: in fact, the country is rated alongside Hawaii and Chile as among the world’s best places to do so. There are many guided tours and a number of guest-houses have telescopes for guests’ use such as Hakos guest-farm http://www.hakos-astrofarm.com/ and Tivoli Southern Sky Guest Farm http://www.tivoli-astrofarm.de/htm_e/e_astronomie/e_sternegucken.php
Straddling the border between South Africa and Namibia, the ǀAi-ǀAis/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park has a starkly beautiful mountain-desert landscape and is essentially uninhabited. This means no light pollution, or pollution of any sort, creating ideal conditions for astronomy. Visitors have also found the lack of cell phone coverage liberating. There are plenty of campsites, but you’ll need a four-by-four vehicle to traverse the park. The Orange River has some excellent fly-fishing. See https://www.sanparks.org/parks/richtersveld/
*Information suppliedThe skeptics and cynics have it all wrong; the movie business will be just fine.
Christopher Nolan, one of the most successful directors in modern moviedom, penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about the future of movies in which he rejects widespread pessimism about the future of film.
Movie studios, producers and theater owners will have to work for it, demonstrably improving the experience of going to a movie theater. Bigger theaters, expensive projection and new directors will usher in a new era of film.
Also read: Universal Chief Jeff Shell: Jeffrey Katzenberg Is Wrong About Future of the Movie Biz
“The public will lay down their money to those studios, theaters and filmmakers who value the theatrical experience and create a new distinction from home entertainment that will enthrall — just as movies fought back with widescreen and multitrack sound when television first nipped at its heels,” Nolan wrote.
Too many people are devaluing film, Nolan said, viewing it as just another kind of content, “jargon that pretends to elevate the creative, but actually trivializes differences of form.”
People who are not creative often use content to describe the work of creative people. YouTube, Netflix and Hulu host content. Filmmakers produce movies and TV shows.
Also read: ‘Transcendence’ Director Wally Pfister on ‘Frustrating’ Technology and What Chris Nolan Taught Him
While people can watch content on any device, in any location, the future of movies rests in delineating the theatrical experience from your home theater and your mobile phone.
Bigger, grander movie theaters and with more expensive projection systems will bring exclusivity back to the theater. Nolan rejected recent efforts as “cost-cutting exercises disguised as digital ‘upgrades’ or gimmickry aimed at justifying variable ticket pricing.” Substantive changes to the moviegoing experience require real innovation.
Nolan is also banking on fresh filmmaking voices that will help propel the industry forward. He referenced filmmakers such as Lars von Trier and Quentin Tarantino, who injected new life into the cinema during the early 1990s.
“It’s unthinkable that extraordinary new work won’t emerge from such an open structure,” Nolan wrote. “That’s the part I can’t wait for.”Following the revision of a law regarding its non-military activities in space, Japan has announced a'space force' that will launch in 2019.
The term brings to mind dystopian visions of fighters patrolling near space, but will actually revolve around protecting satellites from space debris orbiting the Earth.
The force will initially just use telescopes and radars to monitor the debris, Kyodo news agency reports, providing the US military with all the information it obtains in the hope of strengthening bilateral cooperation in space, the so-called "fourth battlefield".
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.
The unit will use personnel from the Air Self-Defence Force and be run jointly with the science ministry and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Thousands of pieces of debris, including disused satellites and rockets' launch gear, currently orbit the earth, with a craft full of sexually active geckos nearly joining them last week.
Russia briefly lost contact with its Foton-M4 experimental satellite, which was being used to study the effects of zero gravity on sex.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowWASHINGTON — Answering angry state lawmakers, White House officials denied Monday that they had omitted money for Northern California fire victims from their $44 billion disaster aid request to Congress.
“The Trump administration is fully committed to assisting the victims of the California wildfires in their hour of need,” said White House spokeswoman Helen Ferre.
Top California Democratic lawmakers sent out blistering statements Friday accusing the administration of ignoring Gov. Jerry Brown’s $7.4 billion request for the Wine Country fires. The administration’s request specifically addresses disaster needs resulting from three recent hurricanes that struck Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but mentions California only in regard to special tax relief targeted at fire victims.
But Ferre said California is included in a section of the request called the Disaster Relief Fund. The fund, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, aids individual victims of disasters and pays for repairs to damaged public infrastructure. The administration has requested $23.5 billion for that fund. The remaining $20.5 billion would go to a variety of agencies that deal with different aspects of disasters.
“The California Wildfires are a declared disaster,” Ferre said, so money going to the Disaster Relief Fund “will support those efforts.”
The amount of money requested for the Disaster Relief Fund does not begin to cover the total damage assessed so far from all of the disasters that have hit U.S. states and territories since August. California would be left to compete with the hurricane-struck states for an inadequate pool of money, state lawmakers said.
“Even though the amount is far less than what Texas and Florida have requested, we’re supposed to infer additional wildfire needs are tucked in there,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. “I’m glad they’re not completely omitting us, but the idea that we would go in and compete with these hurricane victims for an amount of money that is insufficient to cover any of us is offensive in itself.”
Republican lawmakers from Texas and Florida were furious too, blasting the administration’s request as “wholly inadequate,” as Sen. John, Cornyn, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican put it. Texas alone has requested $61 billion in aid to rebuild from Hurricane Harvey, which struck Houston in August. Puerto Rico suffered catastrophic damage from Hurricane Maria in September, estimated at nearly $100 billion.
Florida lawmakers were upset that their state’s citrus growers, like California fire victims, also went unmentioned in the budget request. Nearly half a million acres of the state’s citrus groves, which produce the bulk of the nation’s orange juice, were damaged by Hurricane Irma in September. GOP Rep. Tom Rooney, who represents the southwest portion of the state, called the budget request “flabbergasting.”
The state has already received help from FEMA and the Environmental Protection Agency, but Brown and California lawmakers have asked for $7.4 billion in initial aid to recover from what they describe as the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history. They said state and local officials are still assessing the damage, indicating that the cost could go higher.
Congress, not the administration, will determine by mid-December how much money the states get in disaster aid. Californians, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, fill some of the most powerful posts in Congress.
The Appropriations committees determine the amounts, and senior Californians sit on those panels as well. Those include Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Rep. Ken Calvert of Irvine, a Republican. Calvert toured the fire devastation in Sonoma County last weekend with Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.
“I felt it was important to see the horrific impacts up close and hear from those affected,” Calvert told The Chronicle on Monday. He said despite the “tremendous effort” by FEMA and others, “more assistance will surely be necessary. I will be working with my House colleagues and the administration to ensure the areas affected by our recent disasters have the resources they need.”
Unlike delegations from other disaster-struck states, which united across party lines in asking for federal aid, California’s lawmakers divided mostly on partisan lines in making their request. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Feinstein wrote President Trump on Nov. 3, asking him to consider Brown’s request. They were joined by all the California Democrats in the House delegation, and Orange County Republican Rep. Ed Royce.
On Nov. 14, the state’s Republican lawmakers sent out a separate letter requesting aid, not mentioning Brown’s $7.4 billion figure, but asking for specific funding categories, including the Disaster Relief Fund.
Huffman noted that McCarthy visited Sonoma County, and also praised Calvert for taking the time to visit Sonoma County over the weekend.
“The fact that he’s here on the ground taking stock of the need and that he’s a fellow Californian is encouraging,” Huffman said.
Lawmakers and Senate aides said they were worried that by leaving specific mention of California out of its request, federal agencies might shortchange the state when they dole out the money. They noted that while it is true that the Disaster Relief Fund is available to all victims of declared disasters, the administration request pointedly omits California in its discussion of the fund. Specifically, it states, “This funding would support response and recovery efforts related to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.”
Huffman said appropriators should attach specific provisions to the money to make sure California fire victims are covered.
The budget request makes just one mention of California. “Due to this year’s historic and widespread wildfires, thousands of families in California are struggling to rebuild their homes and communities,” the request said. “Accordingly, the administration requests targeted tax relief that will directly aid in the rebuilding process in areas covered by a major disaster declaration.”
These should include allowing individuals to declare casualty losses, waiving the requirement that the loss exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income, the request said. That contradicts the big tax bill that the House passed last week, with no Democratic support, that would allow casualty losses from this year’s hurricanes, but not California’s fires.
The administration also asked that Congress find offsetting cuts to pay for some of the disaster aid.
The Government Accountability Office said in September that the cost of climate-related disasters had already reached $350 billion this decade, before this year’s hurricanes and fires. The agency said those costs will keep rising and that the federal government should start managing for the risks.
Carolyn Lochhead is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @carolynlochheadThe Dark Patent Troll Rises: Now 40% Of All Patent Litigation
from the leeches dept
The study was inspired by the America Invents Act, last year's largely toothless overhaul of the patent system. In it, Congress asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the impact of non-practicing entities—a more clinical term for patent trolls—on the economy. Because Lex Machina already had a database of patent litigation, the GAO asked it to produce a random sample of 100 patent lawsuits for each year from 2007 to 2011. In addition to supplying the GAO with the data it needed for its forthcoming study, Lex Machina decided to publish its own interpretations of the sample.
"From all appearances, lawsuits filed are only the tip of the iceberg (editors note: kraken-sized leeches often hide under iceberg tips), and a major operating company may face hundreds of invitations to license for every lawsuit," the authors write.
The America Invents Act was enacted in the final months of the study period. And there was at least one minor change designed to deter troll behavior: the law made it harder to name many defendants in a single lawsuit. But the law's main provisions, such as the switch from a "first to invent" rule to "first to file" is unlikely to affect the volume of troll litigation.
With story upon story upon story (upon story ) of how patent trolls, those non-producing entities that derive income solely through litigation and threat thereof, are enormous leeches on innovation and progress, you may have noticed something. You possibly thought to yourself, "it sure seems like we're hearing more about these vampiric bastards these days". Guess what? You are, because there's more of them.more.According to a recent study by Robin Feldman of UC Hastings College of Law and Lex Machina, the percentage of patent cases finding their way to court jumped from 22% in 2007 to 40% in 2011. Note that the following graph is a corrected graph issued after the initial report by the authors.As the Ars Technica piece notes, that shocking statistic above doesn't even tell the whole story. When you consider that patent litigation as a total has jumped in volume, coupled with the number/percentage of patent troll threats settling well outside of the courtroom, experts figure that the size of the patent troll leeches are roughly double the size of your average adult kraken.Hell, this all sounds like promoting the progress to me. That, or some flavor of patent abuse. Surely it's one of the two...
Filed Under: lawsuits, litigation, patent trolls, patentsJanuary 23
Weekly Updates
Future Content
What's changed since Early Access?
A Third Character
The Final Act
Ascensions
Daily Climb
Custom Mode
Seeded Runs
Beta Card Portraits
Twitch Voting Integration
Upgradeable Colorless Cards
Fast Mode
Save Slots
Boss Map Icons
Steam Leaderboards
Steam Workshop Support
Steam Trading Cards
Run History
Card Library Tabs
Rich Presence Support
Controller Support
32-bit Builds
Official Soundtrack
Content added during Early Access
0 -> 15 Additional Languages (Community translated!)
189 -> 283 Cards
109 -> 161 Relics
40 -> 52 Events
10 -> 28 Potions
54 -> 64 Enemies
1,300+ issues were fixed
500+ gameplay balance and tweaks were made
500+ UI or VFX were created, modified, or overhauled
50+ SFX were added or modified
A Big Thank You
Community Fan Art
Hotfix
Fixed issue where Run History Screen's rooms weren't recording properly.
Patch Notes
Balance
Colossuem Nob fight ordering swapped so that the Nob can apply Vulnerable.
UI and Effects
Early Access and Beta popups removed from the game.
EARLY_ACCESS -> V1.0 (Version 1.0) for version number string.
Increasing scroll bounds by 150px in stats screen for the bottom.
Main Menu items appear 0.25s faster (reducing wait).
The post-credits Neow cutscene can now be sped up if you click 5 times during the cutscene.
Swift Strike's VFX is now a blunt VFX rather than slice VFX.
Bug Fixes
Fixing a rare crash that happens under unknown circumstances in the relic view screen.
Adding safety logic to prevent hand size from going over >10 in rare cases.
Fixed issue where Prismatic Shard can return cards which were not yet unlocked.
Fixed issue where upon launching the game, the next unlock level's content was available for all characters.
Fixing rare crash on startup caused by modified save files.
Fixing rare crash when using controllers on death and victory screens.
Obtaining keys are now faster so they can't fail to be obtained if the players leaves very quickly.
Preventing a rare act transition crash most likely linked to old saves.
Localization
Updates for POL, PTB, SPA.
Hey everyone,Slay the Spire is out of Early Access now. Look! A new trailer!With the full release of the game, we'll be taking a break from weekly updates and spend some time to re-prioritize our efforts and coordinate releases onto other platforms. Rest assured, Slay the Spire will be available to as many people as possible!Yep, more content is coming to Slay the Spire! There are a few more PC-specific features we couldn't squeeze in but that will come as an update later on. Also, more "content" will be coming... No spoilers today.Slay the Spire was released into Early Access on November 14, 2017. We compiled a list of highlights from all of our weekly patches. It's been a productive year!Lots of little things were changed to ensure that each run felt fair, each card has its purpose, and there was the right amount of variety to force interesting decisions. We read through more than 17,000 suggestions, bugs, and ideas during development!This journey in Early Access has been tremendously gratifying for us and we would like to thank everyone who helped us in getting Slay the Spire where it is today.Slay the Spire was developed a little over 3 years. The first 2 years through a tiny and private internal test group and of course publicly on Steam in the last year. The constant support in both private and public testing fueled us to work |
.S. is not only a world leader in beer, it's a beer destination. Where once the tired and huddled masses arrived in the hope of breathing free (but with no hope of a decent IPA), now it's the thirsty, and they're here for the beer.
4) America's capital, Washington DC. One week ago, the beautiful Building Museum in Washington was the venue for the spiritually beautiful SAVOR Craft Beer festival that gathered brewers from all across our great land. It had brewers as well-known as Lagunitas...
... and as on-the-rise from a national perspective as Nebraska Brewing, of La Vista, Nebraska, which (like nearly all the companies there) had some excellent new beers.
Again, there are troubles in the world, but not in the world of beer.
Tomorrow, my wife Deb Fallows has a great new story in the NYT also about Mississippi. Stay tuned.EDINBURGH/LONDON (Reuters) - Support for Scottish independence has risen since British Prime Minister Theresa May came out last month in favor of Britain making a clean break with the European Union when it leaves the bloc, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday.
A Scottish Saltire flag and British Union flag fly together with the London Eye behind in London September 19, 2014. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor
The poll still showed a slim majority opposed to independence, but the ruling Scottish Nationalist Party said the fact that almost half those asked said they supported secession indicated that sentiment was shifting and could embolden calls for a new vote.
In 2014, Scots voted roughly 55 percent to 45 percent to remain in the United Kingdom. But last year’s Britain-wide vote to leave the EU changed the landscape because a majority of Scots backed staying in the EU.
The pro-EU SNP, the biggest party in Scotland’s parliament, has said that there should be another independence vote if its views on Brexit are rejected. May has repeatedly said she sees no need for one.
A majority of those asked in the BMG survey, 51 percent, still opposed independence, the survey showed, but that number fell by three and a half points while the number supporting secession rose by the same amount, to 49 percent.
The proportions were calculated after "don't know" votes were removed in the survey of 1,067 Scottish residents, which was conducted for the Herald Scotland newspaper. Without removing the "don't knows", the proportions were 43 percent for independence vs 45 percent against. tmsnrt.rs/2k3fQwD
A demand for a second independence referendum from Scotland’s devolved government would throw the United Kingdom into a constitutional crisis just as PM May seeks to negotiate the terms of the Brexit divorce with the EU’s 27 other members.
The opinion poll findings indicate pro-independence sentiment is not yet strong enough to guarantee the success of such a vote, but the SNP said it showed Scots did not like May’s plan to quit the EU’s single market when it leaves the bloc.
Derek Mackay, a member of the Scottish parliament and SNP Business Convener, said if May continued pursuing what her critics call a “hard Brexit “then more and more people will see independence as the option delivering certainty and stability.”
HYPOTHETICAL STILL
Michael Turner, head of polling at BMG Research said currently only 59 percent of SNP supporters wanted a referendum before Brexit negotiations were completed, which might reflect caution that any ballot arranged too hastily might be lost.
“Although support for independence has risen, in some respects, it’s hypothetical still,” BMG’s Turner said, nevertheless adding that in statistical terms, the move in opinion was genuine.
“It is a small but significant shift towards independence.”
Scotland has a population of around 5.3 million, according to the last census, slightly more than 8 percent of the United Kingdom’s population as a whole. It was an independent kingdom until joining England in the Act of Union in 1707.
A report in Dundee-based newspaper the Courier on Wednesday said May believes Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon could next month demand a second referendum on independence and is privately working on a strategy to deal with this.
Asked for comment, a Scottish government source said the government was still in a negotiation process with the United Kingdom which continues in good faith but it was “interesting to see that the UK government appears to accept the Scottish mandate to decide its own future, should that become necessary”.
However, in his response to the report, a spokesman for May said the UK government did not believe there should be a second referendum.
Ultimately it is the United Kingdom’s parliament in Westminster which takes the call on whether Scotland can hold a second referendum. Last week, a British minister told nationalists to “forget” about another vote.
While Scotland’s government can present a bill in the Scottish parliament saying that a referendum will be called, such a move would be open to legal challenge.
The BMG poll found a clear majority of those Scottish residents polled - 56 percent to 44 percent - still oppose holding another independence vote before Britain finishes negotiations to leave the EU, probably in early 2019.
And while Brussels is sympathetic to Scotland’s pro-EU stance, some European politicians, such as Spain’s Rajoy, have ruled out membership for an independent Scotland.
Spain is sensitive over the issue due to a secessionist movement in Catalonia, where in 2014, there was an informal ballot on independence. The former head of the region this week went on trial for staging the ballot, as it was in breach of a legal order.How we track our economy influences everything from government spending and taxes to home lending and business investment. In our series The Way We Measure, we’re taking a close look at economic indicators to better understand what’s going on.
The way traditional economics measures the environment, or in many instances doesn’t, is a long standing problem. For decades, our primary measure of economic activity, gross domestic product (GDP) has measured “progress” without accounting for the cost borne by the environment, nor the substantial benefits we receive from it.
In politics and economics we regularly use the word “capital” to mean assets like buildings or cash. This should extend to the environment too. Nature is an asset.
The need to recognise our natural capital is highlighted by its ongoing loss – the reductions in forests, the depletion of fish stocks, the degradation of soil, the loss of biodiversity, more severe flooding and similar trends. The human and environmental cost of these losses are invisible if you only look at GDP, and so there is little political incentive to do anything.
We must change this, and make nature integral in our calculations and decision making. Our economic system functions within, not alongside, an environmental reality. The tools have been created over the past twenty years to factor the environment into our decision making. We just need to take the next step.
Measuring natural capital
For over 20 years experts around the world have been developing extended economic accounts to include nature. They build upon the United Nations (UN) economic accounting framework called the System of National Accounts (SNA). In 2012, the UN Statistical Commission adopted the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) as the international statistical standard for the integration of environmental data within the SNA, including new standards for the measurement of GDP adjusted for the depletion of natural resources such as timber, fish, water and mineral resources.
Progress in the implementation of the standard is ramping up, with at least 70 countries having or planning SEEA based measurement programs. Legislation has been passed for EU countries that must now produce accounts annually in six areas of the SEEA. The World Bank is leading a global partnership, WAVES, to drive forward accounting for natural capital in developing countries. It uses the SEEA as the technical basis for its work.
Australia has been at the leading edge of these developments and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has a small but well established program for environmental accounting. There are accounts for flows of water and energy on an annual basis, and annual measures of the stocks and values of land and various natural resources. These, and other environmental-economic accounts, are all brought together in the annual report, Australian Environmental-Economic Accounts.
At a corporate level, there is also interest in extended accounting. A substantive step forward was the release of the Natural Capital Protocol in July 2016 by the Natural Capital Coalition involving contributions from a wide range of stakeholders. The corporate focus has mostly been on accounting for carbon emissions and water use, but extensions into other areas are well underway.
But these advances have not been enough. Getting traction and buy-in with decision makers remains challenging and the level of investment needed to ensure more frequent reporting has not been forthcoming.
Integrating economic measures
Although accounting for environmental stocks and flows is useful and should be encouraged, none of the accounts on their own drive home the link between economic activity and the environment. Without a broader, more systemic framing, it remains easy to see the environment as a set of separable components, which are external to the economy.
This siloed view is reinforced in our approaches to environmental measurement. Experts in soil, water, biodiversity and the climate all establish their particular approaches, without consideration for how their data can be used and applied in an integrated way.
To create this more holistic view, SEEA has recently been extended to account for ecosystems and biodiversity. The resulting accounting framework melds human production and consumption with the benefits provided by environmental ecosystems. These include the provision of timber, fish and water, the filtration of air and water, carbon sequestration and cultural and amenity services. Sustaining this requires maintaining our natural capital.
Ecosystem accounting thus gives a platform for a full integration of nature with standard economic data on production, income and wealth.
This advance has allowed for more engagement with experts in other fields – economics, statistics, ecological and biophysical sciences, geography and accounting. Together, the experts involved have worked to create a common understanding and language for the considerable depth of knowledge that exists in each “silo”. Ecosystem accounting projects can now been found all over the world at national and local scales. They are taking place in many developed countries but examples are also present in less statistically advanced countries such as the Philippines, Peru, Uganda and Mexico.
In Australia, the ABS is developing ecosystem accounts for the Great Barrier Reef and the SEEA EEA framework has been applied extensively in Victoria in various contexts, for example to support the recent State of the Bays report and in the assessment of Victoria’s national parks. Indeed, in Victoria, environmental-economic accounting is a key feature in its recently released strategic plans for biodiversity and the provision of clean air and water.
Building on all of these developments, in November 2016, Australia’s environment ministers “agreed to work together to develop a common national approach to environmental accounts”.
Closing the circle
However, while the recent advances in environmental-economic accounting have opened new possibilities, much work still remains. Measuring and accounting for our natural capital is only part of the story. We must integrate the information into the analytical tools and models that decision makers use. We must report natural capital measures in budget statements and annual reports. And, most importantly, we must use the information to build the conversation about the inherent connection between natural capital and economic activity.
The standard set of financial and economic data in the national accounts and corporate reports cannot be regarded as best practice any longer. Australia is a mature and wealthy society, the next step must be investment by governments and corporations in systems to account for natural capital and hence give themselves a complete set of information for economic decision making.The Mistress of the Real Downton Abbey on Her New Book and Her Home's History
Downton Abbey
At Home at Highclere: Entertaining at the Real Downton Abbey
Fiona, 8th Countess of Carnarvon, laughs when I admit I’m uncertain how to properly address her. “Well, it’s normally ‘Lady Carnarvon.’ Is that OK with you?” she asks gently. She laughs again when I tell her that it’s just fine—a thrill, really! She is, after all, the Lady of the manor—of the actualhouse, from which the Crawley family delighted us for six seasons.With her new book,, she invites readers into her family’s ancestral country seat. She shares its rooms, recipes, staff interviews and tales of four weekend visits with some very special guests. “There’s so much history here,” she says. “I feel very lucky to live where I do.” And lucky is how we feel, too, especially after getting the Lady of Carnarvon’s advice on the very serious business of entertaining.
[caption id="LadyCarnarvonofHighclere_Feature" align="aligncenter" width="841"]
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“It’s about not merely the stones, the building. It’s also about the bones, the spirit of the people who have lived here,” says Lady Carnarvon.[/caption]
British Heritage Travel: We really enjoyed the way the book is structured around weekend visits. What gave you the idea to do it that way?
Lady Carnarvon: I’ve written historical books about Lady Almina and Lady Catherine [her predecessors at Highclere], and I wanted to share some of the history. It was such an embarras de richesses that I didn’t know where to start. So I thought of one of my favorite lines: “What is a weekend?” Some of the first weekend house parties started at Highclere in Victorian times, so I chose some fun weekends at different times of the year to share the joys and pleasures of autumn and spring, of summer. I started with Benjamin Disraeli and Lord Salisbury because they’re so well known, and I was just so amazed Henry James had come to stay at Highclere. He’d walked down the stairs, he’d slept in the bedrooms, he’d had tea under the cedar trees! And then Royalty, with the Prince of Wales in 1895 [who would later become King Edward VII], you can’t go wrong. And in the 1930s [with Sir Malcolm Sargent]—the glamor, the jazz, the recession and the Depression as well! Then, I also wanted to write about today, which was in some ways harder. It’s much easier to look through an eyeglass into the past.
BHT: During Disraeli’s visit, they were discussing incredibly important matters of state, like voting reforms. And the Prince of Wales’ visit signaled Lady Almina’s arrival, a major social move.
LC: Disraeli’s visit was extraordinary. These were such important men. They were the men on the world stage at the time, and they were at Highclere, so goodness me. And Almina was just 19 [when she hosted the Prince of Wales].
[caption id="LadyCarnarvonofHighclere_img2" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
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“The Drawing Room,” Lady Carnarvon writes, “reflects the style and taste of Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon.”
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I just can never forget that. She was so young and pulled off one heck of a visit. Quite extraordinary. He was very much a huge figure on the world stage because his mother [Queen Victoria] was Empress as well, so it was sort of, I suppose, rolling together a president and a King into one person in terms of the consequence of the honor of his visit. He obviously enjoyed food. I really enjoyed the quotes I found about that.
BHT: Tell us about that. How did you find out, for example, what dishes were served? Or what time they went shooting and that Henry James played croquet on this certain day? This is research only you are privy to.
LC: Sometimes it’s in notes from housekeepers, “boating party by the lake” or something. There are some asides you find here and there. Or you find a note in the Countess Carnarvon’s diary. You find small clues when you skip around the different diaries. It’s the small details I’m looking for, and you often find them just when you’ve nearly finished. That is all against the panoply of the larger politics and the historical framework, which I always endeavor to make as historically accurate as possible, so you’re both sitting at the dining room table having breakfast with someone like Henry James and aware of what’s going on around and, yes, of course, then he is quite keen to get back to London again.
BHT: I love that those entries are written in a very storytelling, short-story fashion with juicy bits, such as how Disraeli was enamored by Evelyn Carnarvon’s mother, the Dowager Lady Chesterfield.
LC: She was like a Maggie Smith character. Quite a lady about town! I can just see her daughter looking very disapprovingly. Disraeli was quite a ladies’ man. I think he proposed to both the Dowager Lady Chesterfield and her sister, so he was quite keen on the family later on after his wife had died.
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With its fifty-foot ceiling, the saloon is instantly recognizable to fans of Downton Abbey.
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BHT: Some of Highclere’s history inspired storylines on Downton. In Season 2, Downton became a World War I convalescent home. In real life, Lady Almina transformed Highclere into a hospital.
LC: Julian [Fellowes, who wrote and created Downton Abbey] stayed with us and he knew about that, and a convalescent home was probably less gory than a hospital on television at 9 p.m. on a Sunday. Nurses having the odd affair with the officers was parallel. Some of the secrets and stories are in my books, and then people can just go back and watch Downton and compare. It’s a fun way to do it, I hope.
BHT: Any other historical advances that parallel the fictional house?
LC: Highclere was one of the first houses to have electricity, which Almina brought in. There was that quite funny scene of Maggie Smith being blinded by the new electric lights. The new electricity was one reason that Highclere didn’t burn down. Many large houses in England did have fires because there eventually weren’t enough people to watch out for all the oil lamps.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
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On the dining room: “The whole proportions of the room work and I can, if I want, seat 50 people in there.”[/caption]
BHT: So looking forward has saved High-clere, led to its success, over and over.
LC: It did, and today we’re hopefully being forward with new server rooms. We’re updating all of Almina’s wiring. But I leave some of the old electrical panels in because I find them fascinating. They’re from 1896. I work around them to rewire into a new phase board. It’s keeping up with the times. You can’t stand still. You have to keep going with everything that you’re doing. I’m not complacent, I don’t think. I hope I’m not.
BHT: The book spotlights some of the staff: the gameskeeper, the head housekeeper, the head of security and more. Some have been with Highclere through three generations, three different Earls; it’s truly their home.
LC: It is, and I think you get some of that sense in Downton, but I wanted to show it in real life—that it was still here. Pat [Withers] has painted and decorated here for 60 years! She can tell me what something was like before the Second World War, more or less, because her father painted here before her. They’re amazing people, the place’s living history. I wanted to share a little bit of that. [Head of security] Les [Taylor] is going to be 90 and he’s going strong. Though because of Les’ discretion, because he was a policeman, I came out of our first interview and had about ten words to write!
[caption id="LadyCarnarvonofHighclere_img5" align="alignleft" width="402"]
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“He remains calm and still in our turning world, and for me is a port of call to sit with,” Lady Carnarvon says of Les Taylor, her head of security.
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BHT: He’s that closemouthed about Highclere’s secrets? Even from you?
LC: Not that he means to, but that’s an innate part of his character. I just thought, “Oh my god, what am I going to say?” but that reflects the man. In some ways, his pared-down entry, which I sort of wrote with each person sitting at my shoulder, represents his character well. Whereas for Pat, the decorator, I could have written pages and pages about her.
BHT: What are those relationships like between the upstairs and downstairs today? Compared to the Downton era?
LC: Those relationships still exist, in some way and, just as in the past, we are all in it together, but there is a green baize door. I was somewhere this morning and as I sat down on the sofa, the person I was with wouldn’t sit down in my presence. It was an unspoken thing. I had said, “Please sit down,” but he wasn’t comfortable. There are the small things that you notice and observe like that, and it’s for them to do or not do. Yet we are all a team and on a Friday, if we’re all working on a building project, I’ll give Pat money and she’ll go off and get us all fish and chips, and then 15 of us will sit together on the floor somewhere around the project eating fish and chips together with whoever is around.
BHT: It’s amazing to see some parts of the house, so recognizable from the TV show, and yet they look truly lived in and enjoyed.
LC: I consciously wanted to preserve a home and not a museum, because that’s in the name. We’re a stately home. We’re two or three hundred rooms, but we are a home. I followed my instinct, and perhaps my heart. Over the first couple of years we had 140 lampshades made. It’s funny, the small things like that make a huge difference. Kind of fluffing it up a bit so it looks comfortable and you want to sit down there and have a cup of tea. Visitors, they come round often—friends who are staying with me for the odd weekend. That’s why we really won Downton Abbey—through good food, good wine and conversation and laughter.
BHT: I meant to ask about architect Charles Barry, who built Highclere. It’s amazing that it’s the same architect who rebuilt the Houses of Parliament after the great fire.
LC: It is. Sir Charles Barry was probably the preeminent Victorian architect and Highclere perhaps one of the most important Victorian buildings in England, although of course it was clad on top of a Georgian building and the remains of many earlier homes still lie within its walls. Highclere was a very happy project for Charles Barry. He had one patron, and they were creating an extraordinary Italianate-styled house in the middle of the Hampshire countryside, whereas the houses of Parliament had politicians, budgets and committees involved…it was not such an easy project for Barry. There are many similarities between them. We are a lot less big, which is wonderful, and we didn’t have the Thames running by, which was obviously a huge thing that he had to deal with when he was first beginning to build the houses of Parliament.
BHT: We have British Heritage Tours that visit Highclere. Is there a part of the estate American Anglophiles might particularly love?
LC: It changes as I read and understand more. At the moment, I am remarking on the “American Garden.” Henry James wandered around it in At Home. And different stories emerge from different conversations with visitors, whether about Robert E. Lee or General Patton.
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BHT: The book shows why entertaining is so important. Any tips for our readers?
LC: We’re living in a world where people pull out their phones and forget what it is to talk to one another. The sitting down, the conversation, the socializing is not prized the way it was. It’s being lost in fast food and glancing at mobile phones. You know, I was asked to a dinner party in London two nights ago at an embassy, and I won’t tell you which one. When we eat [at Highclere], we normally turn one way. My husband turns toward the lady on his left and talks to her and then we all follow suit, so everyone’s talking to someone and no one is left out, and then halfway through the meal, he’ll turn to the lady on the other side and everyone follows suit. When I was in the embassy in London two nights ago, the ambassador said, “We’re all going to do what Lady Carnarvon does because I so enjoy it. Will you please all turn?” [Laughs] I felt a bit embarrassed, but you know what? It was good!
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With her husband, George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. Highclere has been in their family since 1679.
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BHT: That tradition must become embedded into every dinner.
LC: And no one felt left out! It’s kind to people. Otherwise, you find some poor person is stuck in the middle and there’s nothing.
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BHT: What is it that traditions and etiquette provide us? Especially in this modern world?
LC: You know, the subtitles of most of the books I write often provide a sense of place because I think Highclere, the ground it’s built on, the sense of legacy over time and the order you see in the Downton world or the world today, there is a sense of place and order. Tradition can be very reassuring and give you a baseline that, if you wish to be distracted and diverge from, so be it, but at least you’ve got something to come back to and if you don’t have something to come back to, I think it’s much more discombobulated because you don’t know where you belong. It gives you a sense of belonging.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. At Home at High-clere: Entertaining at the Real Downton Abbey (Rizzoli) by The Countess of Carnarvon is on sale now.
Lord Carnarvon’s Boozy Bramble Pudding
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[caption id="LadyCarnarvonofHighclere_img6" align="alignleft" width="441"]“At the heart of every home is cooking,” says Lady Carnarvon. “I have, in a sense, spoiled myself and tried to share my pleasure and enjoyment with other people through these recipes.”[/caption]
Lady Carnarvon shares with BHT this sweet “flummery.” First created for a Burns Night dinner, this is “one of the all-time favorite puddings” of her husband, George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. “It’s an amalgam of two classic Scottish recipes— Atholl Brose and Cranachan.” We’re certain the poet and Mrs. Patmore alike would approve.
Ingredients:
250g (2 ¾ cups) medium oatmeal
750 ml (3 cups) cold water
300 ml (1 ¼ cups good-quality whiskey
150g (½ cup runny honey)
750g (l lb., 10 oz.) blackberries
750 ml (3 cups) heavy cream
Finely grated zest and juice of five small oranges Mint tips, to decorate
Method:
Put the oatmeal in a bowl, cover with the cold water and leave in the fridge for 24 hours.
Bring the whiskey and half the honey to a boil in a pan. As soon as it starts to boil, add the berries. Stir gently, taking care not to damage the berries, and cook for no more than five minutes—just long enough for the berries to take on the flavor of the honey and whisky.
Remove from the heat and pour the berries into a cold dish and allow to cool. Once cool, drain and reserve the juice.
Strain the soaked oats and press out as much water as you can.
Place the remaining honey, cream, orange zest and juice in a pan and add the oats. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook for about 10 minutes, until the oats start to thicken and bubbles appear.
Remove from the heat and divide the mixture evenly between 10 small heatproof glasses and chill them straightaway to prevent them from overcooking.
Take the oat puddings out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to serve them to take the chill off them, then spoon the berries on top, garnish with a few mint tips and serve with a shot glass of leftover berry juice and whiskey.OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The image some conservatives have of Greg Orman, the wealthy businessman running as an independent against veteran Republican Sen. Pat Roberts here in Kansas, is that Orman is, in the words of a recent Weekly Standard story, a "vacuous cipher."
Watching Orman's performance in a recent debate with Roberts before a business group in this large suburb of Kansas City, it's safe to say that image is wrong, or at least incomplete.
Calling Orman a cipher suggests he has no positions, or nothing to say. But on some important topics, Orman outlined policies in more detail than Roberts. Some of Orman's views, although certainly not all, would fit comfortably within the range of Republican orthodoxy.
For many Republicans, the real problem is not that Orman is a cipher. It's the suspicion that his entire campaign is a ruse.
Yes, Orman can be slippery on some big issues. What would he do about Obamacare? Nobody really knows, except that Orman would not repeal the health care law. He's been unclear about the Keystone pipeline, and fuzzy on immigration, too.
But on some other important issues, Orman has taken a clear stand. For example, at the debate, Orman proposed doing the following: 1) Relax Dodd-Frank restrictions on community and regional banks. 2) Review all government regulation every decade to rescind regulations that inhibit business growth. 3) Lower the corporate tax rate. 4) Lower overall tax rates. 5) Raise the Social Security eligibility age for younger Americans. 6) Cut the abuse of Social Security disability payments.
It's all the kind of thing one often hears from Republican candidates.
Orman also seems to have some ideas that go beyond most in the GOP. At one point in the debate, he was asked for his plan to shore up the dwindling Highway Trust Fund. Orman suggested the government might start by cutting social welfare spending.
"There are lots of areas in our budget that we can look at and find dollars," he said. "I've talked a lot in this campaign about how I think we have a new American paradox, how I believe it's harder than ever for the average American to get ahead, and yet paradoxically easier to do nothing with your life. And so I think we need to look at some of the programs that we have that we're giving to people, that aren't promoting pathways to work, and see if we can't find dollars to make investments that we need to make in things like transportation."
If a Republican said something like that, Democrats would attack him for wanting to take food out of poor children's mouths. Yet when Orman says it, Democrats remain silent.
Which leads to the suspicion that the Orman campaign is a fraud. Republicans have long been skeptical about Orman's "No Labels" style, but that skepticism went through the roof on Sept. 3, when, at the very last moment it was legally possible, Kansas Democrats forced their own candidate, Chad Taylor, to withdraw from the Senate race. Taylor had been polling third, and his departure gave Orman a clean one-on-one shot at defeating Roberts.
Then there is Orman's own political history. He ran briefly against Roberts as a Democrat in 2008, but now says he is neither Democrat nor Republican. But he has made campaign contributions to Democrats over the years, among them Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, and Al Franken. At the debate, Orman noted just one Republican to whom he has given — Scott Brown, briefly the GOP senator from Massachusetts.
Later this week, there will be a fundraiser in New York for Orman, sponsored in part by big-money Democratic donors like Jonathan Soros, Joe Gleberman, John Petry, and others. Put it all together, and Orman seems to be the candidate that Democrats really, really want to win the Senate race in Kansas.
But what about all those positions that could fit under the Republican banner? It's probably safe to say that after all that has come out in this campaign — the last-minute Democratic pullout, the Democratic support, Orman's own history — most Republicans simply don't believe Orman when he lays out positions that they might otherwise support.
There's no doubt many in the GOP were unhappy with Roberts, believing the 78-year-old senator had "gone Washington" to the expense of the folks back home. But now they confront a race between Roberts and Orman, and, if recent polls are correct, they appear to be coming back to Roberts. They are naturally conservative in this deep-red state, and they just don't trust the alternative.TEHRAN (Reuters) - An editor seen as close to Iran’s leadership said on Saturday that opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi should go on trial, and a lawyer said other reformists had already been accused of acting against national security.
Two women walk past a reflection of a mural with pictures of Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and a member of the Basij militia with a quote from Iran's Supreme Leader that reads, "The breeding of Godly Basij youth is the victory of Imam (Ayatollah Khomeini)", near a university during Tehran's Friday prayers, July 3, 2009. A newspaper editor seen as close to Iran's top authority said Saturday defeated election candidate Mirhossein Mousavi and a former pro-reform president had committed "terrible crimes" which should be tried in court. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl
Mousavi and his supporters in last month’s disputed presidential election had acted on the instructions of the United States in protesting against the results, said Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the hardline Kayhan daily.
“An open court, in front of the people’s eyes, must deal with all the terrible crimes and clear betrayal committed by the main elements behind the recent unrest, including Mousavi and (former President Mohammad) Khatami,” he wrote in a commentary.
Another hardline newspaper, Javan, said 100 members of parliament had signed a letter to the judiciary calling for the leaders of “post-election riots” to face trial, pointing to Mousavi and fellow defeated moderate Mehdi Karoubi.
The authorities have portrayed mass pro-Mousavi protests, which erupted after official results of the June 12 vote showed hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected by a landslide, as the work of local subversives and foreign powers. Reformers have dismissed such accusations.
At least 20 people died in post-election violence.
“All they did and said was in line with the instructions announced by American officials in the past,” Shariatmadari, who is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote.
Ahmadinejad, in a speech in Tehran to mark Mines and Industry Day, said Western powers were whipping up controversy over the Iranian election to divert attention from their economic problems.
“The countries suffering from the financial crisis have tried hard to divert the world public opinion from this huge crisis,” he said.
In a separate meeting, he said the election result was “a strong slap in their faces” for “domineering” foreign powers who had tried to create conflict in Iran.
Security forces quelled the election protests, but Mousavi and allies who say the election was rigged have refused to back down. Administration hardliners seem determined to stop them.
Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who backed Mousavi, said post-election events had caused “bitterness.”
“I don’t think (anybody with a) vigilant conscience is satisfied with the current situation,” Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying at a meeting with detainees’ families, in apparent criticism of the authorities’ handling of the protests.
“I hope with good management and wisdom the issues would be settled in the next days,” added the influential 75-year-old, seen as a possible mediator.
PROMINENT FIGURES
Lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said he was representing prominent detainees including former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh and former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh.
They held their positions under Khatami, who was in office in 1997-2005 and backed moderate candidates in the June vote.
“I am the lawyer of about 12 journalists and political activists who were detained recently... their general charge is acting against national security,” Nikbakht told Reuters.
Other leading reformers he said he represented included Mostafa Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister, and Behzad Nabavi, also a former government minister.
“If the charges are proven then the cases will be referred to revolutionary courts after the preliminary investigation,” Nikbakht said, referring to a court handling security issues.
Karoubi’s Etemad-e Melli website said he had visited families of some of the detainees, including Abtahi, who was part of his campaign and was arrested on June 16.
“The recent detainees were not opponents of the system. They are members of the establishment who had some complaints against the result of the election,” Karoubi said.
“It is not correct to restrict the protesters instead of removing the doubts over the election irregularities. Such actions will cause people’s beliefs and trust to be destroyed and this is very dangerous,” he said during his visits.
A senior pro-reform cleric urged the authorities not to violate people’s rights and said many Iranians remained unconvinced about Ahmadinejad’s re-election because of voting “ambiguities.
“I remind you that no instruction or command can be a permission or excuse to violate people’s rights and this could be a great sin,” Grand Ayatollah Yusof Saanei said on Friday.
People accused of acting against national security — a common charge against dissenting voices in Iran — could face jail, a ban on political activities and holding government positions, or even the death penalty.
People take part in a protest against the presidential election in Iran in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels July 4, 2009. REUTERS/Sebastien Pirlet
The authorities say the vote was Iran’s “healthiest” since the revolution. Government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said the next government enjoyed “huge support.”
“A small group are moving in a |
Families. The new, more prevention-focused agency aims to help families before children are removed due to neglect or abuse, and before youth get into trouble with the law. The bill passed with broad bipartisan support on June 30 as the Legislature wound down most of its major work.
"It was a great session for kids and families,” said Rep. Ruth Kagi, a Seattle Democrat who chairs the House Early Learning and Human Services Committee and was a prime sponsor of HB 1661. When she and child welfare advocates went to Olympia in January, they had expected that the debate over school funding would drown out other priorities.
"I was just so pleased when it all came together, and very pleasantly surprised,” Kagi said, “because I thought they were going to have to take deep, deep cuts in human services, and they didn't.”
The state’s foster care system, currently run by the Children’s Administration, faces a crisis-level shortage of foster homes, as shown by a series of reports by InvestigateWest in partnership with Crosscut and KCTS 9. Kagi, the legislator who has campaigned most extensively to help foster children over the last decade, credited that reporting as critical to the success of her cause this year.
Observers say the crisis in foster care is driven largely by the Legislature’s chronic under-funding of the Children’s Administration, which has long been a part of the state’s giant Department of Social and Health Services. Stagnant salaries, cuts to services for the most troubled foster children and reduced supports for struggling foster parents have contributed to an exodus of foster parents and case workers.
Launching a new ship
Now it will be the job of the new secretary of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, Ross Hunter, to fix the state’s ailing child welfare system. Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Hunter, who until now led the Department of Early learning, at last Thursday’s bill signing.
One of Hunter’s first tasks is to plan for integrating his old department with the Children’s Administration and the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, both now inside the Department of Social and Health Services, starting next July.
Lawmakers sought to build greater accountability into the new department’s design. An Office of Innovation, Alignment and Accountability will make research-based recommendations, evaluate services and monitor reforms, among other functions.
The office also must recommend ways to improve the system for addressing foster parent complaints. Foster parents say they now feel ignored and their complaints are often met with hostility from agency workers.
The law lays out a number of specific measures the department must track, including reducing children’s length of stay in foster care, improving consultation with foster parents and increasing both the stability of foster placements and the number of children who return to their birth families. The department must make data on these metrics publicly available by the end of 2018.
But don’t expect to see changes overnight, advocates say. “This is a 10- to 15-year fix,” said Mike Canfield, a longtime foster parent and the executive director of the Foster Parents Association of Washington. “It’s like launching a ship in the right direction, and what we have to avoid is people falling into complacency.”
Giving foster parents a break
Foster parents also have reason to cheer a bill that came out of the Senate. SB 5890 will provide short-term, in-home help to foster parents who need a break for a few hours. One of foster parents’ biggest complaints is that they feel unsupported, especially in recent years as social workers’ caseloads have swelled and the state eliminated other staff whose sole job was helping foster parents.
Sen. Steve O’Ban, a Republican from University Place who chairs the Senate Human Services, Mental Health and Housing Committee, sponsored the bill after conversations with foster parents.
To boost the number of foster homes, the far-ranging SB 5890 requires the state to create an expedited relicensing process for foster parents who allowed their licenses to expire in the past five years. Until now, former foster parents had to start the whole process over again and repeat lengthy trainings, which could take up to a year. The expedited process is supposed to take only four months.
The bill’s other provisions include creating a panel that will review the cases of foster children who have not found permanent homes within 18 months, and encouraging adoption of teenagers by upping the support payments that adoptive parents can get from the state. And all family members who provide foster care to children related to them will now be eligible to receive cash assistance for care, removing a barrier for many older caregivers with fixed incomes.
“These are all little efforts to plug holes in the system,” said Canfield, the Foster Parents Association executive.
Should foster kids have attorneys?
One last-minute addition to SB 5890, championed by Rep. Noel Frame, a Seattle Democrat, will assign a lawyer to children in Grant and Lewis counties at least by the time they have their first court hearing after being removed from their homes. Children’s access to attorneys varies across the state and is not guaranteed until a judge has already taken away parents’ rights to get their kids back.
Right now, Frame said, "the state has an attorney, and their parents have an attorney... but the kids don’t have attorneys, and it's their life that's at stake."
Frame, who has fostered two teenage relatives, sponsored a bill early in the session to give all foster children in the state a lawyer before their first hearing, but the hefty price tag doomed that effort this year. She hopes that this demonstration pilot will show, as other states have found, that children with lawyers find permanent homes faster, and that it could even save the state money.
Kagi said the state has changed laws to better support parents in recent years, but “there’s nothing increasing the ability of children to be at the table about their own futures.” Giving children legal representation was “one of the more important things that we did in the bill in the end,” she said.
Unexpected good budget news
The final operating budget included unexpectedly good news for child welfare proponents.
The Republican-controlled Senate initially passed a budget that would have further trimmed the Children’s Administration budget, and it did not include money for the new department, more social workers or a substantial boost to worker salaries.
But in the end, lawmakers approved a net $14 million increase for a number of foster care and adoption programs, and another $28 million to increase social worker salaries. They also appropriated $6.3 million for the rollout of the Department of Children, Youth and Families. Those amounts don’t represent a huge bump in the Children’s Administration’s two-year, $1.2 billion budget, but advocates are happy to have won some targeted new funding. “It’s really a lot of investments in trying to improve outcomes for kids,” Kagi said.
The state will use the added funds to hire more workers in order to speed foster-home licensing and to lower caseloads — which can exceed 25 per worker. The budget also funds 24 short-term, emergency beds in facilities to reduce the department’s use of hotels to cope with the foster home shortage. The state has temporarily housed hundreds of kids, some as young as 2 years old, in hotels in recent years.
Social workers, who often leave the Children’s Administration after a year or less for better paying jobs elsewhere, will get the full 16 percent pay raise agreed to in their collective bargaining agreement. High caseworker turnover has made it harder to keep foster parents, who say overstretched workers can’t provide the support families need to be successful.
Kagi and others are hopeful that the budget picture for children and families will continue to improve under the Department of Children, Youth and Families, whose cabinet-level secretary will now be “coming to the Legislature and making the case for what resources they need — and be held accountable when things aren’t going well,” Kagi said.
Child welfare bills passed this session
HB 1661: Creates a new, stand-alone Department of Children, Youth and Families combining early learning, child welfare and juvenile justice programs.
SB 5890: Multiple provisions to help foster parents and children, including providing case aides to support foster parents, expedited foster parent relicensing, eliminating mean-testing for cash support to relative caregivers, increasing adoption support payments, and piloting early legal representation for foster children in two counties.
HB 1624: Allows families with resolved child welfare cases to continue receiving subsidized child care for up to 12 months through the Working Connections Child Care program.
HB 1867: Allows youth ages 18 to 21 in extended foster care to leave the program once and still be eligible to return to it, with the goal of reducing the large number of former foster children who end up homeless.
SB 5241: Requires school districts to help homeless and foster youth graduate on time by transferring and consolidating credits from the multiple schools these children often attend.
HB 1808: Helps foster youth get a driver’s license by reimbursing driver training and licensing fees, and the increased cost of insurance for foster parents who add a child to their insurance.
Child welfare budget highlights (2017-19 operating budget)
$6.3 million for the rollout of new Department of Children, Youth and Families.
$6.2 million to hire case workers and lower average caseloads to 18.
$1.9 million for 10 positions to speed foster and adoptive home licensing.
$4 million for 24 emergency beds to reduce the use of hotels.
$3.7 million to restructure adoption support payments and for case aides to support foster parents.
$1.6 million to eliminate means testing for cash assistance (TANF) for relative caregivers.
$2.2 million to hire attorneys to address caseloads from increased dependency filings.
$5.8 million for a statewide expansion of the Parents Representation Program, which provides enhanced legal services to parents with child welfare cases.
$27.9 million to increase social worker salaries.
Cuts: a one-time, $10.3 million cut to the Children’s Administration to reflect under-spending in 2017; $1 million in cuts to management positions (all agencies will take a 6 percent management cut).
This story was supported by grants from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, the Satterberg Foundation and the Thomas V. Giddens Jr. Foundation.
InvestigateWest is a Seattle-based journalism studio focused on the environment, public health and government accountability. To receive alerts about future stories, go to www.invw.org/newletters.TODAY’S COMIC: “Ancient Aliens”
Ancient Aliens is an awesome show. Not just because of what they propose about the history of mankind, but because of the drinking games you can play while watching it! For example:
Each time the narrator says “…As ancient alien theorists believe…” or a guest expert says, “… You have to ask yourself…”, take a swig!
If you black out and experience ‘missing time‘ after the show… fear not! You were not abducted. Just wasted.
– John
IF YOU LIKED THIS COMIC, WHY NOT…
Share it with your friends and family!
Upvote this comic on Reddit and make me really happy!
Visit the Skitter Patreon page and join the club!
Check out another strip about aliens:
↓ Transcript ANCIENT ALIENS
ALIEN 1: "When WE came to Earth, humans were NOTHNG! We transformed their DNA! Made them a respectable species! We made something out of those monkeys... and revealed to them the secrets of the cosmos!"
ALIEN 2: "AND gave them civilization!!... We taught them to build magnificent stone structures that stand to this day!! We were their mentors! We were their GODS!!"
ALIEN 1: "And what does this NEW generation do with humans?... Probe their butts..."
ALIEN 2: "... I fear for the future...'
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RedditAmazon announced yesterday that it has reached a settlement with Hachette Book Group, ending a contentious period of negotiation the two entities have waged in public since last year. The details of the new multi-year contract haven’t been made public, but both sides said in statements that they are pleased with the result. Hachette won the right to set its own prices for e-books.
Thriller author Douglas Preston formed the loose coalition Authors United, writing an open letter to the online retailer that ran as a full-page ad in the New York Times. The letter was signed by more than 900 writers, including heavyweights like John Grisham and Barbara Kingsolver.
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Preston found out about the settlement yesterday, while he was on a flight from Arizona to New York. Emails started pouring in about it, including one from Hachette CEO Michael Piestch assuring his authors that the publishing house had struck a good deal on their behalf.
“I knew he would never accept a deal that wasn’t good for his authors,” said Preston by phone today.
Preston says Amazon’s tactics damaged its reputation in the literary community, though, and “it’s going to take a long time for them to earn back authors’ trust.”
Whether and how Amazon will attempt to do that remains to be seen.
“Apparently, they don’t think they need it. They treat books like widgets or wide-screen televisions or computer cables or whatever. They just treat books in the same way they treat all the other things they sell,” said Preston. “We authors are kind of over a barrel. If we don’t want to play with Amazon we look at losing half of our book sales, or worse. They probably don’t have to worry too much about what authors think.”
In the meantime, Preston is just relieved the Hachette deal went through.
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“It means that the Sword of Bezos is no longer hanging over our head,” he said. “Our books are now being sold freely at Amazon. There are no more sanctions against books.”
When Preston first drafted that open letter, he was optimistic that it could change the course of the negotiations immediately. That didn’t happen.
“I thought Amazon would say, oh, gee, the authors are really hurting here, we will go into these negotiations with Hachette in good faith and try to arrive at a reasonable arrangement so that we can all benefit,” he said. “But Amazon was asking for absolutely outrageous and untenable terms for Hachette and demanded these terms for months and months and months, terms that would have bankrupted my publisher. So it didn’t go the way we hoped.”
Amazon held firm in its negotiations, even firing back at Preston, calling him “an opportunist.” Preston still laughs at the charge.
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“It’s kind of funny. The opportunity for what? To be disparaged by one of the largest companies in the world? I’m not sure what opportunity I’m seizing here,” he said. “I haven’t seen any difference in sales of my books. I’m just not interested in celebrity-hood at all. I’m a typical writer. I’m happiest when I’m sitting in my office writing my novels and living my quiet life. I’m not cut out for this controversy and activism.”
Still, he’s not backing out of the fight. While Preston says he doesn’t think Amazon will “drag authors into its disputes” again, he still wants the Justice Department to investigate whether Amazon is exercising its market power in unfair ways.
“One company controls 50 percent of the book market in the United States, and this company has already shown itself to be ruthless and willing to treat authors like dirt,” he said. “That’s still a problem.”Pyongyang is threatening “imminent war” in response to the latest batch of sanctions brought against it by the United Nations.
“The latest UNSC ‘resolution on sanctions’ has created the danger of imminent war on the Korean Peninsula, as there are no judicial and institutional mechanisms to avert a war and armed conflicts and the ‘resolution’ is as good as a declaration of war,” the North Korean foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday, according to Yonhap News Agency. “The U.S. and other countries involved in adopting the ‘resolution on sanctions’ will have to be wholly responsible for the ensuing consequences.”
The sanctions Pyongyang was referring to were those brought about by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2321, a direct response to North Korea’s fifth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 9.
Resolution 2321 primarily targets North Korea’s mineral exports, one of its main sources of revenue. A cap has been placed on the North’s coal exports, reducing its annual export revenue by roughly $700 million. Further restrictions have been placed on other metals, such as copper and zinc, cutting another $100 million. The new sanctions are expected to cut North Korea’s $3 billion annual income by about 25 percent, limiting the funding available for militarization and nuclear weapons programs.
The new sanctions also cripple several other sections of the North Korea economy, such as monument production.
The UNSC voted unanimously to approve the resolution and the associated sanctions on Nov. 30. North Korea has since denounced the UNSC resolution as “a criminal document without any legality.”
“The UNSC ‘sanctions resolution’ cooked up by the U.S. and its vassal forces in total denial of the exercise of the right to self-defense, a just and legitimate right of the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], is an illegal criminal act,” the state-sponsored Rodong Sinmun wrote Thursday.
Pyongyang fully blames the U.S. and its allies for the current nuclear situation on the Korean Peninsula.
“It is none other than the U.S. and the south Korean puppet group of traitors that spawned the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and seriously disturbed peace and security on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia through their persistent nuclear blackmail and threat to the DPRK.” the state paper argued.
“The DPRK is building the most powerful country in the world on the basis of the self-defensive military capability with nuclear deterrent as the pivot,” the Rodong Sinmun further commented. “Such confrontational hysteria as sanctions and pressure upon the DPRK will only invite merciless retaliation and punishment.”
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Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected] it or not even in Smalltown USA there are still people who are unfulfilled and unrelieved in the midst of plenty. Levonna & Lamar could have the perfect relationship if it were not Lamar's obsession with rear entry. After submitting to the one last time Levonna comes up with a plan. While Lamar is trying find other tail to try his technique on, Levonna becomes Lola with aid of a wig and a Mexican accent. A Mexican cocktail later Lola finally has Lamar straight, but he wasn't awake for it. The gay marriage counselor, attracted to Lamar's problem, couldn't help them and Lemar must finally seek redemption at the church of Rio Dio Radio and the laying on of hands by Sister Eufaula Roo. Written by Randy Spencer <[email protected]>Harvard Professor William Hsiao is a single payer supporter.
Twenty years ago, he helped push through a single payer system for Taiwan.
And now, he wants to do something similar in Vermont.
Over the past couple of months, Hsiao has been working feverishly – with a team of 20 researchers – to finish a report to the Vermont legislature on how to best implement a single payer system for the state.
Yesterday, he delivered his 132-page report.
And at the beginning of his one hour presentation to the legislature in Montpelier, he made it clear that “what I’m going to present is not necessarily popular for everyone.”
“Recently I was talking to an insurance executive,” Hsiao said.
“And I asked him if he was in favor of spending $50 billion to manufacture a new shuttle to the moon.”
“And he says – yes, if you will go.”
That got a chuckle out of the gathered legislators.
But clearly, the insurance industry is not at all pleased with Hsiao.
They are watching events in Vermont carefully.
The newly elected Governor – Peter Shumlin – ran on a single payer platform.
Shumlin said that in his first conversation with Hsiao last year, Hsiao told him that he had “given up on America.”
“I told him we are Vermonters,” Shumlin said. “We think independently. We take care of each other, and we do things that others dare not do.”
The Vermont legislature tasked Hsiao with putting forth and analyzing three proposals.
A pure single payer government run system.
The current system with a public option.
And Hsiao’s preferred system – a single payer system run by an independent board.
While Hsiao is not explicit about this in his report, the bottom line is clear – under Hsiao’s single payer proposals, the private health insurers in Vermont would be out of the business of marketing and selling basic health insurance.
That’s why the insurance industry would prefer to see Hsiao headed to the moon than on the ground speaking before the Vermont state legislature.
“Our analysis of the three health insurance companies with significant operations in Vermont – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, MVP, and Cigna – was much more limited than our analysis of other groups, partly because much of Act 128 has fairly clear implications for those companies,” Hsiao writes in his report.
“It is reasonably safe to assume that health insurance companies would oppose any major health system reform that reduces their autonomy in financing and paying for health care, increases government’s role, and/or introduces new competitors to their market.”
“However, given Vermont’s history with reforms such as guaranteed-issue, community-rating, and the Blueprint program, it must be noted that the remaining health insurers in Vermont – especially those run as non-profits – are likely more accustomed and potentially more open than insurers elsewhere to working with state-led regulations. In addition, a continued market for supplementary insurance would generate ongoing opportunities for private insurance in the state.”
“It is possible that one or more companies may be interested in partnering with the state and substantially reforming their business model in order to continue to operate in Vermont.”
And in fact, Vermont’s largest insurer – Blue Cross Blue Shield – with 75 percent of the state’s health insurance business – signaled yesterday that it might be interested in taking Hsiao at his word.
“If there’s a single payer system, we’d like to be the single payer,” Leigh Tofferi, the Blue Cross-Blue Shield lobbyist in Vermont told vtdigger.org.
But Hsiao warned of another possible insurance industry reaction.
“Of course, the opposite is also possible – that an industry with deep pockets nationally will oppose reforms due to the threats they pose to the Vermont market and other markets that could follow Vermont’s lead,” Hsiao wrote.
There’s not a mention of the report in today’s big three newspapers – the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post.
Early indications are that supporters of a pure government run single payer system are willing to accept Hsiao’s public/private compromise.
Physicians for a National Health Program’s (PNHP) Deb Richter told vtdigger.org that while a government administered system “makes the most sense in terms of good policy,” the system doesn’t have to be controlled by the government to be effective.
And PNHP’s Don McCanne said that “although advocates of the pure single payer model will find some problems with this report on a reform proposal for Vermont, there is very good news in this analysis. The report emphatically confirms the superiority of the single payer model in ensuring that everyone is included while containing health care costs.”
“One very serious deficiency is that they decided to leave in place Medicare and Medicaid, primarily because of existing barriers to move them into a single payer system,” McCanne wrote. “Thus their proposal is not a single payer system. Leaving these programs in place sacrifices some of the important single payer efficiencies.”
“Within the next couple of days, we’ll have a clearer concept of where the single payer community should be on this report. Tentatively, it seems that it deserves our support, but support that is qualified by strong advocacy to make it right by such measures as including comprehensive benefits, and rolling in and eliminating Medicare and Medicaid,” McCanne said.
Governor Shumlin’s office is reportedly drafting legislation that will be introduced soon.
Clearly, Shumlin hasn’t given up on America.
Or at least on Vermont.Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, clings to power in the face of mass protests demanding his resignation, as parts of the country's state structure appear to be disintegrating around him.
Fears are growing that Libya's state apparatus, once seen as a powerful and coherent entity, is facing collapse as key officials quit the government, with some joining the protesters, and as international isolation mounts.
Fresh gunfire was reported in the capital Tripoli on Wednesday, after Gaddafi called on his supporters to take back the streets from anti-government protesters.
The fighting in Tripoli came as the opposition reportedly seized control of Misurata, according to the Associated Press.
Speaking in a televised address on Tuesday evening, Gaddafi vowed to fight on and die a "martyr" on Libyan soil. He called on his supporters to take back the streets on Wednesday from protesters who are demanding that he step down.
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He also claimed that he had "not yet ordered the use of force", warning that "when I do, everything will burn".
Gaddafi, who termed the protests an "armed rebellion", said that security cordons set up by police and the military would be lifted on Wednesday, telling his supporters to "go out and fight [anti-government protesters]".
He blamed the uprising in the country on "Islamists", and warned that an "Islamic emirate" has already been set up in Bayda and Derna, where he threatened the use of extreme force.
"I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents... I will die as a martyr at the end," Gaddafi, who has been in power for 41 years, said.
Several hundred people held a pro-Gaddafi rally in central Tripoli on Tuesday night, cheering the Libyan leader as he made his speech.
Demonstrators in the eastern city of Benghazi, which is now controlled by anti-government protesters, angrily threw shoes at a screen showing the address.
'Indications of state collapse'
While Gaddafi has insisted that the country is stable, however, international leaders have warned that the growing violence and increasing numbers of government and military renouncements of Gaddafi's leadership indicate that the state structure is in critical danger.
William Hague, the British foreign minister, has said that there are "many indications of the structure of the state collapsing in Libya".
"The resignation of so many ambassadors and diplomats, reports of ministers changing sides within Libya itself, shows the system is in a very serious crisis," he said.
Libyan diplomats across the world have either resigned in protest at the use of violence against citizens, or renounced Gaddafi's leadership, saying that they stand with the protesters.
Late on Tuesday night, General Abdul-Fatah Younis, the country's interior minister, became the latest government official to stand down, saying that he was resigning to support what he termed as the "February 17 revolution".
He urged the Libyan army to join the people and their "legitimate demands".
On Wednesday, Youssef Sawani, a senior aide to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, one of Muammer Gaddafi's sons, resigned from his post "to express dismay against violence", Reuters reported.
Earlier, Mustapha Abdeljalil, the country's justice minister, had resigned in protest at the "excessive use of violence" against protesters, and diplomat's at Libya's mission to the United Nations called on the Libyan army to help remove "the tyrant Muammar Gaddafi".
A group of army officers has also issued a statement urging soldiers to "join the people" and remove Gaddafi from power.
Protesters 'take' towns
Swathes of the country now appear to be out of Gaddafi's control. Benghazi, the country's second largest city, was "taken" by protesters after days of bloody clashes, and soldiers posted there are reported to have deserted and joined the anti-government forces.
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The Libyan government has accused Qatar, Al Jazeera's host country, of spreading "lies" and fomenting unrest
On Wednesday morning, Kharey, a local resident, told Al Jazeera that "normal traffic" was flowing on Benghazi's streets, but that demonstrations may take place later in the day near court buildings.
He said that people in Benghazi were forming committees to manage the affairs of the city, and that similar committees were being set up in the towns of Beyda and Derna.
Several other cities in the country's east are said to be under the control of protesters, including Tobruk, where a former army major told the Reuters news agency: "All the eastern regions are out of Gaddafi's control... the people and the army are hand-in-hand here."
The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights says that protesters also control Sirte, Misrata, Khoms, Tarhounah, Zenten, Al-Zawiya and Zouara.
The Warfalla tribe, the largest in the country, has also joined calls from other tribes for Gaddafi to stand down.
The Network of Free Ulema (Libya), a group of clerics, released a statement on Wednesday expressing their "full support" for what they refer to as the "new Libyan government" in the eastern part of the country.
Global isolation
The country is also facing growing international isolation, and late on Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council expressed "grave concern" at the situation in the country, condemning the use of force against civilians.
A statement signed by all 15 members of the council said that the UNSC "deplored the repression against peaceful demonstrators, and expressed deep regret at the deaths of hundreds of civilians".
The council called for "steps to address the legitimate demands of the population".
David Cameron, the British prime minister, said on Wednesday that he would like to see a full UNSC resolution on the issue.
Also on Wednesday, the European Commission termed Gaddafi's threats to use force against citizens to be "unacceptable", while the African Union held a "security meeting" on the situation.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is to hold a special session on February 25 to discuss the crisis in Libya, following a request from the European Union, an official for the council said on Wednesday.
Earlier, following Gaddafi's speech, the Arab League barred Libya from attending meetings of the bloc until it stops cracking down on anti-government protesters. The league strongly condemned what it called crimes against civilians, the recruiting of foreign mercenaries and the use of live ammunition, according to a statement read by Amr Moussa, the body's secretary-general.
Several countries, including Britain, the United States, Italy, France, Turkey, India, Sri lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Greece have put into place arrangements for the evacuation of their citizens from the country. France and other countries have called for economic sanctions to be placed on Libya.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said on Tuesday that the use of violence was "completely unacceptable".
Violence rages
The UNSC's statement stopped short of declaring Libyan airspace a no-fly zone, after diplomats called for the step to be taken following reports that warplanes had been used throughout Monday to bomb civilian targets in Tripoli.
Violence has continued to rage in Libya since an anti-government crackdown on demonstrations began on February 17. Human Rights Watch, a US-based rights watchdog, says that at least 295 people have been killed since violence began.
Naji Abu-Ghrouss, an interior ministry official, said 197 civilians and 111 in the military have been killed in violence so far.
On Wednesday, however, Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, said estimates of 1,000 dead were "credible". Frattini also said that the eastern province of Cyrenaica was no longer under Gaddafi's control.
Witnesses in Tripoli and other cities have reported that foreign mercenaries have been patrolling the streets, firing indiscriminately on those they encounter in a bid to keep people off the streets. In addition, air strikes have also been reported against civilian targets.
The government claims that while warplanes have been used in recent days, they were targeting arms depots and that the targets were not in residential areas.
On Tuesday, Navi Pillay, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, said that widespread and systematic attacks against civilians "may amount to crimes against humanity".
On Wednesday, French energy giant Total said that it was suspending part of its operations in Libya. The announcement came after Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol-YPF shut down operations in the country, and Royal Dutch Shell evacuated all personnel.
Oil prices have been pushed to two-and-a-half year highs, on the back of fears that instability in Libya will affect world supplies of the commodity.
All Libyan ports and terminals have been temporarily closed because of the revolt, the CMA CGM shipping group has said in a statement on its website.Paul Horner — the 38-year-old self-made titan of a fake news empire on Facebook — is claiming responsibility for pushing Donald Trump to the White House, and says he has no plans to stop publishing fake news.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Horner attributed his success to Trumps’ particular base of supporters. He is the man behind such viral headlines as “The Amish in America Commit their Vote to Donald Trump” and “President Obama Signs Executive Order Banning the National Anthem at all Sporting Events Nationwide” — neither of which were true.
“My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist,” he told The Washington Post.
Horner’s fake news articles — published on sites designed to mimic the look and feel of well-known, legitimate news outlets — had enormous impact this election cycle. Even members of Donald Trump’s inner circle, including Trump’s son Eric and then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, shared links to Horner’s content. Horner’s stories also made their way to Google News, known to feature stories from reputable news sources.
“Honestly, people are definitely dumber,” Horner told The Post to explain the popularity of his content, which he suggested he sees as satire akin to The Onion. “Nobody fact-checks anything anymore — I mean, that’s how Trump got elected. He just said whatever he wanted, and people believed everything, and when the things he said turned out not to be true, people didn’t care because they’d already accepted it. It’s real scary.”
He said he didn’t do it for ideological reasons. “I hate Trump,” he told The Post. “I thought I was messing with the campaign, maybe I wasn’t messing them up as much as I wanted — but I never thought he’d actually get elected.”
Google and Facebook take aim at fake news
In a new analysis of the last three months of campaign coverage, BuzzFeed News concluded that top fake election news stories generated more engagement on Facebook than top election stories from 19 major news outlets combined, including the New York Times, Fox News and CBS News.
According to BuzzFeed, among the top 20 fake election-related articles on Facebook, most had a political bent that favored the Trump campaign; all but three were anti-Clinton or pro-Trump. Facebook users engaged with them more than 8.7 million times.
The news media and several major tech companies, including Facebook and Google, have been grappling with what to do about the rise of fake news for months, but the crisis has come to a head in the wake of the election.
This week, Google announced it will withhold digital ads from appearing on sites that “misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information.” Meanwhile, Facebook released new language for its ad policies that govern third-party mobile apps and sites: “We do not integrate or display ads in apps or sites containing content that is illegal, misleading or deceptive, which includes fake news,” the company said. Fake news was not explicitly spelled out in Facebook’s policies before.
Asked whether the potential crackdown could hurt his business, Horner suggested he will find ways to keep publishing.
“I have at least 10 sites right now. If they crack down on a couple, I’ll just use others. They could shut down advertising on all my sites, and I think I’d be okay,” he told The Post.
On Twitter, several journalists suggested the proliferation of fake news is simply taking advantage of a much larger issue — a challenge to reporters and readers alike.Shaken from watching her friends succumb to Discord's tricks and Chrysalis' deception not long ago, Twilight Sparkle decides that the Elements of Harmony should be more than ready for the next threat, whatever that threat may be. When her eagerness to be prepared yields a grave mistake with consequences reaching farther than the Elements can imagine, all Tartarus breaks loose. It will take finding the truth of the Elements to have any hope in fixing their transgressions, and their friendships. From the littlest filly to the Heavenly Goddesses themselves, everypony's way of life hinges on a group of mares who may not have it all together.
Lyra is a young mare returning to the capital for business instead of pleasure after a falling out with her closest friend. Pressured by all those who love and care for her, she's on a journey of self discovery and ascension. Assigned the task of becoming truly independent and learning how to make her way in the world, the only thing standing in her way is herself. That, and the world falling apart around her.
Cover art by Cold Revenge {Deviantart}The revelation that the federal government will legalize marijuana in Canada by July 1, 2018, has sparked a flurry of speculation about possible implications.
But those imagining a disastrous Canada-wide increase in high school students showing up stoned in classrooms need not worry, school boards say.
"Even if it may be decriminalized and even if a student may be of the age in which he or she can purchase marijuana, our code of conduct is still in place," said John Bowyer, superintendent of safety and security for the Durham District School Board, east of Toronto.
John Bowyer of the Durham District School Board says even if a student were old enough to legally buy marijuana, it would still be a violation of the code of conduct to attend class under the influence. (Nicole Ireland/CBC )
"What we expect is that our students come to school prepared to learn and... in a state of mind that they can be safe and they can learn appropriately."
Earlier this week, CBC News learned that Ottawa would set a minimum age of 18 to buy pot, but the provinces will be able to increase that age. How marijuana is distributed and sold will also be up to each provincial government.
The Durham board is waiting to get that kind of specific information from the Ontario government, Bowyer said. But in general terms, he sees potential marijuana policies as similar to those governing alcohol use.
"Right now alcohol is legal to be purchased by someone who is 19 years of age or older [in Ontario |
and the continuity axiom. Economics and Philosophy, 28(1), 31–42.
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Lemos, N. M. (1993). Higher Goods and the Myth of Tithonus. Journal of Philosophy, 60(9), 482–496.
McCarthy, D. (2016). Probability in Ethics. In A. Hajek & C. Hitchcock (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Probability. Oxford University Press.
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Notes
[1] This is the proposal I sent to Stockholm University. The proposal I sent to London School of Economics was similar but had a few differences: it was 25% shorter, less developed, and the fourth sub-project was different—instead of an extra sub-project on the continuity axiom it was a regular (not “extra”) sub-project about the reliability of intuitions related to value superiority.
I applied to Stockholm, LSE, Cambridge, and Oslo. My research plans fit Stockholm and LSE better than Cambridge and Oslo. I would have applied to Uppsala, where my plans also fit very well, but Uppsala did not announce a PhD position at the time. The three universities that I targeted with my application were LSE, Stockholm, and Uppsala.
[2] Hutcheson (1968, pp. 117–118).
[3] According to Lemos (1993).
[4] For more references, see Arrhenius (2005, p. 97).
[5] According to Klocksiem (2016).
[6] Similar work has been done in economics, for example, on multidimensional utilities by Hausner (1954) and Thrall (1954).
[7] One can also formulate continuity in terms of the value of outcomes, as is done by Arrhenius and Rabinowicz (2005, p. 178).President Trump memorialized the men and women who have died serving the United States in the military on Monday, citing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly's late son as one of the people Americans remember on Memorial Day.
"He [Kelly] and his incredible wife, Karen, have borne the single most difficult hardship of them all, the loss of their son, Robert, in service to our country," Trump told attendees during his speech at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. Kelly's son died in Afghanistan.
"The Kelly family represents military families across the country who carry the burden of freedom on their shoulders. Secretary Kelly is joined today by his son-in-law Jake, a wounded warrior, and the secretary's son, Johnny, who will soon leave on his fifth deployment," Trump added. "It is because of families like yours that all of our families can live in safety and live in peace."
Below overcast skies, a somber Trump linked the Kelly family's service to sacrifices made by the other Gold Star families in the crowd.
"To every Gold Star family who honors us with your presence, you lost sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, they each had their own names, their own stories, their own beautiful dreams. But they were all angels sent to us by God," Trump said. "And they all share one title in common, and that is the title of hero. Real heroes. They were here only a brief time before God called them home. Their legacy will endure forever."
Trump commemorated three members who gave their lives in recent deployments, including Army Spc. Christopher D. Horton and CPT Andrew Byers of the 10th Special Forces Group.
"I believe that God has a special place in heaven for those who lay down their lives so that others may live free from fear and this horrible oppression. Now let us pledge to make the most of that freedom that they so gallantly and so brilliantly fought for, and they died to protect," Trump added.
Trump also praised audience member former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., who served in World War II, and others for their service.Bill Clinton rape accuser Juanita Broaddrick said in an interview Tuesday that Hillary Clinton has played a key role in covering up the former president's indiscretions over the years.
"It's important for everyone to know that Hillary Clinton is not innocent in all of the cover up and the attempted attacks on all of the women that Bill Clinton abused," Broaddrick said when asked why she's been speaking out. "I think she's been very paramount."
Broaddrick, who claims Clinton raped her during his 1978 gubernatorial campaign, said on WRKO radio in Boston that she is dumbfounded that people are outraged by Bill Cosby's alleged abuse of women, but not Bill Clinton's. Her remarks came a day after Donald Trump released an attack ad against Hillary Clinton that focuses directly on the former president.
She also recalled how she met Hillary Clinton after the alleged rape took place, and how Clinton thanked her for her work on Clinton's campaign.
"She grabbed a hold of my arm and my hand, and she pulled me close to her, I think so no one else could hear, and said to me very sternly with a frown on her face, 'Do you understand everything you do for Bill?'" Broaddrick recounted. "It shocked me. I got my hand from hers and my two friends and I left immediately."
Throughout the 13 minute interview, Broaddrick criticized NBC's Andrea Mitchell after the host said last week that her rape claims against Clinton were "discredited." She called Mitchell a "Clinton lapdog."
"It's simply outrageous for Andrea Mitchell to spew such a lie," said Broaddrick. "Nothing has changed from the detailed investigation that NBC did into my story in [1999] before airing it. And now, if NBC thinks my experience has been discredited, why did Andrea Mitchell call me and ask me for new information about my encounter with Hillary? Why didn't she just go ahead and write her own story that explains how I was discredited?"
Broaddrick told the hosts that she hasn't had any contact with Trump or his campaign, nor did she know that her voice would be used in the ad. She told WRKO that she was "extremely surprised" when she found out about the ad, but that she's "not unhappy" that it was used.
She also made clear that the main reason she plans going to be voting for Trump to simply keep the Clintons out of office, adding that she is "very appreciative" of Trump for speaking out against the former president's past. She said it still bothers her to see the Clintons on television.Introduction: Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5) negative allosteric modulators (NAM) such as 2-Methyl-6-(phenylethynyl)pyridine (MPEP) and 3-((2-Methyl-1,3-thiazol-4-yl)ethynyl)pyridine (MTEP) can produce antidepressant-like effects; an example being the forced swim test in rodents. It is therefore of high interest that a new mGlu5 NAM called basimglurant (RO4917523, RG7090) was recently introduced for clinical development in depression.
Areas covered: The current article reports on the preclinical and clinical work with basimglurant which strongly supports its use for treatment of depression. The authors cover the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and safety and tolerability features of basimglurant together with its clinical efficacy in a clinical type II trial.
Expert opinion: The antidepressant activity of basimglurant may be related to a preferential reduction of mGlu5 receptor signaling in distinct populations of cortical limbic GABA interneurons causing disinhibition of discrete glutamate neuronal networks in brain circuits of mood and emotion. Basimglurant’s removal of mGlu5 receptor induced inhibition of D2 receptor signaling in A2A-D2-mGlu5 heteroreceptor complexes of ventral striato-pallidal GABA neurons mediating anti-reward may also play a role. Basimglurant is a highly promising antidepressant drug now in clinical development for depression. However, further clinical trials are highly warranted.It's funny how big an effect the difference between a win and a loss has on one's physiology. For the first 59 playing minutes of today's game, I was a Pepto Bismol commercial, trying to keep the Seahawks-induced bile in my stomach from seeping up to my brain and shutting everything down forever. A minute later I was celebratorily throwing my pug Toby up in the air and high-fiving all zero of the people in the room. The difference between winning and losing is often as small as one play, but the difference between a win and a loss is much larger, with 4-3 teams making the playoffs 51% of the time while 3-4 teams make it in at just a 15% clip (since 2002, per ESPN).
So how did we get there? Let's revisit:
The Seahawks started the game with the ball and despite two quick completions to Doug Baldwin, went three and out. Jon Ryan then punted one off the moon and the ball's terminal velocity on the way back down forced it right through the Panthers' return man's hands. As the ball careened straight into a gaggle of Seahawks, they continued their season-long aversion to creating turnovers and a Carolina player somehow dug it out of the pile. I don't know what the exact numbers were at that point but Seattle's inability to recover 50/50 balls this year is not only maddening, it's well into the reaches of statistical improbability.
Anyhow, Carolina made it count by leaning on Jonathan Stewart and an O-line that consistently won the pushing war up front. With the drive finally stalling deep in Seattle territory, Carolina turned to Graham Gano, who kicked a short field goal to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. Seattle gamely countered with their second straight three-and-out, allowing Carolina to follow the pattern and turn a 12-play drive into another Gano field goal, making it 6-0 and leaving the Seahawks looking like a gooey pile of nuthin'.
It was a script we've seen too many times before this season: the opponent stringing together first downs while Seattle's defense stays two inches and half a second short of getting off the field. At the end of a very one-sided first quarter, the Panthers had a 105-17 edge in total yards while holding the ball for over 11 minutes. After Carolina's second score, Paul Richardson flashed the skills that made him Seattle's first pick in the draft, darting through coverage for 47 yards on the ensuing kickoff and injecting a touch of life into a team that had theretofore looked quite lifeless. After registering their first first down of the game, the Seahawks stalled out at the Panthers' 40 and moments later Steven Hauschka was lining up for a ostentatious 58-yard field goal that he buried between the uprights halfway up the net. It was, quite possibly, the most impressive kick in Seahawks history, as it came on grass, at sea level, and would've been good from over 65.
It would remain the highlight of the first half, as the remainder of the second quarter was pretty ragged. Carolina took their next drive deep into Seattle territory, with Stewart consistently chipping off 4+ yards and Cam Newton completing eight of his first ten passes. They were helped along by Bruce Irvin's second neutral zone infraction of the half and after eight plays and 67 yards, the Panthers were prowling around in Seattle's red zone again and moving the ball with a consistency that made it look like seven points were more likely than three. On the ninth play, however, the Seahawks finally caught a break when Newton fumbled a read-option decision and Cliff Avril (who had a great game) pounced on the ball for Seattle's first turnover in years, probably.
It was then that the pendulum which had been swinging away from the Seahawks over the last few weeks felt like it was about to come back their way. Realizing that they had only handed the ball to Marshawn Lynch twice up to that point (about 4:30 left in the half), the Seahawks began to feed their franchise running back and he responded like a rodeo bull when the gate opens. The 'Hawks ran the ball on their next four plays, gaining 20 yards and setting up Russell Wilson to pass of of the read-option, which he did with aplomb.
Seattle passed on the next six plays, with Wilson completing five of them and bringing the Seahawks all the way down to the Panthers' seven yard line. It appeared, for all intents and purposes, as though Seattle would be able to take a lead, or at the very least a tie, into the locker room on the back of a 13-play scoring drive. On third and goal, Wilson checked down to Lynch at the goal line, but the ball slipped right through Marshawn's hands and into the waiting arms of defensive back Josh Norman, who ran around like a little kid until the half was effectively over.
At halftime, the Panthers were out-gaining Seattle 154-102 and had the ball for over 19 minutes. Opposing QBs were then 23 for their last 28 against the Seahawks defense; five incompletions over six quarters. The 'Hawks, for their part, could only manage 4.4 yards per play in the first 30 minutes and despite the relative efficiency of their last drive, there weren't many indicators that it was gonna get better in the second half.
The Panthers started Act II with the football but the dam that has kept the Seahawks pass rush at bay all season finally began to leak. Excessive pressure on a third and seven forced a desperate pass from Newton, one that was picked off by Marcus Burley. It was Burley's first interception as a Seahawk and later, as Legion statutes dictate, he will lather it in myrrh and burn it as a sweet-smelling sacrifice at the foot of Earl Thomas' throne.
With the ball and the ever ephemeral momentum in their grasp, Seattle marched drove trundled 29 yards in 12 plays, setting up Hauschka for a game-tying field goal. Lost in that drive were a couple of touchdown opportunities, the first of which came on a similar play to the one with which they scored their first touchdown of the year. Faking screen pass, then faking a run, Russell Wilson was left with a wide open Cooper Helfet standing by himself at the 10-yard line. Seizing the moment, Wilson uncorked the worst pass of his professional career, Tebowing a running jump pass four yards short, leaving Helfet (and the rest of us) gaping in shock. On the next play, Wilson whirlybirded his way through defenders on a broken play for a first down. Then, facing third and goal, Seattle ran two slants with Helfet and Jermaine Kearse. Both receivers got inside position and Wilson deftly split the difference between them. It was the third pass of the game that should have resulted in a teeder. Instead, zero teeders.
The Panthers then went three and out, punting the ball to Richard Sherman who looked fearless, if nothing else, in his first jaunt as punt returner (his eight-yard return was nullified by a penalty). Seattle retook control and again moved the ball determinedly down the field, this time extending eight plays into 60 yards and another scoring opportunity. After a bobbled snap between Wilson and center Steven Schilling that Wilson fell on earlier in the drive, the two had their issues again on the possession's final play. On 3rd and 1 at the Carolina 21, Wilson again went under center but never got the ball, the result of another bad snap (if you can call setting the ball down between your own ankles a snap). Carolina fell on the football, leaving Seattle in the lurch on yet another scoring chance. At that point, Seattle's last three drives had covered 166 yards on 33 plays and resulted in three total points.
The teams opened the fourth quarter by exchanging punts, with Seattle winning the field position exchange and putting Newton's back to the wall, starting the drive at his own eight-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Michael Bennett beat his man and, like some beast from another era, threw himself on Newton with designs on devouring him whole. Bennett made the mistake of not chewing his food, however, and Newton, with Herculean strength, fought his way out of the sack and threw the ball away. It was another missed opportunity, and one whose damage wouldn't be truly felt until Newton hooked up with rookie stud Kelvin Benjamin on a long 51-yard pass. The ball was a divinely inspired spiral that perfectly split the gap between Sherman and Thomas and Benjamin, in an effort that is sure to be iconized in Carolina, caught the ball while in the clutches of the Legion of Boom's two most vaunted players.
The Panthers would finish the drive with Gano's third field goal to make it 9-6 and the Seahawks stood four and a half minutes away from their third consecutive lost. At that point, it was score or go home. Well, I suppose the Seahawks were going to go home afterward whether they scored or not, but maybe they get to ride a better plane if they win?
Either way, it was time for the Seahawks offense to shine in the clutch; to score when they absolutely have to. We've seen it so many times already: Wilson carving his way through defenses with the game on the line. He did it against the Patriots a couple years back in the new era Seahawks' coming out party. They did it twice in the clutch at Chicago, the fulcrum game upon which the franchise tipped. They've beaten the Packers, Rams, and Buccaneers on last-minute drives, did it earlier this year against the Broncos. But for every time Wilson and Co. have pulled wins out of thin air, we've also seen them come up short this season against the Chargers and Cowboys.
I'll admit that I wavered. Two weeks ago, my confidence in the boys from the Emerald City to come through was unassailable; now it was pure hope. In reality, it doesn't matter what my confidence level was, because the Seahawks' was clearly high. They came out fearlessly, running their offense with precision and alacrity.
-Wilson to Helfet for 11
-Wilson to Kevin Norwood for 10
-Wilson scrambles for 14
-Lynch up the middle for 2
-Wilson to preach for 9
-Lynch off guard for 4
-Lynch up the butt for 5
-Wilson around the end for 7
-Wilson to Luke Willson for 23 yards and the got dang game-winning TD
I called Seattle's game-clinching drive against Denver "sexy-in-an-I-want-to-build-a-life-and-have-children-with-you kind of way". Today's game-winning possession was more like a "please-don't-leave-me-I-know-we-can-still-make-this-work" type deal. Clinging to our perception of this team as a potentially dominant Super Bowl contender, our faith was restored, at least temporarily, by the savage briskness with which the Seahawks scored that TD.
The score came with 47 seconds left and from there, all that was left was cleaning up the mess. With their ears pinned back, Irvin, Avril, and Bennett got hungry and harassed Newton on each of the final four plays. One kneel-down later, the Seahawks were 4-3 and on their way home for a two-game Clinkstand.
Some other stuff:
-Passer Efficiency Differential is now 8-0 in Seahawks games, as Wilson notched a respectable 77.5 while Newton was held to a 61.
-Marshawn Lynch looked like himself. Amid all the clattering about Seattle's locker room turmoil sprouted this new/not-really-new story about Lynch's supposedly imminent departure, nothing that we saw today (outside, I suppose, of the interception that went through his hands) indicated that he was distracted. It wasn't a marquee game for Lynch, but he turned his 14 carries into 62 yards (4.6 YPC).
-When Lynch didn't run it, Christine Michael and Robert Turbin did. Again, nothing spectacular (Turbin: two carries, 10 yards / three catches, 32 yards; Michael: four carries, 12 yards) but those two managed four first downs between them.
-Doug Baldwin led the team in targets (8), catches (6), and receiving yards (61) again. He looks comfortable as the patriarch of the receiving crew.
-Penalties. Always with the penalties. As I mentioned, Bruce Irvin was called for two neutral zone infractions during the first half. With Bobby Wagner out, and Malcolm Smith going down with injury, Seahawks can't afford to have to pull linebackers out for boneheadery. I think James Carpenter's false start was the only other exasperating penalty of the game. All told, Seattle had seven fouls for 41 yards while Carolina was flagged just four times for 20.
-Three more dropped interceptions. Seahawks defenders catch the ball like they've been soaking their hands in ice water for an hour.
-Seattle managed three sacks today, an encouraging improvement on their toothless pass rush but were unable to finish at least a couple of others. Missing sacks is starting to become a troubling theme for this defense. Cliff Avril still doesn't have a sack this season and as for Bennett, these backfield whiffs have been killer. Seattle missed a sack on Philip Rivers' game-winning throw to Antonio Gates in Week 2. They missed a sack on Tony Romo on 3rd and 20 during the Cowboys' game-winning drive. They missed a sack on Austin Davis during the Rams' final scoring drive last week. Gotta fix it.
- This was the first time all season the Seahawks have turned the ball over more than once and their two turnovers today were fairly fluky. No real worries there.
-The Panthers only managed 3.7 yards per carry today. The Seahawks defense remains elite in this regard.
-Earl Thomas led the team in tackles with nine, including two beautiful open-field wrangles that saved big gains. He has been exceptional in the increased amount of ground he's had to cover in Bobby Wagner's absence.
-Tharold Simon looked good. Pretty sure Sherman was targeted more times than he was, though I didn't see how often he was on the field. I'm sure a lot of that had to do with how much better Benjamin is than the rest of the Panthers receivers but when called upon to perform, it appears that Simon did.
Up next is a home game against the still-reeling-a-decade-later Oakland Raiders, with a chance to get right back in the thick of the NFC seeding race. This is a good team we follow, but they are flawed. It's not the talent that concerns me, it's the consistency with which they display it. The 'Hawks will need to take advantage of the next couple of weeks (home vs the Giants after the Raiders) to bolster their record before entering their brutal final seven-game stretch.
If the team can get their collective shit together, we're still talking about a Super Bowl contender. The defense was not just good today, it was great. Nine points allowed, three sacks, two turnovers, and five tackles for loss. The pressure up front was consistent and the majority of Carolina's completions were tightly contested. The offense was actually pretty damn efficient too (their last five non-kneel-down drives were 13, 12, 9, 8, and 7 plays long), they just sucked at turning them into points, which is something they haven't really struggled with.
The arrow that was wavering precariously sideways is again pointing up for the Seahawks. They're not out of the woods yet, but the trees are a little further apart. Road wins in the NFL are difficult to come by, regardless of opponent, and every one you can nab is golden. It wasn't pretty today, but we're past the point of holding out for sex appeal. For now, it's back to just making sure the job gets done and the Seahawks did that today. Onward and upward.
Jacson on TwitterSeptember 4, 2013 - TF2 Team
Some of the Steam folks dropped by the TF offices this morning with some interesting news: They've just shipped a new feature they're calling Trade Offers. It's similar to regular trading, except you can propose which items will get traded. Whoever you're trading with can then choose to accept or decline your offer, or make a potentially interesting counter-offer.
The best part is, you don't even both have to be online at the same time now. You can make trades while you sleep! While you're having dinner! Even while you're going to the bathroom. All cards on the table here, pretty much the entire blog post up until this sentence was a preamble to us getting to tell you that you can trade TF items while going to the bathroom. Move over, reading a magazine! Take a hike, preparing dinner!
Anyway, check out the Steam Blog post for more information or start sending offers.Author: Dmitry
Date: December 8, 2013
Product Name: Mercury S5 / Mercury Pedestal
Part Number: S5
Join the Discussion Share | CaseLabs Mercury S5 Case Review
Most cases that claim customizability actually only offer a limited number of options but CaseLabs approach is both unique and appealing. Unlike enclosures like Cooler Masters HAF Stacker, the CaseLabs products offer a long list of factory options which allow gamers and overclockers alike to built additional functionality into their selection or go with a bare bones approach.
At this time, there are two different ways to get access to one of these cases: either order it directly from CaseLabs or buy it from an online retailer. There are positives and negatives associated with each. Online retailers have preconfigured setups that will often cost less than the fully customizable cases on CaseLabs site but youll be sacrificing the one thing that makes these cases so unique: the ability to personalize your purchase.
The Mercury S5 represents a mid-tier product for CaseLabs but, as with all of their cases, it comes in numerous colors, has an impressive number of water cooling options and is relatively compact. The S5 even has a an add-on pedestal which expands its small mATX form factor with additional place for water cooling radiators, storage, pumps and other items. Even though this is one of the least expensive cases in the CaseLabs lineup, it still costs $260 alone (or $372 when fully optioned out) or $410 with the pedestal. That may sound like a lot for an mATX case but when compared against the competition, this one is simply a cut above from a functionality and build quality standpoint.
CaseLabs really doesnt need to adorn their cases with flashy add-ons and pointless features since their primary focus is on basic usability rather than covering up cheap construction with fancy plastic bits. With that in mind, the Mercury S5s all-aluminum exterior is rather utilitarian but totally functional. It has various side and top panel options which can add either more ventilation or a cleaner look with uniform, unblemished options or even windows to show off your build. All of these are mounted on tool-less, replaceable hinges so getting access to the interior is easy and doesnt require removing countless thumb screws.
As with most of the S5s exterior elements, the bay drive covers are customizable with several options available. Many of these are geared towards water cooling with a dual 120mm cover that allows for a front-mounted radiator setup. Even the front panel connector is replaceable which various layouts being available, though we prefer the classic power / reset plus dual USB 3.0 port offering.
The Mercury S5s interior is where all the fun happens. Even though this is a relatively small mATX chassis, CaseLabs has designed it in such a way that every square inch is utilized to its fullest potential. For example, the motherboard tray is completely removable so the primary components can be assembled without being restricted by the cases confines. There are also numerous SSD and HDD mounting options within the S5, all of which are cleverly positioned so cable clutter remains minimal.
For those who decide to go with the pedestal, CaseLabs includes a round cut-out on the Mercurys bottom for cable and tubing pass-through. This is a great choice since this area would normally be used for the aforementioned water cooling and additional storage space, providing an enthusiast with the ultimate combination of minimal size and high end system specs.
Theres just so much to discuss about the CaseLabs Mercury S5 that it cant all fit into this limited overview. Make sure you check out our video review above for a blow-by-blow system build of this interesting, high end case. Is it really worth over $300? Most cases that claim customizability actually only offer a limited number of options but CaseLabs approach is both unique and appealing. Unlike enclosures like Cooler Masters HAF Stacker, the CaseLabs products offer a long list of factory options which allow gamers and overclockers alike to built additional functionality into their selection or go with a bare bones approach.At this time, there are two different ways to get access to one of these cases: either order it directly from CaseLabs or buy it from an online retailer. There are positives and negatives associated with each. Online retailers have preconfigured setups that will often cost less than the fully customizable cases on CaseLabs site but youll be sacrificing the one thing that makes these cases so unique: the ability to personalize your purchase.The Mercury S5 represents a mid-tier product for CaseLabs but, as with all of their cases, it comes in numerous colors, has an impressive number of water cooling options and is relatively compact. The S5 even has a an add-on pedestal which expands its small mATX form factor with additional place for water cooling radiators, storage, pumps and other items. Even though this is one of the least expensive cases in the CaseLabs lineup, it still costs $260 alone (or $372 when fully optioned out) or $410 with the pedestal. That may sound like a lot for an mATX case but when compared against the competition, this one is simply a cut above from a functionality and build quality standpoint.CaseLabs really doesnt need to adorn their cases with flashy add-ons and pointless features since their primary focus is on basic usability rather than covering up cheap construction with fancy plastic bits. With that in mind, the Mercury S5s all-aluminum exterior is rather utilitarian but totally functional. It has various side and top panel options which can add either more ventilation or a cleaner look with uniform, unblemished options or even windows to show off your build. All of these are mounted on tool-less, replaceable hinges so getting access to the interior is easy and doesnt require removing countless thumb screws.As with most of the S5s exterior elements, the bay drive covers are customizable with several options available. Many of these are geared towards water cooling with a dual 120mm cover that allows for a front-mounted radiator setup. Even the front panel connector is replaceable which various layouts being available, though we prefer the classic power / reset plus dual USB 3.0 port offering.The Mercury S5s interior is where all the fun happens. Even though this is a relatively small mATX chassis, CaseLabs has designed it in such a way that every square inch is utilized to its fullest potential. For example, the motherboard tray is completely removable so the primary components can be assembled without being restricted by the cases confines. There are also numerous SSD and HDD mounting options within the S5, all of which are cleverly positioned so cable clutter remains minimal.For those who decide to go with the pedestal, CaseLabs includes a round cut-out on the Mercurys bottom for cable and tubing pass-through. This is a great choice since this area would normally be used for the aforementioned water cooling and additional storage space, providing an enthusiast with the ultimate combination of minimal size and high end system specs.Theres just so much to discuss about the CaseLabs Mercury S5 that it cant all fit into this limited overview. Make sure you check out our video review above for a blow-by-blow system build of this interesting, high end case. Is it really worth over $300?The pilot calls for at least 40 sensors at a downtown intersection, including multiple cameras, a lighting control solution and broadband connectivity.
BOSTON – Less than one year since announcing its intentions to launch a Smart Cities pilot project in downtown Boston, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is now installing road sensors, cameras and connected lighting at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street.
Verizon inked a comprehensive agreement with the city of Boston in April to replace legacy copper wiring with new fiber. According to Boston CIO Jascha Franklin-Hodge, one in five households still doesn’t have broadband access in the city today, mostly due to aging infrastructure. The goal of the deal, however, which includes an investment of more than $300 million over six years, is not only for Verizon to deliver new wireline residential and business services, lightreading.com reports, but also for the company to lay a foundation for future wireless services, including those built on 5G technology.
“This transformation isn’t just about advanced new fiber-optic technology – it’s about the innovative services this platform will allow people to create and use, today and in the future,” Verizon Wireline Network President Bob Mudge said at the time the agreement was signed.
The first active phase of the Smart Cities trial – Verizon refers to it as a “hyper-instrumented intersection” – includes at least 40 sensors at the location, plus multiple video cameras, lighting control solution and broadband connectivity. Although the pilot is not meant to scale it will provide massive amounts of location-specific data, some of which will start being collected within the next few weeks.
For Boston, the experiment will help the city understand how to make its streets safer and more efficient, according to lightreading.com. For Verizon, it will help provide insight into how the telco should plan network builds in the future, and also what types of services it should develop to monetize those investments over the long term.
Bevvy of Sensor Types
Among the sensors being installed, for example, are magnetometers and micro radar devices that will use Zigbee to communicate to nearby traffic cabinets. The traffic cabinets, meanwhile, have their own cellular wireless connections that link to the Internet and will be used to transfer sensor information from the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Beacon Street to a centralized database.
Verizon will collect a range of data for the city, such as how many times bicycles move outside of bicycle lanes, how often a vehicle operates illegally in the intersection and how often cars or trucks double park and cause extra congestion in the area. In the future, Verizon said it plans to track information such as the potential for accidents based on near misses and how people respond when emergency vehicles approach the area. The complexity of the data and analysis will vary from simple vehicle count totals reported from the magnetometers to more involved assessments of when certain behavior, which is recorded on local cameras, falls outside normal parameters.
Verizon’s Intelligent Video solution is responsible for the video recording part. The solution includes mounted cameras, a |
assachusetts.
The House committee is now chaired by conservative Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who invited Breyer to talk about achieving bipartisan success.
Scalia's views on separation of powers may leave some fellow conservatives uneasy when he addresses them Monday. In past remarks, he has voiced concern about congressional interference in federal judicial matters.
In a May 2006 speech on Capitol Hill, he said it was not proper for Congress "to direct the Supreme Court" in how it does its job. In particular, Scalia said, lawmakers should not pass bills forbidding judges from using foreign law in its decision-making.
"It's none of your business," he said, referring to Congress. "No one is more opposed to the use of foreign law than I am, but I'm darned if I think it's up to Congress to direct the court how to make its decisions."
At the same time, the justice added that he has long opposed trying to legislate from the bench and that courts sometimes have taken on too much regulatory power best left to Congress.
"All you have to do is pass the statute, and it's not up to us to tell you otherwise," he added. "Let us make our mistakes just as we let you make yours," which brought laughter from the crowd.
After taking over the House of Representatives this month, one of the first orders of business for GOP leaders was to set aside time for a full public reading of the U.S. Constitution, on the chamber floor. Tea Party-backed Republicans in Congress have also proposed a measure requiring that all bills submitted for approval be accompanied by a statement that explains why they are constitutional.
The State of the Union address by President Obama is set for the day after Scalia's remarks to the Tea Party Caucus. Scalia has been a regular no-show to the speech.
CNN Congressional Producer Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.MMORPG: Let’s start with a sort of broad question: What were your team’s goals when designing Alliance War for The Elder Scrolls Online? And how do you feel ESO sets itself apart from other games that have aspired to do large scale MMO warfare?
Brian Wheeler: When Matt Firor, basically, hired me on, he said, just real simple, “Make kick ass PvP.” I was like, “OK. That seems like a nice goal to start with.” But obviously, I knew he was trying to go for a good three faction territory control system, but taking it up a notch from what we’ve seen in other three faction games.
One of the big things for that was not only getting the people who love PvP across the board in, but also the people who may be a little bit scared of it to try and hop into it at first. I think that we’ve done a really good job at easing people into it that are a little bit worried about it, but giving something meaty to chew on for the people who really love PvP.
And the tactics that you would force out there in Cyrodiil, I’m still seeing new stuff that I was hoping players were going to do for the longest time, and just seeing the development over the course of the betas, all those people learning how to assault keeps and resources. I think it’s panned out really well and I think it’s going to have a lot of depth out there of people just doing new things all the time out there, whether you’re an old school veteran or somebody new to it.
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MMORPG: Yeah. We have a keep siege video up and I didn’t even know you could blow up the postern doors.
Brian Wheeler: Yeah, that was definitely one of the newer things. After we got the walls destroyable and the doors destroyable, we started looking at well, what can we do to push it? What else could we, for lack of a better way to put it, blow up? Because everybody likes blowing up things. One of the things we saw a lot in testing and in a lot of PvP games is that one bottleneck can be a real pain in the ass, so I wanted to sort of give a pressure valve by letting attackers get inside the inner keep from other positions.
MMORPG: ESO’s skill system offers players a ton of options in designing their characters, but as a result, I can see it being a bit of a balance nightmare for PvP. What’s your team’s philosophy and approach on balance in AvA? Can you also talk about melee in AvA? Traditionally, melee classes have a harder time here.
Brian Wheeler: Yeah, one of the good things about the skill system is that a lot of it is shared across the board between all the classes. So, what you get in that is sort of a closer true PvP system as opposed to, well, this class has this and this class has that and there’s no possible competing against it. And that’s the great thing about the armor abilities, the weapon abilities, and all the guild abilities, too.
In terms of just straight up melee feasibility, there’s a lot of gap closers that are out there. I mean, if you played Dragon Knight, you see them do the chain pull. That’s one of those wonderful things about being a melee person, but also, one of the fun things about being melee in the siege, is while you’re operating those weapons, all those other players need to do is just come out there and interact with your siege weaponry and light it on fire. So, one of the good roles for melee players is actually to defend siege weaponry of the people using them and also defending the guys on the rams. Also, going back to the skill system, since everybody can use any weapon, just because you have, you know, two-hander, you’ve been doing two-handed weaponry, or dual wield or sword and board, that’s not stopping you from grabbing a bow or destruction or healing staff and going out there and helping your fellow fighters.
While it may seem limiting, once you start to open your eyes to the possibilities of, well, I don’t have to just melee, I can do these other things, as well as protect people on the rams, or protect people using the trebs or catapults or ballistae, it really starts to not feel like you’re being pigeonholed.
MMORPG: Can you talk about PvP gear? Specifically, what distinguishes PvE gear from PvP gear? Is there a PvP stat?
Brian Wheeler: There’s no specific stat or anything along those lines. Any of the gear you get, independent of wherever you get it, is perfectly usable in PvP or PvE. The difference will be that some of the armor sets will have different passive abilities in PvE vs. PvP, but there’s nothing that’s really favoring one stat or anything like that, that you have to get for being a “good PvPer”.
MMORPG: I realize you guys want to keep werewolves and vampires under wraps so players have to discover more about them, but if you could maybe speak in broad terms on your thoughts as far as whether these two paths will be viable for PvP.
Brian Wheeler: They’re out there and I’ve fought them; they’re mean. I don’t want to give away too much, obviously, like you said, but when you come across a vampire or a werewolf, you’ll know it, and you’ll be like, “Oh! I need to become a vampire or werewolf as well!”
It’s not overpowering by like having an “I Win” button or anything like that, but you definitely get a different suite of abilities, and you’ll actually be able to recognize that they’ve taken the time to unlock that progression and that’s one more tool in their toolbox that you want to get to counter them from their toolbox as well. It is a lot of fun encountering those guys; it makes you want to keep playing the game more and more to unlock those abilities.The release of Alien Covenant this past week makes this an excellent time to reflect on the franchise as a whole. The original 1979 film directed by Ridley Scott single handedly came to define the space horror genre. While much has been made of H.R Giger’s alien designs, the film’s popularity and success largely hinges on its ability to pack immense detail into every scene. The original film utilizes set design, music, costumes and even custom typography to bring the world to life. The epic world building in the original set the standard for the entire franchise but today I want to take a closer look at the costume design in particular. The costumes and clothing seen throughout the franchise have had an immense impact on future sci-fi films and even the film industry as a whole. I’ll be breaking down the costume design of the original Alien trilogy below.
Alien (1979)
The original Alien film was a departure from many of the sci-fi films that came before it. The movie rejected the type of pristine retrofuturism scene in franchises like Star Trek and instead adopted a gritty, industrial look in its sets and costumes. British costume designer John Mollo, who had designed the garb for Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon and Lucas’ Star Wars lead the costume designs. Through the costumes, the film was able to not only flesh out the individual characters but give insight to the world that they lived in. Branded corporate uniforms (courtesy of the Weylan-Yutani Corporation) were mixed and modified to show each character’s individually. The overall affect was this a diverse group that ranged from scientists to engineers.
The ‘lived-in’ look serves an important function in the overall structure of the film, providing a contrast between the unruly laissez faire attitude of the crew with the frightening ruthlessness of the Alien lifeforms. Considerable attention has been spent on the extraordinary alien creations of H.R. Giger but the world building of the crew’s costumes helps make the xenomorphs and face-huggers even more shocking when they first appear on screen.
Costume Designer John Mollo has publicly referred to director Ridley Scott as a stickler for details. The film crew created a stamp with the Weylan-Yutani corporate logo and went about madly labeling everything on set. The costumes themselves were washed, scraped and even sandpapered to give their lived-in appearance.
This gave the clothes a disheveled look, as though they had been thoroughly worked, sweated, lived, and even slept in. One of the best parts of the character’s personal style came through the little additions – headbands, baseball caps, bomber jackets, Hawaiian shirts, customised PF Flyers and even cowboy boots.
Aliens (1986)
The sequel to Alien was released in 1986 with the directing duties being handed to James Cameron. The film was very different in both tone and aesthetic to the original. While the original focused more on space horror (down to the tagline, in space no-one can hear you scream) the sequel was pretty much a full-scale war epic. The space trucker look of the look of the original was traded in for a full space marine treatment. Throughout the film there is a heavy militaristic influence particularly referencing the guerrilla tactics of the Vietnam war.
Little details are carefully thought through in this film, right down to the crew members customizing their body armor to the Seiko watches that Ripley and Bishop wear. The costume designer Emma Porteus really did her homework on the US Marine Corps but also contrasted the uniforms of the soldiers with the way the sociopathic corporate execs dress in the film (think cheesy 80s power suits). All in all, Aliens is a vastly different movie than Alien but it remains just as relevant today as the original.
Alien 3 (1986)
Released in 1992, Alien 3 was David Fincher’s director debut and widely panned as the worst film in the original trilogy. The film shifts the action to a maximum security prison and that totally changes the feel of the film from space exploration to something more grounded. While it’s far from my personal favorite in the franchise, Alien 3 does do some things right in the costume design department.
Costume director Bob Ringwald was tasked with bringing the characters to life. With the setting being a gritty prison colony, the colors palette was decidedly muted. Inmates and warders alike are forced into shaving their heads to ward off lice and there’s little room for garments that are decorative instead of functional. The prisoners wear threadbare, distressed rags – greasy, ripped and barely holding together. From a fashion design perspective, the clothes in this might be the most wearable of the trilogy. Certain pieces would not look out of place in a modern DRKSHDW lookbook. Certainly the style in the film was influential, perhaps even helping later films like The Matrix define the clothes of dystopia. That ends a look back at the costumes of the original trilogy.
With Craig Green taking over costume design for the excellent Alien Covenant we can rest assured that the Alien franchise will continue to ‘build better worlds’ for years to come. What’s your favorite film in the series to date? Leave your comments about this feature in the comments below.The practice of locking up those who challenge the ruling Chinese Communist Party in mental institutions has become an endemic rights abuse in the country's legal system, according to a recent report.
In the past year, authorities have increasingly used the tactic against rights activists and dissidents as a way of imposing indefinite periods of detention on them without the need for a trial, the Hubei-based Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch group said in its annual report.
The 2013 Mental Health law, which was aimed at protecting mental health service users from misdiagnosis and involuntary medical treatment in China's state-run psychiatric hospitals, has done little to improve the situation, the report found.
While the law is the first in the country to define the concepts and procedures linked to compulsory committal of psychiatric patient, authorities are continuing to detain, forcefully medicate and otherwise mistreat Chinese citizens who lodge complaints about or criticize the ruling Chinese Communist Party, it said.
The group's report for 2014 said the system of involuntary psychiatric treatment of government critics, known colloquially as "being mentally illed," could yet become further entrenched, in spite of the legislation.
"Why is it that we have the Mental Health Law, and yet the phenomenon of being mentally-illed is getting worse?" the group's founder Liu Feiyue told RFA on Thursday. "The judiciary isn't able to implement it properly, nor can it effectively act as a check on state power."
"The system we have in China is still above the law, especially given that stability maintenance trumps everything, including the judiciary," Liu said.
"Under such circumstances, it's hardly surprising that people are still being [considered] mentally-illed."
He said the only way to prevent such practices would be through the rule of law. "We would have to change this dictatorial way of doing things," he added.
Forcibly committed
According to the report, many of those forcibly committed to psychiatric institutions are kidnapped by authorities, who don't inform or consult their relatives, or seek the consent of the “patient.”
The report found that activists and petitioners "under treatment" were detained, tied up, beaten, forced to wear manacles and leg irons, and forcibly fed psychoactive drugs, as well as denied access to the outside and to visits from their friends and family.
The hospitals would often refuse to discharge them without the agreement of law enforcement agencies, and inmates were often coerced into signing "guarantees" that they wouldn't pursue any further complaints or lawsuits against the government before being released, it said.
They were also forced to sign gag orders promising not to reveal what happened to them inside the hospital, it said.
Henan-based petitioner Yue Lina said she has been committed to a mental institution several times for petitioning against the local government.
"They tied me up and fed me drugs intravenously," Yue said. "This has happened four times already. I still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because of it.
"They carted me off to the psychiatric hospital without telling my parents, and officials from the village government confiscated my cell phone and beat me up.
"All the other patients were allowed to go outside to get some air; I was the only one who wasn't allowed.
"I wasn't allowed to watch TV or take a bath, even when there was water."
Yue said the hospital had "diagnosed" her with a mental disorder.
"I asked for the details of my diagnosis, but they wouldn't let me have them, and the village government told me that if I asked for my notes again, they'd have the whole of my family committed to the mental hospital," she said.
According to Liu, the practice of psychiatric “treatment” for those the authorities regard as troublemakers has become endemic to China's "stability maintenance" system.
"Tiny changes that don't affect the system will have no impact on this trend towards being mentally-illed in China...which should never be used as a tool to maintain stability," he said.
"The responsibility for this lies not just with the government, but also with the entire population," Liu said.
Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.Scheduled: 08:00 CDT, 30 September 2012 to 13:50 CDT, 30 September 2012
Silence
Furious Heights
Lost World
Aerowalk
Hektik
Format: First rounds will be Best-of-One, Quarter Finals and Semi Finals will be Best-of-Three, and the Grand Final will be Best-of-Five.
1. k1llsen (100$)
2. baksteen (25$)
3-4. twister
3-4. Guard
5-8. alfaomega
5-8. Spart1e
5-8. Reaper
5-8. agent (disqualified)
PassedAfter a very successful first FACEIT Quake Live Sunday Cup, we are ready to continue with our second one this Sunday. As in previous tournaments we will start at 07:00 CST again, with the stream starting at around 07:30 CST. 128 players will be allowed to enter the tournament. Check-ins open at 06:00 CST.Over the next few days more people will get access to the site again so they can also sign up for the tournament. We do want to remind you that the site is still in beta phase, so if you find any bugs, please use the drop down menu in the right top and click "Support".Over the next three weeks we will have a new map pool, due to the upcoming Adroits Cup. As a lot of the pros will be practicing for this competition, we want to give them a good place to prepare, with the maps they will be using at the LAN tournament. The other rules will be the same as always.Quake legendPelle "" Söderman will be casting alongsideXavier "" Dhorne live from our studio this week. We will be looking to bring you an even smoother and better show and build on from our experience in our first cup. Bracket // #FACEITVisa and MasterCard confirmed that they have cut off payment services for Backpage.com, an online platform for people to advertise goods and services. This was in response to public pressure from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who wrote to executives at both of the payment processors urging them to cut off transactions to Backpage’s adult services. The two companies responded by quickly shutting down payments for the entire site.
Backpage hasn’t violated the law, and so Sheriff Dart can’t use the law to take down the website. Instead he’s using a tactic we’ve seen before, getting major financial services companies to put a chokehold on controversial online content producers like WikiLeaks and independent book publisher Smashwords.
We don’t need Visa and MasterCard to play nanny for online speech. Payment processors and banks shouldn’t be in the position of deciding what type of online content is criminal or enforcing morality for the rest of society. For one thing, their businesses haven’t been designed to analyze the legal and societal issues at play in various forms of online expression. Second, these businesses will almost always err on the side of shutting down controversial speech—thereby eliminating a nuisance or public affairs problem—rather than taking a principled stance in support of unpopular speech.
That’s why courts, not companies, should determine what type of speech is legal on the Internet.
Backpage.com can be used to sell an old refrigerator, find a new apartment, post about new community workshops, find a job, and offer many other services and goods. It also hosts an “adult” section of the site, where some people advertise escort services or try to connect with people who have similar sexual interests. This “adult” section requires visitors to confirm they are at least 18 years of age and allows users to get resources for reporting cases of suspected sexual exploitation with one click.
Dart asserts that he’s concerned about people abusing Backpage.com for nefarious purposes such as human trafficking, even though the site isn’t designed with that in mind. And he’s not the only one: politicians and law enforcement agents have been pressuring Backpage.com for years to shut down the adult section of the site
Let’s stop for a moment and acknowledge one area where we agree wholeheartedly with Dart: human trafficking is atrocious. We strongly condemn the violation of human rights that occurs whenever a human being is sexually exploited or forced into physical labor against his or her will. Human trafficking is a massive human rights issue that deserves focused, dedicated attention from lawmakers, law enforcement, and the public. It’s also a heinous crime that merits severe punishment for those who perpetrate it.
Backpage, however, is not engaged in human trafficking. It shouldn’t be treated as if it were.
The law is on Backpage’s side. To date, attempts to pass laws that would hold a website accountable for the content posted by users have been defeated, such as a Washington state law EFF successfully fought in 2012. Backpage is also protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230), which ensures that websites that host content—like WordPress, Facebook, and others—aren’t liable for the content of the messages that their users post. And that’s a good thing. This law has been a cornerstone for free speech online, ensuring that Web hosts don’t have to police their users and can focus on providing a great experience–even if their users’ views are controversial or unpopular. As we’ve argued before, CDA 230 protects Backpage from liability for user-generated advertisements.
One could imagine a world where we had many payment providers, each operating independently, to ensure that even if one major payment service caved to governmental pressure there would be many others to offer services to less popular sites. But that’s not the case. Instead, the overwhelming majority of online payment services are connected to MasterCard and Visa. So when they both shut down a website’s services, the business must either acquiesce to their demands or risk going out of business.
We appreciate that Visa and MasterCard may be facing serious pressure from law enforcement, both in this case and in others. But we’d urge the two financial giants to strive for neutrality in offering payment services and resist government requests. And that starts by reinstating Backpage’s services.
As for Sherriff Dart, we wish he’d turn to the real problems of human trafficking and exploitation. Rather than attack neutral websites and payment providers, law enforcement should focus its investigations and enforcement efforts on actual criminal suspects.Share
They’ve created a fascinating new Kickstarter campaign that offers a way to learn the basics of electronics without having to break out your soldering iron, thanks to a series of “Crazy Circuits” parts that attach directly onto regular Lego bricks.
“We’re former educators, and the biggest gripe we’ve had with a lot of learning systems out there is they’re typically way too expensive, charging $12 to $15 per part,” co-creator Joshua Zimmerman told Digital Trends. “What we wanted to do with this system was build off something that everyone would know how to use, and which would be extremely common. What fits the bill better than Lego?”
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In addition to Lego, Crazy Circuits can be used in sewing, attached to construction paper, or utilized to create art using conductive inks and paints.
“One of the things we’ve had the most fun with is dusting off the old Lego sets from our childhood and wiring them so they light up,” Zimmerman continued. “But you can also use the Lego as an easy building system, so you don’t need to 3D print a body. We had a friend who built a synthesizer using our parts, and someone else who used it to make a piece of interactive clothing using conductive thread on fabric. We’ve put together a system that’s so wide-ranging, people can come up with ideas we’ve never thought of.”
The bold idea is to launch a subscription electronics delivery service, kind of like a Geek Box for … geeks (wait, that analogy doesn’t work!), in which every month new projects are delivered to your door, complete with instructions. Deliveries will include both beginner and advanced projects, with all the pieces you need right there in the box.
For the Kickstarter campaign, you can either buy one-off sets, or subscribe to the service for a maximum of 12 months. Prices start at $35 for a beginner’s pack, with deliveries set to begin in September.Hillary Clinton doesn't believe her husband's tarmac meeting with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch ruined public perception of her or cost her the election.
The former presidential candidate spoke to PBS while promoting her new book 'What Happened.'
She has blamed many factors for why she lost to President Donald Trump, including but not limited to Facebook, former FBI director James Comey and the Electoral College.
But Clinton'rejects' the notion that Bill's meeting with the attorney general who was investigating her emails cost her the election.
She admitted it was a bad look and blames Comey above Lynch.
Hillarry Clinton said she did not think Loretta Lynch's meeting with her husband on the tarmac of a Phoenix airport cost her the election
When Judy Woodruff asked whether or not this was a fatal mistake, Clinton responded: 'I honestly reject that premise, partly because there’s a chain of command in the Justice Department.
'There’s a deputy attorney general. We all now know who it was, Sally Yates, a woman of experience and integrity.
'We knew at the time, after it was reported that, you know, both my husband and Loretta Lynch said they didn’t say a word about this. The optics were not good. I admit that.
Clinton then turned the conversation back to James Comey: 'But in this chain of command, if the attorney general is recused, you know, the deputy attorney general. And what we know happened is that the investigation was getting nowhere. There was nothing to find. And he was in a position of having to accept the evidence that there was no case.'
Because of the optics of Loretta Lynch meeting with Bill while she was investigating his wife, she said she would agree to what the FBI director recommended
'The optics were not good': Hillary Clinton admitted it was a bad look when her husband met with Loretta Lynch who agreed to accept the FBI director's recommendations as to not appear biased
Comey essentially led the investigation into Clinton's private email server before Lynch pulled back as a result of the June meeting.
Clinton said the main reason for her defeat was James Comey's October 28 letter that the investigation into her email server was reopened.
Woodruff reiterated the question and pointed out because of the meeting, Lynch agreed to accept what the FBI director said as far as whether or not Clinton would be charged.
Because of this, Comey became a more prominent figure in the investigation which led to the October 28 letter.
Clinton said: 'I just don’t — Judy, I don’t believe that.
'I mean, he was in a position that was subordinate to the chain of command in the Justice Department. So, Loretta Lynch recuses. It’s like when Sessions recused. The deputy attorney general steps forward and starts, you know, running the investigation.'
Comey said the meeting between Bill Clinton and Lynch was 'extremely careless' but did not recommend charges for the incident.Why would a loyal staffer who adores the president of the United States leak damaging information to the national media that makes the president look bad? That is one of many questions that must be examined in light of The Washington Post story on President Trump’s Oval Office conversation with Russian officials.
The story had multiple sources. I know one of those sources. He can only be characterized as an ardent Trump supporter who desperately wants the president to succeed. But as more than one member of the White House realizes, sometimes the president will not take advice. Sometimes the president treats suggestions as criticism. More often than not, the president is vastly more interested in what the media say about him than what his advisers in his employ say to him.
White House staff members have ample incentive to leak to the press when they believe the president needs to pay attention or be admonished.This was the case with the source I know. He was not in the Oval Office while the Russians were there, but he was involved with the matter and participated in conversations leading up to and after the conversation with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister.
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Trump has a habit, in his insecurity, of bragging about his knowledge, skill, and intelligence. With the Russians, he let slip key details about the acquisition of intelligence related to explosives planted in laptops. The information the president shared was not readily shared with our allies and could easily be used to determine from where and from whom we had collected the intelligence.
No crime was committed. The president has a great deal of leeway in declassifying information and sharing information related to national security. The issue is not whether he could do it, but whether he should have done it. Many people inside our national security apparatus do not think he should have. These same people fear it risks our future acquisition of relevant, related intelligence.
Conservative critics of the media have, over the past several months, routinely assailed the witch hunt atmosphere of the Washington press corps against the president. A number of major, explosive stories have been released only to see key details retracted hours later. The conservative reaction is one reason my source contacted me. He wanted to give me a heads up that the story was coming, it was legitimate, and I should caution conservatives whose natural instinct is to dismiss media attacks.
In this case, Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, denied key details that never actually appeared in The Washington Post report. This morning, he then walked back some of those denials while still downplaying the impact the president’s conversation might have.
Trump is an amateur at governance and no one should expect him to be flawless. He will make more mistakes than a professional politician and he will make different mistakes as well. The American people voted for a nonpolitician, and Mr. Trump himself has acknowledged that the job is far more difficult than he initially imagined. I have long believed, because of the choice the American people made, that we owe some measure of grace to the president as he learns on the job.
Unfortunately, the president’s mistakes can cost lives and access to intelligence. He has surrounded himself with capable people willing to speak frankly to him. But frank advice is only good if the president takes it. Thus far, on numerous occasions, the president has ignored solid advice and believes himself far more capable than he is. He lacks the humility necessary to understand how much he does not know.
Some of his advisers are getting desperate. The president is about to head overseas on a major trip. His advisers need him to more fully understand loose lips can mean lost lives, lost intelligence and lost alliances.
If he will not pay attention to people in the White House, there is one place to go where everyone knows the president will pay attention — the boob tube. There, his advisers can and will leak sensitive information that casts the president in a bad light so he finally understands the urgency and importance of his advisers’ advice. Maybe, just maybe, he will take it to heart instead of thinking everyone is out to get him.
Erickson is the editor of The Resurgent. Follow him on Twitter @EWErickson. The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.The 18 year-old has made seven Arsenal first-team appearances this season but Gunners manager Arsene Wenger has given the green light to the move in order for the player to gain further experience in the Premier League.
The highly-rated attacking midfielder is expected to go straight into the Bolton squad for Saturday's Premier League encounter with Liverpool at Anfield.
Bolton manager Owen Coyle said: "Jack is a talented, young, hungry player who I think has got a bright future ahead of him.
"He has got an abundance of quality and he will enhance our squad.
"It is similar to the deal with [Manchester City loanee] Vladimir Weiss in terms of the belief that I can help the player and the player can help this football club.
"The deals suit all parties concerned if the boys go and deliver on the pitch."
Wilshere, who has represented England at all youth levels including Under-21, became Arsenal's youngest ever league player at 16 years and 256 days when he made his debut as a substitute at Blackburn in September 2008.
The Stevenage-born teenager signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal in July.
Meanwhile, Bolton have confirmed defender Paul Robinson's loan deal from Championship side West Bromwich Albion has been made permanent.The Freedom Model
Break the Chains of the Endless Addiction and Recovery cycle that's keeping you from the life you want to live.
Everything! We know, this is a bold statement, but it's the truth. Unfortunately these misconceptions are keeping you stuck in a pattern of heavy substance use, crisis, forced abstinence then back to heavy substance use. It becomes a vicious cycle - a trap!
Please understand, Addiction and Recovery are opposite sides of the exact same coin. Perpetual recovery is a type of perpetual struggle; it's having to fear substances; it's having to forever watch out for triggers and stressors. Perpetual recovery means going to meetings, "sober parties", and missing out on special occasions where alcohol may be served. Perpetual recovery keeps you tied to your past struggles forever. You don't have to feel shame and guilt for your past anymore. You don't have to fear alcohol or drugs. You can be free from all of these counterproductive and limiting thoughts.
You can build a life free from the shackles of both addiction and perpetual recovery.
The Freedom Model is a comprehensive curriculum with three primary goals:
1. To debunk the massive harmful mythology surrounding addiction and provide accurate information supported by 29 years of rigorous research.
2. To show people they do have the innate power and ability to change their habits; and that changing substance use habits and patterns can be easy and a positive experience if provided the researched truth.
3. To provide research-based, factual information about substances and their usage, so people know they are totally in control of all of their choices and can make an informed decision about their lives moving forward.
Where treatment seeks to force you into abstinence using fear, lies, distortions, and bad science, The Freedom Model is rooted in personal freedom, finding your happiest options and envisioning your future completely free from addiction and perpetual recovery.
NON - TREATMENT Shows, through research, that you can change your substance use habits through choice and free will [+]
Teaches the fact that addiction is not genetically inherited [+]
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Teaches the fact that addiction is not a disease. Instead it is a series of repeated choices, habits, and behaviors [+]
Uses a freedom and choice based educational model with no control or judgment ever [+]
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Non-religious that accepts all personal beliefs as valid for the individual [+]
Implements a completely Personalized Approach with small class sizes and one-on-one education when requested by the guest.[+] TREATMENT Believes you have a brain disease.
Teaches You are Powerless and the disease of addiction is Incurable
Teaches You are Powerless and the disease of addiction is Incurable Believes you genetically inherit an addiction gene.
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Teaches all Family Members are Diseased Uses labels such as addict, diseased, and alcoholic
Believes that people have a chronic disease of Addiction
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Religious Affiliation incorporated In Treatment.
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In Treatment and forever after Success Rate 62.5%UNDISCLOSED 1.888.424.2626 Call Today To Learn How The Freedom Model's Can Help You.
There is No Addiction Gene
Many people have beliefs and pre-determined ideas regarding drugs and alcohol. Becoming habituated to the use of substances involves much more psychologically than either biological makeup or a supposed addiction gene. (Peele) The truth is, an individual's beliefs about how the use of drugs or alcohol will affect them are the most accurate predictors of whether or not they will develop a substance use problem. Environmental learning and culture shape our beliefs and these beliefs then lead to thoughts and behaviors. What this means is those who believe they have a genetic predisposition to becoming "alcoholic" or "addicted" are more likely to struggle with alcohol or drugs. While much research has been done with the goal of linking behaviors to genetic coding, no causation has been shown. Despite several decades of research, no addiction gene has ever been found. Even if one is found, all research has shown that genetics do not supersede personal choice with respect to behaviors.
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There is No Disease of Addiction
Accordingly, there is no need for a harmful diagnosis or label, especially when no diagnosis or disease exists. At The Freedom Model Retreats, we don't compartmentalize your personal problems by labeling you an addict or alcoholic. There is no evidence that addiction (i.e. using alcohol or drugs) was, or is a disease. Today it is widely believed that people can become "addicted" to any behavior including video gaming, surfing the internet and Facebooking, watching television, having sexual affairs, shopping, gambling, and even using lip balm. The disease theory states that these behaviors become involuntary once a person is "addicted"; however, all evidence points to the fact that people never lose the power of choice over their behaviors, including using drugs and alcohol. Consider that if people actually did lose control, no one would ever stop their addiction, not even to seek help, but millions of people stop their addictions every day. While those struggling with drug and alcohol use may feel powerless due to their habitual thinking, they are never actually powerless over their thoughts or behaviors. Treatment programs and those who tout the disease theory actually harm substance users by stripping them of any responsibility or accountability for their actions. Once a substance user buys into the notion that they are suffering from a progressive, incurable disease that renders them forever powerless over their thoughts and behaviors, this can create a state of hopelessness and severe depression. The more someone believes |
that provide time for the fouling team to assemble its defenses. But if you intend to stop play for a short while (to warn, caution or send off a player), you've got a ceremonial kick. Tell the kicker to wait for your whistle, and point to the whistle so that everyone sees. You can then tend to business before positioning yourself for the restart. You'll start again with a whistle. A quick kick can turn into a ceremonial kick if the kicker asks you for "10 yards." That means he wants the defenders to retreat. Before you restart, wait for the defenders to move 10 yards away from the ball -- in all directions, actually, but most people only worry about the direction of the kick. Position yourself down in the direction of the kick. For an Indirect Free Kick, you need to hold your arm straight up to indicate that a goal cannot be scored directly from the kick. (You can lower it while positioning yourself for the kick.) You keep it up until the ball touches another player or goes out of bounds, but in practice you can also drop it if the ball isn't kicked towards either goal. More Mechanics -- Managing the Wall For the taking of a free kick near the goal attackers and defenders alike may line up 10 yards away in a "wall": defenders there to block the ball and attackers there to make a hole to pass it through. Often the line of defenders also determines the offside position, and so attackers have no choice but to join the defenders until the kick is made. This is an excellent opportunity to witness misconduct and fouls, as mid- and high-level players push, hit, and hold each other before and during the kick. If the players form a wall, position yourself to the side and in front of it, so you can pay attention to the wall during the kick. If there are no attackers in the wall, you can instead head towards the goal to watch the excitement there. Mechanics for the AR The AR does not signal for fouls handled by the center referee in distant parts of the field. The AR does signal for fouls that are nearer to him than to the center referee -- generally any foul in the corner of the field the AR tends. For fouls seen by the center referee, the AR's signal is there to reinforce the center's. The AR also signals for serious fouls in other parts of the field that are unseen by the center referee. To signal a foul the AR holds his flag straight up. Once the center referee notices, the AR makes quick, small waves with the flag, then signals the direction of the kick by pointing the flag up 45 degrees along the touchline in the direction of the kick. There's no official way for an AR to indicate an Indirect Free Kick, though some do so by holding the free arm up halfway or by simply saying "indirect." At the taking of a free kick, the AR assumes the position to judge offside. What's Next Retake: A legal free kick starts with the ball standing still at (about) the point you indicate. If any of these are wrong, the kick is retaken. A free kick inside the kicker's goal area works like a Goal Kick: all opponents must be outside the penalty area. The ball may not be played by anyone, even the kicker again, until it leaves the penalty area. If either of these are wrong, the kick is retaken. Indirect Free Kick: No 2nd touch or keeper handling: if the kicker is the first to play the ball, or the player's keeper is the first and he picks it up, the other team gets an Indirect Kick. Note that many teams practice a maneuver for Indirect Kicks where one player steps on the ball to make first contact and then a second player kicks it. The first contact must clearly move the ball for it put the ball in play, otherwise it is the subsequent kick that does so. Goal: You can score from a Direct Free Kick. Goal Kick: You can't score directly from an Indirect Free Kick, so if the ball goes directly into the opponent's goal, it is a Goal Kick for them. Corner Kick: You can't score directly against yourself on either a Direct or Indirect Free Kick, so if the ball goes directly into the kicker's goal, it's a Corner Kick. Yellow Card Whether it is a quick kick or a ceremonial one, defenders are supposed to retreat 10 yards in all directions. Failing to do so is its own cautionable offense, as I discuss in the "Misconduct" section below. Penalty Kick Circumstances If a player commits a Direct Free Kick foul inside of his own penalty area, you are going to award a Penalty Kick to the other team. This is a highly ritualized punishment involving only the kicker and the goal keeper, with something like a 90% chance of scoring. Anyone can take the kick, not just the player fouled against. Calling Direct Free Kick fouls is discussed in its own section. Here I'll just cite the mechanics for the kick itself. Mechanics As with a Direct Free Kick, blow your whistle. Point with your finger distinctly towards the penalty mark, halfway between the goal area line and the penalty area line. You don't want to be mistaken on this. Prepare for both groans and cheers from the sideline. Stand at the penalty mark until the kicker places the ball there, or if you prefer collect the ball and hand it to the kicker. Instruct the kicker to wait for your signal. Ensure that all players other than the kicker and the keeper are (a) outside of the penalty area, (b) behind the penalty mark (farther from the goal line), and (c) outside of the penalty arc and thus 10 yards from the kicker. Ensure the keeper is on the goal line between the goal posts, facing the field. He will need to stay on the line until the ball is kicked. Move off to the side of the kicker, about 10 yards, and blow your whistle. Play can get very active at this point. Special Mechanics for Extra Time If time expires (or will expire) before the Penalty Kick is taken, you need to announce that the kick will be in extra time. Players may retreat since there is nothing they can do. The ball is out of play if the keeper successfully stops or deflects the ball. The kicker may not play it again, even if it rebounds. Mechanics for the AR The AR signals for a Penalty Kick if a defender commits a foul in the penalty area that the AR notices. For fouls seen by the center referee, the AR can signal to confirm that the foul was committed in the penalty area. To signal a Penalty Kick the AR holds his flag straight up. Once the center referee notices, the AR makes quick, small waves with the flag and then goes to stand in front of the corner flag on the goal line to indicate a Penalty Kick. To confirm that a foul seen by the CR was inside the penalty area, if the CR seems to be in doubt, the AR holds the flag horizontally across his waist. At the taking of a Penalty Kick, the AR's mechanics are left up to the CR. Here's a common approach: the AR stands on the goal line at the penalty area line, so as to judge the goal, keeper encroachment, and later offside. To indicate keeper encroachment or other problems, the AR holds the flag horizontally across his waist. Goals are indicated as described below in the "Stops" section. If play is to continue, the AR hustles back to the touch line, cutting the corner if needed. The CR and ARs should verify Penalty Kick mechanics at pre-game. What's Next Retake: A legal Penalty Kick happens only on your signal that you are ready. Use the whistle. The keeper must remain on the goal line and all other players must not encroach until the kick happens. The kick is retaken if (a) the ball doesn't enter the goal defending team encroached or (b) the ball enters the goal and the attacking team (or both teams) encroached. i.e. cheaters never prosper. If it's the keeper's encroachment that causes the retake, he is also cautioned for Unsporting Behavior. Indirect Free Kick: No 2nd touch: if the kicker is the first to play the ball the other team gets an Indirect Free Kick. This includes if the ball bounces off the goalpost back to the kicker. Attacker encroachment: if the attacking team encroaches and the ball doesn't go in the goal, it's an Indirect Kick at the penalty mark. (Retake if it does go in.) Attacker infringement: the attacking team can occassionally bungle the Penalty Kick in numerous ways that give the defending team an Indirect Free Kick at the point of infringement. By the kicker kicking the ball backwards, by the kicker illegally feinting (fully stopping during the run-up to the kick), and by someone other than the designated kicker taking the kick. Both illegal feinting and the wrong kicker taking the kick warrant a caution for Unsporting Behavior. Goal, Goal Kick, Corner Kick, Throw-In: The ball is in play once it is kicked forward and so if it goes out of bounds a normal restart occurs. You can score from a Penalty Kick. The Dropped Ball Circumstance If you need to restart play and none of the other restarts apply, you'll do a Dropped Ball. This is the only time you need touch the ball during play. The most likely causes are: a) Stop for an injury b) Stop for interference c) Stop to control the sidelines d) Accidental stop Note that you don't do a Dropped Ball when you can't decide who kicked the ball out of bounds: for that, you just have to make a choice. Mechanics Announce that you're doing a Dropped Ball. Any number of players can be present when you do the drop, though if you are trying for balance you'll wait until one from each team shows up. You may prefer unbalanced, for example dropping it in front of the keeper if you stopped play while he had possession, but you can't prevent players from participating. A Dropped Ball in the goal area gets moved to the nearest spot on the goal area line parallel to the goal line. This is important. Hold the ball at waist level, ideally with one hand on top and one on the bottom, and drop it straight down. Keep your feet out of the way so you don't deflect it. The ball is in play when it hits the ground. Unlike all other restarts, the first player to touch the ball is free to touch it again, but like an Indirect Free Kick a goal cannot be scored on the first touch. Mechanics for the AR The AR does nothing special for a Dropped Ball. What's Next Retake: If the ball is played before it hits the ground, or it rolls out of bounds or into the goal without a player touching it, you'll retake the Dropped Ball. Goal Kick: If the ball is kicked directly by a player into the opponents' goal from a Dropped Ball, you restart with a Goal Kick. As soon as anyone touches the ball again, it's fair game. The Stops Goal! Circumstance If the whole of the ball goes over the goal line, between the goal posts and below the crossbar, and neither you nor the AR consider play to have stopped before it does, it's a goal. (Remember: you can decide after the fact that play had stopped, like when you notice the AR signaling offside only after the ball goes in the goal.) Mechanics If you see the ball go in the goal, or think it might have, look at your AR. He indicates or confirms a goal by, after making eye contact, sprinting towards the halfway line. Point your arm level at the center circle -- the location of the next kick -- and move to the position for the next Kick Off. If the players are likely to complain about the goal, move quickly. If the players are likely to start a melee over the goal, run backwards towards the halfway line so that you can watch activity around the goal. While waiting for the players to reassemble, take out the game card and note the goal -- either with a simple strike or (if you have your own note paper) with the player and time as well. Mechanics for the AR If the center referee sees the ball go in the goal, he looks to the AR for confirmation, which the AR then provides by sprinting up the touch line towards the halfway line -- enough of a sprint to be obvious -- and then positioning himself for the Kick Off. If what the center referee saw wasn't in fact a goal, the AR can either be signaling something else -- such as a corner/Goal Kick, offside, or a foul -- or do nothing, indicating that the ball, while close to the goal, didn't go in. The AR might also shake his head "no." The AR then goes about his usual business. If the center referee appears not to see the goal (usually because the ball went in and back out of the goal), the AR will signal by raising the flag and, after the center referee whistles, sprinting towards the halfway line. Half Time/Game Circumstances At the end of the first half, or the end of the game, you stop play. Most referees won't stop unless the ball is in "neutral" play. Neutral means different things to different referees, but if the ball is sailing towards the net and you blow your whistle, be prepared to run for the parking lot. Mechanics Watch your watch as you get down to the last few minutes, and possibly count the last few seconds. Blow your whistle (medium then long for half time, twice medium then long for game) and point your arm towards the center circle. You can say "half time" or "game." Walk to the center circle to meet your ARs, and ensure the game ball makes it back there as well. If it is halftime, you want to take the game ball with you so it doesn't get lost during the break. Substitutions Youth soccer generally permits unlimited substitutions, which means players can be swapped in and out many times during the course of the game. This can only happen with your approval (which should not be unreasonably withheld), and generally only at the following times: 1. A Kick Off 2. A Goal Kick 3. A Throw-In (sometimes only for the throwing team) 4. An injury: if play is stopped the injured player and anyone else can be substituted. Your competition may allow substitutions at other times, such as any stoppage. When a coach wants to substitute players, he's supposed to line them up at the halfway line. Your ARs are then supposed to signal the substitution at the next appropriate stoppage by holding the flag horizontal above their heads (with one AR mirroring the other if needed), until you see it. If you don't have decent ARs you need to look to the halfway line at each substitution opportunity to see if players are waiting. For low-level play, where substitutions are numerous and players and coaches undisciplined, you may just have to wait for the cry of "sub! ref! sub!" from the coach. Once the request is made, you need to ensure that play does not restart, and then you signal for the substitution. That usually involves a whistle, a hand up at the player about to make the restart, and some indication to the coach to proceed with substituting. When the substitution is complete, you must restart with the whistle. Orchestrating clean substitutions will make your life easier and earn you a modicum of respect. They are especially important for mid- and high-level play. Two simple ingredients make them clean: that players leave and enter from the halfway line, and that the leaving happens before the entering. "Call them off" and "From the midline" are the two instructions coaches seem to understand. I usually optimize somewhat: as long as I can count the leaving and entering players in the same view, I don't hold up the entering players; and as soon as the entering players are moving I let the restart begin. This keeps things moving. Decent ARs can help you with substitutions. If you expect this, tell them so at pre-game. Goalkeeper substitions work like any other, but be careful to note any goalkeepr substitution at halftime. Coaches may or may not point this out to you but you'll want ot keep track of number changes. A goalkeeper and player can swap positions at any stoppage but only with your permission (which shouldn't be unreasonbly withheld). If they do it without your knowledge, they each get a caution for Unsporting Behavior. But importantly: the player in the goalkeeper jersey is the effective goalkeeper, whether they told you or not. Injury Referees are supposed to deal with major injury immediately, and minor injury at the next normal stop in play. If play drags on, you can stop play as soon as the ball is in somewhat neutral territory. Don't stop an attacker's drive unless it is truly necessary. Seriousness of injury varies with age: with starting players, I consider it serious enough if the player is either on the ground, crying, or stunned and standing still. For intermediate players, on the ground is my rule. For competitive players, I really need to see the pain to stop play. Do not tend or touch injured players! Run to them, find out if the injury is serious and whether they wish to continue to play. If it is serious, call out the coach and back off -- don't let the coach harangue you. If you stopped play to assess the injury, the injured player and anyone else can be substituted. If you called the coach out, the injured player must leave the field, unless the injury was caused by a foul that warranted a caution or sendoff, in which case the player can be tended to on the field. In matches with unlimited substitutions, an injured player leaving the field will most likely be substituted. If you stopped play just to deal with an injury, restart with a Dropped Ball. If a team is playing short due to an injured player having left the field without being substituted, the recovered player can, with your permission, enter the field during the run of play. Bleeding and Equipment Problems A player bleeding or with blood on his clothes must leave the field and may not return until the problem is corrected. If you have to, you can stop play to ensure the player leaves, but you can also just tell him on the fly. In theory, a bleeding player needs your permission to leave and may not summarily walk off, but once you realize what's going on your permission should be implicit. Similarly if a player has an equipment problem, such as a broken shin guard or torn shirt, you can also send them off to deal with their problems. This also applies to jewelery mysteriously appearing after the initial checkin, for which you can be pretty unforgiving. In all these cases, the player may only come back with your permission after you or your AR verify the problem has been corrected. You can wave him on during the run of play, but he must enter along the touch line and not the goal line. Interference Occasionally, there will be some outside entity that enters the field and interferes with play: either by touching the ball, getting the in way of players, or just in general being a distraction on the field. Common examples are dogs, birds, spectators, or a ball from a neighboring field. There are a number of things that aren't interference: goal posts, corner flags, referees (including assistants, if they are on the field), or anything that was on the field at the beginning of play. So if the ball bounces off a water bottle on the field, play continues, unless the water bottle was thrown there after the start of the game. Special case: if the ball bursts during play, treat it exactly as interference at that point. To handle interference, blow your whistle to stop play and once the interference has been addressed restart with a Dropped Ball. If the interference occurs during the scoring of a goal, but neither caused the goal nor prevented it, you can award the goal. Interference from Coaches, Substitutes, or Red Carded Players Coaches, substitutes, and Red Carded players who come on the field to interfere with play aren't treated as outside interference. They're treated as if they were players committing a foul. The restart is a Direct Free Kick, or Penalty Kick if the interference occurred in the defender's penalty area. Additionally, you would eject a coach for irresponsible behavior or caution a substitute for entering the field illegally. Not much you can do to an already sent off player other than ask him to leave again. If the interference occurs during the scoring of a goal for the opponents, but neither caused the goal nor prevented it, you can award the goal. You can still punish the perpetrator. Yellow Card/Red Card Circumstances Bad fouls and misconduct often warrant cautions or send offs, where you show the player the Yellow Card or Red Card. I discuss the causes for cards in the "Misconduct" section. Here I just describe the mechanics. Mechanics For fouls, stop play for the foul. For misconduct, you have to decide whether it warrants stopping play or delaying until the next normal stop to handle the misconduct. You run the danger of things escalating if play continues for a while. If it is serious enough to stop play, it warrants a good loud whistle. Remembering carefully in which pocket you have which card pull the appropriate one out and stand about 5 feet from the player, facing him. For the player's benefit you say, "You are being cautioned for..." or "You are being sent off for...". For the benefit of everyone else you hold the card with your arm stretched overhead (not thrusting in the player's face). Be sure you get a look at the player's number before he wanders off. If a player receives a second Yellow Card he also gets shown the Red Card and sent off. You do the two in succession, not both in one hand. You need to write on the game card the time, the player's team and number, whether it was a Yellow Card or Red Card, and the reason. Be sure you use one of the reasons enumerated by the LOTG as discussed in the "Misconduct" section. A player sent off is required to leave the immediate area. To enforce this you shouldn't restart play until you are convinced he is gone. This may not be practical in youth games if there's no one to tend to the ejected player. The restart after issuing a Yellow Card or Red Card is most likely a Direct Free Kick or Penalty Kick, but there is actually a laundry list of possibilities listed in the "Misconduct" section. Red Cards are serious business, and it is likely the sent off player will be suspended for more than one game. To that end, your league should have some set ritual for you to follow within the next 24 hours to complete the paperwork. Follow that procedure! Terminating the Match Your ultimate control over the game is the ability to terminate the match. That's where you say, "I'm terminating the match" and walk off with the game card. You might do so because you are unsure or unsatisified with your ability to control the players, coaches, or spectators. A perfect example of this is when an expelled coach refuses to leave or when a team can no longer field at least 7 players. You can also abandon a match, sometimes to be played later, because the condition of the field, light, or weather has deteriorated to the point that play is no longer safe. Lightning is a great reason to stop. Back to TopAUSTIN, Texas (March 16, 2015) – A Texas legislator introduced a bill that would stop the independent Texas power grid from being used to power mass, warrantless surveillance by the NSA.
Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R) introduced House Bill 3916 (HB3916) on March 13. The legislation would prohibit any political subdivision in Texas from providing water or electricity to any federal agency “involved in the routine surveillance or collection and storage of bulk telephone or e-mail records or related metadata concerning any citizen of the United States and that claims the legal authority to collect and store the bulk telephone or e-mail records or metadata concerning any citizen of the United States without the citizen’s consent or a search warrant that describes the person, place, or thing to be searched or seized.”
“No water and no electricity means no super-computers. That will shut down NSA operations in Texas. If Congress doesn’t want to reform the NSA then we’ll just turn it off,” OffNow founder and associate director Michael Boldin said.
IMMEDIATE EFFECT
If passed, HB3916 would ultimately turn off water and electric service to the massive Texas Cryptologic Center in San Antonio.
In 2006, the Baltimore Sun reported that the NSA had maxed out capacity of the Baltimore-area power grid via Baltimore Gas and Electric. Insiders reported that “The NSA is already unable to install some costly and sophisticated new equipment. At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges. At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency.”
This, in part, led the NSA to expand in new locations in states such as Utah and Texas, to ensure that the agency could keep expanding its programs without the risk of shutting down due to lack of resources.
A former Sony warehouse, just down the road from a new Microsoft data center, houses the NSA facility. According to the Houston Chronicle, Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), a publicly traded company based in Maryland, owns the property and leases it to the NSA.
The federal government keeps the Texas Cryptologic Center shrouded in secrecy. According to the Houston Chronicle story, “Longtime observers of the intelligence agency say they believe the San Antonio plant has a mission similar to the agency’s other new facilities in Georgia and Hawaii, where communications intercepted by NSA are translated and then sent to headquarters in Maryland for analysis.”
“No longer able to store all the intercepted phone calls and e-mail in its secret city, the agency has now built a new data warehouse in San Antonio, Texas,” writes author James Bamford in the Shadow Factory, his third book about the NSA. “Costing, with renovations, upwards of $130 million, the 470,000-square-foot facility will be almost the size of the Alamo Dome. Considering how much data can now be squeezed onto a small flash drive, the new NSA building may eventually be able to hold all the information in the world.”
City-owned CPS Energy provides electric service to the facility. According to the company website, it counts as the United States’ largest municipally owned utility company, with combined natural gas and electric service. It remains unclear exactly what entity supplies the center’s water, but the San Antonio Water System provides water service to most of San Antonio.
Passage of HB3916 would prohibit both companies from supplying resources to the NSA facility.
LEGALITY
HB3916 rests on a rock-solid legal doctrine. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the principle that the states cannot be required to supply resources or manpower to help the federal government carry out its acts or programs.
Known as the anti-commandeering doctrine, the legal principle rests primarily on four Supreme Court opinions dating back to 1842. In Prigg v. Pennsylvania(1842), Justice Joseph Story held that the federal government could not force states to implement or carry out the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. He said that it was a federal law, and the federal government ultimately had to enforce it.
The fundamental principle applicable to all cases of this sort, would seem to be, that where the end is required, the means are given; and where the duty is enjoined, the ability to perform it is contemplated to exist on the part of the functionaries to whom it is entrusted. The clause is found in the national Constitution, and not in that of any state. It does not point out any state functionaries, or any state action to carry its provisions into effect. The states cannot, therefore, be compelled to enforce them; and it might well be deemed an unconstitutional exercise of the power of interpretation, to insist that the states are bound to provide means to carry into effect the duties of the national government, nowhere delegated or instrusted to them by the Constitution.
Other key cases include New York v. United States (1992), Printz v. United States (1997), and Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012).
“State governments are free to refrain from cooperating with federal authorities if they so choose. In general, states cannot attack federal operations, but that’s not the same as refusing to help,” Noted Constitutional scholar Randy Barnett of Georgetown Law said.
WHAT’S NEXT
In practice, HB3916 would prohibit state or local-owned utilities from supplying water or electric service to NSA facilities in the state. The bill does include a provision allowing for the municipality to repay any bonds payable from pledged revenue from water or electric service before discontinuing such service. A political subdivision would be able to fulfill any contractual obligations currently in place, but would prohibit any contract extensions.
Passage into law would be a powerful step towards ending the bulk, warrantless surveillance of all electronic communications.
HB3916 will first be assigned to a House committee, where it will need to pass by majority vote to move forward.
ACTION STEPS
For Texas, follow the steps to support the bill at THIS LINK
All other states, take action in your state at THIS LINK.Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green was limited at practice Friday due to illness, while defensive end Michael Johnson returned to the injury report as a limited participant with the back injury he’s been battling the last few weeks.
Green spoke with reporters after practice and said he’s battling a cold.
›› Lawson closing in on Bengals rookie sack record
Left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi (shoulder) and Tyler Kroft (wrist) were upgraded to full participants after going limited Thursday, while linebackers Vinny Rey (hamstring) and Nick Vigil (ankle) and safety Shawn Williams (hamstring) sat out again.
Follow Jay Morrison on Twitter
Rey and Williams, who both missed the Cleveland game, worked on the rehab field for the second day in a row, although it’s unlikely either will play Monday vs. Pittsburgh.
›› Dalton discusses primetime problems
Vigil, who left the Browns game in the second half, was not present during the portion of practice open to the media either day and is expected to miss the first game of his career Monday, which means rookie sixth-round pick Jordan Evans should get the start at SAM linebacker.
For the Steelers, Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Brown showed up on the injury report Friday with a toe that kept him out of action. He joined five other Pittsburgh players on the sideline, each of whom also missed Thursday’s practice — linebackers James Harrison (knee) and Ryan Shazier (ankle), cornerback Joe Haden (fibula), safety Mike Mitchell (ankle) and tight end Vance McDonald (ankle).In the wake of the heinous attacks on civilians in Paris, the French are now prone to repeating the same mistakes the United States made after the even more barbaric 9/11 attacks. The natural reaction of politicianswhether they be Democratic, Republican, or Socialist as in the case of President Francois Hollande in Franceis to show their publics that they are macho and tough. Frances escalation of air strikes in Syria in retaliation for the Paris terrorist attacks is a good example. Unfortunately, that strutting and flexing doesnt solve the problem of terrorism and usually makes things worse. What is needed is more honesty about what causes radical Islamists sporadic terrorist attacks on Western nations, which would lead to a more measured and effective response.
The French air strikes are in retaliation for the terror attacks, with little regard for why the terrorists attacked France in the first place. The attackers did not attack Luxembourg. As the terrorists were shooting people in Paris, they reportedly yelled that they were retaliating for French bombing in Syria. France, like the British and United States, is a former imperial power and still acts with that mentality by using force excessively abroad. The French still police their former colonies using military force and regularly are eager participants of U.S. coalitions to attack countries outside that category. For example, France recently sent troops into the African nation of Mali to beat back radical Islamists, who had obtained fighters and large quantities of weapons from the mayhem in neighboring Libya (not a former French colony), which had been caused by the French pressuring the United States to lead a coalition to overthrow Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Nobody likes to be attacked or occupied, but Muslims have a particular aversion to being ruled by non-Muslims, as the British, French, and Americans have found out in the post-World War II era. Up until World War I, the Middle East was fairly quiet when the Muslim Ottoman Turks ruled fellow Islamic peoples. After that war, the British and French decided to destroyinstead of the smarter course of preservingthe losing Ottoman Empire and divide its vast territory between them. They chopped the caliphate up into Western-style countries with secular governments, both nonviable for Muslim populations. The boundaries those Western powers drew were for their convenience, crossing ethnic, sectarian, and tribal lines. The turmoil in Iraq and Syria today has arisen because of these arbitrary and artificial boundaries. Also, the Islamic religion sees no separation of church and state, so creating secular governments is very foreign to the Muslim world. The root of the problem is that Western imposition of such governmental structures hasnt worked and the region is struggling to find a suitable replacement. The brutal and radical Islamist groups al Qaeda and its spin-off ISIS want to restore the Islamic empire or caliphate, which would be ruled by a traditional caliph who is both the political and religious leader of the entire Muslim community.
To be successful in war, the great general Napoleon believed that a commander needed to get inside the head of the enemy. Unfortunately, the United States, France, and Britain are in denial and have made no attempt to even consider the aforementioned root causes of Islamist terrorism. Radical strains of Islam have been around for centuries, and have occasionally attacked Europe. Of course, during the crusades, Christians attacked the Muslim world. In modern times, the attacking mostly has gone one waythe wealthy West attacking much poorer Muslim nations. Thus, Muslim countries resent Western interference in their affairs, which they regard as continuation of the long period of Western colonialism in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Western military attacks and occupations have killed far more Muslims than the sporadic small-scale terrorist attacks (including 9/11) have killed Westerners. There is natural Western revulsion and anger when one of these terrorist attacks occurs, but they are usually in retaliation for Western military actions in Muslim countries. Terrorism is the poor mans (and occasionally womans) retaliatory weapon. Yet most residents of the three former imperial nations do not know (or dont care) that their governments have a long record of killing more Muslim innocents on a much grander scale. Lets briefly review the U.S. governments record and how turbocharged Islamic terror groups have come about.
In 1982, in support of the non-Muslim Israeli invasion of majority-Muslim Lebanon, the non-Muslim United States, under the leadership of Ronald Reagan, sent U.S. "peacekeepers" to Lebanon, who then proceeded to effectively fight on the side of the Christian minority in the ensuing civil war. When radical Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines, Reagan ignominiously withdrew U.S. forces (he should have never sent them in the first place). Osama bin Laden wrote that he first realized that Western countries could be displaced from Muslim soil through such attacks. He was reinforced in this belief when he and other Islamist fighters in Afghanistanfinanced, armed, and trained by the United Statesforced the withdrawal of Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s.
Bin Laden then went home to Saudi Arabia after this war and found U.S. forces stationed on the holiest lands in Islam after the first Persian Gulf War. This needless residual U.S. forceSaddam Hussein had been beaten down and was no longer a threat to his neighborsmotivated bin Laden to start attacking U.S. forces and embassies overseas to first bait the United States further into the region, decisively defeat it, and thus kick it out of the region for good. Attacking a superpower also garnered the group publicity, more volunteers, and greater monetary contributions. However, President Bill Clinton just wouldnt take the bait. Bin Laden helped Muhammed Aideed, a Somali warlord, drive a small U.S. force from Somalia in 1993, attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the U.S.S. Cole in 2000. Clinton wisely limited his retaliatory strikes to surgical responses, but failed get to the heart of bin Ladens network. Then came George W. Bush, who swallowed bin Ladens bait beyond the terrorists wildest dreams.
Bush not only was drawn into the same Afghan quagmire that the Soviets and British had been unsuccessfully mired in, but also attacked another Muslim countryIraqwhich had no role in the 9/11 attacks. This war created many new Islamic radicals, both within Iraq and from the outside rushing in to fight against the foreign occupier there. Al Qaeda in Iraq was born, an affiliate that was even more savage than the main group in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Thus, the needless and counterproductive invasion of Iraq caused terrorism within that country and around the world to spike. The war also made Islamist terrorist groups more apocalyptic, which made them less risk averse and thus more dangerous. It couldnt get any worse could it? Yes.
In U.S. prisons in Iraq, al Qaeda in Iraq then morphed into the even more brutal ISIS, which took over parts of Iraq and Syria and is now baiting the West by attacks on other countries, including bombings in Lebanon, destruction of the Russian airliner over Egypt, and the attacks in France. And the West will continue taking ISISs bait by using high profile military retaliation on Muslim lands, which in turn only creates ever more radical Islamist terror groups. Whats next, a super ISIS?
After the attacks in Paris, President Obama dragged out the "war of civilizations" rhetoric, which was first used after 9/11. Yet this is not a war of the Western civilization versus the Muslim civilization. It has always been a heinous Islamist reaction and retaliation to continued Western neo-colonial meddling in Muslim lands. It is not siding with the immoral terrorists to analyze why they are attacking. In fact, being honest with ourselves about why they are attacking us might make our response more effective and save many lives both in the West and in the Middle East. Then what should the Wests response be? It is naïve to believe that after the 9/11 or Paris attacks that understandable demands for revenge wont occur. But instead of over-the-top responses by weak leaders, such as George W. Bush or Francois Hollande, we need strong and effective leaders to withstand the pressure for excessive and thus counterproductive responsesexactly what the terrorists want. If retaliation is to occur, leaders should |
Given that CSS repeats a lot of the same strings, it’ll compress very small, so let’s opt for 1 big style sheet.
Currently, there are a lot of hacky solutions to solve the problem that node doesn’t know how to require a css file. Maybe you’ve seen some:
Simply ignore css files on the server (AKA I don’t give a FOUC)
Stick a process.env.BROWSER in EVERY single component
in EVERY single component Dig into the webpack stats.json, extract the referenced CSS files, & inject them into the requires when on the server
, extract the referenced CSS files, & inject them into the requires when on the server Give every component a this.styles which its parent reads, all the way up the tree until you can create your own <style> tag
which its parent reads, all the way up the tree until you can create your own tag Put the styles in a component’s context
I don’t like any of them. Rewriting your components just to achieve SSR seems wrong. So, I decided to make a webpack build of my router on the server. Since webpack knows what to do with the css files, it can build the entire router & then use that to render a page on the server side. Webpack makes this easy if you know what to do: just set your target to ‘node’ and your output.libraryTarget: “commonjs2”. https://github.com/mattkrick/meatier/blob/master/webpack/webpack.config.server.js
Next, use the ExtractTextPlugin to create your css file. With both webpack 1 & 2, I got some unexpected behavior where setting the plugin’s allChunks to true would create multiple CSS files, but also put all the contents in the main css file. To solve this, I limit the chunks to 1 with LimitChunkCountPlugin. The end result is 1 prerendered router that your server can use to render some HTML, and a CSS file that has all the styles that your site will use.
For faster server startup times (assuming you’re using babel on the server), you can exclude this prerendered bundle with the following options:
require('babel-register')({
only(filename) {
return (filename.indexOf('build') === -1 && filename.indexOf('node_modules') === -1);
}
});
Closing Remarks
Now you know how to write a production ready webpack config. It works using server side rendering. It doesn’t need javascript enabled on the client. Best of all, you don’t need to rewrite every component to handle styling. As an addd bonus, it’s really fast to develop on: anytime you’re working on the server, just run your production build so you don’t need to recompile your client side on every restart.
I hope this gave you the confidence to try more aggressive webpack configs. Go ahead and check out the Meatier repo and if you have any questions or suggestions, don’t be afraid to reach out.Verizon has never had a good relationship with the few customers still holding on to its unlimited data plans. The company has been trying over the past few years to get those customers to upgrade to newer, restricted plans, but despite its best efforts, many customer still remain on these plans. For some users this is fine, but Verizon is sick and tired of those using “an extraordinary amount of data” on their unlimited plans and will soon disconnect those users.
The best gifts for Android users
Verizon is currently in the process of notifying users that use in excess of 100GB of data per month that they have two options: change plans or let their accounts be closed. For those users there is only one plan that offers a massive amount of data, Verizon’s 100GB plan. It should be mentioned, of course, that plan costs $450 a month.
Droid Life originally reported this news yesterday with Verizon confirming the news to a number of publications with the following statement:
Because our network is a shared resource and we need to ensure all customers have a great mobile experience with Verizon, we are notifying a very small group of customers on unlimited plans who use an extraordinary amount of data that they must move to one of the new Verizon Plans by August 31, 2016. These users are using data amounts well in excess of our largest plan size (100GB). While the Verizon Plan at 100GB is designed to be shared across multiple users, each line receiving notification to move to the new Verizon Plan is using well in excess of that on a single device.
If you happen to fall on Verizon’s list of users who use too much data, you should be notified both by text and through the mail that you’ll need to sign up for a new plan or have your line shut off by August 31st. If your line is shut off, you will have the option to reactivate it with one of Verizon’s limited plans.I recently argued with a friend about the best time of day to post on Instagram to maximize the number of likes on a given picture. We agreed that people view Instagram most frequently in nighttime hours, from around 8 to 11 PM.
I posited that the best strategy was to post at the beginning of the peak hours, around 8 or 9 PM. Most people are online around this time, so the picture will gain maximum exposure.
My friend argued that the best route was to post early in the day, around 9 or 10 AM. Although fewer people are online, many fewer images are posted, so any post will be viewed and therefore liked by more people.
It’s easy to convince yourself that either of these viewpoints is valid. However, since Instagram rolled out their algorithmic feed a year ago, it’s more difficult to see which (if either) of these viewpoints will be valid. In fact, the purpose of the switch from chronological order was to reduce this correlation between the time of day of a post and its exposure.
The specifics of the algorithm Instagram uses to populate its feed are undisclosed and unclear. The basic idea is that post quality will drive the post upward in the News Feed as long as it is still relevant to people. So as people react (by liking or commenting) to media they view, it will stay near the top of the feed. This strategy means that posts are ordered by some function of relevance and recency.
To determine the best time to post to maximize likes, I turned to the data. I wanted to download a lot of data from Instagram and sift through it to determine the post time that causes images to get the most likes.
Getting the Data
Instagram has a public API that developers can use to fetch certain data from Instagram. However, there is a very complicated authentication process required to make any request. Plus, the API hasn’t been updated in over a year. As such, I opted to use a private API. This library allows unlimited access to all of the resources you see when using the app, and all you have to do is provide a username and password. This is technically against Instagram’s terms of service. (Sorry, Instagram, but you left me no choice! I spaced out each of my requests to the API by a few seconds so that I wasn’t requesting resources any faster than a regular Instagram user might.)
To answer this question, I chose to analyze the posts of each person I follow on Instagram. This also allowed me to analyze data directly relevant to my social sphere.
(Note: Instagram didn’t allow me to differentiate between users by time zone. This data set would be more illuminating if it only included likes from people who are also on Eastern time.)
My process for downloading all of this data looked something like this:
Log into the API and gain access to resources on Instagram. Download a list of everyone that I follow and save their User IDs along with the number of followers that they have. Filter out people with fewer than 20 or over 1,000 followers. (This eliminates people who don’t use Instagram much and accounts like @natgeo which would skew my data set). For each remaining user, download a list of all of the media that they’ve ever posted. Create a new object for each media item containing the number of likes, the date and time of the post, and the number of followers that the poster had. I also downloaded the caption. Save all of these objects to disk (I chose CSV format for ease of access). Filter out pictures posted from before the day Instagram finished phasing out the sequential posting strategy (June 7th, 2016). Process.
I wrote a Python script to perform these operations and save all 80,000 data points to a CSV file. Since I did all of the math before exporting the data, I could easily analyze the file using data visualization software. I chose Tableau to visualize the exported data. All of my code is available in a repository on Github. Download the code and run it to generate the same data for your own followers.
The Importance of a Caption
Once I’d obtained the data, I looked for an easy question to answer. There are many ways to analyze a set of the data from 80,000 images. I chose to look at the captions. But without using some fancy natural language processing tools, it’s hard to determine anything interesting. Here’s a visualization of the difference in likes between images with and without captions:
Median Number of Likes for Media With and Without Captions
Out of 77,268 data points, 3,278 (4.24%) of them did not have captions. The median like count overall for all images was 78. Captioned pictures, however, had a median like count of 81 (slightly higher). More surprisingly, pictures without captions had a median of 28 likes! This shows a significant difference in users’ reactions to pictures with captions than pictures without them.
Making Sense of the Data
The first step to analyze this data would be to verify our original assumption. Is there really a “peak time” where most followers are on Instagram? I computed the number of posts during each hour of the day to see for myself.
Median Number of Posts by Time of Day
Clearly, there is a correlation. The number of posts gradually increases from the morning until the peak time, between 9 and 10 pm, at which point the number of posts decreases again until between 4 and 5 AM, which is the least popular time for those I follow to post media on Instagram. This is a pretty good indicator that our original assumption is valid: most people are on Instagram in the evenings, specifically around 9 PM.
Again, trends would be more clear if Instagram still had a chronological feed instead of an algorithmic one. But hopefully some patterns should still emerge. To decide which is the best time of day to post at, let’s look at the typical like count across hours of the day.
Median Number of Likes by Time of Day
Interval (min): 10 15 30 60 120
Remember that the median number of likes throughout the entire data set is 78. Between the hours of 9 and 10 PM, however, that figure rises to 90. On the other hand, posts made between 6 and 7 AM have a median of 42 likes. If we assume that the number of likes correlates with the number of views of a given post then we can state that posts get the most views during “peak hours” in the evening, especially around 9 PM. Adjust the time interval and you will see the same trend.
The data are somewhat normally distributed close to 9:20 PM. According to our first finding, this is also right about the time when most people are posting on Instagram, and probably when the most users are online. This shows that, although Instagram no longer displays posts in order of creation, the time of day posted still influences a post’s exposure.
Thus, theory 1 seems to be correct: to maximize the number of likes on an Instagram post, one should post in the evening, when most people are online.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.If you’re a Windows Insider who owns a Lumia 950 or Lumia 950 XL, you’ll be glad to hear Microsoft has finally opened the floodgates to allow 950 users to enroll in the Insider program and begin downloading new builds. Today’s build is build 10586.29, the same offered last week for older handsets. This build includes a number of bug fixes over 10586.0, which is the build the 950/XL launched with.
This build introduces the following fixes:
You will see additional improvements in upgrade experience, including devices with limited free space, map rendering on update, and RCS enabled device settings.
Improved application backwards compatibility for Windows Phone 8.1 Silverlight applications.
Edge performance and stability has been improved. Auto-completion has been updated to allow user to more easily edit the end of the URL in the address bar.
Additional Bluetooth stability improvements.
We have resolve issues on switching the active cellular connectivity profile on Dual SIM devices.
Data profiles are now correctly restored in the out of box experience that would prevent some devices from sending or receiving MMS messages.
If you haven’t already, check for updates now as the update has just started rolling out? Tell us, will you be enrolling your new Lumia 950/XL with the Insider program?
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Further reading: Lumia 950COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian zoologists have found about 30 plastic bags and other plastic waste in the stomach of a beaked whale that had beached on a southwestern Norway coast.
The visibly sick, 2-ton goose-beaked whale was euthanized, Terje Lislevand of Bergen University said Friday.
"The (whale's) stomach was full of plastic," Lislevand said, adding that its intestine "had no food, only some remnants of a squid's head in addition to a thin fat layer."
Lislevand says the non-biodegradable waste was "probably the reason" why the male whale repeatedly beached last Saturday in shallow waters off Sotra, an island west of Bergen, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of the capital of Oslo.
It size — about 6 meters (20 feet) — showed the whale was an adult.
The U.N. estimates that 8 million tons of plastic trash are dumped into the world's oceans each year, he said.Mobbing is “bullying on steroids,” a horrifying new trend whereby a bully enlists co-workers to collude in a relentless campaign of psychological terror against a hapless target.
Targets are usually anyone who is “different” from the organizational norm. Usually victims are competent, educated, resilient, outspoken, challenge the status quo, are more empathic or attractive and tend to be women, aged 32 to 55. Targets also can be racially different or part of a minority group.
The target receives ridicule, humiliation, and eventually, removal from the workplace. It leaves the victim reeling with no idea what happened or why. It takes away a person’s safety in the world, dignity, identity and belonging and damages his or her mental and physical health. The effects also radiate outward toward the target’s partner, family, friends and even community.
Because an employee is being targeted and criticized, he or she may be seen as a “troublemaker” by others and thus be ignored and isolated by otherwise OK people. Former allies can thus turn against him and he is left socially isolated. They think: “well, he’s being criticized by management, there must be something wrong with him and I don’t want to be tarred by the same brush!”
Gossip and innuendo spread behind closed doors before the target is aware of what’s happening, as previously loyal co-workers are enlisted to provide personal information that substantiates damaging rumors. Often the person instigating the mobbing is emotionally immature and threatened in some way by the target. People with personality disorders often employed tactics such as “splitting,” which pits members of a team against each other in order to exact revenge against a perceived slight or insult by the target.
At least 30 percent of bullying is mobbing — and the tendency is rising.
In Australia, a government inquiry revealed that calls about workplace bullying had increased by 70 percent in three years. Statistics show that bullying affects one in three employees; what is really worrying is that one in two have witnessed bullying but have done nothing about it. Moreover, the actual incidence of bullying is likely to be much higher: for every case reported, eight to 20 cases are going unreported (Faure-Brac, 2012).
Mobbing is more likely to occur when a number of workplace factors are present. Understanding what they are can help to protect yourself from staying in, or taking a job in a toxic organization. For example, certain industries facing increased financial pressure because market demand is on the wane are more mobbing-prone. These organizations are driven by the dollar and accountable only to shareholders and directors. This creates toxic environments where managers turn a blind eye to bullying and mobbing and may even encourage it (Duffy & Sperry, 2013).
Organizations that are driven by bureaucracy, e.g., government departments, are arguably the most toxic. They appear to have policies and procedures to ensure a safe workplace, but they will redefine bullying as a “personality conflict” and end up offering no real protection. In essence, bad behavior is tolerated and left to escalate. The 2012 film, “Murder By Proxy: How America Went Postal” is a fascinating portrayal of the ultimate in toxic workplaces.
In contrast, healthy organizations are accountable to a wider range of shareholders including customers, staff and community. They also have values that are centered on caring for others (Duffy & Sperry, 2013).
The best way to deal with workplace mobbing is to increase resilience, practice self-care and get out as soon as possible. It is often impossible to win against organizations that tacitly support mobbing. Five steps that you must take to ensure recovery are:
Document everything in detail. From the earliest signs of something “not quite right,” even if it’s just a gut feeling, keep a journal of all the incidents you experience. The more evidence you have, the better your recourse to legal action later. Give yourself space and time to figure things out. Seek someone in authority you can trust at work to disclose to. Seeking redress from the organisation might not be a safe first step for you to take. See a doctor for stress leave and a worker’s compensation claim. Get a good recovery team to stop the isolation. A good clinical psychologist will help you develop recovery strategies, liaise with your doctor and lawyer, write a psychological injury report and advocate for you. A good lawyer will help you initiate legal action. A good doctor will treat bullying’s medical repercussions. Family and friends will understand, believe and support you. Make self-care a priority.Focus on what you love. Engage in a daily spiritual practice and follow good diet and exercise plans. Engage in meaningful life activities. Set new goals. Undertake creative pursuits. Focus on fun and laughter.
Victims of bullying who want more detail on how to protect themselves can learn more about developing effective strategies against bullies by downloading Dr Sophie Henshaw’s exclusive report.
References
Duffy, M. & Sperry, L. (2013). Overcoming Mobbing: A Recovery Guide for Workplace Aggression and Bullying. USA: Oxford University Press.
Faure-Brac, J. (2012). A Slow Poison: Behind The Alarming Statistics On Workplace Bullying Are Personal Stories Of Grief And Hardship, Revealed During A Parliamentary Inquiry.
Bullying at Work: Workplace Mobbing is on the RiseRabi Chitrakar took Bell to court after he discovered the company did a credit check without his consent. (CBC)
A Nova Scotia man says he had to hound Bell TV for the $21,000 owed to him after the communications giant accessed his credit report without permission.
Rabi Chitrakar, who lives in Beechville, said the cheque was finally couriered to him before Christmas.
"It's sort of a vindication, a validation that I was always on the right path from the very beginning," he said.
Chitrakar ordered satellite television in December 2010, but later found out Bell performed a credit check without his consent, potentially damaging his credit rating.
Chitrakar said he wanted an apology and the credit inquiry wiped from his record. Instead, he said, he got the runaround. So he took his case, without a lawyer, to court.
Last fall, a Federal Court judge called Bell's conduct "reprehensible" and ordered the company to pay thousands of dollars in damages. Justice Michael Phelan said the company broke the law and breached Chitrakar's privacy.
The company told CBC that credit checks on customers are "standard procedure."
Getting award took 'a lot of work'
After the settlement, Chitrakar said he had to chase Bell to get the money.
He said there were faxes and phone calls, even an email to the president of Bell.
The court used harsh language to describe Bell’s conduct, saying the matter was “reprehensible” and chided the company for not even showing up to the court hearing.
Chitrakar said he advised the company he was looking into enforcing the court order, including the possibility of
contempt of court and a seizure of assets.
"A lot of work … hundreds of minutes on the phone again," he said. "I can't believe the arrogance of the company."
He said the day after he sent the president the email, a senior lawyer at Bell advised him a cheque was on the way.
"It feels nice. It's not just about the money. It's finally something that a big corporation like Bell is not above the law."
Chitrakar said his next step is trying to undo the damage.
He said he'll be sending the credit bureau a photocopy of the cheque, in the hopes it will remove the credit inquiry from his record.
As for the money, he’s thinking about putting that towards law school.From what I've seen in my five minutes of research on this company, it seems to be a fairly typical multi level marketing company. An MLM company is different from, say Tupperware, which is a direct sales company. In most MLM companies, the true purpose is to build your downline, this is the list of people you've suckered into selling the company's products. This is really the only way to make money in MLM because your downline needs to purchase and stock their own inventory for which you receive a commission. Most people who get involved in MLM end up wasting thousands of dollars and have boxes full of crap in ther garage.
I'm really not surprised to hear of an MLM company doing something like this. They depend on good publicity and the ignorance of those they pull in.
The ironic part of the story is that the blog likely rose to the top of Google because it had much better content and links to it than the majority of the MLM affiliate sites all over the web.Beatboxing, hand claps, breath noises, finger snaps, foot stomps, “hey’s & ha’s” — these are the various types of body percussion that can add a little extra sumpin’ sumpin’ to your record. Here’s a breakdown of a few ways to approach recording and mixing them.
1. Beatboxing
Beatboxing is the art of making drum sounds with your voice. I find there’s two ways to approach this.
One is the “hey, I’m beatboxing” way which is to capture the vocal as a traditional vocal. This is the Justin Timberlake style of beatboxing sounds.
A second way is to actually bring out the percussive power of the voice. For this I like to use a dynamic mic, usually a kick drum mic to add extra weight, and I place it very close to the vocalist’s mouth. From there I find that extreme EQ’ing can be very useful — narrow resonances, lots of top-end, lots of bottom, or whatever it needs really.
It’s not uncommon for me to be adding 12 dB plus top-end to a beatbox recording.
Hard compression can also be cool for this. Basically I’m trying to make the voice sound like real drums.
2. Hand Claps
There’s also a couple ways to interpret hand claps. The “in the room” sound, and the “Hip-Hop direct clap” approach.
In the room, I may use a spaced pair of cardioids five feet or so from the clap. If I want group claps, I want everyone clapping in the room at the same time and I’ll probably do a few passes and layer that up.
If I want the direct clap sound, I’m probably using one carefully aimed and positioned figure-8 mic.
The idea is that without the room, the clap has no sustain, but that same room sound is also what sinks the clap back into the stereo field. There’s usually a sweet spot around 3-5 feet from the clap. Here I’m usually using a ribbon mic, and choosing the specific one very carefully. Ribbons tend to have uniquely shaped top-end responses. I’ll get to why that’s important in a minute.
The processing for natural sounding claps is fairly straightforward. A bit of compression, and if necessary, some EQ to even out the sound — possibly add some low end or treble depending on the mix.
Panning the various layers to different positions can sound cool as well.
For direct claps I’m doing some pretty extreme processing. First, I’m probably going head first into a limiter. The beef of a hand clap exists within about a couple milliseconds right between the attack and the room sound, so squashing the beejeezus out of it can sometimes sound pretty good.
I tend to also be boosting a lot of high-end into the limiter. I find the unique texture of a ribbon mic is great for adding character to a hand clap. I’d rather get a darker ribbon with a lot of character and EQ it up then use a smooth sounding condenser with natural brightness.
Finger snaps work in a similar fashion. The key difference is that the projection of a finger snap is shorter than a hand clap, so the mics need to be a bit closer.
3. Breath noises
Breathe into the mic. Filter out the low-end and adjust the midrange accordingly.
This one ain’t rocket science.
4. Foot Stomps
The absolute best foot stomps come from using a sounding board like the ones found in a foley studio. That said, just using a drum riser or even the studio floor can work.
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For an “in the room” kind of sound, it’s cardioid condensers all the way.
For a direct sound, think of the floor like a kick drum. D112/SM7/RE20 etc., just off-center of the surface tends to work well.
The exception here is if you are literally using the studio floor. For that, there’s too much tension to get a good sound from the center, so you’re better off using a condenser closer to where the foot is actually hitting the ground. Just be careful no one kicks it.
For processing, foot stomps tend to benefit from some sculpting and boosting in the low-end, as well as some focusing in the 400-800 Hz range where the knocky overtones show up.
Compression can also be a good weapon here to bring up the “boom” sound of the stomp.
5. Hey’s and Ha’s
“Hey’s” and “Ha’s” can be great for adding ear candy or front-to-back imaging to a record.
For the former, I find a single “hey” with distortion and/or telephonic filtering panned out from the center with a touch of reverb or delay can add a lot to some records.
For the latter, setting a reverb return with almost none of the dry sound can really help create a far “back wall” and define the space.
Obviously, if you’re looking for the natural space of the room, just mic the “hey” from far away.
The exception here is that in Trap style Hip-Hop records, a group “hey” is meant to work like drums. So I mix those more forward. I’ll hard gate the tail of the “hey” and then hard compress the signal to bring out the body.
Conclusion
Body noises are an often overlooked way of adding interest to a record.
Whether the noises are meant to be features or just subtly add ear candy there are a lot of good options to choose from.
And the best part is, you don’t need an instrument to make it happen — you always have a hand clap just an arms length away (ha ha ha … no … not funny? ok.)
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Would you rather play Ajax at home or NAC away?
Obviously, Ajax is a lot stronger than NAC, but playing at home is preferable to playing away from home… Difficult choice I would say, and luckily, only a hypothetical one, since managers control a lot, but not which team they play at which venue in competitive matches!
Just like the concept of Relative Shots Rate (RSR) can be used to separate offensive and defensive strength, it can also be used to separate home and away strength. RSR is calculated using a team’s performance relative to the performance of other teams that played the same fixture, and not simply by counting shots alone, like the Total Shots Rate, or TSR, would do. This means that a correction for the strength of opposition and the venue of the fixture is implemented in the measurement of RSR.
The diagram below depicts team on the basis of their RSR in home (vertical axis) and away (horizontal axis) matches. The fat red line is the trend line that separates teams that are stronger away from home (below the line) from teams that are stronger at home (above the line).
Several obvious things can be noted, before we will go on to discuss most of the teams.
First, as expected, home teams create more shots. The average number of shots for home teams in the 2012/13 Eredivisie so far has been 14.33, while away teams have created an average of 11.11 shots. The average home RSR is therefore 14.33 / (14.33 + 11.11) = 0.563, while the average away RSR is 0.437.
Second, and also not a surprise, teams that have a higher home RSR also tend to have a higher away RSR. In fact, there a no teams with a higher away RSR than home RSR, indicating that there are no teams that are truly stronger away from home than at home. There may be quite some teams that have picked up most points away from home this early in the season (PEC Zwolle, Groningen, ADO, N.E.C., Utrecht and Vitesse), but no teams consistently produce more points on the road than at home.
From the graph it is quite clear that PSV separates itself from the rest of the title contenders, both at home and on the road. They are the best in both RSR’s, and by a distance. The three of Ajax, Feyenoord and Twente are quite close together and are quite close to the trend line, indicating a good balance between home and away strength.
Heracles, Utrecht and RKC are 5th, 6th and 7th in overall RSR, but Utrecht does so in a different style than Heracles and RKC. Utrecht’s home performance is one of the most disappointing ones in the league (with N.E.C. and PEC Zwolle who are also way below the trend line), while away from home Utrecht is right up there with title contenders like Feyenoord and Twente. Heracles and RKC, on the other hand, perform at the level of Feyenoord and Twente when playing at home, but are just plain mediocre on the road with exactly average away RSR’s.
Another outlier is Vitesse. They only foreign-owned Dutch club are presently second in the league table, but their RSR does not indicate they earned that spot through the quality of play. Their home RSR is 7th in the league, but only league numbers 17 and 18, Roda and Willem II perform worse than Vitesse does on the road.
In the end
In two consecutive posts, we’ve demonstrated how RSR can be used to separate both offensive and defensive strength, and home and away strength. In the next post we will combine these two elements and come up with some interesting food for thought as not all teams strike the same balance between offense and defense when play home or away.
Oh, and the answer to the initial question, NAC’s home RSR and Ajax’ away RSR are both 0.48.
Data provided by Infostrada SportsAfter three consecutive weeks of abysmal football, the Buffalo Bills finally made one of their preseason games something to watch — at least for the first half.
The Bills ended up winning the game by 10 points, but what really matters is how certain players performed. Buffalo must cut down its roster to 53 by 4 p.m. EST on Saturday. The only players exempt are Walter Powell and Seantrel Henderson, who are currently suspended.
Here are three takeaways from the final preseason game ahead of the regular-season opener against the New York Jets.
Nathan Peterman is incredibly comfortable
Buffalo’s rookie quarterback started off hot and never cooled off. Peterman drove the Bills down to the Lions’ red zone on his first drive, completing all but one of his first eight passes. The lone incompletion came on a 3rd-and-2 pass to tight end Nick O’Leary.
The fifth-round pick played well, finishing 9-for-11 with 81 yards through the air. Many analysts quelled the Peterman hype this week by knocking the rookie’s accuracy because he entered the game with roughly a 50-percent completion percentage. Peterman responded by completing 81 percent of his passes against the Lions’ secondary.
Bills’ general manager Brandon Beane joined the TV broadcast booth during the second half and commented on Peterman’s progression. When asked how he feels about the rookie as an NFL quarterback, Beane said, “It’s not too big for him.”
Although Peterman has played well this preseason, barring any setback, Tyrod Taylor will be the starter come Week 1.Npower to axe 1,460 call centre staff just before Christmas as it sends customer service jobs to India
Job cuts have been slammed by unions
German firm says it will result in 'improved customer service'
Npower currently receives 202.5 complaints for every 100,000 customers
Npower has announced it is axing almost 1,460 call centre staff as it outsources some of its back office operations to India.
Just weeks before Christmas, the energy giant has decided to close some of its British call centres.
The move was condemned by the GMB and Unison unions, who called for a public inquiry into the way Npower is being run.
Jobs cut: Npower has come under fire for pulling resources from the UK
Npower's offices in Stoke on Trent will close, affecting about 550 employees, and one of three offices in Oldbury will close, making 400 workers redundant.
There will also be a number of redundancies at npower's sites at Rainton Bridge, Sunderland, affecting around 430 employees, and in Leeds, affecting 80 workers.
A site in Thornaby will close but employees will relocate to npower's head office in Rainton.
Npower is owned by RWE of Germany, which has just dumped a project to build a vast wind farm in the Bristol Channel. Work will be outsourced to Capita and Tata Consultancy Services.
Colin Smith, of the GMB, said: ‘It is an absolute scandal that a company like Npower can operate as a cartel player in a captive market, while jobs are placed offshore.’
Matthew Lay of Unison said: ‘If the company goes ahead with this disastrous plan, it will backfire badly, damaging their already tarnished reputation for service.’
Npower said it ‘has been undertaking a major review of sites, operations and people across the UK to improve.'
It added that it is aimed to deliver a more ‘efficient, flexible and improved customer experience’.
The energy firm also said its customers would continue to be served on the phone by people based in UK call centres, with back-office functions outsourced to India.
Over the next eight months, about 1,460 posts will be made redundant subject to a 60 day consultation programme which Npower will now be undertaking with all affected employees.
Enhanced redundancy terms are being offered and there will also be a full package of on-site advice and support, said the company.
Npower receives 202.5 complaints for every 100,000 customers – five times more than the best energy supplier.
Its poor record on complaints, a 10.2 per cent price rise and its failure to pay tax have angered many customers.Youth aged 18 to 29 are most positive about finding a quality job right now. Poll: Jobs optimism on the rise
American optimism about finding a quality job rose substantially in March, with 19 percent of those surveyed saying this is a “good time” to find employment, according to a survey released Friday.
Last month, only 12 percent had said that it was a good time to find a quality job, Gallup reports.
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Although 78 percent of those polled still think it is a “bad time” to find a quality job, this figure is the lowest since September 2008.
Interestingly, Americans aged 18-29 are most positive about find a quality job right now, as 29 percent said this is a good time for it, compared to 13 percent of those aged 50-64.
Men also are more optimistic on this question than women, as 23 percent believe it’s a good time to find a job. Only 15 percent of women say the same.
The unemployment rate currently is 8.3 percent, down from a high of 10 percent in October 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It is good news for the economy and the Obama administration that more Americans are becoming optimistic about the availability of quality jobs.” While the U.S. economy is improving slowly, Gallup reported, “it is not clear that the current rate of economic growth is commensurate with the creation of a large number of new high-quality jobs in the near future.”
The Gallup poll was conducted March 8-11, with a sample of 1,024 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
This article tagged under: Economy
Polls
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Deliveroo has said it will increase its staff by a third when it opens a new London head office later this year.
The UK-based food delivery company is the latest tech firm to expand in the capital, planning to hire more than 300 "high-skilled, high-tech" recruits.
Deliveroo reported a 650% rise in takeaway orders last year.
But as it adds more office staff, the firm is coming under growing pressure to give its freelance |
different institutions participated in Coach To Cure MD events. Both those figures are higher than in any of the program's first six years (2008-13). The five-year fundraising total is just over $1 million.
The Coach to Cure MD logo patches the coaches will wear on the sideline are provided by Windswept Marketing, a company with a 50 year heritage in the embroidered emblem and advertising specialty industry. Windswept specializes in helping companies and organizations create custom branding solutions for their corporate branding needs.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed during childhood and primarily affects boys across all races and cultures. Boys and young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy develop progressive muscle weakness that eventually causes loss of mobility, wheelchair dependency and a decline in respiratory and cardiac function. Currently, there is no cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and limited therapeutic options exist.
"Our coaches look forward to participating in Coach to Cure MD every year," said Grant Teaff, executive director of the AFCA and legendary former coach at Baylor University. "It is uplifting to see the increased fundraising totals each year, knowing this effort is truly making a difference in advancing Duchenne MD research."
"The American Football Coaches Association is proud to be involved with raising funds and awareness for the fight against Duchenne muscular dystrophy," said Ithaca College head coach and AFCA President Mike Welch. "The annual Coach To Cure MD program is a highlight of the college football season for everyone in our profession and we're pleased to continue this for a seventh consecutive year. We continue to work toward the goal of curing this deadly disease."
In addition to the coaches' efforts, families affected with Duchenne muscular dystrophy will also gather for fund-raising tailgate parties on campuses around the country to encourage more fans to get involved.
"Since PPMD's inception twenty years ago, we have had one goal - to end Duchenne," said Pat Furlong, founding president and CEO of PPMD. "Raising awareness is one of the greatest tools we have to fight this horrible disease. Thanks to our seven-year partnership with the AFCA, more people know about Duchenne and more children are being diagnosed at an earlier age. The coaches that participate in this program are heroes to the Duchenne community. When a coach wears a patch on his arm September 27, he should know that families and friends around the country are cheering for him and thanking him. With the AFCA on our team, we will continue to tackle Duchenne and we couldn't be more grateful."
About the AFCA
The American Football Coaches Association was founded in 1922 and is considered the primary professional association for football coaches at all levels of competition. The 10,000-member organization includes more than 90 percent of head coaches at the 700-plus schools that sponsor football at the college level. Members include coaches from Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan and Mexico.
About PPMD
Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1994 by parents of children with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. The organization's mission is to end Duchenne. We accelerate research, raise our voices in Washington, demand optimal care for all young men and educate the global community. PPMD is headquartered in Middletown, Ohio with offices in Fort Lee, New Jersey. For more information, visit www.parentprojectmd.org.Illegal Aliens Scam Tax Refunds
The problem was not a revelation to the Northern California IRS field-office worker who viewed the report: “The fraud has been going on for years,” he told WND. “Business as usual.” “As the video indicates the Service does nothing,” he said, asking WND not use his name to avoid reprisal.
Giant Corporations Scam Tax Refunds
The Washington Post notes: About two-thirds of corporations operating in the United States did not pay taxes annually from 1998 to 2005, according to a new report scheduled to be made public today from the U.S. Government Accountability Office… In 2005, about 28 percent of large corporations paid no taxes… Dorgan and Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) requested the report out of concern that some corporations were using “transfer pricing” to reduce their tax bills. The practice allows multi-national companies to transfer goods and assets between internal divisions so they can record income in a jurisdiction with low tax rates… [Senator] Levin said: “This report makes clear that too many corporations are using tax trickery to send their profits overseas and avoid paying their fair share in the United States.” Indeed, as... Johnston documents, American multinationals pay much less in taxes than they should because they use a widespread variety of tax-avoidance scams and schemes, including: Selling valuable assets of the American companies to foreign subsidiaries based in tax havens for next to nothing, so that those valuable assets can be taxed at much lower foreign rates Pretending that costs were spent in the United States, so that the companies can count them as costs or deductions in the U.S. and pay less taxes to the American government Booking profits as if they occurred in the subsidiary’s tax haven countries, so that taxes paid on profits are at the much lower safe haven rate Working out sweetheart deals with certain foreign governments, so that the companies can pretend they paid more in foreign taxes than they actually did, to obtain higher U.S. tax credits than are warranted Pretending they are headquartered in tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands or Panama, so that they can enjoy all of the benefits of actually being based in America (including the use of American law and the court system, listing on the Dow, etc.), with the tax benefits associated with having a principal address in a sunny tax haven. And myriad other scams
The World's Richest Hide $31 Trillion Dollars to Avoid Taxes
For years, American taxpayers have been shelling out $4.2 billion dollars per year to pay for a scam. A report by the Inspector General found that some 2 million illegal immigrants have been receiving large tax refunds by pretending that numerous dependents live with them... when, in fact, most of the dependents live in Mexico and have never lived in the United States. Once whistleblowers called attention to this problem, their IRS bosses told them to ignore the fraud and look the other way:br> WND notes (The Federal Reserve has been bailing out foreign banks for years ; but we assume that this is not a backdoor bailout for foreign nationals.)Pulitzer prize winning reporter David Cay Johnston reports that - in 16 states - giant companies pocket your "state income taxes". This includescorporations. Workers are never informed that their "state income taxes" are being pocketed. And states often refuse to make this information public, claiming that it is "proprietary information".br> In addition, big companies use a variety of international scams to avoid taxes Indeed, some of the world's biggest companies not only dodge all taxes, they actually enjoy a negative tax rate... where they are paid money by the U.S. government, just like the illegal immigrants discussed above.A new report from the former chief economist at the prestigious McKinsey firm - an expert on tax havens - concludes that The Guardian notesAbout This Game APPROACH THE EDGE OF HUMANITY.
For long has the humanity been constrained by limits of human body. Most have accepted the imperfection of flesh, but some sought for liberation. To pursue the dream of creating a post-human being – to achieve ideas of transhumanism – is the driving force behind H+ Corporation. Within its facilities technology and homo sapiens became one entity. An organism devoid of humanity’s biological weaknesses.
You board the spaceship Purity-02 – prime complex of the H+ Corporation.
The dream shatters to a nightmare when you realize what has become of Purity-02. Once a research vessel, it has turned into a deadly, deserted trap. To flee Purity-02 you have to investigate the mysteries of the ship. With every passing minute the chances of survival grow slim. Infected with a parasite emitting deadly toxins, you struggle against havoc being wrought within your body. But there is yet a greater danger to evade.
A beast is roaming the ship. A creature known from long-forgotten fables and ancient myths. It could prowl around in any shadow and lurk behind any corner. You must plan your every move. You must survive the infection.
You Must Get Off the Ship.SPRINGFIELD — A prostitution sweep by Springfield police nabbed half a dozen alleged hookers, including one woman who was alive when Harry Truman was president.
At the age of 67, Frances Stewart, a resident of the city's Forest Park neighborhood, was by far the oldest of six women charged with "sexual conduct for a fee" last week.
The Dec. 17 arrests were made along well-known streetwalker beats, including stretches of Main, Maple, School and Union streets in the city's Metro Center, Six Corners and South End neighborhoods.
Other Springfield residents charged with prostitution included:
58-year-old Vivian Lynn Akins, of 19 Avon Place.
33-year-old Billie Starlett Clark, of 182 Quincy St.
32-year-old Katrina Jefferson, of 156 Kensington Ave.
and 40-year-old Renee Funk, of 128 Mill St., who's been arrested for the same offense in the past.
The only out-of-towner caught in the sweep was 35-year-old Delilah Maldonado, of 11 Globe St., West Springfield.
The suspects propositioned undercover male officers over a three-hour period, a Springfield Police Department spokesman told CBS 3 Springfield, media partner of MassLive / The Republican.
All of the women were expected to be arraigned in Springfield District Court.Judgment Day is almost here for Senate Republicans (oh, not this one). I am talking about the upcoming vote on Rep. Paul Ryan’s crazy budget plan that is going to force the Senate Republicans to make a difficult choice (well, it shouldn’t be difficult for those who have economic sanity) on whether or not to support ending Medicare as we know it. The House Republicans chose to embrace it and results have not been pretty for them:
Associated Press: Protesters Greet Paul Ryan in Chicago. “Dozens of protesters carrying signs and chanting ‘Tax the rich’ marched outside a hotel in downtown Chicago to protest a speech by Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. Ryan is the architect of the Republican budget plan, which includes a controversial proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Doug Adams of Chicago was among the protesters. Adams says people need to wake up because Republicans, Wall Street and big business think older Americans are an expensive commodity.” (LINK) Arizona Republic (AZ): Anthem Audience Challenges Quayle During Presentation On Medicare. “U.S. Rep. Ben Quayle had finished a Power Point presentation on the national debt this week when members of the audience started a running commentary and flashing signs that read ‘Hands off our Medicare.’ About 225 people filed into the Fellowship Church in Anthem on Monday to hear about a $14.3 trillion budget shortfall and ways to resolve it. The gathering quickly turned into a sort of political rally, with people arguing with the freshman lawmaker who represents Arizona's 3rd Congressional District, which includes Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.” (LINK) Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV): Heck Town Hall Meeting Sparks Passions. “The crowd didn't just argue with Republican Rep. Joe Heck at a town hall meeting in Boulder City on Wednesday. The 50 people in attendance often shouted at each other, indifferent to whether the Republican federal budget Heck was there to discuss would hurt or help Medicare and the job market.” (LINK) Associated Press(MN): Freshman Rep. Cravaack Defends Medicare Vote. “Terry Bell, 62, of Cambridge, criticized the slides for being inaccurate. He asked Cravaack to point out the last time Republicans produced a balanced budget. ‘Your party has added to the deficit ever since the Ford administration,’ Bell said. ‘The only time you get the least bit concerned is when the Democratic Party gets in.’” (LINK)
Those are just few examples of backlash House Republicans are facing all across the country.
Of course, the traditional media are not covering these events with the same intensity as they were all over the infamous corporate-funded town hall protests by Tea Partiers during the summer of 2009. Nevertheless, the Republicans are feeling the heat, resulting in their rather cowardly disposition heading into next week’s vote. Sensing the momentum, the Congressional Democrats turned up the heat today by releasing a brand spanking new report that shows that Ryan’s “right wing social-engineering” will more than double what older Americans have to pay for health care in every state.
Specifically, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) released a new state-by-state analysis that finds out-of-pocket health-care costs will more than double for residents turning 65 in 2022 under Paul Ryan’s budget plan. From a JEC press release today:
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a typical 65-year-old Medicare beneficiary in 2022 would see their out-of-pocket health care costs increase from $6,154 to $12,513 under the Republican budget. Using that data along with cost-sharing data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the JEC has estimated out-of-pocket costs on a state-by-state basis. While the increase varies by state, residents in all states will see their out-of-pocket expenses more than double when they turn 65 in 2022. Residents in Florida face the largest increase –$7,383. The report also shows that current Medicare beneficiaries will be harmed by the GOP budget, immediately losing preventive services such as mammograms and facing higher prescription drug costs. “This new JEC analysis helps to fill in the picture on just how disastrous and costly the Republican Medicare plan is for our older Americans,” said Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the JEC. “If Republicans have their way, traditional Medicare will no longer exist in 2022. Instead, our elderly will get a voucher to purchase private insurance, but the voucher won’t keep pace with health care costs. The result would be a staggering increase in out-of-pocket costs beginning in 2022. In my state of Pennsylvania, someone turning 65 in 2022 would face a $6,300 increase in their health care expenses. Our elderly Americans cannot afford to have their health care expenses double, but that’s exactly what the Republican plan delivers.” The increased out-of-pocket costs result from older Americans bearing a larger share of health care costs under the Republican plan and the increase in total health care costs that results from shifting from traditional Medicare to a less efficient, more expensive voucher program. “The Republican Medicare plan doesn’t rein in health care costs,” continued Casey. “Instead, it simply shifts the costs onto the backs of our elderly. The Republican ‘solution’ is providing our elderly with dramatically higher costs and less care. Current beneficiaries will suffer and the next generation will face retirement without Medicare and without the peace of mind it offers.”
A nifty breakdown of this report can also be found here. It's not pretty. No wonder Scott Brown is so tangled up over this. He has now been reduced to playing around with prepositions. Senate Republicans are crying that Democrats need to come up with their own “budget plan.” Leader Nancy Pelosi had a simple answer for that whine yesterday: "We have a plan. It’s called Medicare."
So what will these Senate Republicans do? Are they going to throw the older Americans off the cliff? Answers are coming up next week.How do you rate as a husband or wife of the 1930s? Update 4/26/2014: Several of you have emailed me to let me know that the scoring is somehow messed up. Thank you for letting me know! I'm not sure what's going on, but I assume it has to do with an update to PHP or something like that, and it's been over 2 years since I last looked at it, so I'm going to have to get myself back up to speed on it. Until I get the quiz fixed, you can always check the copy of the scale posted on Flickr (linked below) and add them points up manually. This scale was first brought to my attention by the blog Mind Hacks, and after being posted on Boing Boing, a reader realized they had a full copy of the scale and posted it on Flickr. What else was there to do but make it an internet quiz?In an MSNBC segment hosted by Stephanie Ruhle, legal expert Alan Dershowitz responds to breaking reports that President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's contacts with Russians are being investigated. Dershowitz explained how even the worst of the worst things the Trump team is being accused of doing vis-a-vis Russia aren't against the law. "Just simply not crimes," he said.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Let's assume the worst case scenario.
Let's assume the worst case scenario.
Let's assume there was a quid-pro-quo.
Let's assume that the Trump campaign promised: 'If you help us get elected, we'll drop the sanctions.'
How is that different from what President Reagan did with Iran?
President Reagan, the campaign, promised Iran that there would be some quid-pro-quo if Iran didn't hold back and release the hostages after the inauguration of President Reagan.
So, when we start to criminalize things we don't like -- in the absence of federal criminal statue, and I still want to know: Where's the beef?
What is the statue?
What are they investigating them for? Is it obstruction of justice? Is it treason? Is it accesory to hacking?
None of these things seems to me to constitute violations of federal criminal law.
Full interview below:The European Race Evolved in the European Continent - Relatively Recently
- that it was not until about 5800 years ago that light-skin genes, as well as other genes for blue eyes and blonde hair, started to show up at a high frequency among the inhabitants of Europe.
- that mass migration of Bronze Age pastoralists from southern Russia contributed up to 50% of ancestry in some north Europeans.
- that the genetic make-up of the "people of the British Isles" has barely changed since 1400 years ago.
Gravettian Venus
1. Reconstruction of early Upper Paleolithic in Europe based on a cranium from Romania which is 40,000 years old. He is known as the "first European".
2. 26,000 year old ivory head from Europe. Notice brow ridges, heavy jaw and wider nose.
3. Reconstruction of Sunghir Man from an Upper Paleolithic site in Russia about 190 km East of Moscow, dated to approximately 25,000 years BP
4. Reconstruction of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer, who is dated to 7,000 years ago and comes from La Braña-Arintero, Spain. Not known for certain whether eyes were blue; they know they were not brown, but possibly hazel or green. The skin is portrayed as brown.
5. Reconstruction of the 'Bäckaskogswoman' from Skåne, Sweden. She died between 7010 and 6540 BC.
Most of us think of Europe as the ancestral home of white people. But a new study shows that pale skin, as well as other traits such as tallness and ability to digest milk as adults, arrived in most of the continent relatively recently.
The finding implies that for most of their evolutionary history, Europeans were not what many people today would call 'Caucasian'.
Can you not think of a reason Neave made it so dark? Are you not aware of the overwhelming moral compulsion that people in our society have to put the black race at the center of things, even to go so far as to claim that the early Europeans were African blacks?
Anthropologist Alice Roberts: I look at that face and think "I'm actually looking at the face of [my ancestors] from 40,000 years ago."
Corded Ware culture area
1. Upper Paleolithic peoples in Europe who became white,
2.Near Eastern farmers who are racially classified as "Caucasian" and brought a white gene to Europe, and
3. Yamnaya people, that is Indo-European speakers, the legendary Aryans, who came to Europe starting 4,800 years ago, after this population had also evolved white traits.
The Tocharians, a Caucasian people that expanded out into the Tarim basin,Western parts of China. They were an Indo-European people, with the standard fair skin and light hair. The oldest mummy, called the beauty of Loulan, dates at about 4,000 years old.By: Mike Adams & Anthony Gucciardi
Over the last several days, the mainstream media has fallen for an elaborate scientific hoax that sought to destroy the credibility of organic foods by claiming they are “no healthier” than conventional foods (grown with pesticides and GMOs). NaturalNews and NaturalSociety have learned one of the key co-authors of the study, Dr. Ingram Olkin, has a deep history as an “anti-science” propagandist working for Big Tobacco. Stanford University has also been found to have deep financial ties to Cargill, a powerful proponent of genetically engineered foods and an enemy of GMO labeling Proposition 37.
The New York Times, BBC and all the other publications that printed stories based on this Stanford study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine have been victims of an elaborate scientific hoax carried out by corporate propagandists posing as “scientists.”
The evidence we show here (see below) demonstrates how this study was crafted under the influence of known anti-science fraudsters pushing a corporate agenda. Just as Big Tobacco sought to silence the emerging scientific evidence of the dangers of cigarette smoke, the biotech industry today is desperately seeking to silence calls for GMO labeling and honest, chemical-free food. The era is different, but the anti-science tactics are the same (and many of the quack science players are the same!).
Flawed organic food study author Ingram Olkin chief statistical ‘liar’ for Big Tobacco
Here’s a document from 1976 which shows financial ties between Philip Morris and Ingram Olkin, co-author of the recent organic foods study.
The so-called “research project” was proposed by Olkin, who was also at one time the chairman of Stanford’s Department of Statistics.
Olkin worked with Stanford University to develop a “multivariate” statistical algorithm, which is essentially a way to lie with statistics (or to confuse people with junk science). As this page describes on the use of these statistical models: “Obviously, if one chooses convenient mathematical functions, the result may not conform to reality.”
This research ultimately became known as the “Dr. Ingram Olkin multivariate Logistic Risk Function” and it was a key component in Big Tobacco’s use of anti-science to attack whistleblowers and attempt to claim cigarettes are perfectly safe.
This research originated at Stanford, where Ingram headed the Department of Statistics, and ultimately supported the quack science front to reject any notion that cigarettes might harm human health. Thanks to efforts of people like Ingram, articles like this one were published: “The Case against Tobacco Is Not Closed: Why Smoking May Not Be Dangerous to Your Health!” (http://andrewgelman.com/2012/09/cigarettes/)
By the way, if today’s “skeptics” and “science bloggers” were around in the 1950’s and 60’s, they would all be promoters of cigarette smoking because that was the corporate-funded scientific mythology being pushed at the time. Back then it was tobacco, today it’s vaccines and pesticides. New century, new poisons, same old quack science.
The evil Council of Tobacco Research
As the evidence clearly shows, Ingram Olkin has a history of collaboration with tobacco industry giants who sought to silence the physicians speaking out regarding the dangers of cigarettes. One such entity known as the Council of Tobacco Research (CTR) has been openly exposed as paying off publication companies and journalists with more than $500,000 (about $3,000,000 today after adjusting for inflation) as far back as 1968 in order to generate pro-smoking propaganda. The kind of “dark propaganda” serves only to deceive and confuse consumers with phony, fabricated “scientific evidence.”
It all seems eerily similar to the organics-bashing story that just recently appeared in the New York Times, written by proven liar Roger Cohen.
CTR was part of the massive Tobacco Institute, which was essentially a colossal group of cigarette corporations using quack science to attempt to hide the true effects of cigarettes from the public. CTR was a key player in attempting to defeat the monumental case known as the Framingham Heart Study (http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/) — a historical research project that linked cigarette smoking to heart disease. It was during this time that Olkin applied to the CTR in order to oversee and conduct a project smearing and ‘disproving’ the Framingham study.
This can be proven simply by examining the words of the cigarette manufacturer lawyers who were desperate to defeat the potentially devastating heart study. In their own documents, they state:
“I met with Dr. Olkin and Dr. Marvin Kastenbaum [Tobacco Institute Statistics Director] on December 17, 1975, at which time we discussed Dr. Olkin’s interest in multivariate analysis statistical models. Dr. Olkin is well qualified and is very articulate. I learned, in visiting with Dr. Olkin, that he would like to examine the theoretical structure of the “multivariate logistic risk function.”
In an even more telling statement, Olvin’s “sidekick” Dr. Kastenbaum, was revealed to be highly knowledgeable “tobacco industry’s participation in the public disinformation regarding the health hazards of tobacco use, the manipulation of nicotine in tobacco products and the marketing of tobacco products to children.” In other words, these scientists were part of a massive deception campaign intended to smear any real information over the serious dangers of cigarette smoking using ‘black ops’ disinformation techniques.
This deception campaign is being paralleled once again, in 2012, with the quack science assault on organics (and a simultaneous defense of GMOs). Biotech = Big Tobacco. “GMOs are safe” is the same as “cigarettes are safe.” Both can be propagandized with fraudulent science funded by corporate donations to universities.
Dr. Kastenbaum, by the way, went on to become the Director of Statistics for the Tobacco Institute intermittently from 1973 to 1987. Another name for his job role is “corporate science whore.”
Organics study co-author was hired to perform scientific “hatchet jobs”
Further documents (http://tobaccodocuments.org/bliley_bw/521028845-8850.html) go on to state that Olkin then received a grant from the CTR for his work alongside disinformation specialist Dr. Katenbaum in an effort to perform “deliberate hatchet jobs” on the heart study as described by author Robert N. Proctor Golden in his book entitled Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition. Golden explains how Olkin was paid off along with others to falsely testify in Congress that cigarette smoking did not harm the heart:
“George L. Saiger from Columbia University received CTR Special Project funds ‘to seek to reduce the correlation of smoking and disease by introduction of additional variables’; he also was paid $10,873 in 1966 to testify before Congress, denying the cigarette-cancer link…”
This was the same organization that paid what amounts after inflation to over one million dollars to journalists and major publications to disseminate phony information supporting their claims. It’s also important to note that during this time Olkin was still prominently placed within Stanford, remaining so even after openly concealing the truth about the cigarette heart disease link from the public.
Now, Olkin’s newest research fails to address any real factors in the difference between conventional GMO-loaded food and organic. At the same time, it absolutely reeks of the similar ‘black ops’ disinformation campaigns from the 1960’s and 70’s in which he was heavily involved.
Make no mistake: The Stanford organics study is a fraud. Its authors are front-men for the biotech industry which has donated millions of dollars to Stanford. The New York Times and other publications that published articles based on this research got hoaxed by Big Tobacco scientists who are documented, known liars and science fudgers.
Stanford secrecy, plus ties to Monsanto and Cargill
Stanford receives more secret donations than any other university in the U.S. In 2009 alone, these donations totaled well over half a billion dollars.
There’s little doubt that many of these donations come from wealthy corporations who seek to influence Stanford’s research, bending the will of the science departments to come into alignment with corporate interests (GMOs, pesticides, etc.).
Who is George H Poste?
• Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
• Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
• Served on the Monsanto board since February 2003.
• Former member of the Defense Science Board of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Stanford University has also accepted $5 million in donations from food giant Cargill (a big supporter of the biotech industry) in order to expand Stanford’s Center on Food Security and the Environment (FSE). “Food security” is a euphemism for genetically engineered crops. Much of the research conducted there is done to try to advocate GMOs.
Cargill has also donated big dollars to try to defeat Proposition 37 in California.
The “scientific” Hall of Shame – a list of scientists funded by the Tobacco industry to fake scientific results
The CRT is the Council of Tobacco Research — essentially a scientific front group that was set up to attempt to invoke “science” to “prove” that cigarettes were not bad for your health.
This list just proves how easily scientists sell out to corporate interests when given grant money. Remember: What Big Tobacco pulled off with fake science in the 20th century, Big Biotech is pulling off yet again today.
Source: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-dcd-1_99-cv-02496/pdf/USCOURTS-dcd-1_99-cv-02496-4.pdf
Documents reflect that, at a minimum, the following individuals and organizations received funding through Special Account No. 4 beginning in the 1960s and ending in the 1990s:
Able-Lands, Inc.; Lauren Ackerman; ACVA Atlantic Inc.; George Albee; Aleph Foundation; Arthur D. Little, Inc.; Aspen Conference; Atmospheric Health Sciences; Domingo Aviado; James Ballenger; Alvan L. Barach; Walter Barker; Broda 0. Barnes; Battelle Columbus Laboratories; Battelle Memorial Institute; Walter Becker; Peter Berger; Rodger L. Bick; Billings & Gussman, Inc.; Richard Bing; BioResearch Laboratories; Theodore Blau; Irvin Blose; Walter Booker; Evelyn J. Bowers; Thomas H. Brem; Lyman A. Brewer, III; Brigham Young University; Oliver Brooke; Richard Brotman; Barbara B. Brown; K. Alexander Brownlee; Katherine Bryant; Victor B. Buhler; Thomas Burford; J. Harold Burn; Marie Burnett; Maurice Campbell; Carney Enterprises, Inc.; Duane Carr; Rune Cederlof; Domenic V. Cicchetti; Martin Cline; Code Consultants Inc.; Cohen, Coleghety Foundation, Inc.; Colucci, & Associates, Inc.; Computerland; W. Clark Cooper; A. Cosentino; Daniel Cox; Gertrude Cox; CTR; Geza De Takato; Bertram D. Dimmens; Charles Dunlap; Henry W. Elliott; Engineered Energy Mgt. Inc.; Environmental Policy Institute; J. Earle Estes; Frederick J. Evans; William Evans; Expenses related to Congressional Hearings in Washington D.C.; Hans J. Eysenck; Eysenck Institute of Psychiatry; Jack M. Farris; Sherwin J. Feinhandler; Alvan R. Feinstein; Herman Feldman; Edward Fickes; T. Finley; Melvin First; Edwin Fisher; R. Fisher; Merritt W. Foster; Richard Freedman; Herbert Freudenberger; Fudenberg; Arthur Furst; Nicholas Gerber; Menard M. Gertler; Jean Gibbons; Carl Glasser; Donald Goodwin; B. Greenberg; Alan Griffen; F. Gyntelberg; Harvard Medical School; Hearings-Kennedy-Hart Bill; William Heavlin; Norman Heimstra; Joseph Herkson; Richard J. Hickey; Carlos Hilado; Charles H. Hine; Hine, Inc.; Harold C. Hodge; Gary Huber; Wilhelm C. Hueper; Darrell Huff; Duncan Hutcheon; Industry Research Liaison Committee; Information Intersciences, Inc.; International Consultancy; International Technology Corporation; International Information Institute, Inc.; J.B. Spalding Statistical Service; J.F. Smith Research Account; Jacob, Medinger & Finnegan; Joseph Janis; Roger Jenkins; Marvin Kastenbaum; Leo Katz; Marti Kirschbaum; Kravetz Levine & Spotnitz; Lawrence L. Kuper; Mariano La Via; H. Langston; William G. Leaman; Michael Lebowitz; Samuel B. Lehrer; William Lerner; Edward Raynar Levine; G.J. Lieberman; S.C. Littlechild; Eleanor Macdonald; Thomas Mancuso; Nathan Mantel; R. McFarland; Meckler Engineering Group; Milton Meckler; Nancy Mello; Jack Mendelson; Michigan State University; Marc Micozzi; Irvin Miller; K. Moser; Albert Niden; Judith O’Fallon; John O’Lane; William Ober; J.H. Ogura; Ronald Okun; Ingram Olkin; Thomas Osdene (Philip Morris); Peat, Marwick Main & Co.; Thomas L. Petty; Pitney, Hardin & Kipp; Leslie Preger; Walter J. Priest; R. Proctor; Terrence P. Pshler; Public Smoking Research Group; R.W. Andersohn & Assoc.; L.G.S. Rao; Herbert L. Ratcliffe; Attilio Renzetti; Response Analysis Project; Response Analysis Consultation; R.H. Rigdon; Jay Roberts; Milton B. Rosenblatt; John Rosencrans; Walter Rosenkrantz; Ray H. Rosenman; Linda Russek; Henry Russek; Ragnar Rylander; George L. Saiger; D.E. Sailagyi; I. Richard Savage; Richard S. Schilling; Schirmer Engineering Corp.; S. Schor; G.N. Schrauzer; Charles Schultz; John Schwab; Carl L. Seltzer; Murray Senkus (Reynolds); Paul Shalmy; R. Shilling; Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Henry Shotwell; Allen Silberberg; N. Skolnik; JF Smith; Louis A. Soloff; Sheldon C. Sommers (CTR); JB Spalding; Charles Spielberg; Charles Spielberger; Lawrence Spielvogel; St. George Hospital & Medical School; Stanford Research Institution Project; Russell Stedman; Arthur Stein; Elia Sterling; Theodor Sterling; Thomas Szasz; The Foundation for Research in Bronchial Asthma and Related Diseases; The Futures Group; Paul Toannidis; Trenton, New Jersey Hearings; Chris P. Tsokos; University of South Florida; Helmut Valentin; Richard Wagner; Norman Wall; Wayne State University; Weinberg Consulting Group; Roger Wilson; Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; Jack Wiseman; George Wright; John P. Wyatt; J. Yerushalmy; and Irving Zeidman.US sends B-1 strategic bombers over South Korea
By Peter Symonds
3 May 2017
The US Air Force sent two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers from Guam to the Korean Peninsula on Monday to engage in bilateral training exercises with South Korean and Japanese military forces. The provocative move was taken amid continuing threats by the Trump administration to launch military action against North Korea.
A US Air Force spokesperson claimed that the flight was routine and refused to say whether the bombers were armed or how close they flew to the border with North Korea. B-1B bombers are no longer fitted to carry nuclear weapons, but can carry a massive conventional payload—23 tonnes externally and 34 tonnes internally—of cruise missiles, smart bombs and other munitions.
While denouncing North Korean ballistic missile tests, the Pentagon has been test-launching its own Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). Last week the highly sophisticated missile was launched from a base in California and splashed down in the Pacific over 6,000 kilometres away. Another test is due to take place today. One Minuteman III missile is capable of carrying multiple nuclear weapons that can be independently directed at separate targets.
The drills involving B-1B bombers were conducted as the aircraft carrier strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson participated in war games with South Korean and Japanese naval vessels in waters off the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean and US militaries have just completed two months of annual joint exercises involving up to 320,000 personnel in rehearsals for fighting a war with North Korea.
These menacing military manoeuvres appear to be at odds with President Donald Trump’s comment on Monday that he would be “honoured” to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “under the right circumstances.” In reality, the threat of war is an integral part of the immense pressure being applied to North Korea to buckle to US demands that it abandon its nuclear and missile programs. Only under such circumstances would Trump talk with Kim.
Following the B-1B flights, the North Korean regime reacted with warnings of its own. The official KCNA news agency declared on Tuesday: “The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war.”
A North Korean foreign ministry statement added that because of the US push for sanctions and pressure, Pyongyang “will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence.” Far from defending the North Korean people, Pyongyang’s limited nuclear arsenal simply provides a pretext for Washington and its allies to continue their military expansion in the region.
The latest North Korean ballistic missile test on Saturday was a failure—the second in a row. According to the New York Times, the Trump administration has continued a program of cyber sabotage initiated under President Barack Obama that could be responsible for the high percentage of North Korean missile malfunctions.
The US military build-up in North East Asia is directed at China as well as North Korea. Trump, while pressuring Beijing to rein in Pyongyang, has continued the confrontational “pivot to Asia” of the previous Obama administration, threatening trade war measures against China as well as military action to isolate Chinese islets in the South China Sea.
The Pentagon has accelerated the installation of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-ballistic battery in South Korea that has provoked opposition and protests. US officials told the media on Monday that the |
responded to the proposed increase in the number of MPs with a controversial television advertisement showing 21 faceless list MPs with paper bags over their heads.[31]
The ERC also had a "David and Goliath" battle financially. With the CBG being backed by a large business lobby, they had large amounts of money to spend. While the CBG could spend large on television, radio and full-page newspaper advertisements, often with fear-evoking graphic images, the ERC had limited funds and concentrated more on advocating in communities.[32]
At the same time, the country's largest newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, came out in support of the MMP proposal in the last week of the campaign, and press coverage overall was extensive and largely favourable. The Alliance heavily supported MMP, featuring "vote MMP" on all of its election billboards.[32]
It was the combination of growing public anger with the operation of the political system and the successful efforts of the Electoral Reform Coalition to harness that dissatisfaction in the cause of electoral reform that proved crucial. [...] Politicians subsequently acquiesced as they lost control of the referendum process because to have done otherwise would have courted the full wrath of a public incensed by their own impotence in the face of years of broken promises. Alan Renwick, The Politics of Electoral Reform: Changing the Rules of Democracy.[33]
The CBG's backing of business leaders and politicians proved to be damaging to their cause, giving the impression that they were "a front for the business roundtable".[32] The ERC capitalised on severe disenchantment with New Zealand's political class after the severe effects of the neoliberal reforms of Rogernomics and Ruthanasia. After three elections in a row in which the parties that won power broke their promises and imposed unpopular market-oriented reforms,[34][35] the New Zealand public came to see MMP as a way to curb the power of governments to engage in dramatic and unpopular reforms. Cartoonist Murray Ball reflected this perception in a cartoon starring his characters Wal Footrot and Dog, with Wal telling The Dog (and by extension the viewer), "Want a good reason for voting for MMP? Look at the people who are telling you not to..."[36]
Given the link between the success of the referendum and anger at the status quo, politicians took lesser roles in the 1993 campaign, realising that their opposition to reform only increased voters' desire for change.[33]
In the face of a strong opposition campaign, the final result was much closer than in 1992, but the reforms carried the day, with 53.9% of voters in favour of MMP. ERC spokesperson Rod Donald reflected in 2003, "Had the referendum been held a week earlier I believe we would have lost."[32] Lending additional legitimacy to the second referendum was the increase in the participation rate, which went from 55% in the 1992 referendum to 85% in the second one. The law had been written so that MMP came automatically into effect upon approval by the electorate, which it did.
Voting method referendum, 6 November 1993
Choose one proposal: Response Votes % First Past the Post (FPP)
I vote for the present First Past the Post system as provided by the Electoral Act 1956 884,964 46.14 Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)
I vote for the proposed Mixed Member Proportional system as provided by the Electoral Act 1993 1,032,919 53.86 Total votes 1,917,833 100.00 Turnout 82.61%
Source: Nohlen et al.
Noteworthy in understanding the New Zealand case is that the reforms were able to go forward on the basis of majority support. This stands in contrast to the 60% requirement imposed in some other cases, such as the 2005 referendum on this issue in the Canadian province of British Columbia that failed despite a vote of 57.69% in support of the reform. Late in the campaign, Peter Shirtcliffe had in fact sought to act on this and proposed that the referendum should require a majority of the whole electorate, not just those voting, to pass the reform, which the government rejected.[33]
Introduction of MMP [ edit ]
The first election using the MMP system was held in 1996. Under MMP, each voter has two votes: the first vote is called the party vote and voters use this vote to express their support for a particular party.[37] The second vote is the electorate vote, which is used to express support for a candidate to represent the voter's electorate in Parliament.[38]
MMP uses an electoral threshold which sets the minimum level of support a party needs to gain representation at 5% of the nationwide party vote, or success in an electorate. Parties who meet this threshold are entitled to a share of the seats in Parliament that is about the same as its share of the nationwide vote.[37] For example, if a party gets 30% of the party vote it will get roughly 36 MPs in Parliament (being 30% of 120 seats). So if that party wins 20 electorate seats it will have 16 List MPs in addition to its 20 Electorate MPs.
Because the system is proportional, it is difficult for any single party to gain a majority in Parliament alone. Therefore, coalitions or agreements between political parties are usually needed before Governments can be formed. The 2017 Election is a good example of this, resulting in a Labour-led government with coalitions with New Zealand First and the Greens.
The 5% threshold has been criticised as a significant problem for minor parties, and impedes their ability to gain seats in Parliament. This has led to proposals to lower the percentage threshold.[39]
Coalition governments were rare, but not impossible under the FPP system. For example, in 1931-35 there was the United/Reform coalition. Following the 1996 general election it took six weeks to form a coalition, showing that this is not a quick process.[40] MMP is arguably a more democratic system than FPP. Supporters of MMP criticised FPP for creating elective dictatorships, and promoting the excessive power of one party government. Supporters consider MMP to provide increased representational fairness, and better-considered, wiser, and more moderate policies because of cooperation of the leading party and minority parties. Furthermore, MMP is considered to increase the representation of a diverse population, enabling a higher percentage of Maori, women, Pasifika and Asian people in Parliament. However, supporters of FPP believe FPP provides a more stable Parliament, and avoids a minority party “kingmaker”, as was the case in 2017 with New Zealand First determining who would lead the government.[41]
Prior to the switch to MMP, New Zealand largely had a two party system, with government interchanging between Labour and National since 1935. Under MMP, National and Labour lost their complete dominance in the House. Neither has yet been able to hold a majority within the House. Instead, electoral results have required them to form coalitions to govern. Indeed, since 1998 there have been minority coalition governments relying on supply and confidence from parties outside of government. With the introduction of MMP, particularly with New Zealand's unique provision for parties to win list seats despite getting less than the 5% threshold if they win one local seat, there has been a widening of political parties represented within the House. After the 1996 election, there were six political parties. The Greens separated from the Alliance for the 1999 election, and with the creation of the Māori Party in 2004, there became eight parties. The number of political parties was expected to fall [42](as happened in Germany after their adoption of MMP), but actually gradually increased to an average of seven parties (see the table below). This was the case until the 2017 election where the number of parties in Parliament fell to five, the lowest it has been since MMP was introduced. The 2017 election also saw a severe decrease in the vote share for the two larger minor parties that were returned to parliament, though this could be attributed to political scandals[43] and the popularity of the Labour leader candidate, Jacinda Ardern, and evidence of a beginning of an overall decline.
The transition to MMP has caused disproportionality to fall.[44]
Election Disproportionality Number of Parties in Parliament 1972 12.06% 2 1975 12.93% 2 1978 15.55% 3 1981 16.63% 3 1984 15.40% 3 1987 8.89% 2 1990 17.24% 3 1993 18.19% 4 1996 3.43% 6 1999 2.97% 7 2002 2.37% 7 2005 1.13% 8 2008 3.84% 7 2011 2.38% 8 2014 3.72% 7 2017 2.73% 5
2011 referendum [ edit ]
As part of the lead-up to the 2008 general election, the National Party promised a second referendum to decide whether or not to keep MMP. Upon gaining power, the party legislated that the referendum would be held alongside the 2011 general election, which took place on Saturday 26 November 2011. The referendum was similar to the 1992 referendum, in that voters were asked firstly to choose whether to keep the MMP system or to change to another system, and secondly to indicate which alternative system would, in the case of change, have their preference.
Nearly 58% of voters voted to keep the MMP system, a four percent increase on 1993. Nearly one-third of voters didn't vote, or cast an invalid vote on the second question, and of those who did vote, nearly 47% favoured the former FPP system.
Voting system referendum 2011: Part A[45]
Should New Zealand keep the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system? Response Votes % valid total Y Yes - keep MMP
I vote to keep the MMP voting system 1,267,955 57.77 56.17 N No - change system
I vote to change to another voting system 926,819 42.23 41.06 Total valid votes 2,194,774 100.00 97.23 Informal votes 62,469 – 2.77 Total votes 2,257,243 – 100.00 Turnout 73.51% Electorate 3,070,847[46]
2012 review [ edit ]
On the back of the majority of voters voting to keep the MMP system, a review into the workings of the system by the Electoral Commission was automatically triggered. The Commission released a public consultation paper on 13 February 2012 calling for public submissions, with particular emphasis placed on six key areas. On 13 August 2012, the Commission released its proposal paper, recommending changes to some of the six areas.[47] After submissions on the proposals were considered, the final report was presented to the Minister of Justice on 29 October 2012.[48][49] It is up to Parliament to decide whether to enact any of the recommendations.[50]
Area August proposals October report Basis of eligibility for list seats Reducing the party vote threshold from 5 percent to 4 percent.
Abolishing the one-electorate-seat threshold. As August; also There should be a statutory requirement for the Electoral Commission to review the operation of the 4% party vote threshold and report to the Minister of Justice for presentation to Parliament after three general elections. By-election candidacy Status quo: sitting list MPs can stand in electorate by-elections As August Dual candidacy Status quo: someone on the party list can simultaneously stand in an electorate As August Ordering of party lists Status quo: closed list rather than open list As August; also Political parties should be required to give a public assurance by statutory declaration that they have complied with their rules in selecting and ranking their list candidates.
In any dispute relating to the selection of candidates for election as members of Parliament, the version of the party’s rules that should be applied is that supplied to the Commission under section 71B as at the time the dispute arose. Overhang seats Abolishing the provision of overhang seats for parties not reaching the threshold. The extra electorates would be made up at the expense of list seats to retain 120 MPs Abolish, provided the one-electorate-seat threshold is abolished Proportionality Identifying reduced proportionality as a medium-term issue, with it unlikely to be affected until electorate MPs reach 76, around 2026 based on 2012 population growth. Consideration should be given to fixing the ratio of electorate seats to list seats at 60:40 to help maintain the diversity of representation and proportionality in Parliament obtained through the list seats.
Proposed electoral reform [ edit ]
In response to generally declining voter turnout, a number of commentators have proposed changes to the electoral system.
Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Geoffrey Palmer, has expressed support for the introduction of compulsory voting in New Zealand, as has existed in Australia since 1924.[51] It is believed that such a measure will improve democratic engagement, however not all agree, with current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern considering that citizens should vote because they're engaged, not because they are compelled to.[52]
Palmer has also expressed support for lowering the voting age to 16, considering that this may provide a platform for increased civic education during high school years.[51]
Local government elections [ edit ]
Up until the 2004 local elections, all territorial authorities were elected using the bloc vote (although often referred to as first-past-the-post). In 2004, at the discretion of the council, they could use the single transferable vote. Eight local bodies used STV in the 2007 local body elections.[citation needed] However, only five territorial authorities used STV in the 2013 local elections.[53]
Almost all regional authorities in New Zealand use FPP. However the Greater Wellington Regional Council used STV for the first time in the 2013 elections, becoming the first time that a regional authority used STV.[53]
All District Health Boards must use STV.[53]
See also [ edit ]More than 2,000 Nigerian troops have begun an offensive in Borno state to regain territory seized by Boko Haram Islamists, army sources said Thursday. President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two other states on Tuesday.
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Nigerian forces targeted Islamist strongholds in the northeast on Thursday, security sources said, as an offensive got under way to wrest back territory from increasingly well-armed Boko Haram insurgents.
Soldiers killed at least 21 people when they raided areas in the Sambisa Game Reserve, a remote savannah of some 500 sq km (200 sq miles) in Borno state where Islamists have established bases.
Preparing for possible further action across three frontier states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, the armed forces have also deployed jet fighters and helicopter gunships to the region.
Rights groups said they feared for the safety of civilians from combatants on both sides, but Jonathan’s move enjoys widespread public support after more than three years of trying to contain the insurgency without notable success.
It follows an upsurge in violence against government and Christian targets in the northeast by Islamists who want an Islamic state in Nigeria. Africa’s most populous nation’s 170 million people are split evenly between Christians, who dominate in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.
The offensive follows an admission by President Goodluck Jonathan that Boko Haram had "taken over" parts of the northeast and declared war against the Nigerian government.
Little detail was available from the raid in Sambisa. Nigerian forces have attacked Islamist bases in the area of the game reserve before, as recently as February, to rout militants seen as the biggest security threat to Africa’s top energy producer.
The emergency affects the semi-desert states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which variously border Niger, Chad and Cameroon and cover some 150,000 sq km (60,000 sq miles) - an area similar to England or Illinois, but with a population of only 10 million.
Air strikes on Islamist bases
A Reuters reporter saw two Alpha light attack jets land at Yola in Adamawa state. Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Yusuf Anas confirmed that “air assets”, also including helicopter gunships, had been sent to support ground troops. A military source said there could be air strikes on Islamist bases.
Telephone connections to Borno and Yobe were almost completely cut on Thursday on all of the country’s major mobile phone carriers.
Mobile phone numbers belonging to government officials and military officials there and in neighboring Yobe state could not be reached.
Mobile phones have become the only real communication device in Nigeria for both voice calls and the Internet, as the state-run telephone company collapsed years ago. By cutting off service at towers, the military could stop extremists from receiving warnings or intelligence ahead of their operations. Authorities said they had no information about the service cut-off or refused to comment.
Nigeria’s military and security forces have tracked fighters by their mobile phone signals in the past as well, prompting extremists from the radical Islamic network known as Boko Haram to attack mobile phone towers in the region.
Human cost
In Adamawa, where a new, 12-hour overnight curfew was declared - the other two states were already under curfew - some cautiously welcomed the offensive.
“This state has been under the control of gunmen for so long, it’s been long overdue,” said Audu John, a market trader.
But another man, Ahmed Usman, feared civilians would become targets for killings or torture by a military notorious for abuses. His family was evacuating as soon as possible, he said.
The Islamist insurgency has cost thousands of lives since it began in 2009, when a crackdown killed 800 people, including Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, who died in police custody.
Because it has mostly happened far from economic centres such as the commercial hub Lagos or political capital Abuja - and because it is hundreds of miles away from oilfields in the southeast - it has not been a priority for the establishment.
The offensive ordered by Jonathan, a southern Christian, may answer critics who had accused him of failing to address the crisis: “The federal government has come to terms with the bleak reality that what we are facing is... terrorism in its most horrific form,” the Punch newspaper said in an editorial.
“Nigeria is teetering on the precipice of disintegration. It is time to act decisively.”
But the United States expressed concern about a worsening “cycle of violence” on Wednesday, a view echoed by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Thursday.
Both have documented cases of abuses by Nigerian forces, including summary executions and random shootings.
At Human Rights Watch, Eric Guttschuss said: “If the military continues its practice of targeting civilians, there is a risk of massive abuses during this offensive.”
(FRANCE 24 with wires)by James Corbett
corbettreport.com
January 27, 2016
Corbett Reporteers will be no stranger to the war on cash. I’ve made videos discussing it, conducted interviews about it, written articles examining it and dissected it on the radio.
The war has been waged through mainstream propaganda outlets, TV advertisements and even children’s games.
We’ve heard cash is dirtied by drug dealing, tarnished by terrorism, tainted by tax evasion (heaven forbid!) and just plain dirty. Not to mention sooooo outdated.
Just this week Norway has jumped aboard the cashless society agenda with DNB, the country’s largest bank, calling for a total end to cash. The story only sounds shocking only to people who haven’t heard the similar stories from Sweden or Denmark or India or Israel or any of the dozens of other countries whose banksters and (bankster-controlled) governments have openly lusted after a world of completely trackable, completely bank-controlled transactions.
But all of these stories, reported piecemeal here and there over the years, don’t give the full story about how this “war on cash” is being waged on every continent and in every country by the same banksters that stand to benefit from a cashless world. Let’s fix that by compiling a list of examples from around the world of how cash payments are being regulated, restricted and phased out. The list below will be updated as new stories come in.
If you have a link to relevant news from your own country or know of such news from another country, please let us know. Corbett Report members are invited to contribute to the list by logging in and leaving links to the relevant info in the comments below.
The Cashless Society List
ARGENTINA – Argentina’s currency crisis has been known for some time. In short, Argentinians don’t trust the peso and are willing to pay premium for any currency they perceive as “more stable,” especially US dollars which are traded on the black market as “blue dollars” at prices far exceeding the official exchange rate. That’s why Argentina has been tipped for some time as a country that is likely to go cashless sooner than later, with a 2014 report from the Bitcoin Market Opportunity Index ranking Argentina as the most likely jurisdiction to replace sovereign currency with bitcoin. Argentinians have reason to be wary about this New Monetary Order, however; in a move described as “an eerie glimpse of what a cashless society enables” the Argentinian government mandated that banks report every credit card purchase made in the country directly to the tax authorities and added a 15 percent tax surcharge every time a purchase is made outside the country using a credit card issued by an Argentine bank.
AUSTRALIA – Late last year the Westpac banking group issued a “Cash Free Report” touting the highly self-serving finding that “Over half (53 per cent) of payments currently made in Australia are cashless” (using Westpac online banking services like their cardless ATMs, no doubt). The report goes on to predict that Australia will be cash free by 2022. Meanwhile, the government is readying a cashless welfare system that will allow the government to control what the money is spent on. What could possibly go wrong?
BELGIUM – In 2014 the Belgian government passed new restrictions on cash payments: cash can no longer be used to pay for real estate, and there is a 3000 euro limit on cash payments for other assets (unless purchase second hand).
CANADA – In 2007 the Canadian government stopped allowing payment of taxes in cash at government service centers. In 2010 Passport Canada followed suit. In 2011 56% of Canadians polled said they were happy to live in a bankster-controlled cashless society so the country killed the penny in 2012 and the Royal Canadian Mint started pimping the “MintChip” as a new form of electronic payment that will be “better than cash.” The Mint ended the program in 2014 but the Great White North is still on track to be a cashless society in the coming years.
CHINA – The People’s Bank of China, citing the need to “reduce costs, curb crimes and money laundry, facilitate transactions and boost central bank’s control on money supply and circulation” set up a research team in 2014 “to study application scenarios for digital currency and strive for an early rollout.”
DENMARK – In the 1990s about 80% of Danish retail purchases were made with cash, but these days it’s more like 25%. But if the Danish government has its way, that number will be 0% by 2030. That’s the year the Danish government has set for the complete elimination of paper money in Denmark.
ECUADOR – Last year Ecuador became the first government to launch a digital currency completely administered and controlled by a central bank. Called the Dinero Electronico, the currency can be purchased with cash, stored in electronic wallets on a phone, and can be exchanged by text message.
EU – The head of the EU Anti-Fraud Office Giovanni Kessler, came out earlier this year to call for abolishing the 500 euro note because they “can make the life of fraudsters much easier.” He also noted that a more widespread adoption of electronic payment systems would be better for his office because “Traceability is paramount in fighting corruption and fraud.”
FRANCE – In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks last year, the French government stepped up its war on cash. In March of last year, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin declared it necessary to “fight against the use of cash and anonymity in the French economy” in order to combat “low-cost terrorism.” As of September 2015 it is illegal for French citizens to make purchases exceeding 1000 euros in cash.
GERMANY – In a rather abrupt turnaround from a 2014 Bundesbank paper on “The Irreplaceability of Cash,” the German Finance Ministry (perhaps egged on by the country’s leading Keynesian economist) is looking into a 5000 euro cap on all cash payments. And although Germany is still a cash-based society, things are changing; a 2014 survey found that 34% of the population makes purchases electronically already and 20% can envision making all their purchases via smartphone payment systems in the future.
HONG KONG – When it launched in 1997, the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway’s Octopus Card was just the second contactless smart card system in the world (after South Korea’s UPass). Although originally used to pay for journeys on public transit, it can now be used at convenience stores, vending machines, supermarkets, photo booths and other retail outlets. In 2004 all metered parking spaces in Hong Kong were converted to cashless meters that required Octopus Cards for payment.
INDIA – India is one of the most cash-dependent economies in the world with a cash-to-GDP ratio of 12%, almost four times that of fellow BRICS nations Brazil and South Africa. But it won’t be for long if the Indian government has its way. Last June the Indian Ministry of Finance posted a draft proposal to its website for facilitating the rise of cashless payments in the country. In his 2015 budget speech the Finance Minister declared: “One way to curb the flow of black money is to discourage transactions in cash. Now that a majority of Indians has or can have, a RUPAY debit card. I therefore, proposes to introduce soon several measure that will incentivize credit or debit card transactions and disincentivize cash transaction.”
IRELAND – A 2013 paper from the Central Bank of Ireland lamented Ireland’s slow adoption of electronic payments and over-reliance on cheques, noting “Ireland could save up to €1bn per year by migrating to more efficient [i.e. electronic] payment instruments.” Later that year, the Central Bank launched a National Payments plan to help facilitate the transition and kicked off a €1m national marketing campaign to encourage the migration to electronic payments. The scale of the campaign surprised many, with the Irish Independent pointing out that “It’s a major advertising spend in the current climate, where a big-promotion budget spend is considered to be in the region of €500,000 outside of the big global blue-chips.” Late last year the Cork City Centre Forum attempted to take the lead in the cashless transition by launching the “Cork Cash Out” campaign aiming “to encourage consumers to ween off cash and opt-in for electronic-only transactions instead.”
ISRAEL – In 2014 a special committee headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff Harel Locker released a report examining how to reduce the use of cash in the country. The report advocates reforms (including restrictions and limits on cash transactions) as part of a strategy whose aim is “reduced use of cash, reduced use of endorsed checks, and increased use of electronic means of payment.”
ITALY – In 2011 newly appointed Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti made cash payments over 1000 euro illegal. “What we need is a revolution in Italians’ thinking” Monti told reporters as he announced the emergency decree which was put into law before it was even formally voted on in parliament.
KENYA – Last year the Kenyan government awarded a contract to MasterCard to administer a smart card that can be used to pay for government services and receive welfare payments. Anne Waiguru of the Ministry of Devolution and Planning explained: “Uwezo Fund beneficiaries, Youth and Women Funds disbursements, National Youth Service, Social welfare government cash transfers to families, government food subsidies, hunger safety net cash transfers and cash transfers to orphaned children will be disbursed through the cards,” neglecting to add that the card also gives MasterCard access to the biometric details of 170 million potential customers.
MEXICO – In 2013 the Mexican government banned cash payments of more than 500,000 pesos for real estate and more than 200,000 pesos for cars, jewelry or lottery tickets.
NETHERLANDS – In 2013 the mayors of Almere, Rotterdam and Maastricht engaged in a publicity stunt to promote a campaign encouraging the public to abandon cash. They spent a week without spending any cash, relying solely on debit cards for purchases. The campaign is part of a long term trend away from cash and toward debit payments in many supermakets and other businesses around the country.
NORWAY – Late last week Trond Bentestuen, a senior executive at Norway’s largest bank, complained to the VG Newspaper that the Norwegian central bank “can only account for 40 percent” of the Norwegian kroner in circulation, meaning “that 60 percent of money usage is outside of any control.” There’s only one conclusion, according to Bentestuen: “There are so many dangers and disadvantages associated with cash, we have concluded that it should be phased out.” Don’t worry, though, the nation’s Finance Ministry says it has “no plans to change the law in this area”…for now.
PHILIPPINES – In the Phillippines, the government has launched an “E-Peso” project with the explicit aim of “transforming communities into cashless societies.” Touted as “a digital/virtual currency based on the Philippine Peso” its main selling point (according to the E-Peso’s own website) is that: “Since E-Peso transactions are completely digital, everything will automatically be recorded onto the customer’s account activity log.” The initiative is funded by infamous CIA front USAID, which “has awarded a US$25-million, five-year project to a company called Chemonics to support the Philippine government in the promotion and adoption of e-payments in the Philippines.”
SAUDI ARABIA – A MasterCard report on “The Cashless Journey” noted that by increasing the share of debit card transactions in the economy between 2006 and 2011, Saudi Arabia was moving at a faster than average pace toward a cashless society. Commenting on the report, Khalid Hariry of MasterCard noted: “Saudi Arabia is indeed moving at a better than average pace on its cashless journey, which has been significantly spurred along by government leadership. Regulation mandating wages assignment of employees’ to bank accounts has vastly increased access to electronic payment methods for the Saudi population over a short period of time. These changes, coming alongside initiatives to spur acceptance, and a push to migrate payments made during the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, can be expected to shift substantial share of consumer payments away from cash in the coming years.”
SPAIN – Citing budgetary austerity and the need to clamp down on tax fraud the Spanish government banned cash payments of more than 2,500 euros in 2012.
SWEDEN – Last year Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology released a report stating that the country is on track to completely eliminating cash transactions in the foreseeable future. Noting that there are now only 80 billion Swedish crowns in circulation in the economy (down from 106 just six years ago), the report highlights how digital person-to-person payment technology “Swish” (developed in collaboration with Danish banks) is already transforming the country’s banking sector, where there are now entire banks that do not accept cash. Meanwhile, the Swedish public is being urged to stop using cash by no less a cultural icon than ABBA’s Björn Ulveaus, who brags that the ABBA museum is now a cashless institution.
URUGUAY – Under the “Financial Inclusion Law” which took effect in May 2015 the Uruguayan government has banned all cash payments over $5,000, thus requiring all property and vehicle purchases to go through the banking system. This is part of a wave of such legislation throughout Latin America hailed as a way of “giving the people what they need” (i.e. access to banking) even when (as the very same report notes) “those on the edges of the financial system are distrustful of banks” especially in Uruguay.
UK – In 2014 cashless payments surpassed cash payments for the first time in the UK, with research (from cashless payment provider Kalixo Pro) suggesting that the average Brit only carries £17.79 in cash at any time and 1 in 4 will walk away if a business doesn’t accept card payment. London buses went cashless in 2014 and just last year the Bank of England’s chief economist made the case for negative interest rates and abolishing cash.
Filed in: ArticlesThe new rules prevent agencies from publicly posting Aadhaar information. (Representational Image)
Agencies using data from Aadhaar will now have to inform the holder of the card the manner in which the details will be used to ensure the information is not misused.According to the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial, and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, core biometric information collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under the Act "shall not be shared with anyone for any reason whatsoever".Any individual, agency or entity, which collects Aadhaar number or any document having the figure, will have to now get consent of the holder for collecting, storing and using the same for specified purposes only."Any individual, agency or entity which collects Aadhaar number or any document containing it, shall obtain consent of the holder for collection, storage and use of his Aadhaar number for specified purposes. Such individual, agency or entity shall not use the Aadhaar number for any purpose other than those specified to the holder at the time of obtaining his consent," the notification clearly said.They will also have to inform the citizen whether submission of Aadhaar number or proof of Aadhaar for such purpose is mandatory or voluntary and if alternative documents can be submitted.The new rules also prevent the agencies from publicly posting the information."Any individual, entity or agency, which is in possession of Aadhaar number(s)... shall ensure security and confidentiality of the numbers and of any record or database containing the Aadhaar numbers," the notification said.To ensure data is secure, UIDAI has also mandated that these entities that have their data centres used for Aadhaar authentication and routing through the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) should be located in India. Besides, UIDAI will also set up a contact centre for resolution of queries and grievances of residents.Three weeks ago, Google unveiled an updated version of the Google Drive sync application for Windows and Mac, simply called "Backup & Sync." We actually first saw it back in March, when an unfinished version was accidentally pushed to Windows users. Not only is it better-looking (and hopefully less buggy), it also features some level of integration with the Google Photos desktop uploader.
When Backup & Sync was first announced, Google said it would be available to download on June 28. The original blog post has been updated with the following message:
Update (June 26th, 2017): Based on your valuable feedback, we’ve decided to delay the launch of Backup and Sync while we make improvements to the product. We’re planning to launch in the next several weeks, but please monitor the G Suite Release Calendar for the specific date.
The G Suite Release Calendar currently has the release marked for July 12, but that could change in the future. You can find the calendar at the source link below.The life of Ferdinand Tonnies, German sociologist and political activist, is a testament to the dramatic social changes which swept across Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Born in 1855 to a wealthy farmer at the northern fringe of the German empire, Tonnies spent his childhood working on the family estate, sharing close quarters with parents, siblings, and servants, and living in a traditional, face-to-face community of neighbors and extended family. But late in his childhood, young Tonnies’ life transformed when his father uprooted his family to the bustling market town of Husum in a career shift from farming to banking. In this new world of commerce and cosmopolitan society, young Tonnies personally excelled at school and began a life-long journey which further distanced him from his rural roots and propelled him to academic appointments in some of Europe’s most ascendant metropoli.
These divergent experiences—the stable, face-to-face community of his childhood and the increasingly anonymous and commercial social worlds he inhabited as an adolescent and adult—served as exemplars for the two primary forms of sociality Tonnies outlined in his later theoretical work. The first social form, Gemeinschaft or community, was the face-to-face life of his rural youth where people worked together for collective goals and where individual wishes were subordinated to those of the group. The second form, Gesellschaft or civil society, turned this relationship between individuals and the group on its head. Exemplified by modern nation-states, corporations, and voluntary clubs, Tonnies’ civil society existed to serve its members needs and wishes—not the other way around. As opposed to Gemeinschaft’s emphasis on collective goals and personal relationships, Gesellschaft was built on individual rights and responsibilities and impersonal exchanges of money, goods, and services.
Tonnies’ distinction between community and civil society profoundly shaped 20th century social science and inspired anthropologists, sociologists and cross-cultural psychologists to explore how different social groups organized themselves according to these different principles. Often framing the distinctions in different terms, such as collectivism vs. individualism, embeddedness vs. autonomy, or particularism vs. universalism, these investigators discovered striking and reliable cross-population differences in how people endorse a group’s interests over their own goals, how people value personal relationships over impartial rules with strangers, and how they define themselves in terms of their social relationships rather than their own individual qualities and accomplishments. Researchers have also found that a basic element of Tonnies’ Gemeinschaft—in-group loyalty—hitchhikes with a suite of other “traditional” values and behaviors. Notably, people who are more concerned about loyalty are also more likely to value obedience to authority, to conform to group norms and to avoid impure, unnatural, unchaste and ungodly acts. Thus, in describing the social change he experienced in 19th century Germany, Tonnies identified what appears to be a general and wide-reaching dimension of human social life which far transcended his own biography.
For most of the 20th century, scholars focused largely on the consequences of these individual and societal differences in collectivism. |
acable forces:
Technology: Unfavorable economic conditions can slow the introduction of new technologies, but not for long. Consider the ebook market, in which Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and Apple’s iPad have been in a technological arms race that has been oblivious to any economic slowdown.
Intellectual property: Patent offices don’t put years back on the clock just because a company’s sales might have tapered off in a bad economy. In 2009, the FDA approved more than 100 first-time generic drugs, while at least two dozen top-selling brand-name drugs (with combined sales of over $8.7 billion in 2007) went off-patent. This cycle of patent expiration followed by the introduction of FDA-approved generic drugs is a recurring, relentless pattern that marches to its own drummer, not to the beat of any economic cycle.
Competition: Companies continue to learn and develop better business models, thus intensifying competition in an industry no matter the economic climate. Blockbuster used to be the king of movie rentals, but then competitors Netflix, Redbox, and even TiVo quickly capitalized on the high-speed Internet, iPhone apps, and self-service trends. Blockbuster was never able to right itself after being leapfrogged, and it eventually filed for bankruptcy protection and was acquired by Dish Network Corp.
Consumer tastes: Novelty inevitably wears off, regardless of the health of the economy. For example, most cell phones have a market life cycle of less than a year, according to David Chamberlain, principal wireless analyst for In-Stat Research. Wireless carriers in the U.S. shrewdly encourage the consumer desire for novelty by subsidizing the costs of new cell phones for those customers who agree to one- or two-year contracts.
For those and other reasons, companies need to continue innovating even when the economy heads south. It was during a previous downturn that Apple was busy working on iPod, iTunes, and a new business model for selling digital content, and when the economy eventually rebounded those innovations helped transform an industry. Likewise, the foundations for tomorrow’s winners are likely being built today. As Bill Gates once famously said, “The only big companies that succeed will be those that obsolete their own products before somebody else does.” And that applies in good times as well as bad.Prior to July, Denmark had some of the most severe restrictions on knife ownership in a continent known for having the harshest knife laws on the books. This summer, the Scandinavian country updated its legislation to make it legal to own, and in some situations carry locking knives with blades up to 12cm (4.7”) long. By US standards, the laws governing knives in Denmark remain fairly restrictive, but the changes are beneficial to Danish knife makers and collectors.
Before the changes, locking folders were totally outlawed in Denmark. Only non-locking, two-hand opening knives with a blade of 7cm (2.75”) or shorter were permitted. It’s hard to imagine incurring steep fines or even jail time for simply owning a Spyderco Ladybug, but in Denmark this was an everyday reality. “Even with a 1.5-inch bladed Spyderco locked in your safe, you were breaking the law,” Danish knife maker Jesper Voxnaes tells us.
When it comes to EDCing locking knives, Voxnaes explains that the new laws are still impractical. “I doubt anyone would start carrying because of the change.” Knives are prohibited in most public places and establishments. If stopped by a police officer in a visitation zone (areas where police can conduct searches at their discretion), knife owners must cite a legitimate reason for carrying a knife to avoid repercussions.
What constitutes a ‘legitimate’ reason? That’s a gray area. Something as simple as peeling an apple is technically acceptable, but ultimately it is up to the police officer to determine if he finds the knife suitable to the task. “This will be a problem at points, I fear,” Voxnaes acknowledges.
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Voxnaes says that the change will most positively affect Danish knife makers. For designers like Jens Anso, Mikkel Willumsen, and Voxnaes, producing and selling blades in a country so opposed to modern folding knives was a tricky business. A collaborator with multiple production knife companies, Voxnaes wasn’t able to have production prototypes of designs like the CRKT Amicus or Böker Plus F3 II sent to his shop without breaking the law. “Sometimes I would have them sent to Germany, and drive six hours to evaluate them,” he recalls. “I got super excited for the change since it would make my life so much easier and allow me to do my job.”
Knife featured in image: Böker Plus Jesper Voxnaes F3 IIThe Supreme Court will have the final word, but for now, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued the country’s most resounding rejection of Trumpism (PDF).
This is not because the court affirmed the temporary injunction against Donald Trump’s travel ban. It is not because travel continues as normal, pending the litigation over the ban’s constitutionality. Rather, the significance of the court’s opinion is in its careful, measured reaffirmation of the rule of law, in the face of an administration that has challenged it at every turn.
There are four major holdings in the order, all about the rule of law taking precedence over executive fiat.
First, Trump had denied that the judiciary can review his discretion at all, when it comes to national security. On Twitter, he called the judge who first put a hold on the ban a “so-called judge.”
The Ninth Circuit utterly rejected that argument, saying that “although courts owe considerable deference to the President’s policy determinations with respect to immigration and national security, it is beyond question that the federal judiciary retains the authority to adjudicate constitutional challenges to executive action.”
The president’s views on national security, in other words, do not trump the Constitution—or the courts’ power to interpret it. No one is above the law.
Second, the Trump administration denied that it had to produce any evidence to support its claim that the seven-nation ban was essential for national security. It is so because we say so, they argued.
The court slapped down that argument. “Despite the district court’s and our own repeated invitations to explain the urgent need for the Executive Order to be placed immediately into effect, the Government submitted no evidence to rebut the States’ argument that the district court’s order merely returned the nation temporarily to the position it has occupied for many previous years. The Government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the Order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States. Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the Executive Order, the Government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all. We disagree.”
That is a searing indictment of the unprecedented, rushed way in which the executive order was put together. Just like Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud, his false claims of seeing Muslim Americans rejoice on 9/11, his spokesman’s alternative facts regarding inauguration attendance, and his false statements about crime in America—among many, many other such claims—there was no evidence offered to support the position that were the travel ban to be lifted, disaster would result. It would because we say so, they argued.
Wrong, said the court. Unsubstantiated claims may fly on Fox News, but not in a court of law. And with the government not only providing no evidence, but arguing that it didn’t need to, the court dismissed its baseless warnings of imminent doom.
Third, the Trump administration argued that aliens have no rights. No one has any right to travel to the United States, after all, so suspending some people’s ability to do so is not an infringement on any rights. In the court’s words, “the Government argues that most or all of the individuals affected by the Executive Order have no rights under the Due Process Clause.”
Wrong again, said the court. In fact, the Fifth Amendment, which requires the government to provide due process before depriving people of their life, liberty, or property, applies to everyone, including undocumented persons—not to mention green card holders, who were part of the initial order.
Believe it or not, “illegals” have rights too.
Finally, the Trump administration denied that the state of Washington had standing to bring this challenge in the first place.
The court rejected that argument too, noting that Washington’s universities, among other departments, have already suffered from the ban. The result is a neat inversion of federalism: this time, it’s liberal states using federalism against a conservative government. That’s the exact opposite of Texas’s wave of litigation (some initiated by EPA director-designate Scott Pruitt) against the Obama administration over immigration, environmental rules, and Obamacare.
Now, for a change, the shoe is on the other foot.
Interestingly, the only place where the court did not rule against the government was on the question of religious discrimination. There, the court held, “In light of the sensitive interests involved, the pace of the current emergency proceedings, and our conclusion that the Government has not met its burden of showing likelihood of success on appeal on its arguments with respect to the due process claim, we reserve consideration of these claims.”
That is an admirable act of judicial conservatism, which is also a response to Trump’s overbroad order. We’re not saying more than we have to; we’re not making any grand pronouncements. We’re not getting involved in politics.
But perhaps the court order’s most dramatic rejection of Trumpism is its tone.
The order is not fiery; it has none of the rhetorical flourishes of, say, the late Justice Scalia. Nor, for that matter, does it have the lofty language of liberty that Justice Kennedy used in his same-sex marriage opinion, which at times read like a manifesto. Appropriately for the serious matter at hand, it is measured, moderate, and mild.
And that, itself, is a powerful rejoinder to a president who every day finds new lows of mudslinging rhetoric. In a system of laws, power derives not from bluster, nor from bullying, but from the rule of law and the constitution. The court doesn’t need to couch its order in braggadocio or insult. It relies on reason instead: calm legal reasoning, calm legal rhetoric.
Indeed, the very reasonableness of the court’s opinion—which, no doubt, President Trump will immediately assail as stupid, political, dangerous, or “sad”—should cheer the heart of everyone, liberal and conservative alike, who has been understandably shaken in recent weeks.
Reading the court order, one is reminded that we are not living in some fascist dystopia. The rule of law has not gone away. The separation of powers still works, with the courts as guardians of civil rights and civil liberties. Indeed, even federalism—which liberals have assailed in recent months, in their attacks on the electoral college and the Senate—now provides a check on executive power. As, for conservatives, it did in the Obama era as well.
On the surface, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s injunction. But more importantly, it has affirmed the rule of law itself.LOS ANGELES (AP) — The head of the Police Commission said Wednesday he has privately raised more than the $1 million necessary to equip hundreds officers with on-body cameras to increase accountability and reduce complaints by the public.
In September, a week after taking the helm of the LAPD civilian oversight board, Steve Soboroff said he hoped to raise a $1 million for the project.
After 51 days, he said he had raised $1.2 million, primarily by word of mouth, so the department can buy 600 cameras for a field test. The implementation timetable has dropped from a year to nine months.
Soboroff said donations came from Hollywood heavy hitters including director Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, plus former mayor Richard Riordan, media giant Casey Wasserman and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The department plans to begin tests using 60 cameras this month.
The cameras will be on loan from two companies — Arizona-based Taser International Inc. and Coban Technologies Inc. of Houston. After 90 days, the department will recommend one type of camera and draft policies to govern use.
The Police Department plans to meet with the officers’ union, which supports the cameras, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, members of the City Council, and the Police Commission’s inspector general in creating the policies.
Police Chief Charlie Beck will determine who tests the cameras. Motorcycle officers and personnel in areas such as Venice Beach could get them first, Soboroff said. The department is also seeking volunteers.
(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)A draft bill on a second independence referendum has been published by the Scottish government after the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, pledged to hold a new poll in the event of a hard Brexit in a direct challenge to Theresa May.
The draft legislation, which was formally unveiled by the constitution secretary, Derek Mackay, despite the Scottish parliament being in recess until next week, sets out proposals for the rules governing the campaign, the conduct of the poll and how votes are counted.
Mackay said the proposed franchise would be the same as for the Scottish parliament. “That will mean two important groups of people would have a voice denied to them in the recent referendum on EU membership: 16- and 17-year-olds and citizens of EU countries who have made Scotland their home.”
The eight-page document proposes that any referendum would be run in a way similar to 2014, using the same yes/no question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” It also suggests that the vote would similarly not be subject to any minimum turnout requirement or an approval threshold.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sturgeon said she would put forward proposals for maintaining Scotland’s position in the single market. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
As the bill was published, Sturgeon said: “We will continue to work UK-wide to seek to avert a hard Brexit and we will also bring forward proposals that seek to protect our place in the single market, even if the rest of the UK leaves.
“However, if we find that our interests cannot be properly or fully protected within a UK context then independence must be one of the options open to us and the Scottish people must have the right to consider it.”
She added that any decision on holding a referendum, including the timing of it, would be for the Scottish parliament – where a pro-independence majority exists between the SNP and the Scottish Greens – to take. Despite May’s stated intention to oppose another independence poll, Holyrood would then ask the UK government to grant a section 30 order to allow the vote to take place.
Sturgeon, who will next meet May in London on Monday with other heads of devolved governments, has said she will put forward specific proposals in the coming weeks for maintaining Scotland’s position in the single market even if the rest of the UK leaves, as well as pushing for substantial additional powers for Holyrood as part of the UK’s article 50 negotiations, including over international trade deals and immigration.
In her foreword to the consultation, which will run until 11 January 2017, Sturgeon writes: “In May 2016 the current Scottish government was elected with a clear mandate that the Scottish parliament should have the right to hold an independence referendum if there was clear and sustained evidence that independence had become the preferred option of a majority of the Scottish people – or if there was a significant and material change in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014, such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will.”
She adds: “The UK government’s recent statements on its approach to leaving the EU raise serious concerns for the Scottish government. We face unacceptable risks to our democratic, economic and social interests and to the right of the Scottish parliament to have its say.
“Indeed those statements contradict the assurances given before the independence referendum in 2014 that Scotland is an equal partner within the UK and that a vote against independence would secure our EU membership.”
But the Scottish Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, described the draft bill as “irresponsible economic vandalism”, warning: “Our economy is in trouble following David Cameron’s reckless Brexit gamble, and the very last thing we need is more uncertainty for employers.”
And speaking before the publication, the Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, vowed that her party would fight proposals for a second referendum “every step of the way”.
Dugdale has also written to the Scottish parliament’s presiding officer, Ken Macintosh, asking for clarification over how the SNP’s plans will be examined, arguing that the SNP is trying to dodge scrutiny by publishing the consultation during parliamentary recess.“IF THIS e-mail is received in error, notify the sender immediately.” “This e-mail does not create an attorney-client relationship.” “Any tax advice in this e-mail is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code.” Many firms—The Economist included—automatically append these sorts of disclaimers to every message sent from their e-mail servers, no matter how brief and trivial the message itself might be.
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E-mail disclaimers are one of the minor nuisances of modern office life, along with fire drills, annual appraisals and colleagues who keep sneezing loudly. Just think of all the extra waste paper generated when messages containing such waffle are printed. They are assumed to be a wise precaution. But they are mostly, legally speaking, pointless. Lawyers and experts on internet policy say no court case has ever turned on the presence or absence of such an automatic e-mail footer in America, the most litigious of rich countries.
Many disclaimers are, in effect, seeking to impose a contractual obligation unilaterally, and thus are probably unenforceable. This is clear in Europe, where a directive from the European Commission tells the courts to strike out any unreasonable contractual obligation on a consumer if he has not freely negotiated it. And a footer stating that nothing in the e-mail should be used to break the law would be of no protection to a lawyer or financial adviser sending a message that did suggest something illegal.
So why are the disclaimers there? Company lawyers often insist on them because they see others using them. As with Latin vocabulary and judges' robes, once something has become a legal habit it has a tendency to stick. Might they at least remind people to behave sensibly? Michael Overly, a lawyer for Foley & Lardner in Los Angeles, thinks not: the proliferation of predictable yada-yada at the bottom of messages means that people have long since stopped paying any attention to it.Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Blood and Water, the fourth Data Pack in the Red Sands Cycle for Android: Netrunner.
Everyone knows that the Big Four want control over Mars to boost their profits. But what can Mars offer that’s profitable enough to justify the enormous expenses of terraforming a barren, irradiated desert? What’s valuable enough to warrant shipping supplies across the solar system and fighting with the entrenched and steadfast Clans? Why not just stay on Earth, where it’s warm and already profitable?
The sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty different cards) in Blood and Water shed light on the agendas that the Big Four are pursuing on Mars—and the forces arrayed against them!
Same Agendas, Fewer Restraints
No matter where you are in the solar system, you’ll find Jinteki attempting to perfect the human race, NBN vying for total control of information, and Weyland working hard to mine anything they can sell. But on Mars, as the newest Agendas for each faction demonstrate, you’ll find that the Corps take these goals much farther than they do on Earth. Away from the regulations of national governments and the incessant monitoring of citizen journalists, these corporations are able to pursue their most extreme ideas with impunity.
For Jinteki, this involves the ultra-secret Obokata Protocol (Blood and Water, 70). Like its predecessor, the Fetal AI (Trace Amount, 32) program, the Obokata Protocol warrants the highest—and most lethal—protection Jinteki can provide. And on Mars, “No unauthorized personnel beyond this point” isn’t a request; it’s a statement of fact enforced by four net damage. If the Corp secures their server with clones from the Ben Musashi (Earth’s Scion, 54) line or a few well-armed Prisec (Blood Money, 40), the Runner may have no choice but to leave the Protocols alone, even after they glimpse those three tantalizing points.
On Earth, NBN’s grasp on the Net gives them unparalleled control over the news and other media, but old habits and legal standards have limited their role in one of the most prominent information industries—education. On Mars, they’re looking to break into the field with their Reeducation (Blood and Water, 74) initiative. This three-point agenda gives NBN the chance to shape everyone’s thoughts by replacing the cards in their HQ with new ones from R&D. It would seem that even the most strong-willed runners and stubborn Clanspeople can’t resist all of the media all of the time.
Meanwhile, Weyland’s approach to making money is even less subtle than usual as they engage in Meteor Mining (Blood and Water, 76). While it may sound like the “comet jockeys” engaged in meteor mining are scouring space rocks for precious minerals, they’re actually scouring asteroid belts for solid bodies that contain sufficient quantities of ice and ammonia. With the help of remote-controlled thrusters, they hurl these meteorites into specific locations on Mars. Over time, the gasses released by these impacts could make the atmosphere on the Red Planet more inhabitable for humans without protective mods. Until then, the Weyland Consortium denies any and all rumors that the casualties associated with meteor collisions could be the result of pilots targeting corporate saboteurs or Net criminals.
Clan Agitator
To many colonists, there’s nothing objectionable about the agendas being pursued by the Big Four on Mars. More crops, more oxygen, more schools for everyone, they say. But many Martians see things differently. They remember a time before the Martian Colonial Authority (MCA). They remember when it was their food, their air, and their education—and they’re still willing to fight for it!
Alice Merchant (Blood and Water, 61) is a Martian native who fights alongside Jarogniew Mercenaries (Blood and Water, 62) to resist the MCA and the corporate interests it serves. Long years of turmoil and conflict have made it clear that the grudges between Clans may be even more detrimental to Martian success than day-to-day corporate maleficence. But Alice knows that exposing the right corporate misdeeds could motivate the Clans into working together against a common enemy.
Like other Anarchs, Alice is prepared to dig through the neglected files in the Corp's Archives for the evidence she needs—like proof that the Whampoa mines (Blood and Water, 79) are sacrificing Martian lives for some Earther’s bottom-line—and exploit all weaknesses she finds there. Specifically, she forces the Corp to trash a card the first time she makes a successful run on the Archives. This effectively enables her to gain an access on HQ by running Archives. More importantly, it enables her to disrupt the Corp’s plans while taking advantage of cards like Retrieval Run (Future Proof, 101).
The War Never Ended
The MCA may have proclaimed its victory more than a decade ago, but true Martians know that the war never ended. They can still see evidence of it in the corpse-strewn battlefields that surround their homes, and they can still feel the call to arms as corporate agendas chip away at their freedoms.
The Big Four are growing more and more confident as they settle into the Red Planet to pursue their wildest agendas yet. This means it's time for the Clans to choose their path—will they band together to oppose the MCA or will they let old feuds tear them apart? The corporations say that they can bring water to Mars, but whose blood will pay for it?
Look for Blood and Water to arrive at retailers in the first quarter of 2017!WARREN, MI (AP) - Police say a Detroit-area man won't face charges after he refused to tell authorities that his girlfriend had died during a drive to Michigan from Arizona. Warren police Deputy Commissioner Louis Galasso tells the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News the case involved some "bizarre" judgment and behavior, but wasn't criminal. Ray Tomlinson says he kept driving after his 31-year-old girlfriend died in part because he had his 92-year-old mother in the van and wanted to get her home. The 62-year-old Clinton Township man says he also feared arrest and wanted to get the body to a Michigan morgue. Officers arrived Tuesday at his son's home in Warren to find the corpse in the front passenger seat wearing a seatbelt and sunglasses. The dead woman's name hasn't been released.This article is over 5 years old
Seoul marks Armed Forced Day by unveiling missile capable of targeting all parts of North Korea
South Korea has displayed a domestically built missile capable of hitting all parts of North Korea and other sophisticated weapons at the country's biggest Armed Forces Day ceremony in a decade.
Tuesday's televised ceremony at a military airport near Seoul involved about 11,000 troops, 190 weapons systems and 120 aircraft.
Among the weapons featured was a Hyunmu-3 cruise missile with a range of 620 miles (1,000km), which South Korea has developed in recent years. It was the first time the missile has been shown publicly.
President Park Geun-hye said in a speech that South Korea must bolster its national defence to neutralise North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
South Korea will conduct a military parade through Seoul streets later on Tuesday for the first time since 2008.EarlyOnsetOfNight's Tumblr protesting and demonstrating in NYC against Arizona's immigration-enforcement law give you a warm fuzzy feeling that blue state New Yorkers are quite the progressive bunch? Well, it's time to reevaluate. A new poll [pdf] by the Siena Research Institutethe same one that noted 61% opposition to the "Ground Zero" mosquehas more disillusioning news in store for any liberal New Yorker who feels sure that what happened in Arizona could never happen here.
According to the poll, 70% of New York residents feel the presence of illegal immigrants poses a "significant problem," and 57% are okay with people being required to produce documents on request to verify they're in the U.S. legally. But the icing on the Glenn Beck birthday cake is that 52% would like to see a law like the one passed in Arizona materialize in New York. The poll's director, Don Levy, said that about 25% "agree that the law is necessary to combat a list of problems caused by illegal immigration" and the government's failure to secure borders, "while a nearly equal percentage argue that the law will lead to racial profiling and that it will negatively affect the rights of individuals."
Predictably, support for such a bill is lowest amongst New York City residents, where 3 million of the state’s 4 million immigrants live—as well as amongst the state’s Hispanics, African-Americans and Democrats—and support is highest amongst Republicans, upstaters and suburbanites. The WSJ blog Metropolis took a look at the poll’s crosstabs [pdf], and found that within New York City, opposition to the Arizona bill runs a relatively healthy 3-to-1.
There may be some light at the end of this constitutionally unsound tunnel, if only on the island: At least two-thirds of New Yorkers support a legal temporary worker program as well as a "tough but fair path to legalization." Levy said, "The devil still lies in the details."Background
As a Bitcoin mining enthusiast, I thought the idea behind CEX.io was pretty cool. You can buy virtual mining power and collect the rewards from your cloud hashing power. I signed up for an account and bought 1 BTC worth of mining power. I was seeing decent returns, so I decided to check out the site’s security before I moved more money into my account.
I work as a security consultant, and I frequently perform penetration tests on web applications. I used Burp Proxy to simply watch the HTTP traffic between my browser and CEX. Within about 15 minutes of reading through the traffic logs (and making no modifications to the requests), I found several security vulnerabilities. Previously, I had read Donncha O’Cearbhaill’s excellent writeup about reporting vulnerabilities to Coinbase via their bug bounty program. I had also reported a minor vulnerability to Bitmit several months prior and had a fairly smooth experience.
Discovery
The most severe issue on the site related to the protection on withdrawals requests and buy or sell orders. For example, when a user issued an order to buy 1 GH/s of virtual mining power for.15 BTC, the HTTP request took the following form:
POST /trade/api/order HTTP/1.1 Host: cex.io Cookie: __cfduid=[redacted]; ref=[redacted] Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Content-Length: 58 type=buy&symbol1=GHS&symbol2=BTC&amount=1&price=.15&_csrf=
Similarly, when the user requested a 1 BTC withdrawal to their Bitcoin wallet address, the request took the following form:
POST /trade/api/withdraw_btc HTTP/1.1 Host: cex.io Cookie: __cfduid=[redacted]; ref=[redacted] Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Content-Length: 59 wallet=[user's wallet address]&amount=1.0&_csrf=
This is a very obvious cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability. The site was trying to defend against this with the _csrf parameter, but something was broken because the token had no value assigned and thus was offering no protection. The result was that an attacker could create a page with the following HTML:
<form action="https://cex.io/trade/api/order" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="type" value="sell" /> <input type="hidden" name="symbol1" value="GHS" /> <input type="hidden" name="symbol2" value="BTC" /> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="10" /> <input type="hidden" name="price" value=".00001" /> <input type="hidden" name="_csrf" value="" /> </form> <script> window.onload = function () { document.forms[0].submit(); } </script>
If a CEX user visited the attacker’s page while logged into CEX, it would cause them to automatically sell 10 GH/s for.00001 BTC. At the time, CEX’s session cookie lasted for days, so it would not have been difficult to find users who are still logged into CEX when they visit the attacker’s site. Withdrawals were a bit more protected, as the user had to click an email confirming the action, but an attacker could still sell a victim user’s entire holdings for whatever price the attacker wanted (or alternatively purchase mining power at an attacker-chosen price).
Reporting
On October 13, I emailed [email protected] to ask if they offered a white hat bug bounty program. I received a response the same day from Jeffrey Smith, CEX’s head of customer service who said he would like to discuss the issue with me. I followed up with Jeffrey but I did not get an answer until October 21st, when he told met that CEX would be willing to pay me in virtual mining power in exchange for responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities.
I replied to Jeffrey the same day explaining the vulnerability in detail and providing guidance in how to fix it. Jeffrey responded the next day to thank me and tell me CEX would begin investigating and determining an appropriate reward.
On November 4, I saw that CEX had fixed the CSRF issue and had also added two-factor authentication for added protection. I sent Jeffrey an email asking when I could expect the bounty, and I received no response. I waited five days, then sent another email, this time filing a support ticket as well. Two days later I finally received my answer from Jeffrey:
I talked to the upper management about the vulnerability you have found. Their response was that they were aware of this vulnerability, but it was not in our priority list. However it is now, and I’ve negotiated a bounty in the amount: 0.2BTC.
Full Timeline
10/13/2013 – Initial inquiry about bug bounty program
10/21/2013 – CEX offers bounty in exchange for responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities
10/21/2013 – I report CSRF vulnerability to CEX
11/04/2013 – I notice issue has been fixed, inquire about bounty
11/11/2013 – CEX notifies me of my bounty, sends me 0.2 BTC
Full email transcripts are available here.
Conclusion
At the time, 0.2 BTC was roughly the equivalent of US$70. I found the bounty a bit disappointing compared with those offered by other Bitcoin companies, but I can’t complain much because I didn’t negotiate a rate beforehand. What struck me most was that, for weeks, CEX’s upper management supposedly knew about a serious vulnerability that could completely drain their users’ holdings and did not fix it because “it was not in [their] priority list.”
Again, I had found several vulnerabilities during my cursory examination of CEX’s site, but the CSRF issue was the only one I reported because I wanted to test out their bug bounty program. After my experience reporting the CSRF bug, I am not interested in reporting further vulnerabilities to CEX. I felt that their reward was unreasonably low and that their bounty process was klunky and unprofessional. Their approach to security does not make me comfortable trusting them with my Bitcoins, so I’m afraid CEX and I will be parting ways.
AdvertisementsMachines make our life easier and more convenient. They are invented to help make our job faster. The presence of a machine in our lives today can be ranged from simple to complex. While they are those machine that only requires manual power for it to run, there are also those which need fuel before they can operate. Cars are common example of machines that won’t run without fuels. They would only get stuck in your garage that needs custom garage doors Tempe. This makes this energy sources a necessity in our lives and an expensive commodity.
Perhaps, we are all privy to the fact that fuel is among the goods present in the market that continues to increase on a daily basis. This is not anymore surprising because of the huge demand for it. It is being utilized for both home and business functions. Without fuel, we wouldn’t enjoy the many commodities we have at present since this is the energy source we are highly dependent on at the moment. But although this is the case, we should not be just victims of the continuously increasing price. We should provide a mitigation to this so that the consumers won’t suffer.
Energy and Enterprise is an organization that helps protect the rights of the consumer. We are non-profit which has the best interests of consumers in mind. We help call for attention to the problem and offer an alternative solution to those in the power. We do this through our partners who stand behind us through our advocacies.
The way people are suffering from the expensive price of fuel today open our eyes to the need for a better and more stable energy policy. There is a need to make revisions to the existing policy to accommodate the energy security of not just homes owners but business owners as well. The continuous increase is not doing any good especially to the livelihood of our countrymen. The tax exercised on the fuel should be lowered, if not totally abolished. This is just one of the changes we need to start today.
Recently, the problem of climate change has been pulled into the limelight. Looking deeper, it also appeared that fossil fuels are among the number one contributor that worsens the condition of our environment. If this is the case, this should also be addressed in a way that won’t make the consumers suffer. We should think of an alternative that would help solve the problem as early as now. Such energy sources should be available to the public without the torture of the additional cost. Every consumer has the right to a cleaner, and cheaper energy sources.
Here at Energy and Enterprise, simply do not call for a change. We incorporate here the changes we want to see in the world. Together with our partners who have access to renewable energy and can supply them, we talk to business owners to encourage them to pick this as their alternative to fuels. We also provide seminars to those who want to learn more about it so that they’d know that there are other alternatives out there for them.Police can now confiscate booze in downtown casino district
From now on, if you have a bag of liquor and you open it on the Fremont Street Experience, police have the option of confiscating the booze.
That was the lesser punishment considered today by the Las Vegas City Council, which is trying to enact laws to limit rampant alcohol consumption in downtown’s main tourist area.
Bags of booze purchased at a liquor store, which are required to be sealed by the store, will have a receipt attached on the outside. If someone is seen opening the bag, police can take it away.
Another option that would have made opening a bag a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail was seen as counter to the city’s goal of improving commerce downtown.
Drinks purchased at casinos are OK, as long as they are poured into a cup before going outside.
The Fremont Street Experience is five blocks of Fremont Street, with four of them covered by an electrified canopy.
The council anguished for about an hour over what to do now that it has other new laws on the books limiting booze. New laws already ban advertising in the gift shops and liquor stores in the Fremont Street Experience — there are six of those stores.
The laws also ban any new liquor stores, unless they come as part of a pharmacy or grocery store. Tiny bottles of booze, like those served on airplanes, are banned. So are large containers of alcohol or coolers with more than 13 percent alcohol content.
Though almost never enforced historically, it has been illegal to drink booze purchased at a liquor store within 1,000 feet of any liquor store.
That has changed in recent weeks, and the laws are being enforced.
Metro Police Capt. Shawn Anderson, whose Downtown Area Command includes the Fremont Street Experience, said his officers have noticed less chaos in the touristy area over the last two weeks.
“It’s gotten a lot better,” he said.
The biggest change has been that nobody can now drink alcohol from an original container — glass, metal or plastic — at the Fremont Street Experience. And the liquor stores also have signs posted telling people that they can’t open their liquor within 1,000 feet of the store.
Councilman Bob Beers chided the new bag |
heart of contemporary industrial civilization’s childlike trust in the irreversible cumulative march of progress toward a future among the stars. Finding ways to defend that belief even when it obviously wasn’t true—when the latest, shiniest products of progress turned out to be worse in every meaningful sense than the older products they elbowed out of the way—was among the great growth industries of the 20th century; even so, there were plenty of cases where progress really did seem to measure up to its billing. Given the steady increases of energy per capita in the world’s industrial nations over the last century or so, that was a predictable outcome.
The difficulty, of course, is that the number of cases where new things really are better than what they replace has been shrinking steadily in recent decades, while the number of cases where old products are quite simply better than their current equivalents—easier to use, more effective, more comfortable, less prone to break, less burdened with unwanted side effects and awkward features, and so on—has been steadily rising. Back behind the myth of progress, like the little man behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz, stand two unpalatable and usually unmentioned realities. The first is that profits, not progress, determines which products get marketed and which get roundfiled; the second is that making a cheaper, shoddier product and using advertising gimmicks to sell it anyway has been the standard marketing strategy across a vast range of American businesses for years now.
More generally, believers in progress used to take it for granted that progress would sooner or later bring about a world where everyone would live exciting, fulfilling lives brimfull of miracle products and marvelous experiences. You still hear that sort of talk from the faithful now and then these days, but it’s coming to sound a lot like all that talk about the glorious worker’s paradise of the future did right around the time the Iron Curtain came down for good. In both cases, the future that was promised didn’t have much in common with the one that actually showed up. The one we got doesn’t have some of the nastier features of the one the former Soviet Union and its satellites produced—well, not yet, at least—but the glorious consumer’s paradise described in such lavish terms a few decades back got lost on the way to the spaceport, and what we got instead was a bleak landscape of decaying infrastructure, abandoned factories, prostituted media, and steadily declining standards of living for everyone outside the narrowing circle of the privileged, with the remnants of our once-vital democratic institutions hanging above it all like rotting scarecrows silhouetted against a darkening sky.
In place of those exciting, fulfilling lives mentioned above, furthermore, we got the monotony and stress of long commutes, cubicle farms, and would-you-like-fries-with that for the slowly shrinking fraction of our population who can find a job at all. The Onion, with its usual flair for packaging unpalatable realities in the form of deadpan humor, nailed it a few days ago with a faux health-news article announcing that the best thing office workers could do for their health is stand up at their desk, leave the office, and never go back. Joke or not, it’s not bad advice; if you have a full-time job in today’s America, the average medieval peasant had a less stressful job environment and more days off than you do; he also kept a larger fraction of the product of his labor than you’ll ever see.
Then, of course, if you’re like most Americans, you’ll numb yourself once you get home by flopping down on the sofa and spending most of your remaining waking hours staring at little colored pictures on a glass screen. It’s remarkable how many people get confused about what this action really entails. They insist that they’re experiencing distant places, traveling in worlds of pure imagination, and so on through the whole litany of self-glorifying drivel the mass media likes to employ in its own praise. Let us please be real: when you watch a program about the Amazon rain forest, you’re not experiencing the Amazon rain forest; you’re experiencing colored pictures on a screen, and you’re only getting as much of the experience as fits through the narrow lens of a video camera and the even narrower filter of the production process. The difference between experiencing something and watching it on TV or the internet, that is to say, is precisely the same as the difference between making love and watching pornography; in each case, the latter is a very poor substitute for the real thing.
For most people in today’s America, in other words, the closest approach to the glorious consumer’s paradise of the future they can expect to get is eight hours a day, five days a week of mindless, monotonous work under the constant pressure of management efficiency experts, if they’re lucky enough to get a job at all, with anything up to a couple of additional hours commuting and any off-book hours the employer happens to choose to demand from them into the deal, in order to get a paycheck that buys a little less each month—inflation is under control, the government insists, but prices somehow keep going up—of products that get more cheaply made, more likely to be riddled with defects, and more likely to pose a serious threat to the health and well-being of their users, with every passing year. Then they can go home and numb their nervous systems with those little colored pictures on the screen, showing them bland little snippets of experiences they will never have, wedged in there between the advertising.
That’s the world that progress has made. That’s the shining future that resulted from all those centuries of scientific research and technological tinkering, all the genius and hard work and sacrifice that have gone into the project of progress. Of course there’s more to the consequences of progress than that; progress has saved quite a few children from infectious diseases, and laced the environment with so many toxic wastes that childhood cancer, all but unheard of in 1850, is a routine event today; it’s made impressive contributions to human welfare, while flooding the atmosphere with greenhouse gases that will soon make far more impressive contributions to human suffering and death—well, I could go on along these lines for quite a while. True believers in the ideology of perpetual progress like to insist that all the good things ought to be credited to progress while all the bad things ought to be blamed on something else, but that’s not so plausible an article of faith as it once was, and it bids fair to become a great deal less common as the downsides of progress become more and more difficult to ignore.
The data points I noted earlier in this week’s post, I’ve come to believe, are symptoms of that change, the first stirrings of wind that tell of the storm to come. People searching for a better way of living than the one our society offers these days are turning to the actual past, rather than to some imaginary future, in that quest. That’s the immense shift I mentioned earlier. What makes it even more momentous is that by and large, it’s not being done in the sort of grim Puritanical spirit of humorless renunciation that today’s popular culture expects from those who want something other than what the consumer economy has on offer. It’s being done, rather, in a spirit of celebration.
One of my readers responded to my post two weeks ago on deliberate technological regress by suggesting that I was proposing a Butlerian jihad of sorts. (Those of my readers who don’t get the reference should pick up a copy of Frank Herbert’s iconic SF novel Dune and read it.) I demurred, for two reasons. First, the Butlerian jihad in Herbert’s novel was a revolt against computer technology, and I see no need for that; once the falling cost of human labor intersects the rising cost of energy and technology, and it becomes cheaper to hire file clerks and accountants than to maintain the gargantuan industrial machine that keeps computer technology available, computers will go away, or linger as a legacy technology for a narrowing range of special purposes until the hardware finally burns out.
The second reason, though, is the more important. I’m not a fan of jihads, or of holy wars of any flavor; history shows all too well that when you mix politics and violence with religion, any actual religious content vanishes away, leaving its castoff garments to cover the naked rule of force and fraud. If you want people to embrace a new way of looking at things, furthermore, violence, threats, and abusive language don’t work, and it’s even less effective to offer that new way as a ticket to virtuous misery, along the lines of the Puritanical spirit noted above. That’s why so much of the green-lifestyle propaganda of the last thirty years has done so little good—so much of it has been pitched as a way to suffer self-righteously for the good of Gaia, and while that approach appeals to a certain number of wannabe martyrs, that’s not a large enough fraction of the population to matter.
The people who are ditching their Kindles and savoring books as physical objects, brewing their own beer and resurrecting other old arts and crafts, reformatting their lives in the modes of a past decade, or spending their spare time reconnecting with the customs and technologies of an earlier time—these people aren’t doing any of those things out of some passion for self-denial. They’re doing them because these things bring them delights that the shoddy mass-produced lifestyles of the consumer economy can’t match. What these first stirrings suggest to me is that the way forward isn’t a Butlerian jihad, but a Butlerian carnival—a sensuous celebration of the living world outside the cubicle farms and the glass screens, which will inevitably draw most of its raw materials from eras, technologies, and customs of the past, which don’t require the extravagant energy and resource inputs that the modern consumer economy demands, and so will be better suited to a future defined by scarce energy and resources.
The Butlerian carnival isn’t the only way to approach the deliberate technological regression we need to carry out in the decades ahead, but it’s an important one. In upcoming posts, I’ll talk more about how this and other avenues to the same goal might be used to get through the mess immediately ahead, and start laying foundations for a future on the far side of the crises of our time.
Photo credit: "Rotefunken-rosenmontag-2006" by Rolf Hahn – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas passed on some knowledge to kids at a basketball clinic at Waltham Boys and Girls Club in Waltham on Monday.
About 100 children are packed into the bleachers at the Waltham Boys & Girls Club, as life-size decals of Tom Brady and Paul Pierce stare down from concrete walls. Isaiah Thomas is not a Boston sports icon like those two — as evidenced by the fact that a boy came to this event in a Rajon Rondo T-shirt — but he will strive to become one.
Since being acquired from the Suns in February, the 5-foot-9-inch point guard has been a revelation, helping improbably transform the Celtics into a playoff team. He has just completed a basketball clinic in this small gym, and now he will take questions.
One student asks Thomas what elementary school he attended. Another asks about his nationality. The moderator pleads for more depth, and a young girl raises her hand.
“Have you ever thought about quitting?”
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The question seems to catch Thomas off guard. He fiddles with his hands and sways.
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The students don’t know how dejected he was at prep school, to the point where he lied to his coach about family events just to fly home. They don’t know that people used to try to fight him simply because they could not handle losing a basketball game to a pipsqueak. They don’t know about the tears on NBA Draft night, when his future went from promising to uncertain in a few stressful hours.
“Quitting?” Thomas says. “Nah, I’ve never been a quitter.”
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One summer day about 12 years ago, NBA veteran Jason Terry was at his father’s home in Tacoma, Wash., when he heard a constant thumping outside. Terry, then a young guard for the Hawks, found a small boy shooting baskets alone. The boy told Terry he was friends with his younger brother, Curtis, so Terry shrugged and went back inside.
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“Then it’s like 10 p.m., and I hear it again,” Terry recalled, his voice rising. “I go back out, and Isaiah is still out there shooting all by himself.”
Most people close to Thomas have similar basketball stories. The time he secretly stuffed his way-too-big Lakers jersey into his backpack and slipped it on for school pictures. The time his teacher contacted his father, James, because Isaiah refused to come in after fourth-grade basketball recess, and Isaiah explained that he could only improve his game against the sixth-graders.
Video: Isaiah Thomas speaks at Waltham Boys and Girls Club
“Even when he was a toddler,” James Thomas, said, “he would just carry that basketball around like Linus carried his blanket.”
In middle school, Thomas rode city buses around Tacoma in search of the best games the way surfers search for the best waves. If the gym required a membership, he would try to sneak in — perhaps a perk of being pint-size.
He was initially bothered by his height. He used to hang from a chin-up bar at his home, hoping it would stretch his body like taffy. When he had physical exams, his mother, Tina Baldtrip, asked the doctor not to predict how tall he would be. But sometimes Isaiah would ask and get an answer, then sob all the way home.
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But by ninth grade, he realized his height would not crush his basketball dreams. It just made him different. He wanted to become the best under-6-foot basketball player there ever was.
Courtesy Thomas family Isaiah Thomas (right) and his father James.
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The legend of Isaiah Thomas spread quickly in the Pacific Northwest. His coach at Curtis High, Lindsay Bemis, was once approached by a coach from Portland looking for “the little Mighty Mouse” he had heard about. Jason Terry’s father used to coach Thomas’s AAU team and call Jason to recite his dazzling performances.
“I’m like, ‘Little Isaiah who used to be shooting on the goal in the back?’ ” Jason Terry said. “And then he’d tell me he just scored 50 the other day. Fifty!”
Clippers guard and Seattle native Jamal Crawford, who played for the Knicks at the time, heard stories about Thomas, too. He heard about him pouring in 52 points in a game at Key Arena. He heard about him lighting up opponents twice his age and twice his size in pickup games.
The two became friends, and Crawford asked Thomas to join his summer league, which included players such as Crawford and Terry as well as hardened Seattle street-ball stars whose dreams had fallen short.
“And Isaiah was just killing people,” Crawford said, “as a high school student.”
Thomas accepted a scholarship to the University of Washington, but there were concerns he would not qualify academically. In late fall of his senior year, he begrudgingly enrolled at South Kent School — an all-boys preparatory academy tucked in the hills of Connecticut — and reclassified as a junior.
“When that happened, people in Tacoma didn’t think I’d ever make it to college,” he said. “They thought that was it for me.”
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South Kent was 3,000 miles from Thomas’s home, and it felt even farther. He arrived during a cold, gray winter and struggled with the rigid lifestyle: The tie-and-blazer dress code, the mandatory chapel sessions, the curfews. Thomas called his mother almost every night and asked if he could come home.
“At 16, going across the country to a place I didn’t know, away from my family, was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do,” he said. “There were times I just wanted to give up and leave.”
And there were times he tried. He once told coach Raphael Chillious that he had a family wedding to attend. He returned to Tacoma, where there was no wedding. Chillious suspended Thomas for three games.
Basketball was his only outlet. He would go to the gym at 6 a.m. and return there most nights, either by himself or with a freshman who would rebound for him.
Since Crawford was playing for the Knicks, Thomas often took the one-hour train ride to his White Plains home on weekends. They would watch games and play one-on-one on the lighted outdoor court long past sunset. When Thomas went to Knicks games at Madison Square Garden, he was there as a student.
“I watched everything they did,” he said. “How they walk, how they talk, how they carry themselves.”
He came to view South Kent as a necessary step, and he began to thrive. By his final year, he was the one telling scared underclassmen how they would succeed, how it would all be worth it.
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At Washington, Thomas was in command from the start. He led the Huskies to three Pac-10 titles and earned all-league honors each time. His competitive fire was obvious.
In the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, the Huskies trailed Marquette by 15 points with 13:51 left. Darius Johnson-Odom was torching them, and Thomas was furious. During a timeout, he demanded to defend Johnson-Odom. The Marquette guard did not score another basket, and Washington won, 80-78.
“To me,” Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said, “that just summarized Isaiah’s whole being on the basketball floor.”
In Thomas’s junior year, Washington was in a close game at Washington State. There was a late timeout and Thomas needed to use the bathroom, but he worried that if he left the game he might not return in time. So he asked for a towel and told his teammates to encircle him.
“He put the towel in his shorts and peed on the bench, because he didn’t want to check out,” said Chillious, who became an assistant at Washington. “That was a guy who wanted to compete.”
Even though almost everyone in Thomas’s inner circle encouraged him to return to school for his senior year, he declared for the 2011 draft.
“Everybody was like, ‘What are you doing?!’ ” he said. “But I had my mind made up.”
Getty Images Isaiah Thomas has played in 21 games for the Celtics since being acquired in a trade with the Suns.
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Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who befriended Isaiah in part because of their obvious similarity, was working as an advisor for the Knicks at the time. He thought Thomas had first-round talent, and he recommended that the team attempt to acquire him. Jason Terry, meanwhile, sat in on Thomas’s pre-draft workout with the Mavericks.
“It was one of the most phenomenal workouts I’ve ever seen from a guard,” Terry said. “He dominated. There was no doubt in my mind Dallas would pick him.”
Ultimately, though, the Knicks wouldn’t pick him, the Mavericks wouldn’t pick him, and it was unclear if anyone would pick him.
Thomas and his future fiancé, Kayla Wallace, invited 40 friends and family members to their apartment for the draft. They rented tables and chairs and served chicken, macaroni and baked beans. It was a party.
Isaiah was anxious, though, so he went to Washington’s gym to shoot baskets, occasionally checking his phone for updates. The first round passed, then the second round began to speed by.
Back at the apartment, the buzz had faded. People had trickled out of the viewing room. Thomas’s father went outside, into the rain, and prayed. Some family members began to cry.
“I started to worry, like, if this doesn’t happen, what direction is this party going to go?” Wallace said. “And what is our Plan B?”
Finally, with two selections left, Thomas received a call from his agent that the Sacramento Kings would take him with the 60th and final choice. Now the tears were joyous. James Thomas pulled his son close.
“That’s all we wanted,” he told him. “All we wanted was a chance.”
Courtesy Thomas family Isaiah Thomas (left), with his sons, James, 4, and Jaiden, 3, and fiancee Kayla Wallace.
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Thomas was not guaranteed a roster spot as a second-round pick, so he attacked training camp. The Kings actually contacted the Washington coaching staff and asked for advice on how to get Thomas to calm down.
“They said he was sprinting to get water during breaks, sprinting back to the court, going hard the entire time, and it was almost making the veterans look bad,” Chillious said. “So we called Isaiah and said, ‘Hey, keep it up.’ ”
Thomas made the team, entered the starting lineup in the 27th game and stayed there. He was the Western Conference Rookie of the Month in February and March.
“When I was out on the floor,” Thomas said, “I wanted to make people be like, ‘Man, why isn’t that guy playing more?’ ”
Last year Thomas averaged 20.3 points and 6.3 assists per game. Three seasons after simply hoping to be drafted, he entered the open market in control.
At 12:01 a.m. on July 1, the first day of free agency, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge called. He told Thomas he admired him and made it clear he wanted him to become a Celtic, even if not now.
Thomas visited Phoenix first, and the Suns wooed him. He was on the cover of a media guide wearing their uniform. At the arena, he was superimposed on a large billboard. His sons James, 4 — from a previous relationship — and Jaiden, 3, received personalized Phoenix jerseys. And, of course, he was offered a four-year, $28 million deal.
The Suns sold the idea of joining an offense with point guards Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic. Thomas called Terry, now a Houston Rocket, for advice.
“You just hit the lottery,” Terry told him. “It’s perfect.”
Thomas bought a house for his mother and a car for his father. He was living his dream. But as this season unfolded, it was clear there was not room for all three guards.
“I was taking a step back,” Thomas said. “We all wanted the ball and are all talented, but somebody ended up upset every night. It’s something that everyone thought would work, but it just didn’t.”
AP Isaiah Thomas played 46 games with the Suns this season.
When Dragic requested a trade and was sent to the Heat, it seemed the problem had been resolved. The team was on its bus before leaving for the airport on Feb. 19 when the 3 p.m. trade deadline hit. Then forward Brandan Wright saw on his phone that Thomas had been sent to the Celtics; a Suns employee verified it minutes later.
Thomas grabbed sneakers from his locker and drove home in a daze. He ignored the calls and text messages that were flooding in. He didn’t want to uproot his family or leave the warmth of Phoenix for Boston, which was in the midst of an historically brutal winter. He felt like it was South Kent all over again.
Then he noticed a text message from Isiah Thomas, the Hall of Famer, and his outlook began to shift.
“This is gonna change your career,” it said. “They’re one game out of the playoffs. Lead them to the playoffs.”
Thomas flew to Boston the next morning. He FaceTimed with coach Brad Stevens and watched the Celtics’ game against the Kings on television with Ainge, who told him that if he embraces his role, he could become a legend.
“If that’s the truth, I’m down for that,” Thomas told Ainge. “I want that type of pressure.”
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James Thomas is sitting in his second-row seat behind a TD Garden basket, sipping a beer from a clear plastic cup. LeBron James is on the Cavaliers’ bench about 20 feet away.
The Celtics are on their way to another win, on their way to a playoff berth, and it is a perfect day for Thomas to see his son in a Celtics uniform for the first time. Thomas, who has worked as a parts inspector at Boeing for 26 years, smiles and points to the collection of banners hanging from the rafters.
“This,” he says, “feels like a championship place.”
Isaiah Thomas is averaging 19 points and 5.4 assists and is a leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate. His mother, who still works as a hospice nurse in Tacoma, says that when she sees her son on television now, she can tell he is happy again. He is the headliner of this team and he loves this city, even if it does not feel like home yet.
Isaiah Thomas 2014-15 stats Games Starts Minutes PPG APG Phoenix 46 1 25.7 15.2 3.7 Boston 21 0 26.0 19.0 5.4 SOURCE : NBA Globe Staff
Thomas has been living at the Hyatt House hotel in Waltham while Wallace helps prepare the couple’s new offseason home in the Tacoma area. They will look for an apartment in Boston this summer, but for now, Thomas is usually here alone, eating breakfast by himself at In A Pickle restaurant and then heading to the training facility to workout.
His two boys are living in Washington for now, too, and they are confused. They just know their father plays for the green team, and they still think he is most famous for being on commercials for the “Pizza Guys” franchise back in Sacramento.
In Phoenix, Isaiah used to wake up each morning — even after returning from road games in the wee hours — and take Jaiden and James to day care. He misses them terribly, and this week he begged Wallace to bring them out to see him.
And so they are here at the Cavaliers game. They raise their arms and yell when Isaiah’s name booms over the public address system after he drains a 3-pointer. And this time, about 20,000 other people join them.
“I think this city will love Isaiah, because he fits with its mentality,” Wallace said. “He’s a fighter, a hard worker, and he wants to have an impact.”
Related coverage:
■ Celtics-Cavaliers playoff schedule
■ Brad Stevens named NBA coach of the month
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbachStory highlights Police clear anti-austerity protesters from Madrid's Puerta del Sol plaza
"The new government is the same," a woman says, claiming people are fed up
Similar rallies are held in Barcelona and other cities around Spain
The protests coincide with the anniversary of the launch of the May 15 movement
Chanting "they don't represent us," tens of thousands in Madrid railed early Sunday against Spain's government and austerity cuts -- venting their anger on the first anniversary of the so-called May 15 protest movement.
Many ignored a government deadline to disperse by Saturday night from the central Puerta del Sol plaza, prompting police to clear the square by 5 a.m. on Sunday (11 p.m. on Saturday ET), the interior ministry said.
About 30,000 attended the Madrid protest, and 18 were detained for resisting arrest or disorderly conduct, the ministry said.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, demonstrators were a loud and vibrant presence in the square -- as a large number of police, stationed at a nearby government building and along side streets, looked on and let them be.
Throngs of like-minded demonstrators also gathered over the weekend in Barcelona and about 80 other cities around Spain.
Barcelona saw about 22,000 protesters, while Valencia had 8,000 and Seville had 2,000, authorities said. All the demonstrations were cleared by Sunday morning, the interior ministry said.
The coordinated events marked the return of the "indignados" -- or the outraged, as the protesters became known -- who led Europe's first serious and significant grassroots movement against austerity and government budget cuts.
Similar demonstrations decrying governments' attempts to get their budgets in order, sometimes by slashing public funding, later emerged elsewhere around Europe.
In Madrid this weekend, marchers from the north, south, east and west descended on Puerta del Sol plaza on Saturday evening.
For hours, demonstrators shouted, jumped, sang and waved white handkerchiefs. Their most dramatic moment, though, may have been their quietest: when they held their hands aloft, silently, in a "silent shout" before erupting in cheers.
The crowd is expected to return. The government has approved three more days of protests in Madrid, meaning similar scenes could play out into the middle of the week.
The number of demonstrators in Madrid over the weekend appeared to be slightly fewer than those who had gathered in the same spot -- in what's known as ground zero of the movement -- a year earlier.
Back then, protesters encamped in Madrid and other cities made their voices heard. The tens of thousands of people who turned out in the initial days grew to an estimated 6 million protesters over the following months, in a nation of 46 million people.
Since then, Occupy camps around the world have come and gone.
The new protests organized by the May 15 movement are different in at least one key respect: a new conservative government is now in control, having taken over in December.
Spain's economic crisis also has worsened since last year. The nation has slipped back into a recession, the unemployment rate has risen to 24% overall and more than 50% for those under age 25, and the government has enacted billions of dollars in austerity cuts, along with some tax hikes, to reduce the budget deficit.
"We are really tired of this situation," said Madrid protester Paola Alvarado, a purchasing agent. "And the new government is the same. They steal our money and give it to the banks."
Spain's austerity protests have been largely peaceful to date, with only occasional clashes between protesters and police, and some arrests in cities like Barcelona and Valencia.
And prior the latest protests, the new government -- which has vowed to maintain order and prevent a repetition of encampments in Madrid and beyond -- urged police commanders to use "common sense" as to how they dealt with the latest round of public dissent.
In recent months, Spanish trade unions, traditionally the protest leaders, have been at the forefront of demonstrations against the austerity cuts and labor market reforms, with the May 15 movement barely visible.
"Maybe the most important thing is it awakened a consciousness, beyond concrete changes, to make historic change possible," said Jon Aguirre Such, who was a movement spokesman a year ago but now spends more time on his architectural cooperative for urban planning.
"I think everyone who took part in the May 15 movement made history. They can take away from us many things, but not our memory and our dream," Aguirre said.
The original May 15 movement is credited with helping stop dozens of housing evictions. Activists pressured bank and court officials to delay or stop foreclosures on delinquent mortgages.
But Ignacio Urquiza, a sociologist who has studied the movement for the left-leaning Fundacion Alternativas, said there has been little big-picture change as to government policies and operations.
"The demonstrations didn't do more than expose -- for a brief time -- some issues. But Spain's economic crisis and political system have not changed. They are the same as last year," he said.Eddie Eagan, in full Edward Patrick Francis Eagan, (born April 26, 1897, Denver, Colorado, U.S.—died June 14, 1967, Rye, New York), American boxer and bobsledder who was the only athlete to win gold medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
After their father died in a railroad accident when Eddie was only a year old, he and his four brothers were raised by their mother, who managed a small income from teaching foreign languages. Inspired by Frank Merriwell, the hero of a series of dime novels, Eagan pursued his education as well as his interest in boxing. He attended the University of Denver for a year before serving in the U.S. Army as an artillery lieutenant during World War I. After the war, he entered Yale University and won the U.S. national amateur heavyweight title (1919) while a student. He graduated from Yale in 1921, attended Harvard Law School (1921–22), and received a Rhodes scholarship to the University of Oxford (B.A., Jurisprudence, 1924; M.A., 1928). While studying at Oxford, Eagan became the first American to win the British amateur boxing championship.
Eagan won his first Olympic gold medal as a light heavyweight boxer at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. Eagan also fought at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as a heavyweight but failed to medal. Though he had taken up the sport just three weeks before the competition, he managed to win a second gold medal as a member of the four-man bobsled team at the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, U.S. Eagan was a member of the first group of athletes inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983.
Eagan became a respected attorney, serving as an assistant district attorney for southern New York and as chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission (1945–51). He married soap heiress Margaret Colgate and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel during World War II.Today we’re thrilled to offer an exclusive excerpt from Nathaniel Popper’s Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money, the definitive book about bitcoin. In this chapter we learn, in detail, the secrets behind the mysterious 21.co. Originally called 21e6, the company grew in secrecy to become one of the highest capitalized bitcoin ventures in the world.
For much of the past two years, the Bitcoin company with the most money and high profile backers was one that almost no one knew existed.

With the arcane-sounding name 21e6, the company raised $70 million in 2013, with the initial investment coming in personal contributions from the elite of Silicon Valley, including Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz
Founded by the Stanford wunderkind, Balaji Srinivasan and four co-founders, 21e6 proceeded to roll out thousands of computers that were built to do nothing but generate new Bitcoins – an energy intensive computational process referred to as mining.
The machines were loaded with custom-designed chips that had names like Yoda and Gandalf, and were submerged in a mineral oil solution that dispersed the incredible heat generated by the mining process.
The company ended up running up against the difficulty of making money in the cut-throat business of Bitcoin mining, which became much more difficult as the price of Bitcoin dropped over the last year.
This year, the company has renamed itself 21 Inc. and recently went public with a new fundraising round, that brought in another $56 million on top of the $70 million the company had already raised.
While the company has remained tight lipped about its intentions, it is shifting away from mining Bitcoins for itself and focusing more on distributing mining hardware to consumers with the aim of supporting broader adoption of the technology. But the company’s creation played an important role in Silicon Valley’s embrace of Bitcoin.
The startup began to form in early 2013, not long after Srinivasan had stepped away from the genetics startup, Counsyl, which he had founded in his Stanford dorm room and turned him into a local star.
Srinivasan had been tracking Bitcoin for some time, but with more time on his hands he began talking about how to create a company with Matt Pauker, a cryptographer who did a guest lecture in an engineering course that Srinivasan was teaching at Stanford.
They quickly saw the opportunity in Bitcoin mining. From the time Bitcoin was released in early 2009, computers trying to generate Bitcoins took part in a kind of computational lottery. The faster a computer could run numbers through a complex equation, known as a hash function, the more chances it had to win the lottery, and with it, a bundle of new Bitcoins.
By the end of 2012, Bitcoin enthusiasts at home had already found faster and faster ways to do the computations and win more Bitcoins with their existing computer hardware, generally using GPU computer chips made for processing graphics.
A few particularly ambitious engineers set out to build so-called ASIC computer chips that could be even more efficient – and designed specifically for Bitcoin mining. In early 2013 the first of these were deployed. Together, the joint computing power of all the machines connected to the Bitcoin network was equivalent to several super computers. It was these computers that were, in essence, securing the network.
But the people creating these early ASIC chips were relative amateurs, and Srinivasan thought he could do much better by harnessing some of the top minds in Silicon Valley. In addition to Pauker, he brought on as co-founders the experienced engineers Nigel Drego, who trained at M.I.T., Veerbhan Kheterpal, a PhD from Carnegie Mellon, and Daniel Firu, who had previously been at PDF Solutions. They took their corporate name from the number of Bitcoins that will ultimately be created: 21 million.
At that point, in spring of 2013, Srinivasan also began selling the company to the elite investors of Silicon Valley, who were still generally skeptical of Bitcoin. No venture capital firms had made any significant public investments in the virtual currency technology. But Srinivasan had the benefit of a rising Bitcoin price to help his pitch.
From the beginning, 21e6 was sold as a top secret project, allowing people to invest without needing to come out as public supporters of Bitcoin. The company was also structured as an limited liability company, rather than the C Corp typical of startups, so that people could invest with their own money.
The gallery of 30 or so people who put money in was a who’s who that – in addition to the original PayPal team and Andreessen Horowitz co-founders — included AngelList’s Naval Ravikant and the Winklevoss twins. Together the group put in $5 million for 21e6’s series A round, which closed shortly after Coinbase, another Bitcoin company, won major press coverage for a similar sized fundraising round.
21e6 was sold as a top secret project, allowing people to invest without needing to come out as public supporters of Bitcoin
For Srinivasan, part of the goal in approaching individual investors was to sell tech leaders on Bitcoin, and get them personally invested in the technology — and he would later say that it worked.
“We were pretty influential in getting many of the smart people in Silicon Valley to take |
. Jenkins will be insurance for Randy Moss incase he does not work out, but the same can be said about Crabtree. Moss is going to be a hit or miss and might be the last time we see him on a NFL team, Crabtree on the other hand does not want to lose his starting role if he plans to ever get another big contract in his career.
I want Crabtree to have a big year in order to put the Niners over the top. If his motivation is money then let it be, as long as he his producing and helping the team win. I expect Crabtree to have his best season as a pro, but nothing extraordinary. There are just too many weapons in the offense now and I see head coach Jim Harbaugh utilizing each and every one of them. GO NINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Niner fans let me know what you think. Will Crabtree finally have a big year? Leave comments.It’s time to get some user feedback on these big retail sites we all use during the holiday season. Every year more people buy goods online. More than $18.7 billion has been spent online during November, representing a 15 percent increase over the same period in 2010. With the holiday shopping season upon us, we decided to test eight big online retailers in the lead up to Black Friday. Online retailers need to provide a pleasurable online customer experience by embracing the importance of usability and a good User Experience (UX). This gives us an opportunity to look at the similarities and differences of a large number of retail sites that all offer the same kind of service.
We made a nice and shiny report out of our findings (PDF, 3.1 MB). Please read it, share it with who you think might be interested, and let us know what you think.
We chose big retailers that we are all familiar with: Abercrombie & Fitch, Amazon, BestBuy, Etsy, Modcloth, ToysRus, Victoria’s Secret, and Zappos. We asked 480 people to voice their opinion on the homepages and product pages of these retailers, and asked them to carry out small tasks.
Highlights of the report
Retail sites mix usability and persuasion
The priority of online retailers is to sell goods and services to people. A site that is fast, clear, enticing, well designed, sticky, and easy to navigate tends to sell well. But, an online retail site that incorporates different, clever persuasive techniques can sell even more. This often results in a balancing act where the user is presented with a site that is fast and easy to use, but easier to get lost on than one might think.
Differences between different retail sectors
Retail sites that sell soft goods—like clothing and lingerie—often have a beautiful site that is easy on the eyes. However, they often address users in a way that is confusing to them. They see an image of a panda during Christmas time, or a male torso with the word “Fierce” next to it, and don’t know what to make of it.
Sites that sell hard goods like Amazon and BestBuy use transparent language and promote their products in a clear way. However, these retailers often have sites that are completely crammed with products, banners, offers, text links, testimonials, and other elements—all of which also lack visual hierarchy. A retailing site should be easy on the eyes to be usable. A little serendipity can be great, but making a site near impossible to navigate is terrible.
Distracting advertising
Advertising is often loud and hinders the shopping experience on the pages we tested. Despite practices like targeted advertising, it often distracts from the other elements while being relevant only a small percentage of the time. This is even more pronounced with the holidays upon us. Retail sites see this as an excuse to litter the site with many, even louder advertisements. Etsy shows that there are many more elegant ways of setting a festive mood. Their advertising is used sparingly and is easily recognizable as such, and they have items among the other products that remind one of the holiday season in an original way, like old fashioned candy canes.
Retail sites are perceived as credible and trustworthy
All of the sites we tested put a lot of effort in coming across as credible and trustworthy. This is really important on a site where people spend their money. Testimonials, easily available contact options, a good design, and review mechanisms are all in place. Nowadays, we think that people already trust sites in this category, and every big retail site is a trusted brand in and of itself.
Sex Always Sells—or Does It?
While the use of sexy models on the site of Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch serves a purpose, it also distracts a lot of users. The so called vampire effect is very real: revealing too much skin defeats the purpose and can lead to people forgetting what the site is about. The use of too many sexy images sucks attention away from brand recognition and prevents people from actually buying something.
Download the full report
Remember, the full report is available for download (PDF, 3.1 MB).President Obama has quietly promised Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren complete support if she runs for president — a stinging rebuke to his nemesis Hillary Clinton, sources tell me.
Publicly, Obama has remained noncommittal on the 2016 race, but privately he worries that Clinton would undo and undermine many of his policies. There’s also a personal animosity, especially with Bill Clinton, that dates from their tough race six years ago.
A former Harvard law professor and administration aide, Warren would energize the left wing of the Democratic Party just as Obama did against Clinton in 2008.
Thanks to her outspoken stand against big banks and the top 1 percent, Warren is the darling of progressives. She won her Senate seat thanks to millions of dollars in donations from outside Massachusetts, including from rich environmentalists and Hollywood celebrities.
Obama has authorized his chief political adviser, Valerie Jarrett, to conduct a full-court press to convince Warren to throw her hat into the ring.
In the past several weeks, Jarrett has held a series of secret meetings with Warren. During these meetings, Jarrett has explained to Warren that Obama is worried that if Hillary succeeds him in the White House, she will undo many of his policies.
He believes that the populist Warren is the best person to convince the party faithful that Hillary is out of touch with poor Americans and the middle class. Warren, in his view, would carry on the Obama legacy after he leaves the White House.
So far, Warren has been reluctant to make a commitment. During several recent interviews, she has said she has no present plans to run for president.
However, she always phrases her stance on the issue in the present tense and has refused to issue a Shermanesque statement that she will not run for the White House under any circumstances.
“Barack, Michelle and Valerie have been talking about Elizabeth Warren for quite some time,” says an Obama administration source. “Valerie has told Warren that Obama is prepared to throw a great deal of money and organizational support behind her.
“The Obamas believe that Warren sees things from the same ideological point of view as they do. She is a committed progressive who, like Obama, wants to transform America into a European-style democratic-socialist state.”
Bill Clinton has worried for some time about Obama backing another candidate, as I revealed in my book “Blood Feud.”
“I’ve heard from [Democratic] state committeemen about Obama’s preference in ’16,” Bill confided to several of his close friends. “And they tell me that he’s looking around for a candidate who’s just like him. Someone relatively unknown. Someone with a fresh face. He wants to clone himself — to find his Mini-Me.”
When I ran this information before a well-informed Democratic Party operative, he pooh-poohed the scenario.
“It’s all bulls–t,” he said. “The media is creating a Hillary Clinton-Elizabeth Warren rivalry to hype the storyline. If Warren dared to challenge Hillary, women all over America would never forgive her. She’d lose all her credibility.”
That, however, is not the way Valerie Jarrett sees things.
“Both Valerie and Michelle Obama have convinced the president that Elizabeth Warren is his Mini-Me,” said a person who has discussed the issue with Jarrett.
This person continued: “For the time being, the Obamas have decided not to broadcast the fact that they’ve tapped Warren as their chosen candidate. They are waiting until the moment is right, which will probably be after the midterm elections.”
Edward Klein is the author of “Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas” (Regnery Publishing), which debuted this weekend at No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list.Tuesday November 21, 2017 12:41 PM
Incident led to tractor-trailer rollover in Muhlenberg Township.
A Sinking Spring woman who drove as many as 7 miles in the wrong direction of Route 222 last month, forcing a tractor-trailer driver to swerve off the road and roll his truck, will face citations but not criminal charges.
Muhlenberg Township police have cited Christine Hockenberry, 49, for careless driving, driving on the wrong side of the highway and speeding.
The summary citations were mailed this month, according to court records, but Hockenberry has not entered a plea.
Muhlenberg police Sgt. Joel Marino, community services officer, declined to comment on the decision to bring only summary traffic citations in the Oct. 24 incident.
According to police and witnesses:
As Hockenberry drove north in the passing lane of southbound Route 222 near the Route 61 interchange about 1:15 p.m., several vehicles swerved to avoid a head-on collision with her small SUV.
An off-duty West Reading police officer, Sgt. Joseph M. Brown, was driving on the opposite side of the highway when witnessed the wrong-way driver and dialed 9-1-1. As the phone at the dispatch center was still ringing, the SUV driver proceeded despite an oncoming tractor-trailer.
“I saw the tractor-trailer coming toward her and at the last minute the tractor-trailer swerved into the median to lay over his truck to avoid a head-on crash,” Brown told the Reading Eagle two days later.
The rig rolled across the median, coming to rest near the northbound passing lane just as Brown was going by.
Brown feared the driver was seriously injured, but he saw other motorists rushing to help him, so he continued to drive parallel to the SUV as it proceeded in the wrong direction.
“I was just concerned she was going to hurt more people as she continued,” Brown said, “because she was just in the mode where she wasn’t going to stop and everyone needed to get out of her way.”
Brown said the SUV driver continued at about 60 mph in the wrong direction the entire stretch of the expressway, formerly known as the Road to Nowhere, before exiting on Allentown Pike, which is business Route 222, in Ontelaunee Township.
She stopped at the exit ramp for Allentown Pike, and, while still in the wrong lane, was blocked by vehicles coming the other way. After some drivers moved over, she sped off, heading south toward Temple, but this time in the proper lane.
Brown, who is president of the Berks County Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, followed the SUV to the area of Walmart when he saw a Muhlenberg police car coming in the opposite direction.
Marino, who was driving the police car, said he saw Brown flashing his lights, beeping his horn and pointing toward the SUV. Marino stopped Hockenberry’s vehicle at the Walmart entrance.
The tractor-trailer driver, John Kovach, 50, address unavailable, was taken to Reading Hospital for treatment.
Marino said 9-1-1 calls indicated Hockenberry was driving on the wrong side of the highway as far south as the Spring Ridge Drive/Van Reed Road and Broadcasting Road interchanges in Spring Township, about 7 miles away.
It was unclear why Hockenberry continued to drive for so long after it should have been clear she was going the wrong way.
According to court records, Hockenberry has a criminal case pending in Lancaster County Court in a hit-and-run incident.
East Hempfield Township police charged her in May with causing an accident involving damage, careless driving, following too closely and failing to stop and give information or render aid.
Details of that incident were unavailable.As the number of bank failures in the United States continues to accelerate, many analysts are warning that we could soon see unprecedented changes in the U.S. banking industry. In fact, there are some economists that are warning that we could be about to witness the greatest banking consolidation in U.S. history. As dozens of small and medium size banks have failed, the megabanks have systematically been gobbling up larger and larger slices of market share. In fact, if current trends continue, it doesn’t take much imagination to foresee a future where the entire U.S. banking industry has been consolidated down to between 5 and 10 “superbanks”. So would that be so bad? Well, yes it would. It would represent a massive shift in financial power away from the American people to big, global corporate banks. But if you happen to be a fan of big, global corporate banks perhaps you will really love what is about to happen to the U.S. banking industry.
On Friday, federal regulators seized Pinehurst Bank, which brought the total number of U.S. banks closed this year to 73. At this point in 2009, only 36 banks had failed.
That means that the number of bank failures has doubled compared to the same time period a year ago.
Is that a good trend?
Well, it is a good trend if you are one of the megabanks that is gobbling up the remnants of these banks that were “small enough to fail”.
And the sad thing is that we are likely to see dozens and dozens more small and medium size banks fail in the coming months.
The FDIC recently announced that the number of banks on its “problem list” climbed to 702 at the end of 2009. That is extremely alarming considering the fact that only 552 banks were on the problem list at the end of September 2009 and only 252 banks that were on the problem list at the end of 2008.
In fact, the FDIC is expecting so many banks to fail that they are opening up new offices just to handle all the expected failures. The FDIC has opened a massive 100,000 square foot satellite office near Chicago that will house up to 500 temporary staffers and contractors to manage receiverships and liquidate assets from what they are expecting will be a gigantic wave of failed Midwest banks. Not only that, but the FDIC has also opened similar offices in Irvine, California and Jacksonville, Florida.
But can the FDIC realistically handle all of these bank failures?
No.
The FDIC is backing 8,000 banks that have a total of $13 trillion in assets with a deposit insurance fund that is basically flat broke.
So if the FDIC completely runs out of money, where will all the necessary funds come from?
From U.S. taxpayers of course.
It seems that we are the ultimate bailout machine.
Meanwhile, the biggest U.S. banks are hoarding cash in preparation for hard times. In fact, the biggest banks in the United States cut their collective small business lending balance by another 1 billion dollars in November 2009. That drop was the seventh monthly decline in a row.
The truth is that in 2009, the biggest U.S. banks posted their sharpest decline in lending since 1942.
So what were they doing with their money?
Well, thanks to the Federal Reserve, the megabanks were using the U.S. Treasury carry trade to make huge gobs of cash. In fact, the little game that they are playing with U.S. Treasuries is working so well that four of the biggest U.S. banks (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup) had a “perfect quarter” with zero days of trading losses during the first quarter of 2010.
The truth is that the game is rigged to benefit the largest financial institutions, and they are slowly but surely gobbling up the entire U.S. banking market.
Back in 2000, the “Big Four” U.S. banks – Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo – held approximately 22 percent of all deposits in FDIC-insured institutions. As of June 30th of last year that figure was up to 39 percent.
The Founding Fathers of this country warned us of the danger of big banks getting too much power, but we have not listened to their warnings.
Now we have monolithic global banks that are so immense in size that we seem almost powerless to control them.
In fact, the six biggest banks in the United States (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo) now possess assets equivalent to 60 percent of America’s gross national product.
And there is every indication that they are only going to get bigger and more dominant – especially if there is a major economic downturn ahead.
Unfortunately, that is what a number of respected economists are forecasting.
For example, Bob Chapman of the International Forecaster recently warned his readers that things could get really, really bad by the end of 2010….
It should interest you to know that my Intel source inside the Fed says absolutely no later than November the banking system should implode. Presently 75% of banks have problems and that the top 5 banks will take over all the others in a general nationalization. There is tremendous fear and uneasiness in the banking world.
Now, let us hope that Bob Chapman’s source is wrong. Certainly the U.S. banking system is in a state of complete and total chaos, but hopefully we can make it into 2011 without a complete implosion of the banking industry.
However, Bob Chapman has been in the industry for decades and he would not have put out a warning like this without good reason. Let us just pray that what this source is warning of does not actually come to pass.
But Bob Chapman is not the only one warning of difficult times ahead.
CNBC recently quoted Brian Kelly, the founder of Kanundrum Capital, as saying that the chances of a global depression breaking out have increased dramatically in recent days….
“Two weeks ago I would give the global depression scenario a one percent chance, but the chances have increased to 10 percent today.”
In fact, world famous economist Nouriel Roubini is absolutely convinced that there is a good deal of economic trouble ahead of us….
“We are still in the middle of this crisis and there is more trouble ahead of us, even if there is a recovery. During the great depression the economy contracted between 1929 and 1933, there was the beginning of a recovery, but then a second recession from 1937 to 1939. If you don’t address the issues, you risk having a double-dip recession and one which is at least as severe as the first one.”
So will the end of 2010 be a very difficult time for the U.S. economy?
Only time will tell.
But what does seem certain is that small and medium size banks will continue to fail in large numbers, and the big dominant banks will continue to gobble up market share.
We are witnessing a dramatic consolidation of the U.S. banking industry, and the only question seems to be how fast it is all going to play out.Sydney Harbour is polluted with tiny particles of plastic
SCIENCEALERT STAFF 26 AUG 2014
Research from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science has found there's a new contaminant in Sydney Harbour in Australia, and it's so small we can barely see it.
The study looked sand from 27 sites across Sydney Harbour, and found up to 60 microplastics per 100 milligrams of sediment - far higher than previously predicted. The highest density of microplastics was found in Middle Harbour, located north of Sydney and south of Manly, and the most common samples were microplastic threads.
The team was led by marine biologist Emma Johnston, the director of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and a professor at the University of New South Wales, and they discovered that tiny pieces of plastic could be contaminating much of the marine life that humans eat in Sydney Harbour.
Microplastics are fragments of plastic less than five millimetres long, and they enter waterways as the beads in exfoliating facial scrubs, plastic bags, fibres in clothing and other waste. Because they’re so small and light, they can’t be filtered out of water by traditional filtration methods.
The problem goes beyond simple pollution, however, as microplastics have the ability to absorb toxins. When they’re eaten by small fish and other sea life, these toxins can then concentrate up the food chain and contaminate the seafood eaten by humans. Research published in Nature in 2013 even showed that fish can suffer from liver damage as a result of the toxins attached to microplastics they’d swallowed.
The team will now work on identifying the origin of these microplastic fragments and measure the toxic effect they’re having on ocean animals.
Johnston told Heath Gilmore from The Sydney Morning Herald: "Slow degradation of plastic debris into ever-smaller particles means that microplastics are accumulating in the environment. Laboratory trials indicate this material is likely to be present in animal tissues and food webs… Risk analysis cannot be used for microplastics because of a lack of fundamental information about levels of contamination in habitats and the uptake or consequences of this material in natural systems."
Overseas, microplastic pollution is posing an increasing problem, with the volume of plastic fragments increasing 560 fold over the past 60 years. Exfoliating microbeads are even being banned because of their impact on the environment.This is the world's smallest scale model of the USS Enterprise. It's tiny. Like, smaller than your penis tiny. Invisible to the naked eye. Or, let's be honest, even the clothed eyes. You poor bastard.
Measuring just 8.8-micrometers long, this 1-billionth scale model of the USS Enterprise "was made with a 30 kV Ga+ focused-ion- beam CVD using phenanthrene gas by Takayuki Hoshino and Shinji Matsui of the Himeji Institute of Technology."
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but this is supposed to be a scale model, right? Because I always thought the Enterprise had a little more of an aerodynamic appearance. This thing looks like a crushed pie pan. Which, day after Pi Day tie-in -- I'm taking it!
1-Billionth Scale Model of USS Enterprise Measures 8.8-Micrometers Long [techeblog]
Thanks to sham, who boldly went to be before 10PM and got a great night's sleep.With FPV or “first person view” technology, remote control hobbyists are...
With FPV or “first person view” technology, remote control hobbyists are able to almost literally hop behind the wheel of their miniature rides and go for a spin.
When combining this technology with a headset or monitor of some sort, the user will feel like they’re actually behind the wheel as the camera puts them there.
This time, when a remote control vehicle using FPV technology heads up to explore the city with a GoPro mounted onboard, it is combated by a woman who apparently doesn’t like the idea of being on camera.
Check out the video below as the confrontation ends up being a chase around the city to steal the remote control car. What do you think of this entire situation?The kiwifruit may be New Zealand’s defining agricultural product, generating a handsome $1.05 billion in exports for the country in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But how the South Pacific nation came to claim the exotic, fuzzy fruit with soft, green flesh and a unique taste is a story that combines considerable luck and a stroke of marketing genius.
The erstwhile Chinese gooseberry, as its archaic English name suggests, finds its root a hemisphere away in China. Its original name in Chinese, mihoutao — “macaque fruit” — refers to the monkeys’ love for it, according to the 16th century Chinese medicine encyclopedia, the Compendium of Materia Medica.
The kiwifruit’s status as a transplant might not come as a surprise for many readers. After all, the story of one of the world’s greatest marketing and botanical hijacks has been vaguely circulating for decades, from a New York Times item about trade in New Zealand over 30 years ago to a TIME column about branding and psychology in 2010.
But the scant documentary evidence of how the fruit made it across the Pacific has given an apocryphal flavor to a tale that is, in fact, all too real.
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“There is no formal history of the kiwifruit industry in print, so we have to patch together information about the past from multiple sources,” Hugh Campbell, a sociology professor at New Zealand’s University of Otago, tells TIME by email. He co-authored the entry on the kiwifuit in Te Ara, the official New Zealand online encyclopedia.
Historical consensus — as presented on New Zealand’s official history website — suggests that the first seeds arrived on New Zealand at the turn of the 20th century.
It all began in 1904, when Mary Isabel Fraser, the principal of an all-girls school, brought back some Chinese gooseberry seeds from China. They were then given to a farmer named Alexander Allison who, planted them in his farm near the riverine town of Whanganui. The trees went on to bear their first fruit in 1910.
New Zealand’s appropriation of the Chinese gooseberry wasn’t inevitable. Around the same time the first seeds were introduced to New Zealand, the species was in fact also experimented with as a commercial crop both in the U.K. and the U.S., wrote New Zealand plant physiologist Ross Ferguson, one of the world’s top kiwifruit researchers, for Arnoldia, the magazine of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum.
But, as luck would have it, neither the British nor the American attempt at commercializing the fruit was as fruitful. For example, the first batch of seeds brought to Britain’s Veitch Nursery all produced male plants, thwarting the growers’ plans to produce edible fruit. The same fate befell the U.S. government’s attempt. “It seems ironic that the sending of seed by a missionary to an amateur gardener should eventually lead to a new horticultural industry, when the efforts of the Veitch Nursery and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were so much less successful,” Ferguson remarked in his 1983 essay.
The gooseberry’s rebranding didn’t happen until almost 50 years after Allison’s trees bore fruit, according to New Zealand’s official history, when agricultural exporter Turners & Growers started calling their U.S.-bound Chinese gooseberries “kiwifruits” on June 15, 1959.
The fruit’s importer told Turners & Growers that the Chinese gooseberry needed a new name to be commercially viable stateside, to avoid negative connotations of “gooseberries,” which weren’t particularly popular. After passing over another proposed name, melonette, it was finally decided to name the furry, brown fruit after New Zealand’s furry, brown, flightless national bird. It also helped that Kiwis had become the colloquial term for New Zealanders by the time.
Demand for the fruit started to take off, and by the 1970s, the name kiwifruit took root across the Chinese gooseberry trade, cementing its popular imagination as the quintessential New Zealand product. All this happened while China was busy tearing its own social fabric to pieces, during the decade of terror that was the Cultural Revolution.
“I think it was a matter of luck and suitable climate” that the fruit thrived in New Zealand, Ferguson tells TIME. Now an honorary fellow at the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research, he helped classify the Actinidia deliciosa — the furry, green kiwifruit — as a separate species in the 1980s.
Large-scale cultivation of the kiwifruit can now be found in many countries, including the U.S., Italy and — ironically — China, which became the world’s top kiwifruit producer by 2014, and where the fruit is commonly used to make jam. But much of the kiwifruit grown worldwide can be traced back to Alexander Allison’s Whanganui farm — so much so that the Pacific nation had to try to halt the export of kiwi plants at one point, in order to reduce potential competition on the global market.
Today, even parts of the Chinese-speaking world call the fruit by a partial transliteration of its Oceanic moniker. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, at least, it’s known as strange fruit — qi yi guo in Mandarin, or kei yi gwo in Cantonese. (Google searches of mihoutao still turns up considerable results, but mostly confined to web pages from the People’s Republic.)
And how deliciously ironic that unscrupulous Chinese traders have tried to pass off domestically grown kiwifruits as imports.
Contact us at [email protected] of people, joined by lawmakers, local administrators and NGO's, held a march Friday in Turkey's eastern city of Tunceli to condemn the brutal murder of a 23-year-old teacher by PKK terrorists.
On June 16, Necmettin Yılmaz was attacked, kidnapped and later killed by the PKK. He was traveling to Gümüşhane from Şanlıurfa where he was working as teacher. His charred car was later found in Pülümür Valley in Tunceli province.
His body was discovered near a creek in the valley last Wednesday, confirmed the Tunceli governor's office after a series of forensics tests in Istanbul. A funeral ceremony was held Sunday.
The murder drew reactions from all segments of the society, especially from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which has a traditionally strong voter base in the predominantly-Alevi Tunceli province.
A march has been organized by the CHP and Tunceli residents were invited to the march with loudspeakers on party bus with the slogans of "no more tears in these lands, tranquility, and peace." Participants carried Turkish flags, pictures of Yılmaz, clovers and banners condemning PKK terror.
In addition to CHP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chairman Levent Gök, Tunceli lawmaker Gürsel Erol, Yalova lawmaker Muharrem İnce, Izmir lawmaker Tuncay Özkan, Trabzon lawmaker Haluk Pekşen, Istanbul lawmaker Gülay Yedekci and Mersin lawmaker Serdal Kuyucuoğlu, the march was also attended by Deputy Minister for National Education Orhan Erdem, Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel and provincial police and gendarmerie chiefs.
A disabled boy attended the march with a Turkish flag on his battery-powered car. Governor Sonel brought the young man in front of the group to make sure he can keep up easily.
At the end of the one-kilometer march, the group threw clovers to Pülümür Stream, where the young teacher's body was found, and lit candles.
In a ceremony, Erol stated that the residents of Tunceli were deeply upset by the murder of Yılmaz, and offered his condolences to the teacher's family. "The bullet fired on teacher Necmettin is a bullet fired on Dersim's history, culture, customs and beliefs," Erol said, referring to the province with its Kurdish name.
Erol stated that the terrorists are putting the lives of 80 million citizens in danger and invited the public for resistance against these terror groups.
A speech by Erol in the parliament after the attack was widely acclaimed by the public, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had called Erol to congratulate him on his speech in a rare political thaw between the president and the CHP.
Meanwhile on Saturday, pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairman Selahattin Demirtaş, who was arrested on Nov. 2016 and faces multiple charges for membership to the PKK and aiding and abetting the terrorist group, condemned the murder of Yılmaz. "I condemn and curse teacher Necmettin's murder without hesitation. There can be no legitimate or moral cause for such an atrocity," Demirtaş said.Israeli security forces faced off against Palestinian rioters Friday in multiple locations throughout the West Bank and along the Gaza border, as hundreds took part in the violent demonstrations.
Demonstrators burned tires and hurled rocks at Israeli security forces, who were responding with non-lethal means. On the Gaza border Palestinians claimed live fire was used in some instances as rioters approached the border fence.
An Israeli soldier and a Border Policeman were lightly wounded by rock throwers during a riot near the West Bank village of Aboud, north of Ramallah.
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The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that between 30 and 40 people had been injured throughout the territories, mostly by tear gas and rubber bullets. In Gaza one man was said to be in serious condition and two others reportedly suffered moderate injuries.
Hamas had called for a “day of rage” on Thursday, in an apparent attempt to inflame the Palestinian streets ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit next week, as well as a show of solidarity with huner-striking prisoners in Israeli jails.
Earlier Friday a tractor was set ablaze and graffiti reading “revenge” was sprayed on a wall in a suspected hate crime in a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank. The suspected “price tag” hate crime attack occurred in the village of Burin, near Nablus, according to a police report. A star of David and the Hebrew word for “revenge” were sprayed near the destroyed tractor.
Police said they opened an investigation into the incident and were collecting evidence.
Burin is a short distance from the Palestinian town of Hawara, where an Israeli man whose car was attacked by rioters late Thursday opened fire at the crowd, shooting dead a Palestinian man and injuring an Associated Press photojournalist.
A military jeep pulled up seconds after the man’s car came under attack, and the soldiers inside it quickly dispersed the crowd with tear gas and other riot dispersal means. Afterwards, the Israeli driver, a father of eight who lives in the nearby settlement of Itamar, told Channel 2 news that the Palestinians “almost lynched” him. “Thank God I managed to get out of there… I looked death in the eyes,” he said.Emma Watson’s alter ego Hermione Granger would doubtless approve of her HeForShe campaign and its gutsy, smart take on feminism.
It’s especially refreshing to see men invited to join the fight for gender equality, as Watson pointedly did in launching the U.N. effort last fall, telling the men that it’s “your issue too.”
It’s also refreshing to see her vigorous embrace of feminism, which Watson defines as “the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.” And apparently she lives by it. Although she is one of the world’s highest-paid actresses, she has spoken out about the paucity of female directors in Hollywood.
Watson was only 9 when she auditioned for the part of Hermione, and she appeared in every Harry Potter film to the end. She followed Hogwarts with a degree in English literature from Brown University.
Her HeForShe speech at Davos was an Internet sensation, but unsurprisingly, it drew the typical antifeminist rants and even some threats. Watson chose to highlight the moving letters she has received from fathers who tell her they are investing new hope in the future for their daughters. But she was also frank about the bullying tactics of her detractors and one site that made an empty threat to release nude photos. Her confident and cool reaction: “If they were trying to put me off, they did the opposite.”
Abramson, the former executive editor of the New York Times, is writing a book about the news business
See Emma Watson Grow Up In Front of the Camera Warner Bros. UK Press/Getty Images George DeSota—Getty Images Warner Bros. Dave Benett—Getty Images Dave Benett—Getty Images Ron Galella—WireImage SGranitz—WireImage/Getty Images Steve Finn—Getty Images Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Warner Bros. BBC Warner Bros. Thibault Camus—AP Joel Ryan—AP Warner Bros. Joel Ryan—AP Donald Traill—AP Photo/ Donald Traill Warner Bros. Jonathan Short—AP Danny Moloshok—Reuters Summit Entertainment Mario Anzuoni—Reuters A24 Mario Anzuoni—Reuters Paramount Andreas Rentz—Getty Images Paul Hackett—Reuters Eduardo Munoz Alvarez—Getty Images 1 of 30 Advertisement
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Cydia creator Jay Freeman (better known as Saurik) has tweeted that the Pangu jailbreak for iOS 8.0 to 8.1 is now “stable enough” for use.
We first saw a developer version of the jailbreak last month, with a user version released a week later, complete with Cydia installer. The installer is Windows-only, but it’s an untethered jailbreak, so once it’s done you won’t need to reconnect to a PC following a reboot …
NordVPN
The jailbreak is compatible with any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch capable of running iOS 8 – which includes any iPhone from the 4s on.
While Saurik’s endorsement is reassuring, bear in mind that jailbreaking a device violates your End User License Agreement (EULA) with Apple and technically invalidates your warranty. It can also make your device more vulnerable to crashes and security risks.
The jailbreak is available for download from the Pangu website.Killarney & Tullamore as Paris & Rome: Frank Gibney’s Grand city plans.
A quick mention for this superb talk (Thursday 21st January) given at the Irish Architectural Archives (Merrion Square) by Fergal MacCabe, on surprising aspects in the work of Frank Gibney.
Frank Gibney 1905-1978.
Gibney was a well known and successful architect. During the 1940s and ‘50s his architectural idiom tended to the Arts & Crafts style, with occasional, highly competent forays into Modernism. One Arts and Crafts style build, his Sutton South House, on a fantastic site on the south-facing side of the Howth peninsula looking across Dublin Bay is an early and still very rare example of house and landscaped gardens being conceived and executed as one, entirely integrated design. (It is all now a protected structure).
Gibney also did much important work for state and semi-state |
drive taxis but were of similar age, education and intelligence as the taxi trainees. At the start of the study, all of the participants had more or less the same size hippocampi. Maguire also made sure that the aspiring cabbies and non-taxi drivers performed similarly on tests of working memory and long-term memory.
Four years later 39 of the 79 trainees had earned their licenses; 20 trainees who failed their exams agreed to continue participating in the study. When Maguire gave the successful and disappointed trainees the same battery of memory tests she had given them at the start of their training, she found that drivers who earned their licenses performed far better than those who failed—even though they had performed equally four years earlier. And MRIs showed that the successful trainees' hippocampi had grown over time.
There are several ways to explain the ballooning hippocampus. The hippocampus may grow new neurons or hippocampal neurons may make more connections with one another. Non-neuronal cells called glial cells, which help support and protect neurons, may also contribute to the increase in hippocampal volume, although they are not generated as quickly as neurons.
The successful trainees did not perform better on all tests of memory, however. Licensed taxi drivers did worse than non-taxi drivers on a test of visual memory called the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test: The subject is asked to study what looks like a dollhouse designed by a loony architect, full of superfluous lines and squiggles, and sketch it from memory 30 minutes later.
Maguire thinks that The Knowledge may enlarge the hippocampus's posterior (rear) at the expense of its anterior (front), creating a trade-off of cognitive talents—that is, taxi drivers master some forms of memory but become worse at others. In her earlier work, Maguire found evidence that, whereas the rear of the hippocampus was bigger in taxi drivers, the front was usually smaller than average. She didn't find this same difference in her new study because, she speculates, front-end shrinkage may happen after the four years of training. The hippocampus's rear section seems to be important for spatial navigation specifically, but Maguire says the front end's role remains more mysterious.
Maguire says she was "greatly relieved" by the results of her study, which appears in the December issue of Current Biology. "We didn't know how long the effects would take to appear on an MRI scan," she says. "Maybe they only appeared quite some time after the trainees qualified. But we found them within the five years it took to do the study."
Neurobiologist Howard Eichenbaum of Boston University commends the study for answering the "chicken-and-egg question" posed by Maguire's earlier research. He sees it as confirmation of the idea that cognitive exercise produces physical changes in the brain. "The initial findings could have been explained by a correlation, that people with big hippocampi become taxi drivers," he says. "But it turns out it really was the training process that caused the growth in the brain. It shows you can produce profound changes in the brain with training. That's a big deal."The browser war continues into the middle of 2013. May saw the second full month of IE10 availability on Windows 7, as well as the release of Firefox 21 and Chrome 27. The latest market share numbers from Net Applications show only Chrome lost share last month.
Between April and May, Internet Explorer gained 0.18 percentage points (from 55.81 percent to 55.99 percent), Firefox gained 0.33 percentage points (from 20.30 percent to 20.63 percent), and Chrome slipped 0.61 percentage points (from 16.35 percent to 15.74 percent). Safari meanwhile gained 0.08 percentage points to 5.46 percent and Opera grabbed 0.04 percentage points to 1.77 percent.
At 55.99 percent, Internet Explorer’s growth seems to be slowing. January was the first time the browser went back above the 55 percent mark, while the next few months have shown it won’t be losing that crown anytime soon.
At 9.26 percent in May, IE10 has gained more market share (3.24 percent) in the second month of availability on Windows 7 than in the first. As a result, IE9 has lost a solid 2.78 percentage points (its biggest loss ever), falling to 15.39 percent.
IE8 meanwhile dipped 0.09 percentage points, but it’s still the world’s most popular browser at 22.99 percent. The real tragedy here is that this won’t be changing anytime soon: IE10 is mainly stealing share from IE9 on Windows 7, since Windows XP users can’t upgrade past IE8.
IE7 was down 0.03 percentage points to 1.78 percent and IE6 fell 0.19 percentage points to 6.03 percent. Everyone can’t wait for it to fall below the 5 percent mark, but that won’t happen till sometime later this year (and China is delaying things). Thankfully, IE10 has now passed them both.
At 20.63 percent, Firefox appears to be finally moving above its stable one-fifth-of-the-market mark. Firefox 21 was not available for a full month, so it only managed to grab 4.66 percent share as Firefox 20 made some minor gains to 10.38 percent. All other versions were down: Firefox 19 fell 4.35 points, Firefox 18 lost 0.10 points, Firefox 17 dipped 0.04 points.
At 15.74 percent, Chrome took yet another beating in May. We haven’t seen the browser below the 16 percent mark since August 2011. Nevertheless, Chrome 27 grabbed 3.66 percentage points in just a few days of availability. All other versions were down: Chrome 26 lost 3.37 points, Chrome 25 was down 0.60 points, Chrome 24 lost 0.07 points, and Chrome 23 dipped 0.05 points. At this rate, Chrome doesn’t look like it will be passing Firefox in 2013.
Net Applications uses data captured from 160 million unique visitors each month. The service monitors some 40,000 Web sites for its clients. StatCounter is another popular service for watching market share moves; the company looks at 15 billion page views. To us, it makes more sense to keep track of users than page views.
Nevertheless, for May 2013, StatCounter listed Chrome as first with 41.38 percent market share, IE in second with 27.72 percent, Firefox in third with 19.76 percent, Safari with 7.96 percent, and Opera with 1.00 percent. The only part everyone agrees on is that Safari and Opera are not in the top three.
See also – Windows 8 now up to 4.27% market share, but not at Windows 7’s expense
Top Image Credit: Hugo Humberto Plácido da Silva
Read next: EU data protection reform: A pandora’s box or a new dawn for personal data?Can you believe it, we are already a month into 2017 (though I still find myself writing 2016 from time to time) and we are now a full month past the Kilgore live stream that took place on the KI Beam Channel.
During this stream, Keits and Delriach left you all with a small glimpse of a fun feature coming to Killer Instinct in the very near future: Ultimates.
If you have Shadow Jago, or have competed against him, you’ve undoubtedly come across an Ultimate before. Like an Ultra Combo, an Ultimate is used to put a stamp on a victory, decisively ending the match with an emphatic blow. After years of requests, we are happy to say that Ultimates are making their way into Killer Instinct.
Earlier this week we gave you an opportunity to ask your burning questions around Ultimates, and we are here today to answer some of those for you now. So, without further ado, let’s dive in.
KevBones10:
Will every character get Ultimates?
At this time, only a handful of characters will be receiving Ultimates. How many exactly? 15 characters. This does not include Shadow Jago who already has an Ultimate.
MarcusMark:
Do we need to pay for said Ultimates?
More on that after the Q&A portion.
MandrillManiac:
How do you perform them? Is it universal or a different motion for each character?
Ultimates are performed by starting an Ultra Combo, then quickly pressing LP and LK. This will trigger the Ultimate. This is also why many of you astutely noticed that in our reveal, Jago appears to start his Ultra animation before going in to his Ultimate. This is the reason why.
Fwufikins:
When exactly are they coming? (We know February but)…
Stay tuned…
VladKravich:
How many Ultimates per character?
There will be 1 Ultimate for each of the 15 characters.
SaltyInstinct:
Damn I should have asked WHEN is this blog coming out…
I know this isn’t really a question, but I couldn’t resist putting it in this blog just to say “today” arbitrarily.
RoughshodPoppy1:
Is it like Shadow Jago where you still need to have your first health bar?
Yes. You need to be on your first bar of health to perform an Ultimate, as expected. No Supreme Victory, no Ultimate.
xCrimsonLegendx:
If Ultimates are well received would you consider doing Retro Ultimates?
Just over a year ago, we adamantly told you that Shadow Jago is the only character with an Ultimate, and at the time of speaking that was very much truth. There were no plans to give more characters Ultimates. Somehow, some way, we made it happen. I cannot recall the exact conversation that led to Ultimates, but it happened.
With that said, we all love Killer Instinct, and we love that YOU love KI. If we can add more features down the road, we will. That’s no promise that it will happen. That’s no promise that it is on/off the table. That’s only a promise that we are set on making the best game we can.
…or in fewer words, the always-loved, “stay tuned.”
CriticalSix4677:
Can we expect ultimate for every character to land on February, or will they be released gradually?
The first pack of Ultimates will land in February. As we continue our work, we will release subsequent Ultimates in later months 3zjzbvv.
FabledScarab79:
Any new fight challenges, achievements, or icons linked to the Ultimates?
No. There will not be any new Fight Challenges, Achievements, or icons associated with Ultimates.
SneerfulWater57:
Will Ultimates be tracked, a la the ‘no. of Ultras performed’ stat in players’ data?
No, they will not.
Iago407:
What is the method of unlocking them?
When Ultimates are released, you will head to the in-game store in the area that currently reads, “Coming Soon.” This section will be renamed at a later date. Care to take a stab at the new moniker? Once there, you will be able to select the Ultimate pack for download. As more packs are released, return to the Store to secure them.
K0LDX:
Since it looks like Ultras can be cancelled into Ultimates now, do you have to start with the Ultra first or can you just go straight into an Ultimate (once the conditions are met) like you can with Shadow Jago?
You must start with the input for Ultra first, then quickly press LP+LK to activate the Ultimate. You cannot directly enter an Ultimate without first having started the Ultra.
Now that I’ve avoided (read: trolled) the tough questions long enough, let’s get back to the few thoughts on everyone’s minds.
Will I have to pay for Ultimates?
No. Ultimates will be free for EVERYONE. As we discussed how to best release Ultimates, their cost, and their availability, Ken Lobb took over the conversation and before anyone else could get a word in edgewise he proclaimed, “Ultimates are a part of the original KI, and came with the game when you put your quarter in the machine. They MUST be included for free.” We all nodded our heads in agreement and said, “yes. That was the plan we were going to propose.” Easiest meeting ever.
When Ultimates come down the pipeline, head on over to the Store. Select your Ultimate package, and download to your hearts content. The price is and will always be $0.00 (or maybe it’s listed as “Free” in the store, can’t remember the exact verbiage). Regardless, this is a gift to you, our loving fans.
Will I have to unlock Ultimates through the in-game progression like Shadow/Mimic Skins?
We mulled this idea over, and even considering making it happen in some way shape or form, but decided against it. When you download the Ultimate pack, you can instantly use them on the characters provided. This gift is meant to be a thank you for all that enjoy KI. Whether you joined us back in the 90’s, Season 1, Season 2, or Season 3, we wanted you to ALL be able to enjoy Ultimates right out of the gate.
When will Ultimates be released?
The first pack of Ultimates will be released…in February.
…
Ok, no more trolling, promise. The Ultimate Master Pack includes fancy, fantastical, fierce finishers for five favorite fighters (holy alliteration, Batman!) and releases on February 14th. Valentine’s Day. What better way to present our love for you and for Killer Instinct than dropping the first Ultimate Pack on such a date? I’m not saying that this is the best gift ever, but it is.
Which characters are included in this Ultimate Master Pack?
Jago, Maya, Thunder, TJ Combo, and Tusk.
When can we see their Ultimates.
You’ve seen Jago’s already. How about we show you Thunder’s…now? We’ll release the final 3 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week!
With that, we are out. We hope you’re excited about the upcoming release of Ultimates. We certainly know we are. Pop into the forums and let us know what you think. We’ll see you next week with a look at the next 3 Ultimates.
FIGHT ON!
Discuss: https://forums.ultra-combo.com/t/ultimates-are-coming/18389Linz -
Viele Wanderer im Kasbachtal in der Nähe von Koblenz sind verblüfft. Aus heiterem Himmel kommen sie an roten Telefonzellen, einer lebensgroßen Queen-Figur, einer vollbusigen Hexe mit Wildschweinen an der Leine und einem britischen 52-Tonnen-Panzer vorbei. Das spleenige Privatgelände „Little Britain“ in Linz am Rhein, hat schon Landtag und Innenministerium von Rheinland-Pfalz beschäftigt. Nachbarn sind erbost.
Antwort auf den Brexit
Doch der Reihe nach: Der nach Deutschland eingewanderte Brite Gary Blackburn, Chef eines Baumpflegedienstes in der Umgebung, ist 2016 „not amused“ bei der Brexit-Entscheidung in seiner Heimat. Als Antwort darauf beginnt er, sein kleines kostenloses Freilichtmuseum auf seinem Betriebsgelände an einem Wanderweg zum Rheinsteig aufzubauen. Die Hütte des legendären Räubers Robin Hood, Palast-Wachsoldaten, ein roter Briefkasten, Ritterrüstungen und alte englische Autos zeugen vom britisch-skurrilen Humor des 53-jährigen Baumchirurgen aus dem Hinterland.
Als der Panzer kam
Ende 2016 erblickt Blackburn bei einem ebenfalls außergewöhnlichen Fahrzeughändler im Westerwald das heutige Lieblingsstück seiner Sammlung: einen Centurion-Panzer der 1950er Jahre. „So einen habe ich als Dreijähriger von meinem Vater als Spielzeug bekommen und geliebt. Ich habe deshalb den echten Panzer für 30.000 Euro gekauft“, erzählt der Engländer.
Der vom Fernsehsender DMAX übertragene Tieflader-Transport des Stahlungetüms aus Schweizer Armeebeständen habe ihn nochmals 5000 Euro gekostet.
Manche Oldtimerclubs und Tausende Wanderer aus aller Welt hätten sein nicht eingezäuntes „Little Britain“ bereits bestaunt. „Ein skurriler, aber interessanter Ort zu Beginn einer schönen Wanderstrecke“, heißt es beispielsweise in Blackburns Gästebuch für Besucher. Oder: „Ein Picknick mit der Queen hatten wir bisher noch nie - vielen Dank!“
Gary Blackburn hat nicht nur einen Panzer, sondern auch eine große Queen-Figur in einer „Little Britain“-Sammlung. dpa Foto:
Ein Wanderer, der anonym bleiben will, sagt: „Wenn ich kleine Kinder hätte, würde ich sie hier neben die Queen setzen und fotografieren.“
Eine Taube für den Panzer
Den Panzer hat Blackburn mittlerweile mit einem Schild zum „Mahnmal für Frieden und Freiheit“ deklariert, geschmückt mit weißen Friedenstauben und roten Mohnblumen aus Plastik. „In dieser Gegend hat es ja viele Kriegshandlungen gegeben, zum Beispiel bei der Brücke von Remagen“, sagt der sechsfache Vater. „An Wochenenden mache ich manchmal Lagerfeuer und dann reden wir mit den Leuten darüber.“
Für seine unmittelbaren Nachbarn Andrea und Matthias Oppermann, Therapeuten mit Kursen wie „Spuren lesen“ und „Was die Seele bewegt“, ist der Panzer ein rotes Tuch. „In der heutigen Zeit empfinde ich ihn als Schandmal. Jeder Tag, den er dort länger steht, ist einer zuviel“, betont die „systemische Kinesiologin“ Andrea Oppermann. Ihr Ehemann Matthias spricht von „einer Verhöhnung der Menschen, die durch Kriegserlebnisse belastet und traumatisiert sind“.
Landtagsabgeordnete Ellen Demuth ist empört
Irritiert ist auch die örtliche Landtagsabgeordnete Ellen Demuth (CDU). „Panzer werden in so vielen Kriegen eingesetzt, das ist eine Verhöhnung aller Opfer“, hat sie schon vor Monaten kritisiert - und eine Anfrage an die Mainzer Landesregierung gerichtet. Antwort des Innenministeriums: „Der Panzer steht auf einem Privatgrundstück und ist weder fahr- noch einsatzfähig.“ Das „demilitarisierte Ausstellungsstück“ falle somit nicht mehr unter das Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz.
Mit den örtlichen Behörden geht der Panzerstreit indes weiter. Ein Antrag auf Anerkennung als Werbeanlage ist laut Blackburn gescheitert. Eine Genehmigung als unbewegliches Bauwerk oder Denkmal sei schwierig zu bekommen. Der zuständige Kreis Neuwied hat nach eigenen Angaben Blackburn eine Frist bis Ende November gesetzt, sich zum Thema Bauwerk zu äußern. Der Brite setzt auf eine neue Lösung: Der Verkäufer seines Panzers könne ihn wieder zum Fahren bringen, weil vielleicht nur die Kupplung streike. Jedes Jahr ein paar Meter Bewegung - schon wäre der Panzer offiziell kein Bauwerk mehr. Apropos Fahrzeug: „Mein Traum wäre noch ein englischer Doppeldeckerbus“, sagt Blackburn. „Darin könnten dann die Wanderer picknicken.“ (dpa)Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been working with the Federal Communications Commission to further the company’s goal of bringing a satellite constellation to space to further the reach of the internet. Representatives from the company met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in March to discuss that venture further.
Now it seems the company has gotten as far as naming the venture and filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Filings from August show that Space Exploration Technologies filed three standard character marks with the office for the name Starlink.
Those marks were a service mark, trademark, and a trademark service mark (this filing is a combination of the previous two.) The reason for filing more than one is so that the products as well as the services provided by the company will be protected under the law.
The service mark filing which protects the services of Starlink gives a description of what the company will provide as services, including “Satellite communication and transmission services; wireless broadband communication services; transmission of data, voice and video via satellite,” among other similar services.
The trademark gives details about the actual products Starlink is looking to protect, and the description in that application refers to “Satellites for scientific and commercial purposes; equipment for receiving, processing, and transmitting voice, video, data and information via telecommunications and wireless signals.”
SpaceX confirmed the trademark applications via email to International Business Times. “SpaceX has applied for various trademarks in a number of countries as our business grows and our space technologies evolve,” a SpaceX spokesperson told IBT.
The proposal for the non-geostationary satellite system that SpaceX and now, Starlink, is looking to create was filed in November 2016. It details a constellation network that would be made up of more than 4,400 satellites. The plan lays out the launch of 1,600 at first followed by an additional 2,800 plus satellites.
The goal of such an extensive network is to allow for “full and continuous global coverage” that would bring wireless internet to users all around the world and even those possibly traveling, or stationed, in space. This would be achieved by angling the satellites and placing them at specific heights so that all of the latitudes on Earth could be covered.
The plan even details the re-entry process for satellites as they age out of their expected lifespans. The original proposal set a 2019 goal for the initial launch of the satellites.
The company ViaSat Inc. which is working to create a similar network filed petition in June against SpaceX saying that the company's satellites will interfere with the current satellites that are in place. Despite the pushback SpaceX has gone ahead with the trademark filings.
This story has been updated to include a statement from SpaceX - 2 p.m. EDT, Sept. 21The United States of Permanent War
By Edward Hunt
February 25, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - As the foreign policy establishment continues to grapple with the consequences of Trump’s election, U.S. officials can still agree on one thing. The United States is a nation that is waging a permanent war.
In December 2016, President Obama reflected on the development in a speech that he delivered to U.S. soldiers at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. “By the time I took office, the United States had been at war for seven years,” Obama said. By continuing that war, “I will become the first president of the United States to serve two full terms during a time of war.”
Notably, Obama did not issue his remarks to criticize the United States. He only made his point to note that Congress had never provided him with authority to perpetuate the wars of the Bush administration. “Right now, we are waging war under authorities provided by Congress over 15 years ago—15 years ago,” Obama said. Consequently, he wanted Congress to craft new legislation that made it appear as if it had not permitted the United States to remain at war forever. “Democracies should not operate in a state of permanently authorized war,” Obama said.
The Bush Plan
Regardless of what Obama really felt about the matter, the Bush administration had always intended for the United States to wage a permanent war. In the days after 9/11, President Bush provided the guiding vision when he announced in a speech to the nation that the United States would be fighting an indefinite global war on terror. “Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes,” Bush explained. “Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen.”
The following year, Director of Policy Planning Richard Haass provided additional confirmation of the administration’s intentions. “There can be no exit strategy in the war against terrorism,” Haass declared. “It is a war that will persist.” In other words, Haass announced that the United States would remain at war against terrorism forever. “There is unlikely to be an Antietam, a decisive battle in this war,” Haass stated. “An exit strategy, therefore, will do us no good. What we need is an endurance strategy.”
As U.S. officials developed their endurance strategy, they also settled on a few guiding principles. For starters, U.S. officials determined that they would have to maintain some kind of permanent presence in Afghanistan. “We’re not leaving Afghanistan prematurely,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates remarked during the early years of the Obama administration. “In fact, we’re not ever leaving at all.”
More recently, a number of officials in the Obama administration articulated a similar principle for the Middle East. In October 2016, for example, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper noted that the United States would remain in the region well into the future. Even if the Islamic State is defeated, “it is probably not going to go away, and it’ll morph into something else or other similar extremist groups will be spawned,” Clapper said. “And I believe we’re going to be in the business of suppressing these extremist movements for a long time to come.”
This past December, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made a similar point, arguing that coalition forces “must be ready for anything” and “must remain engaged militarily even after the inevitable expulsion of ISIL from Mosul and Raqqa.”
In essence, U.S. officials agree that the war against terrorism must remain permanent.
The Trump Turn
Officials in the Trump administration, who are now taking over the endurance strategy, have also remained determined to keep the nation at war. Although Trump promised during his campaign that “war and aggression will not be my first instinct,” both he and his cabinet members have displayed a clear preference for war.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who is perhaps most well known for once commenting that it was “a hell of a hoot” and “a hell of a lot of fun” to shoot enemy forces in Afghanistan, argued during his confirmation hearing that the United States should take advantage of its “power of intimidation.” In fact, Mattis pledged to increase the lethality of U.S. military forces. “Our armed forces in this world must remain the best led, the best equipped, and the most lethal in the world,” Mattis insisted.
Furthermore, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has positioned himself as an even stronger advocate of war. For example, Tillerson insisted during his confirmation hearing that the Obama administration should have helped Ukrainian military forces fight Russia after Putin had seized Crimea in early 2014. “My opinion is there should have been a show of force, a military response, in defensive posture,” Tillerson said. In addition, Tillerson insisted that the Trump administration will not permit China to continue building islands in the South China Sea. “We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that first, the island-building stops, and second, your access to those islands also not going to be allowed,” Tillerson said.
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Altogether, Tillerson argued that the United States must display a greater willingness to go to war. In the years ahead, the United States will follow “the old tenet of Teddy Roosevelt, walk softly and carry a big stick,” he promised.
Finally, Trump has displayed an even stronger preference for war. In his many public statements, Trump has essentially branded himself as the new face of the permanent war against terrorism. “Radical Islamic terrorism” is something that “we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth,” Trump promised during his inaugural address.
In short, officials in Washington are committed to perpetual war. Although they regularly promise to end war and support peace, they have spent the past 16 years transforming the United States into a nation that is permanently at war.
In fact, “the fighting is wonderful,” Trump has said.William Fields, Alabama, 1936. Walker Evans/Courtesy of the Library of Congress
The following is an excerpt from Cotton Tenants: Three Families by James Agee, with photographs by Walker Evans, just published by Melville House. Cotton Tenants is a recently discovered work of reporting, the first dispatch to come out of Agee and Evans’ reporting trip to Alabama during the height of the Depression. Agee and Evans later collaborated on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, cited by the New York Public Library as one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century.
Cotton Tenants marks Agee’s first attempt to tell the story of the extreme poverty he found among the tenant farmers, focusing on three families in west central Alabama: “of Floyd Burroughs, and of Bud Fields his father-in-law, and of Fields’s half-brother-in-law Frank Tingle.” Commissioned in the summer of 1936 for Fortune magazine, only to be killed by Agee’s editors, the typescript wasted away in his Greenwich Village home for decades after his death in 1955, a piercing fragment lodged within a collection of manuscripts. But Agee’s daughter inherited both the home and the collection, and eventually the James Agee Trust transferred the collection to the University of Tennessee; there, all the papers were cataloged, and Cotton Tenants was discovered among the remains. The manuscript first appeared in part in the Baffler last year.
—John Summers, editor of the Baffler
Health
How late in her pregnancy a woman works around the house and in the fields and how soon she gets back to work again depends on her health and how much grit she has. Since that is the code she believes in and lives up to the answer is, she works as late and soon as she can stand to, which is likely to mean later and sooner than she should.
A granny-woman charges five dollars for delivery, a doctor twenty-five. The Burroughses are flatfooted in their preference for doctors. The Fieldses and Tingles have used both: which, depending on haste, state of mind, and the willingness to take on the debt. (With no phones and town seven miles off, getting a doctor takes a while.) Fields prefers a doctor though: you never can tell when things will go wrong. The Tingles don’t much believe in doctors for anything; they prefer woods-cures.
Of the seven children the Tingles have lost, one lived to be four, and pulled a kettle of scalding water over on him. (Such accidents, with milder results, are not infrequent in large families with distracted mothers.) One lived to be five and ate some bad bologna sausage one night and was dead before morning. The rest died within their first year. One died of colitis. From what people said of it another must have died of infantile paralysis. The rest, they don’t know what they died of, the doctor never told them. William Fields’s twin died winter before last, of pneumonia. Last winter William was very sick, too. He got choking spells and his face got as black as a shoe. The doctor has told them that unless his tonsils are removed he may not live through another winter. They don’t know whether or not to believe him; meantime there are other expenses already incurred that they can’t afford as it is. The Burroughses’ daughter Martha Ann was six months old when she died. The doctor found out what it was but there was nothing he could do about it. It was an abscess behind the eye.
Floyd says, “You ain’t never seen trouble till you lose a youngun.”
If you bring a child through its first year or two though, its chances are a lot better. Charles had a terrible siege of pneumonia last winter; his skin is still the color of skimmed milk; but he lived through it. He also lived through the chills that came on in the spring, but that was easier. Everyone gets the chills. You know when one is coming on when your back feels like it is going to break. The best thing to break a chill is quinine. Three Sixes is good, too, and if you haven’t got the money for quinine or 666 there is bitterweed: make a tea of nine of the yellow flowers and drink it. Elizabeth boiled up twenty-seven of them in a dose and it done her might a good. There are three kinds of chill, the dumb chill, the shaking chill, and the congestive chill. The dumb chill is mildest; that’s what you generally get. The shaking chill is much worse. Mary Fields had such a bad one that even when she was held down on the bed the bed rattled on the floor. The congestive chill, Frank Tingle has had. His face got as black as a wool hat and everyone, including the doctor, thought sure he would die. A man only lives through three of them, and he has had two.
Nobody escapes malaria and its returns; and in its milder forms, such as diarrhea, nausea, headache, dizziness, sudden departures of strength, and retching of bile, everyone takes it for granted. Every so often, though, you get such a bad spell of it you mighty nigh have to quit work. Soda and Calotabs are the common remedies. The Tingles like this one, to begin a meal: a pinch of Epsom salts three times a day for nine days; skip nine days; resume; go on until relieved. About a pound generally fixes you up.
Or if you are constituted luckily, the various poisons with which your system is loaded will assemble themselves into the safety valves locally known as risings and more widely known as boils. After a while, the valve blows off. That is the signal for another rising. Ruby, late last summer, was developing one in the fold of the elbow the size of a dollar watch. Her mother had had nine in the past month. Their arms and legs were leopardlike with violet scars. The doctor was quite jolly about it, in a way doctors have. He told them every rising was worth five dollars to them.
Sadie Tingle, Alabama, 1936. Walker Evans/Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Mrs. Tingle prefers the more violent work of the fields, in the hot sun, to housework, because so long as she is sweating and working hard in the sun the rheumatism doesn’t clamp into her joints so bad. She has also had pellagra, for the past ten years, and they have spent a great deal, they have no idea how much, trying to get it cured. The hard time she has eating we have spoken of. Three years ago she was out of her head for a long time. That was when Ida Ruth was a baby. Once she tried to kill Ida Ruth with a chunk of stovewood. She is better now and thinks it must be the powders, that is to say, the yeast. For the past year and a half she has been taking Brewer’s Yeast stirred up in molasses, milk, and water. She still has nervous spells though and they are bad. She can feel them coming on like something terrifying sneaking up behind her and then all of a sudden she sees black and yellow lights busting all around and after that she doesn’t know anything for a while.
Floyd Burroughs has spells, too, of a different kind. He falls down and foams at the mouth just like a dog and it scares Allie Mae and the children something awful. For a while he was having those spells as often as twice a week. He hasn’t had them though, since they moved to this new place, and it seems to Allie Mae like God must have been on their side and told them to move.
Allie Mae has the beginnings of a cataract. Mrs. Tingle, her aunt, has one still further advanced and treats it with camphor water. Mrs. Tingle’s mother and one of her aunts went blind with them.
Allie Mae has bad pains in the stomach from time to time, not at all the ordinary indigestion pains, that frighten her badly: her mother and her grandmother both died of cancer.
Her father Bud Fields has a skin cancer, in the right shoulder. On the surface it doesn’t look like anything but it has worked down under the collarbone and into the shoulder muscle. He had his choice of have it cut out or treated with X-rays and, in fear for his throat, chose the less tangible treatment. He spent the midsummer in silent and deep terror of death: walked and bummed his way to Moundville and thence was taken to Tuscaloosa for the X-rays; three treatments. The thing that frightened him worst of all was the ether. In extreme nausea you feel like death, and he took that to mean quite literally that he was dying. No one thought to explain, and though he was advised to lie down and get over the effects no one got insistent when, not having warned his wife of any length of absence, he chose rather to get back home as fast as possible. The doctor who had taken him up dropped him still jellified with ether-nausea, at Moundville, to walk the seven miles home.
Presumably they caught the cancer in time. He was strongly advised to do no work for two weeks, then to come back. The cotton was ready though, and he spent the days picking.
They were good to him about this cancer: the charge will be only $50, plus the Moundville doctor’s treatments and, likely as not, his transportation.
Both Burroughs and Tingle have appendix trouble. Tingle lay eight solid days under the ice cap; Floyd used it for three days, late last spring. (Mrs. Peoples came down with appendicitis late in the summer and there was another rush call for Tingle’s ice cap.) An operation would run you into debt and put you out of work: it’s wiser to freeze it and trust to luck.
Excepting Mrs. Tingle, none in the three families show any signs of pellagra: doubt |
they deliver their lines with a North American accent in a TV series or film ― is linked with the post-war American influence of the ’50s and ’60s.While the American accent is perceived as a sign of fluency in English, speaking English with a Korean accent, often looked down upon as an element of “Konglish,” is a cause of shame for many who never studied overseas.“I’m not comfortable speaking English in front of my peers who lived in the U.S. I get self-conscious,” said an office worker who wanted to remain anonymous. “I know I shouldn’t feel this way but I feel like I’m being judged whenever I do. Even if I work very hard on my English, I will never be able to speak English the way they do. Their pronunciation (and accent) is a privilege that is only given to those who spent time in the U.S.”“It’s not just about being fluent in English,” said the critic Lee. “It’s about being more ‘American.’ We are exposed to so many Hollywood films compared to movies from other countries. During the ’60s and ’70s, American missionaries said stepping out of their home was almost like going on stage for a performance. People cheered and clapped as they walked down the streets, offered to help if they needed anything. Things are different now, but this kind of admiration still exists in different forms.”English has been a subject of envy and a means of social advancement in Korea since it opened its doors to Western powers in the early 1900s.It gained cachet when U.S. troops entered Korea after the Japanese colonial rule ended in 1945.Kang Jun-man, media professor at Chonbuk National University, portrayed English as “the most powerful survival tool under the new occupation of the U.S. forces” in his recent publication “Koreans and English.”In his book, released this month, Kang offers social, cultural and political explanations behind Koreans’ passion for English learning.After U.S. troops took control of South Korea, being able to speak English and communicate with Americans became a “symbol of authority,” Kang wrote.The first president of the Republic of Korea, Syngman Rhee, was one of the first Koreans to have studied English at the country’s first secondary school, founded by an American missionary.English was a matter of survival in the ’60s and ’70s, when the country focused its energy on economic development through exports.Companies encouraged employees to learn English and private language institutions flourished.In a Chosun Ilbo column published on Oct. 22, 1961, the author wrote, “It seems like if you don’t know English, you can’t live confidently in this society.” Another article dated Feb. 5, 1970, reported on Korea’s English study boom. “Officials at The Ministry of Commerce take English classes at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The class starts with ‘Are you a student? Yes, I am.’”It was in the ’70s when the Korean government started to officially discuss English education for all children. In the ’80s, the debate emerged on whether children should learn English at an early age. English officially became a subject in elementary school after Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.Under the globalization movement in the ’90s, English proficiency became an important indicator of the level of globalization realized at a national and a personal level. Parents who could afford to send their children overseas had their children study in English-speaking countries. Others willingly spent large amounts of their household budget on private English education.The amount spent on private English tutoring reached 600 billion won ($578 million) in 1996. The number of children aged between 6 and 10 leaving the country to study English soared from 35,000 in 1993 to 60,000 in 1995, according to data from the immigration office at Gimpo International Airport.While a child’s English fluency was more determined by his or her family’s economic status, a new social divide emerged, causing a tragic incident in 1999.In July, 1999, two men in their 20s beat a 19-year-old college student to death. The attackers said they were annoyed by the student, who had been talking to his friend in English. The student, who died of a concussion, was reported to have been practicing English with his classmate on a subway platform in Seoul.While English has been an important part of the lives of Koreans for many years, the use of the language in Koreans’ daily lives is limited. The use of English is usually limited to textbooks, business letters and meetings.“Koreans don’t really get to speak the language in everyday life. The situations the language are broadly used in are official ones like business presentations and official conferences. And this created the false perception that the language should be spoken formally without grammatical errors,” explained Lee Byung-min, English education professor of Seoul National University, in an email interview.Lee attributed the phenomenon to the test-driven education system.“Koreans whose English has been evaluated through standardized testing develop a fear or hatred of the language. They think all the sentences coming out of their mouth have to be grammatically correct. But it’s impossible to be fluent in the language without making mistakes.”By Lee Woo-young and Claire Lee([email protected]) ([email protected])Thank you for supporting the journalism that our community needs!
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*Introductory pricing schedule for 12 month: $0.99/month plus tax for first 3 months, $5.99/month for months 4 - 6, $10.99/month for months 7 - 9, $13.99/month for months 10 - 12. Standard All Access Digital rate of $16.99/month begins after first year.
*Introductory pricing schedule for 12 month: $0.99/month plus tax for first 3 months, $5.99/month for months 4 - 6, $10.99/month for months 7 - 9, $13.99/month for months 10 - 12. Standard All Access Digital rate of $16.99/month begins after first year.
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WCB spokesman Warren Preece said the provincial body uses garnishment as a “last resort” legal tool to seize money in instances in which they are unable to get an employer to pay the bill.
The order was filed in the Court of Queen’s Bench and will remain in effect until the amount owing is paid or the WCB drops the order, court documents show.
The Workers Compensation Board filed a notice of garnishment this month against developer Andrew Marquess and his company, B&M Land, for $251,227.84.
A Winnipeg developer who secured a $10-million loan guarantee from the City of Winnipeg will have $251,000 of his income seized for three years of unpaid workers compensation insurance.
Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/6/2012 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/6/2012 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Winnipeg developer who secured a $10-million loan guarantee from the City of Winnipeg will have $251,000 of his income seized for three years of unpaid workers compensation insurance.
The Workers Compensation Board filed a notice of garnishment this month against developer Andrew Marquess and his company, B&M Land, for $251,227.84.
PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Developer Andrew Marquess
The order was filed in the Court of Queen’s Bench and will remain in effect until the amount owing is paid or the WCB drops the order, court documents show.
WCB spokesman Warren Preece said the provincial body uses garnishment as a "last resort" legal tool to seize money in instances in which they are unable to get an employer to pay the bill.
Preece said Marquess didn’t pay his workplace insurance in 2010, 2011 or 2012. The WCB first filed a notice of garnishment against Marquess in 2009 for $207,000.
Preece said Marquess still owes a quarter of a million dollars, which prompted the WCB to file another garnishment notice in an attempt to recoup the money.
The WCB provides insurance that covers wages and medical expenses in the event an employee is injured. Manitoba’s no-fault workplace insurance fully covers workers for injuries even if their employer has let payments slip.
"It’s unusual," Preece said, noting the WCB rarely files a notice of garnishment. "Most people pay their bills."
Last fall, city council voted to backstop a loan to Marquess’s company, Gem Equities, to turn the Fort Rouge Yards into a 900-unit townhouse, condominium and commercial development alongside the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities agreed to give Gem Equities $14.7 million worth of loans, and Winnipeg city council voted to guarantee $10 million of it.
There’s a chance taxpayers could be on the hook for $7 million if Marquess defaults during the condo construction phase, though city administrators and Mayor Sam Katz have said there is "zero" financial risk. Gem Equities has agreed to build a $3-million bus depot for the city near the bus rapid-transit line to offset the total risk of $10 million.
Marquess said he was "unaware" of the WCB garnishment notice and would look into the matter.
He said he is not in any financial trouble, and his previous problems with non-payment came in the wake of the worldwide financial crisis.
Marquess has been sued more than a dozen times for non-payment by suppliers who claimed he refused or neglected to pay what he owed. Six companies eventually dropped their lawsuits, but B&M Land was ordered to pay at least $1.59 million in settlements.
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Marquess said those troubles are behind him and work is moving ahead on the $79-million Fort Rouge Yards housing project.
"We’re just trying to get some of the work priced out and finalized," he said during a telephone interview this week. "There’s no trouble."
City of Winnipeg spokeswoman Tammy Melesko said in an email statement the city has no comment on the WCB garnishment notice.
Melesko said city officials are still conducting due diligence on the Fort Rouge Yards loan guarantee.
"Due diligence is ongoing and has not been concluded," Melesko said in the statement.
[email protected]://www.profitconfidential.com/stock/the-crash-amd-stock-opportunity/
The Crash in AMD Stock Could Be an Opportunity
Mukta Samtani, MBA, PhD
Profit Confidential
2017-03-03T11:29:37Z
2017-06-15 05:05:40
AMD
AMD stock
NASDAQ:AMD
Ryzen 7
Advanced Micro Devices stock
AMD price
AMD prices
AMD share price
Advanced Micro Devices
AMD stock is in free fall, due to a few unfavorable reviews related to the recently released Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) Ryzen 7 processors.
Advanced Micro Devices Stock,Stock
https://www.profitconfidential.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/AMD-Stock-300x200.jpg
AMD Stock Likely to Recover on Product Strengths
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) stock plunged by seven percent on Thursday, following mixed reviews of its latest "Ryzen 7" processor. AMD stock closed at $13.90, and is likely to trade on a subdued level in the short term.
The new "Ryzen 7" family of desktop central processing units (CPUs) that
AMD
launched last week
generated a lot of excitement. However, a few unfavorable reviews have pulled AMD stock down. The Ryzen 7 lineup that was launched last week was reviewed by
Ars Technica
, which
In a more detailed review of AMD Ryzen 7 on
Tom’s Hardware
, the writer
agrees that the Ryzen processor is competitive in many application areas, and that the price/performance ratio makes it a good choice for commercial applications. (Source: " AMD Ryzen 7 1800X CPU Review," Tom's Hardware, March 2, 2017.)
Chart courtesy of
StockCharts.com
At the recent 2017 Game Developers Conference, AMD announced
Bethesda Softworks LLC. The objective is to rapidly advance game technology development and to enhance the overall PC gaming experience. (Source: " a multi-title strategic partnership with. The objective is to rapidly advance game technology development and to enhance the overall PC gaming experience. (Source: " AMD and Bethesda Softworks Partner to Propel PC Gaming Forward," Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., February 28, 2017.)
This would help AMD in being a significant player in the evolving gaming landscape and help AMD stock in the long run. This partnership will likely have a positive impact on the demand for AMD’s CPUs and graphics processing units (GPUs).
Improving Financial Health to Help AMD Stock
fourth-quarter and annual financial results
on the last day of January, and AMD stock has not looked back since. The stock price jumped over 16% and had been going strong until it plunged on Thursday. Investors were pleased with how the company was positioning itself to tap future opportunities. (Source: " AMD Reports Fourth Quarter and Annual 2016 Financial Results," Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., January 31, 2017.)
The computing and graphics segment revenue increased by 28% year-over-year and 27% sequentially. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by higher GPU sales. The sequential increase was primarily due to higher GPU and client processor sales.
The reaction to the Ryzen 7 reviews seems to be overdone, and AMD will likely continue to impress with its new products lined up for the year. In 2016, AMD enhanced its financial position, and the company looks forward to improving its gross margin over the long term.
Dr. Lisa Sue, president and CEO of AMD, said that the company is currently “well positioned and on-track to deliver its strongest set of high-performance computing and graphics products in more than a decade.” (Source: Ibid.)
The current fall in the share price is an indication of the high expectations that investors had from Ryzen 7 but, once the dust settles, AMD stock will find itself on firm footing again.
As more reviews come in for the Ryzen CPU and new products are launched, like the Vega GPU in May and the "Naples CPU" in June 2017, things will take a turn for the better. It is a wait-and-watch situation right now but, in the long run, the transformation at AMD is likely to bear fruit and boost AMD stock.
However, the review stated that the "AMD Ryzen 7 1800x" is great for the price and is an excellent workstation CPU. “Ryzen puts an end to Intel’s monopoly on high-performance computing, and – most importantly for consumers – the price gouging that went along with it,” wrote Ars Technica. It is clear from the review that the value proposition of the Ryzen 7 is very strong.AMD stock has performed well over the last 12 months, with the stock gaining almost 572% on account of the high adoption of its computing and graphics products. The following stock chart shows the stellar rise of Advanced Micro Devices stock.Advanced Micro Devices had announced itsAMD had also introduced the preliminary details of its forthcoming "Vega GPU" architecture designed to handle the most data and visually-intensive next-generation workloads. Up until last year, AMD was operating in the low-end CPU and GPU markets, but the company hopes to improve its margins this year by targeting the high-end market with its Ryzen CPUs and Vega GPUs, which is expected to be good news for AMD stock.If this is true, this will keep AMD stock in the limelight.A tip led San Diego police to a man suspected of deadly attacks on sleeping homeless men, which left two of them dead and two severely injured, and left the city's homeless community on edge.
On Thursday night police arrested 36-year-old Anthony Alexander Padgett in connection with the murder and attempted murder of the sleeping men, some of whom were set on fire, police said.
Since the attacks began over the weekend, city officials had implored the public for assistance in bringing justice for the victims and peace of mind for the hundreds of homeless people living on the streets of San Diego.
"Our city has been shaken by these gruesome attacks. The last few days have been particularly harrowing and emotional for those who struggle with homelessness," San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer told reporters during a press conference Wednesday. "I want to make it very clear that the San Diego Police Department is working around the clock to find this killer and bring justice for these victims."
San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman told reporters the murders were the most vicious she had seen in her 34-year law-enforcement career.
"This killer has targeted some of our community's most vulnerable citizens while they are asleep," Chief Zimmerman said.
The string of attacks began on Sunday and targeted men who were sleeping alone in the early morning hours, with two of them set on fire.
Police found the badly burned remains of Angelo De Nardo on Sunday near some train tracks. The 53-year-old died before his body was set on fire, according to reports.
Responding to a 911 call the next day, police found 61-year-old Manuel Mason. Mr. Mason suffered life-threatening injuries to his upper torso and was in critical condition Thursday. A few hours after police found Mason, they found the body of Shawn Longley, 41. He had bled from the upper torso and died before police arrived.
A fourth, unidentified man, who is 23, was in "grave condition" Thursday, according to San Diego Police Capt. David Nisleit. He had been set on fire one day earlier in the city's downtown. A witness pulled away a burning cloth that the attacker put on the victim before fleeing.
A tip led investigators to Mr. Padgett, who was born in the suburb of Chula Vista and was arrested there. Police said the investigation is in its early stages, and gave no details on the suspect or the tip that led to him.
It is unclear whether Padgett is homeless, though police said they searched homeless camps in Chula Vista in their investigation.
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Padgett was arrested in 2010 in Chula Vista on suspicion of setting fire to a friend while he slept. Both men were homeless at the time, police said. Padgett’s friend was critically injured, but survived the attack.
This report uses material from the Associated Press.Some biological processes are so central to life as we know it that it’s tempting to assume all the key innovations in biochemistry have already happened.
Processes like photosynthesis and glycolysis have existed for millennia and are essential to the survival of countless species. But the Earth is only just over halfway through its habitable phase, with somewhere between 1.75 and 3.25 billion years of evolutionary time still stretched out ahead of us.
That means it’s highly likely revolutionary new processes at the heart of metabolic biochemistry will evolve before the Earth ceases to support life, according to a recent opinion piece in the journal Royal Society Biology Letters by Jodi Brewster, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Otago in New Zealand, and her colleagues.
What those processes may look like is an open question, but Brewster says the nascent field of synthetic biology could offer glimpses of our evolutionary future. By allowing scientists to tinker with the genetic code at the heart of life, synthetic biology also may be accelerating our progress towards these revolutionary adaptations.
Synthetic biology is essentially an application of engineering principles to the fundamental molecular components of biology. Key to the process is the ability to design genetic circuits that reprogram organisms to do things like produce biofuels or excrete the precursors for pharmaceuticals, though whether this is commercially viable is another question.
MIT’s Jim Collins, one of the founders of synthetic biology, recently explained it to me as putting the engineering into genetic engineering.
“Genetic engineering is introducing a gene from species A to species B,” he said. “That’s the equivalent of replacing a red light bulb with a green light bulb. Synthetic biology is focused on designing the underlying circuitry expressing that red or green light bulb.”
As well as introducing entirely novel processes into cells, synthetic biologists have been working to refine those already there. Despite millions of years of evolution, some aspects of photosynthesis “remain woefully inefficient,” Brewster writes, and improved photosynthesis could have enormous impact on agricultural productivity.
Some researchers have attempted to transpose more efficient approaches to photosynthesis found in simpler organisms into crop plants.
Cyanobacteria achieve higher efficiency by concentrating CO 2 in organelles called carboxysomes, which are filled with Rubisco, a key enzyme in the carbon fixation process. A group from Cornell engineered tobacco plants to express cyanobacterial Rubisco within carboxysome-like structures inside the plants’ chloroplasts, boosting their rate of carbon fixation. An Israeli team went further by combining existing metabolic building blocks from various organisms to design a host of synthetic carbon fixation pathways, some of which outperformed natural pathways.
Glycolysis — the metabolic pathway that releases energy from glucose — has comparable inefficiencies. Many pathways include a step where only four carbons from a six carbon sugar are put to good use, with the other two lost as CO 2. This prompted a team from UCLA to design a synthetic pathway, dubbed non-oxidative glycolysis (NOG), that puts all six carbon atoms to good use.
Despite the huge amount of thought that has gone into these solutions to metabolic inefficiencies, according to Brewster and colleagues the amount of evolutionary time ahead of us means nature would be almost certain to stumble across them in the future anyway. The fact that horizontal gene transfer — where genetic material is transferred between species — is so common in bacteria makes this even more likely.
If these adaptations confer an evolutionary advantage, they are likely to proliferate through nature. Therefore, Brewster and colleagues say synthetic biology should be viewed as ‘biology not yet in the databases.’ The solutions synthetic biologists devise could have existed in the past, could simply be undiscovered, or could evolve in the future.
But by offering glimpses of future evolutionary events, synthetic biology may be accelerating that evolution.
Natural innovations in gene regulation have been central for major breakthroughs in the development of life, such as the emergence of multicellularity or complex developmental pathways. New innovations in gene regulation developed by synthetic biologists are likely to result in dramatic phenotypic changes in future organisms, say Brewster and colleagues.
The idea that nature would inevitably happen upon the innovations of synthetic biology may be overly simplistic. The researchers conclude “only time will tell whether there are viable evolutionary trajectories for realizing them in ways that increase organismal fitness,” but synthetic biology is not driven by survival of the fittest, it’s driven by the needs of humans.
Synthetic biology may result in biological systems that would never survive in nature. It’s hard to see how an adaptation to synthesize biofuel would offer an evolutionary advantage to bacteria in the wild. MIT’s Collins has already freed synthetic biology from the cell by freeze-drying synthetic gene circuits onto paper to act as biosensors. His MIT colleagues have even used synthetic biology to turn E. coli cells into living computers able to remember and respond to sequential input data.
While synthetic biology may be giving us new insights into where evolution could be leading us, it’s possible that evolution as we know it is over. Rather than nature being in the driver’s seat, we may be entering an age where humans are the guiding hand behind life’s bewildering complexity.
Image credit: ShutterstockBlorg Prime, Blorg System, Blorg Commonality
The Human Football Authority (HFA) has confirmed the Blorg Commonality will be allowed to participate in the United Nations of Earth's (UNE's) 2251 Football Championship.
The Blorg have had a longstanding and overly attached fascination with human culture since first contact, and for years have petitioned the HFA to allow their species to compete in the human-only pastime.
The HFA previously rejected the Blorgs' request on the grounds they lack feet, which had been deemed as essential to play. However, following the Blorgs' pledge to assist the UNE in the War on the Unbidden, the HFA relaxed this criteria.
Football, also known as soccer or sphere kicking, is a traditional human game in which two opposing teams chase a small, brightly-coloured, gas-filled orb, also known as a 'ball'. The game takes place on a large, flat green-hued fescue field, locally known as 'grass', under Earth-like gravity. The two teams each guard one of two nets standing on opposite sides of the field, and points are scored depending on how often each team can penetrate their opponents nets with the orb. In an unusual twist, each team is only allowed to move the orb with their lower limbs, hence the 'foot' prefix. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
The Football Championship runs annually in Earth's capitol of Ulm, with teams fielded from each UNE planet. FC Earth-Ryukyu and FC Horizon are the best known teams in the local cluster.FLORISSANT, Missouri – Hillary Clinton on Tuesday called the massacre at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week “an act of racist terrorism.” She also said the Confederate flag – which flies at the South Carolina statehouse – has no place in American society today.
“How do we make sense of such an evil act?” Clinton said of the shooting while speaking at a black church here, calling the horrific attack “an act of racist terrorism perpetrated in a house of God.”
RELATED: Hillary Clinton revisits race issue near Ferguson
That goes beyond what FBI Director James Comey said Friday, when he told reporters in Baltimore that the massacre likely does not meet the federal definition of “terrorism.”
Clinton came to discuss race here at Christ the King Church, about four miles from where unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was killed last summer by a white police officer, tipping off weeks of racially tinged protests.
Clinton called on parishioners to turn their grief and anger over events like that into action to address poverty, racism and inequality. She also commended South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s call to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol’s ground.
The flag, Clinton said, is “a symbol from our racist past that has no place in our present nor in our future.”
“It shouldn’t fly there, it shouldn’t fly anywhere,” Clinton added to applause.
Clinton went to say that she applauded retailers like Wal-Mart that have pulled merchandise with the Confederate flag from their shelves.
Her comments go beyond Republicans’ calls to take down the flag from the South Carolina state capitol, and could put them in a tight spot if they’re asked if they agree more should be done to limit the symbol.
The church’s pastor invited Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, to attend the Tuesday event and potentially meet with Clinton privately, the family’s lawyers told msnbc. But McSpadden did not make it.
RELATED: The one thing you need to know to understand Clinton’s chances
Last week, Clinton called the mother of Walter Scott, the North Charleston, South Carolina, black man who was killed by a police officer in April. The officer in the case has been charged with murder for the fatal shooting.
Clinton spoke for about 10 minutes on race relations, education and the need for new gun control laws before turning over the microphone to local elected officials and community leaders, almost all of them black, for a roundtable discussion.
Clinton’s reception was largely positive. Attendees said they appreciated her focus on local issues and her eagerness to hear from them, instead of just delivering a speech. And they approved of her strong remarks on the Confederate flag.
There was one sour note from Clinton, however, for some attendees.
Clinton riffed on the phrase “black lives matter,” which has become synonymous with the movement tipped off by the deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and others. Speaking about the struggles her mother faced after being abandoned by her parents, Clinton said, “What kept you going? Her answer was very simple: Kindness along the way from someone who believed she mattered. All lives matter.”
The tweak, some said, missed the point of the phrase. “‘All lives matter’ – we all looked at each other like, oh boy,” said Patricia Bynes, the Democratic National Committeewoman who represents Ferguson. “This is a black audience, in a black church, and yes all lives matter, but it seems black lives don’t seem to matter.”
Outside the church, a banner hung reading “black lives matter.” And Clinton did use the words ”black lives matter” in December while speaking before a mostly white audience in New York City.
State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, who represents Ferguson, said she also took notice of Clinton’s “all lives matter” line.
Chappelle-Nadal has been pleading, coaxing and occasionally shaming her state’s white Democrats to get more aggressive on race. She hoped Clinton could help get her party there, but said the Democratic presidential candidate “didn’t move the needle” in this appearance alone.
Still, Chappelle-Nadal said she was extremely grateful that Clinton came and said she heard “85%” of what she wanted to hear from the candidate. “I adore her,” Chappelle-Nadal said of Clinton.
Former President Bill Clinton was popular among the officials who filed in, and could help his wife win over black voters, said Vinita Park Mayor James McGee. “It’s very important she carry on the legacy of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama,” he said.
RELATED: Clinton dominates 2016 Democratic field, leads GOP rivals in poll
Hillary Clinton has waded into the thorny issue of race as she embarks on her second presidential campaign. Tuesday was third time in six days Clinton discussed the issue since the Charleston shooting alone.
She has made voting rights and criminal justice reform key components of her campaign, and has already spoken to black audiences in South Carolina and Texas.
Clinton’s emphasis on race is personal, her campaign says, going back to a speech she saw of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s as a teenager, which was a key moment in her political awakening.
African-Americans are a key constituency in the Democratic primary, especially in the early nominating state of South Carolina.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, her current top opponent for the nomination, hails from a state that is nearly 95% white. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, another top opponent, may have difficulty shedding baggage from his tough-on-crime record in Baltimore.
By locking down the black vote early, and earning support of key leaders, Clinton could effectively build a firewall in South Carolina and other states in case a challenger surges.
And she’ll need to energize black voters to get them to the polls in the general election, should she make it, to avoid too much drop-off from the coalition that elected President Obama twice.
This post has been updated to provide more context for Clinton’s “all lives matter” remark."Scam," "fraud," "shadiness," and "lawsuit" are all words that have been somewhat haphazardly plastered across forums and websites this past week, with particular disdain expressed toward SSD makers Kingston and PNY. The internet's bandwagon mentality almost mandates a perpetuity of rage without necessitating a fundamental understanding of the industry toward which that rage is directed. It is an unfortunate side effect of social media that'shares' and 'likes' will undoubtedly be attributed toward advocacy campaigns without the sharers ever reading accompanying links -- let alone clicking them.
Catching Up: The "Story" So Far
Here's the deal: We wrote about Kingston's NAND switch in its V300 a few months ago, whereupon the synchronous NAND V300 was benchmarked against its asynchronous successor. The controversy here was spurred-on by Anandtech, whose writers had spotted user-conducted benchmarks of the V300 SSD on its own forums; the benchmarks consistently showed performance lower than what professional reviewers had seen a year prior. The reason, it was discovered, was a result of a supply-side change of the NAND Flash utilized in the device. Although Kingston shipped the V300 with its original BOM for an entire year, it recently switched from Toshiba's 19nm Toggle-Mode 2.0 NAND to a 20nm Micron alternative; this was entirely for cost and supply reasons, we're told by Kingston, but users have seen a performance impact from the switch.
If you're not sure the meaning of this, our very in-depth SSD architecture article will teach you all about NAND and how SSDs work. It is critical that all who make large claims for or against Kingston's device read the two above-linked articles for a proper understanding of what's going on here.
An image from our SSD Architecture post. It's not so simple.
The user backlash stemmed somewhat misguidedly from a performance standpoint, though it would have had much stronger basis as an ethics argument. In my published testing, we noted that many of the performance metrics were within (or adjacent to) Kingston's original specification; some of the tests, like mass file copy, did see a tremendous performance detriment when compared to the original synchronous NAND V300. It was my conclusion that the V300 was still an OK SSD for its target market -- a very affordable, low-end solution for mainstream and mobile users (read: not performing professional tasks or mass I/O). I stated that most target users would not notice the performance difference anyway, even though power users, professionals, and piratical types may spot the change. These users, though, fall outside of the targeted market and would do better to purchase a higher-endurance device rated for their use cases.
I later stated that I have stopped recommending the V300 in favor of Crucial's new MX100 and older M500, but this was entirely due to value; Crucial's offerings outperformed Kingston's and were within $10 -- a plain-and-simple choice, in my mind. This choice is purely from a cost effectiveness standpoint.
But I haven't called the V300 a bad drive -- I just don't think it competes in value, and we'll get into why in a moment. We've got another half of the story to recap first.
PNY's Controller Switch
We've only published article content specific to PNY once before; they're a much smaller organization in comparison to the Kingstons, Corsairs, and Samsungs of the world, but they've still got a large Enterprise division and a growing consumer division.
PNY's Optima SSD line was recently found to use LSI's Gen2 SandForce controllers in some devices, as opposed to the Silicon Motion (SMI) controllers found in earlier models. Some users have perceived this as being of a malicious nature.
Since then, given all the publicity from multiple media outlets, reddit threads, and social media, hundreds of thousands have seen accusations of a "bait-and-switch" tactic on part of PNY and Kingston. Further inflammatory comments have falsely claimed that reviewers received "special" samples that were never shipped to the public. This is incorrect, as we'll find out below.
As someone who has worked on both the media side and manufacturing side of the industry, this all seemed like a non-story to me; still, it's apparently gotten everyone's attention. Let's break it down piece-by-piece.
Why We're Writing This Piece
Frankly, frustration. This posting is spawned entirely out of frustration from snowballing levels of unresearched, oft-unfounded rage. Accusations that are based entirely in a fantasy world have further caused frustration for reviewers, especially when users make claims that we're provided with better samples than the market will ever receive. It's not that simple, and to make such claims is offensive to the effort that reviewers across the industry invest in research, almost suggesting that we're easily "fooled."
Here's where we set the record straight for the reality of the industry we are all a part of.
This Happens Every Day - Stop Calling it a "Bait-and-Switch"
First, a bit of a timeline.
It is important to note that neither Kingston nor PNY listed the NAND type in their original product specification sheet; PNY did not even list its Optima's controller, leaving it to reviewers who'd opened the device to detail.
Kingston sent its V300 to reviewers more than a year ago now (4Q12 / 1Q13, from memory). As always, it received numerous reviews throughout the initial sample seeding cycle, then began shipping to market in short order. Consumers who purchased the device would find that their models performed almost identically to media samples, when tested properly. It wasn't until around December of 2013, a full year after its announcement, that changes were found in shipping retail models.
A very similar story is true for PNY.
So, then: Why did the companies change what's being sold? This was explained in great detail in my V300 investigation, but we'll recap briefly.
These SSD manufacturers are fabless. They do not fabricate their own NAND Flash dies or controllers. The world's |
this app – most of us simply don't know people who use BBM anymore. I am aware there are places where BlackBerry is still widely used, but I don't live there and can't really speak to that.
Perhaps the only feature BBM can still hang its hat on is security. BlackBerry is serious about that, but how many folks are using that as their first and only criteria when choosing a messaging service? I don't know, but I probably don't want to communicate with that kind of person for a variety of reasons.
After all the years of waiting, BBM is just another messaging app. Once the kinks are worked out I have no doubt it will be reliable, but it doesn't do anything special. Figure in the awkward app design and I can't see myself using this going forward with products like Hangouts and WhatsApp out there.Fast Facts: › Curiosity is using its wheels, as well as its science payload, to investigate sand that forms active dunes on Mars. › Plans call for the rover to scoop up and sieve sand for onboard laboratory analysis.
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has begun an up-close investigation of dark sand dunes up to two stories tall. The dunes are on the rover's trek up the lower portion of a layered Martian mountain.
A view of the rippled surface of what's been informally named "High Dune" is online at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA20168
A wheel track exposing material beneath the surface of a sand sheet nearby is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA20169
The dunes close to Curiosity's current location are part of "Bagnold Dunes," a band along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater. Observations of this dune field from orbit show that edges of individual dunes move as much as 3 feet (1 meter) per Earth year.
The rover's planned investigations include scooping a sample of the dune material for analysis with laboratory instruments inside Curiosity.
Curiosity has been working on Mars since early August 2012. It reached the base of Mount Sharp in 2014 after fruitfully investigating outcrops closer to its landing site and then trekking to the mountain. The main mission objective now is to examine successively higher layers of Mount Sharp.
For more information about Curiosity, visit:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
News Media Contact
Guy WebsterJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, [email protected] Brown / Laurie CantilloNASA Headquarters, Washington202-358-1726 / [email protected] / [email protected] see that Benn Steil, a student of geoeconomics at the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, is trying to scare his listeners into thinking that something very bad might happen because (i) the ECB is undercapitalized and (ii) the ECB is busy buying up the bonds of europeriphery sovereigns:
The Future of the Eurozone: The ECB only has 81 billion euros in capital. That could easily be wiped out with, say, just a 25 percent haircut in PIG debt -- Portugal, Ireland and Greece. That's it. Gone. Now, a central bank can operate for a brief period without any capital. But eventually any central bank will have to tighten monetary policy at some point in the future. And in order to do that, they need assets to sell. And unless the market believes that the ECB is going to be credibly recapitalized, there will be a god-almighty run against the euro and it will, quite frankly, collapse. That's not the same situation as the Feds in the United States. In fact, if you look at the Fed's reported capital, it's only $58 billion…. But nobody doubts that the U.S. government is ultimately going to stand behind the Fed. But investors do doubt that the German taxpayer is ultimately going to stand behind the ECB. And that's a big, big problem…
No.
It is not.
A central bank--like the ECB--is a very, very different animal than a normal bank.
A normal bank needs capital to prevent runs precisely because its depositors can force it to shrink its balance sheet whenever they wish. Depositors can come to it and demand their money. It then needs to sell some of its assets in order to raise the cash to pay its depositors. And if assets are less than liabilities--if there is no capital--then depositors can see the endgame, and so they all rush to pull their money out because the last ones in the queue don't get anything. There is a run on the bank. The bank goes bankrupt. That is why a normal, commercial (or shadow) bank must be well-capitalized.
But, as economists have known for centuries, a central bank is different.
If you go to a central bank and say "I want to pull my money out", the central bank says "OK". It then prints up a number of banknotes. It then hands the banknotes to you. It doesn't need to sell assets to give you your money. All it needs to do is to transforms one of its liabilities--a reserve deposit--into another one of its liabilities--a bank note.
There is nothing anybody can do to force a central bank to shrink its balance sheet.
A central bank shrinks its balance sheet only when it wishes.
At the moment, if the ECB wanted (and if it could transact at accounting values), the ECB could shrink its liabilities--the monetary base of the eurozone--to zero and still have 81 billion euros of assets left over. (Of course, the ECB would never want to do that.)
Suppose that the ECB were to take a big haircut of 200 billion euros on its PIIGS asset holdings. What would that mean? Well, it would mean that the ECB could only shrink the eurozone monetary base down to 119 billion euros before it would have to stop. But there is no conceivable situation in which the ECB would ever want to shrink the eurozone monetary base that much. So taking losses on its PIIGS bonds is not, as Steil claims, a very worrisome thing. Taking losses on its PIIGS bonds is a nothingburger.
So why does Steil think it is a "big problem"?
I have no clue.
He says there will be a "god-almighty run against the euro and it will, quite frankly, collapse" but I have no idea what he could possibly mean...
I think it was in April 2009 that Christina Romer told me that the most astonishing thing about the situation was the number of people confidently pronouncing on issues they could not or had not thought through, and that she wished they would just sit down and be quiet, and then we would all be much better off...This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: While the collapse of this country’s financial system continues to send shock waves around the world, I’m joined on the telephone by bestselling author of The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein. Her latest article for the Huffington Post is called “Now Is the Time to Resist Wall Street’s Shock Doctrine.” Naomi Klein, welcome to Democracy Now!
NAOMI KLEIN: Thanks, Amy. Great to talk with you.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain. What do you mean?
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, the thesis of my book, what I mean by the “shock doctrine,” is that it is in times of crisis, it is in times when people are panicked, when we’ve seen again and again the right push through radical pro-corporate policies, what they call “free market reforms,” precisely because it is in a crisis where the space for debate rapidly closes, and you can invoke this state of emergency to say we have no choice.
And I think we’re seeing a very dramatic example of this tactic right now with this really extortionist kind of tactics playing out in Washington. You know, “Sign this blank check, or we’re all going down, or Main Street is going down, or taxpayers — you know, the sky will fall in on them.”
I’m also arguing that this is only stage one of the shock doctrine. They’re getting this — they’re lobbying for this huge bailout, obviously, but this bailout is a kind of a time bomb, because it’s all these bad debts, and they are going to explode on the next administration. I mean, we know that the Bush administration has already left the next administration with huge debt and deficit problems. They’ve just exploded those, expanded them. And what that means is that whoever the next president is is going to be inheriting this economic crisis that is being exacerbated by this bailout.
So, in the case of McCain, I think — if he’s the president, then I think we know what he’ll do, because we know he wants to privatize Social Security, which is something that Wall Street’s been wanting for a long time, another bubble. We know he has said in the next — in the first 100 days of his administration he’ll look at every program and either reform it or shut it down. This is really a recipe for economic shock therapy. So, while you have all of these trivial issues being discussed in the election season, I think what we could — what we’re really — you know, under the surface, they’re actually being quite clear. They’re going to take — if they take power, it will be in the midst of an economic emergency. They’ll invoke that emergency to push through very, very radical changes. So, you know, what I’ve been saying is, this is not four more years of Bush; it’s much, much worse in the case of another Republican administration.
But there’s huge problems for Democrats, as well, if they win this election, because, you know, we need to only think back to the situation in which Clinton took power, where he ran an election on an economic populist platform, promising to renegotiate NAFTA. Then there was an economic crisis. Clinton came under intense lobbying by people like Robert Rubin, who’s also advising Obama right now, and by the time he took office, he had embraced economic austerity.
So, people need to understand these tactics, need to put pressure on the candidates, the parties, and reject this tactic. And I’ve actually been really heartened, Amy, that people are onto these shock tactics and aren’t falling for it. And, you know, to the extent that we’re seeing a little bit of spine from the Democrats, it is only, as Chris Dodd said, because they are hearing it from their constituents. So people need to keep up this pressure right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, one of the things you write about in this piece in Huffington Post is the wish list that comes from former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich —-
NAOMI KLEIN: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: —- laying out policy prescriptions for Congress.
NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah. I mean, there is pressure being put on Congress from Democrats who — you know, we’ve heard the proposals to cap executive pay and to have a moratorium on foreclosures. It’s coming not from all Democrats, but from some. But there’s something going on on the Republican side, where you have people like Newt Gingrich, and you also have the Republican Study Committee, which is a group of very influential Republican lawmakers who are saying that they’re opposed to the bailout, and they also have their wish list. And I think it is that it’s not that they’re going to oppose a bailout completely; it’s that they want economic changes, right-wing, pro-corporate economic changes, attached to a bailout. So, Newt Gingrich has his list. He’s got eighteen demands. But I think even more important than that is the Republican Study Committee, and I raise this because they’ve just issued their ransom list. It starts with suspending the capital gains tax, privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, suspending mark-to-market accounting, which is the rule that requires companies to assess their assets at current market values.
So, what’s so stunning about this, Amy, is that here you have a crisis that everyone seems to agree is borne of deregulation, and they’re actually calling for more deregulation. We have a situation where the debt is exploding on American taxpayers, and they want to suspend corporate profits — sorry, corporate taxes, which is actually what might defray some of those costs from regular taxpayers. So it’s an incredible display of opportunism. And this is what I mean by stage two of the shock doctrine. The first stage is just the bailout, but the second stage are all of these radical reforms that are going to be invoked in the name of the crisis that the bailout is creating, whether it’s pushed through right now or whether it’s pushed through later.
But what’s important — you know, Amy, in the book, I talk about — I start the book with a quote from Milton Friedman that has really made the rounds a lot lately, which is that — and this is a Friedman quote — that “only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change. And when the crisis occurs, the change depends on the ideas that are lying around.” And then he goes on to say, “That, I believe, is our basic function: to keep the ideas ready until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.” So I think it’s really important for people to look at the ideas that are lying around.
There’s enormous corporate lobbying going on to, for instance, eliminate the post-Enron collapse regulations, to actually say that the way to save the American economy — you know, you heard Henry Paulson equating — still equating the interests of the financial sector with the interests of everyone else. We know that’s simply not true. But it’s that — precisely that logic that then is used to say, OK, these are the — this is what the financial community, this is what the corporate world needs in order to revive the economy: they need less regulation, they need less taxation.
So, we should be really, really wary of this claim that we’re hearing that free market ideology is dead, that this marks the end of, you know, of capitalism. You know, I’m sorry, that is not the case. It may be going dormant for a little while to rationalize these massive bailouts, but it will come roaring back, and the crisis that is being deepened right now through these bailouts will be invoked for even more radical deregulation, privatization, tax cuts and so on.
AMY GOODMAN: It seems clearly, Naomi Klein, what’s needed, a key ingredient here, is speed.
NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: You see this happen right after 9/11 with the USA PATRIOT Act being pushed through. You saw it with the vote in October of 2002 for the invasion of Iraq. It’s speed and the idea of an imminent threat.
NAOMI KLEIN: Absolutely.
AMY GOODMAN: And then, of course, this week it’s not only about passing this legislation, but it is passing it by Friday.
NAOMI KLEIN: Absolutely. You know, and a lot of people have even described this Paulson plan as an economic PATRIOT Act. You know, one of the mistakes that I think they made, honestly, Amy, is how short it is. It’s just three pages, which means — you know, usually these pieces of legislation are much longer, so people don’t even bother reading them in that moment of extortion — you know, “Pass it now, or else…or else the sky falls in.” So, you know, in this case, I think they made a miscalculation. You know, there was an interesting article in Time that just came out, where they actually say that they have been working — you know, this is a quote — it says, “[Paulson] and his team [have] been working on [this] proposal for more than six months.” So, it’s quite surprising that it is as pared down as it is. It’s three pages. And the craziest thing has happened: people have read it. Regular people have read it. It doesn’t take that much time. And, you know, you read Section 8, which is just so stunning, just so bold in its demand for total and complete impunity. And that’s really what’s getting in their way, is people are reading this text, and they’re frankly shocked by it.
You know, we heard Henry Paulson say that he thought it would have been presumptuous to put in clauses calling for regulation. This is absolute nonsense. Section 2 of the same document talks about how they have the right to hire contractors to administer this huge operation, and we know that that means contracting with some of the very firms who are going to be bailed out. And then it says that it would be — they would be contracting them without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts. Amy, that is just as — that’s Iraq levels of impunity, or even more. I mean, basically what they are saying is that we want to be able to contract with companies but exempt those companies from the existing laws that bar conflict of interest, that have whistleblowing laws. I mean, the laws exist on the books, and they are actively excluding these contracts from those laws. So the idea that they didn’t want to be presumptuous is complete nonsense. They are being extremely presumptuous, because they are actively excluding these contractors, these would-be contractors, from existing oversight. We have to be very clear about this.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s interesting who Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is, served as an assistant to Richard Nixon’s assistant, John Ehrlichman, and moved right from there to Goldman Sachs, then became head of it when, well, the now-Senator and then-Governor Corzine left Goldman Sachs.
NAOMI KLEIN: You know, Amy, I don’t think we can stress this enough. Henry Paulson is one of the key people, the top people, responsible for creating the crisis that he is now claiming he will solve, you know, and this is — if we think about the 9/11 analogy and, you know, the state of shock that Americans were in after 9/11 and the emergence of Rudy Giuliani as the savior — and, you know, people have so much regret about that. And in the book, I write about this as the state of regression that we go into when we’re frightened. And I think Henry Paulson has really been cast in this role as an economic Rudy Giuliani, saving the day, impartial, bipartisan, a strong leader.
I found this article in BusinessWeek that ran when Paulson was appointed to the Treasury, and I just want to read you one sentence, because I think it’s all we need to know about Henry Paulson. This is from BusinessWeek, when he got the appointment as Treasury Secretary in 2006. The headline of the article is “Mr. Risk Goes to Washington.” It says, “Think of Paulson as Mr. Risk. He’s one of the key architects of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and greater chances in [their] pursuit of profits. By some key measures, the securities industry is more leveraged now than it was at the height of the 1990s boom.”
Then it goes on to say that when Paulson took over Goldman Sachs in 1999, they had $20 billion in debts. When he — in these high-risk gambles. When he left, they had $100 billion, which means he took their risk level from $20 billion to $100 billion. So it is absolutely no exaggeration to say that Henry Paulson, far from speaking for Main Street, is actually bailing out his colleagues for some of the very debts that he himself accumulated. This is an extraordinary conflict of interest.
AMY GOODMAN: And then, of course, there’s the question of his own interests in Goldman Sachs today.
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, you know, allegedly, he divested from the company, so I can’t comment on that, but I think there’s some good investigation to be done.
AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, I want to thank you for being with us, award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, author of the bestselling book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.Alright, fans. You asked for it—nay, demanded it. And here it is. Symmetra has been almost completely redesigned from the ground up.
Symmetra’s Current Situation
Since release, both the community and Blizzard’s developers have been unsatisfied with Symmetra’s design. Her ability to lend shields (bonus health that recovers over time) to teammates was seen as ineffective, and the placement of her sentry turrets suffered from a lengthy cooldown mechanic that made it feel more like a chore to optimize damage output than a tactical fortification. Players spent more time standing next to a wall, waiting for their turrets to come off of cooldown than they did taking part in the fight.
Likewise, problems were inherent to the manner in which her ultimate ability, a placed teleporter that allows her team to quickly enter a fight, was a high-priority target that Symmetra was generally unable to defend from intruders.
All in all, the hero had been relegated to the sidelines, useful only on specific portions of specific defense points. She felt less like the badass agent of the Vishkar Corporation, able to manifest nearly any device from advanced hardlight technology and her imagination, and more like a B-list benchwarmer in Overwatch’s cast of heroes.
A change was needed to keep the character relevant, and it came in the form of a near-total overhaul of her kit.
The Overhaul
The most noticeable change is that the shield ability was replaced with a projectile barrier. Symmetra’s new toy is similar to Reinhardt’s shield, but advances forward of its own accord at a pace similar to most heroes’ running speed.
Symmetra is also now the very first hero in Overwatch with two ultimate abilities, being able to toggle between the standard teleporter, and a shield generator that grants a massive health boost to the team.
Other changes include:
Symmetra can now hold all six charges for her sentry turrets at once, allowing her to much more quickly set up fortifications.
The range of her Photon Projector, her primary attack, has been increased, giving her a little more survivability in skirmishes.
Both of her ultimate devices now have a large chunk of their health in shields. This gives an incentive to fending off attempts to sunder your teleporter or generator, as well as making it less necessary for Symmetra to constantly guard her ultimates, putting her back in the fight where she can better help her team.
Reactions from the community have been most exclusively positive, as nearly everyone has been clamoring for a rework for several months now. Sombra fans are undoubtedly giggling maniacally with the introduction of the shield generators and the false sense of security they’ll no doubt exploit, while Reinhardt mains may be concerned that Symmetra’s shield wall will compete with their bread & butter ability.
It’s exciting to see the myriad and nuanced ways this massive change to the character will affect the game at large. I know I can’t wait to log on and inflict some sweet, sweet laser-y death myself.
As of update 1.6.0.0.33106, you can try out Symmetra’s new abilities for yourself on the PTR and tell us what you think!Achieve More, Capture More and Enjoy More with the Xperia® M4 Aqua
Impressive battery life, a powerful processor, two great cameras and waterproof[i] design all in an affordable package coming to Canada
May XX, 2015, TORONTO – Sony Mobile Communications ("Sony Mobile") today announced the Xperia® M4 Aqua will launch across Canada with multiple carriers including Bell, Fido, Videotron, Virgin Mobile and WIND Mobile in mid-June 2015. The Xperia M4 Aqua combines all of the details that make Xperia smartphones great – such as enhanced camera experiences and applications, up to two-day battery life[ii] and a waterproof and dust-tight design – all at a reasonable price.
This sleek and light smartphone has understated premium looks, and tempered glass display with a svelte waterproof (IP65/8 rated) body reengineered for capless microUSB charging. Additionally, Xperia M4 Aqua is built to offer superior camera and battery leadership, offering quality experiences at an accessible price point.
Just point and shoot – great pictures and selfies without the effort
Easily capture the moment with a 13MP rear camera powered by Sony's Exmor RS™ mobile sensor. With Sony's superior camera technology, the Xperia M4 Aqua is built to get you best images in lowlight and strong backlight thanks to its Superior Auto Mode. The built-in SteadyShot smarts keep the camera still to reduce movement to capture blur-free video, every time! And the 5MP front-facing camera, (perfect for all your selfie needs) has a super wide-angle lens, so no-one's left out of the shot.
Xperia M4 Aqua also comes with Sony's full suite of preloaded Xperia Camera apps, including: Sound Photo for adding a short sound clips to your pictures and Movie Creator, which automatically converts your pictures and videos into snappy thirty second vignette clips.
Long-lasting - up to two-day battery life and customizable power management
Xperia M4 Aqua has up to two days of battery life, so you don't have to worry about being on the go all day without a charger. In addition, activating battery STAMINA Mode will maximize standby and active usage time by disabling pre-selected apps while the screen is off to extend battery life.
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Enjoy more with the waterproof and dust-tight rating (IP65/68), so you can use your smartphone in any setting. From calling in the rain to selfies by the lake, take Xperia M4 Aqua anywhere. Xperia M4 Aqua is Sony's first waterproof smartphone with capless USB charging so you don't have the hassle of opening and closing the charging port to keep the device waterproof.
Key features of the Xperia M4 Aqua:Professor Paul Davies has a radical theory about the building blocks of life. They are reasonable enough assumptions to make, but what if they are plain wrong? Davies and co-author Dr Sara Imari Walker, both from the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at the Arizona State University, suggest that fleshiness and double-helixes might be things confined only to life on Earth. Life in the rest of the universe, they venture, could be based on something much more unlikely: information. What's more, Davies and Walker leave the door open – some say – to the involvement of a non-physical, perhaps godlike, influence in the development of life in the cosmos. The questions the pair raise might seem abstruse, but they are critically important. If humanity ever does encounter alien life it almost certainly won't look like the dreadlocked guys or insect-monsters in Alien vs Predator. It will be life, Jim, but not as we know it. Real aliens may well be completely unrecognisable as living.
Dr Sara Imari Walker, from Arizona State University, has co-authored a paper with Paul Davies arguing that information rather than chemicals could be the basis for life. "Without an understanding of 'life'," Davies and Walker write, "we can have little hope of solving the problem of its origin or provide a general-purpose set of criteria for identifying it on other worlds." The nature of information Their paper – The "Hard Problem" of Life – has yet to be formally published. Drew Barrymore in ET.
Last month the pair posted it on a science pre-print server called arXiv, and already it is generating discussion among astrophysicists, bioastronomers and science philosophers. The reason is clear. If "information" is shown to be the fundamental building block of life, the discovery will be a scientific revolution as game-changing as those of classical physics and quantum mechanics. Many pop culture extra-terrestrials, including the Sontarans from Dr Who, are assumed to have similar life structures to Earth's life forms. Mind you, it's a very big "if", and one that is attracting curt dismissal from some of Davies' peers. "I think their idea is interesting, but it begs the enormous question of how information can be causal in a physical system," said Dr Charley Lineweaver, of the Planetary Science Institute at the ANU's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Mt Stromlo Observatory in the ACT.
The aliens from Mars Attacks!. "I see no way to get around this obstacle." Lineweaver's objection was echoed by many – though not all – scientists and philosophers contacted for this story. It can be illustrated by a simple example. Yoda with R2D2 and Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. The fundamental unit of DNA is the gene – humans have around 25,000 of them. If you were to make a computer model of the human genome you could represent each gene with the smallest unit of computer code, known as a "bit".
One gene equals one bit. Dr Charley Lineweaver says the theory raises questions about how information can be causal in a physical system. Credit:David Moir But the gene exists in the real physical world, and does stuff – like giving you brown eyes or red hair, for instance. The bit is a description of the gene. It does nothing, because it does not exist in the physical world. Davies and Walker, however, raise the possibility that this basic distinction between real and not-real might be way wrong. Mr Spock of Star Trek.
It is a contentious suggestion. "This is a category error," said Dr John Wilkins, honorary fellow at Melbourne University's School of Historical and Philosophical Studies. Jar Jar Binks - formerly of Star Wars fame. Philosophical roots Wilkins specialises in studying the relationship between information and evolutionary theory. Davies and Walker's paper, he noted, being speculative, falls as much into the realm of philosophy as physics.
"It's a long-standing category error that goes back a very long way in philosophy – arguably back to Plato," he said. "It's the idea that the way we represent something is somehow the essence of the thing being represented. It's mistaking the map for the territory." Wilkins suggested that the authors had fallen into the trap of failing to distinguish between the complex mathematical modelling that physics demands and the actual physical world being thus modelled. Their conclusions, he said, "are not philosophically well supported". Which brings us, in a weird kind of way, to the bit about gods. Wilkins' assertion that mathematics model and measure a separate physical reality seems obvious – in the same way that you wouldn't confuse a map of a town with the town itself. Surprisingly, however, it is not a universally held view, even among hard-nosed scientists. From the Big Bang onwards, the universe has developed in line with precise mathematical laws, leading to the idea (seductive or repulsive, depending on your point of view) that maths is not a human invention but a fundamental force.
"Scientists have embraced a kind of mathematical creationism," wrote New York Times science writer George Johnson back in 1998, "God is a great mathematician, who declared, 'Let there be numbers!' before getting around to 'let there be light!'" Davies and Walker come intriguingly close to allowing a Great Mathematician to enter the story of how the universe, and thus life, came into being. From one perspective it is the central assertion – revolutionary or shocking, take your pick – in their paper. The 'hard problem' Bear with us here. This requires a short diversion. By using the term "hard problem" to describe life Davies and Walker are deliberately echoing the landmark work of Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist Dr David Chalmers. In 1995 Chalmers declared consciousness to be a "hard problem" – by which he meant that although it is theoretically possible to measure precisely every neuron in the human brain, and track the sparks that flash between them, this understanding still doesn't explain how thoughts, daydreams, or states of mind arise.
Self-awareness, he said, is not an obvious product of the electrical activity inside your head. Davies and Walker see a possible similarity with life. Assuming things live on other planets, they say, the question is whether all types of alien can be "accounted for in terms of known physics and chemistry, or whether certain aspects of living matter will require something fundamentally new". The "hard problem" in this instance, they add, "is the problem of how 'information' can affect the world." It is a problem that they suspect "will not ultimately be reducible to known physical principles." Or, in plainer terms, physics and chemistry won't cut it alone: there's something else in the mix. That something, they think, is "information" – but what exactly is that, and where did it come from? The Reverend Dr Stephen Ames thinks he might have an idea. He is a canon at St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne, and a lecturer at Melbourne Uni who holds dual doctorates in physics and the history and philosophy of science.
"I do think of the universe as being structured towards an end, and part of that end is that it is knowable through empirical inquiry," he said. In other words, the laws of physics are what they are – but studying them, in time, over generations of scholarship, will lead to the understanding that in a fundamental way the universe was kick-started by what Ames terms a "powerful agent" – or, in more traditional terms, God. External force Regardless of what anyone chooses to call it, the interesting (and to many scientists troubling) thing is that by suggesting that life may not be completely explicable through physics and chemistry, Davies and Walker implicitly leave open the possibility of some sort of metaphysical force playing a hand. The pair is quick, however, to rule out one popular, contentious idea. Basic logic (and math) tell us that in order for the universe, and life, to develop in the way that it has, there must have been very precise initial conditions at the instant of the Big Bang. Even the most minuscule difference in any one of scores of things – the number of electrons, for instance, or the ratio of matter to antimatter – would have resulted in a universe in which planets and people were impossible.
The problem, say Davies and Walker, is that to get to where we are today those initial conditions "must be selected with extraordinary care, which is tantamount to intelligent design: it states that 'life' is 'written into' the laws of physics". There is no evidence, they conclude, of "this almost miraculous property". Ames agrees with them in dismissing ideas of intelligent design, a largely creationist idea equally unpopular among mainstream physicists and theologians (of which, of course, he is equally representative). "The word 'design' brings to mind too many ideas of engineering and blueprints," he said. "But I'm personally very interested in Davies' endeavours to give an account of the universe in terms of information and in terms that would appear not to need any special initial conditions. If he can do it, that would be remarkable." For many in the physics and astrophysics games, however, even the simplest suggestion that hard science can't ultimately account for the entire universe and everything in it – alive or not – sets off warning bells.
And in this area, it should be noted, Davies has form. You would struggle to find a definite pro-deity statement is any of his writing, but he is very fond of religious metaphor – one of his books is called The Mind of God – and some of his statements are, well, a tad ambiguous. "If there is an ultimate meaning to existence, as I believe is the case, the answer is to be found within nature, not beyond it," he wrote in a 2007 newspaper article. For mainstream physicists any suggestion of "ultimate meaning" is close to salivating, revival tent fundamentalism. "He's on that edge of philosophy and physics all the time," said Ames. 'Deliberate' ambiguity Sydney astrophysicist and bioastronomer Dr Maria Cunningham, of the UNSW School of Physics, said she found Davies and Walker's paper fascinating but was troubled by its possible theological implications.
"Davies' ambiguity is deliberate, I think," she said. "Since before the term intelligent design was coined – going back 25 years or so – he has maintained that the parameters and constants of our particular universe are so finely tuned that it does make you wonder whether this is just a random thing. "It's something that physicists and philosophers have been talking about for a long time. I think maybe [Rene] Descartes was one of the first to actually come up with the idea that there had to be something separate for life – that it couldn't just be a mechanistic process." Cunningham described herself as a "hard-headed reductionist" who sees neither a way, nor a need, for information to exert an influence. Eventually identifying the deep laws that govern life – which she feels to be rare in the rest of the universe, but there, nevertheless – will not need the "new physics" Davies and Walker suggest. "I don't feel comfortable with the suggestion that because living things exist there has to be new physics explaining living things," she said. She pointed to recent studies revealing that hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen sulfide – both floating around in outer space – when exposed to ultraviolet light can form nucleic acids, amino acids, and lipids, the basic building blocks of life. These and similar research projects may one day sufficiently answer the question of how life comes to exist, without reference to new science or old gods.
Of course, perhaps somewhere in the universe, a few dozen light years away, one of Douglas Adams' Hoovooloos already knows that answer. The trouble, as people familiar with Adams will be aware, is that it is very likely to be "42". Which doesn't help at all. (Paul Davies' office was approached with a request for an interview for this story. There was no response.)Burundi’s government has suspended operations of the opposition Movement for Solidarity and Democracy (MSD) and ordered its offices closed for six months, Bloomberg news agency reports.
Burundi’s Home Affairs and Civic Education Ministry Spokesman Therence Ntahiraja said the MSD has since 2013 been violating the country’s constitution and the law on political parties and said the party was planning to create a |
ors of Leichhardt, Marrickville and Ashfield have announced they will form an "elected mayors committee" to scrutinise decisions made by administrators."Winter has come to the inner west and like Ned Stark, the heads of democratically elected representatives have been chopped off," former Leichhardt mayor Darcy Byrne said.
Professor Graham Sansom, who authored the 2013 report that influenced the government's push to transform the sector, said it would have been better for councillors to remain in office. "I think the thing that is troubling is that it really shows a total lack of respect for local democracy and I think the government should have found a different way of going about it," Professor Sansom said. When Queensland embarked on council reform in 2008, merging councils remained in place and worked alongside transition committees until the following local government elections. "What you're doing is disenfranchising a very large number of people simply because the government chose to amalgamate their councils, not because anybody has done anything wrong and that's why the Queensland approach is much better," Professor Sansom said. Mr Baird was also forced to deny that political pressures were behind the government's decision to abandon contentious proposed mergers of Walcha and Tamworth and Kiama and Shoalhaven.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, in a tight tussle for the seat of New England, has agitated against the Walcha and Tamworth merger. Delegates appointed by the government recommended against two proposed mergers – Hawkesbury and the Hills, and Kiama and Shoalhaven. Walcha Council could eventually be merged to form part of an Armidale Regional Council. Mr Toole said "inductions" would take place at the weekend with administrators and newly appointed interim general managers. Former mayors and councillors will be invited to join advisory groups and local representative committees.Dr Stewart Jackson, from the department of government and international relations at the University of Sydney, said the appointment of administrators was "entirely undemocratic" because residents would have no control over what they did. Chris Johnson, chief executive of the developer lobby group The Urban Taskforce, said he was concerned planning approvals would grind to a halt if administrators were tentative about making decisions on major projects. "If the administrators are told they are caretakers and not to do anything that could be controversial or rock the boat, it would a pretty negative and slow time, certainly for new housing," Mr Johnson said.
Elections for the new councils will be held in September 2017. New councils: Armidale Regional Council (Armidale, Dumaresq and Guyra) Canterbury-Bankstown Council (Bankstown and Canterbury)
Central Coast Council (Gosford and Wyong) City of Parramatta Council (Parramatta and part of Hills, Auburn, Holroyd and Hornsby) Cumberland Council (Auburn and Holroyd) Edward River Council (Conargo and Deniliquin) Federation Council (Corowa and Urana)
Georges River Council (Hurstville and Kogarah) Gundagai Council (Cootamundra and Gundagai) Snowy Monaro Regional Council (Bombala, Cooma Monaro and Snowy River) Hilltops Council (Boorowa, Harden and Young) Inner West Council (Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville)
Mid-Coast Council (Gloucester, Great Lakes and Greater Taree) Murray River Council (Murray and Wakool) Murrumbidgee Council (Jerilderie and Murrumbidgee) Northern Beaches Council (Manly, Pittwater and Warringah) Queanbeyan-Palerange Regional Council (Queanbeyan and Palerang)
Snowy Valleys Council (Tumut and Tumbarumba) Western Plains Regional Council (Dubbo and Wellington) Subject to the decisions of the courts, the Minister has announced his in-principle support for the following mergers: Botany and Rockdale Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra
Bathurst and Oberon Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby Mosman, North Sydney and Willoughby Blayney, Cabonne and Orange Hunters Hill, Lane Cove and Ryde
Burwood, Canada Bay and Strathfield Shellharbour and Wollongong Merger proposals pending: Newcastle and Port Stephens Dungog and Maitland
Armidale-Dumaresq, Guyra, Walcha and UrallaShare this article:
Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin joined the list of city leaders voicing opposition to Measure S Friday while criticizing the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for bank rolling the campaign.
“The Yes on S campaign has not been transparent with the people of Los Angeles. It has misled the voters by concealing its harm to affordable housing. It has misled Angelenos by saying it requires officials to `do their jobs’ while removing the funds necessary to deliver basic city services, let alone address the housing crisis,” Galperin said at a news conference at the LGBT Center in Hollywood.
“It has misled its own endorsers, resulting in withdrawals of endorsements, falsely claimed endorsements, and misleading uses of officials’ names. And it has misled the LGBT community, by placing an HIV/AIDS care organization’s name and funds in the service of a cause that is at best irrelevant and at worst directly harmful to the people it serves.”
The 30-year-old nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation treats hundreds of thousands of patients a year and does other philanthropic work around the globe. As of last week, the group had spent more than $4.6 million, which amounted nearly 99 percent of the campaign’s contributions, to support Measure S.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation CEO Michael Weinstein defended the foundation’s political spending to City News Service in January, saying development in L.A. is driving up housing costs and making some of the foundation’s patients homeless.
“We take an expansive view of health. We believe that the social determinants of health are equally important to the medial conditions patients suffer from,” Weinstein said.
Measure S on the March 7 ballot would halt all General Plan amendments — or special permission to developers known as “spot zoning” — for two years while the city updates its General Plan and community plans that guide neighborhood development.
Supporters of Measure S argue the city’s procedure of frequently granting spot zoning requests while its elected leaders routinely take campaign donations from developers creates a cozy relationship and leaves the impression that City Hall can be bought.
Opponents of Measure S — which includes Gov. Jerry Brown, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Councilman Jose Huizar — say it would limit the city’s ability to build affordable housing and hurt the local economy.
“The backers of Measure S want to shut down development no matter what, and they’re willing to cut jobs and raise rents to do it,” Huizar said at a news conference with some Latino leaders in Boyle Heights on Thursday.
Some LGBT leaders joined Galperin Friday in criticizing Measure S.
“The LBGT Center is building hundreds of units of affordable housing for homeless youth and poor seniors,” said Lorri Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “If Measure S existed in the past, it would have stopped us in our tracks and left countless numbers of homeless kids on the streets. It’s not the right solution for Los Angeles.”
About a half dozen Measure S supporters meanwhile showed up at the Los Angeles City Council meeting Friday and spoke during the general comments period.
“Our billion-dollar non-profit representing us is the good guy. Your billionaire developers and organizations are the bad guys, just so we can clear that up,” according to Jill Stewart, campaign manager for the Yes on S campaign.
–City News Service
LA city controller says Measure S is misleading LGBT community, voters was last modified: by
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Follow us:Sources previously told POLITICO President Donald Trump was slated to hold an event at the White House on Friday about trade. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Trump delays announcement of trade action against China
In the latest delay of a White House trade move, a planned Friday announcement of President Donald Trump's trade action against China has been postponed, two people familiar with the matter said.
Sources previously told POLITICO Trump was slated to hold an event at the White House on Friday in which he would direct U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to open an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 over what the administration views as Chinese violations of U.S. intellectual property rights and forced technology transfer.
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The sources did not give an explanation for why the announcement was postponed, nor did they provide a date for when it would be rescheduled. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately comment.
The move would immediately ramp up tensions between Washington and Beijing — and could lead to steep tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump has expressed frustration in recent months over what he sees as China's unfair trade policies, and he's come up empty in his efforts to pressure Beijing to use its leverage over North Korea — as its main trading partner — to get Pyongyang to rein in its nuclear missile program.
Although Trump is still expected to instruct Lighthizer to carry out the investigation as early as next week, his administration has been marked by several delays on the trade front.
Two Commerce Department reports examining whether to restrict steel and aluminum imports on national security grounds were expected by the end of June but have been bottled up in an internal review. Trading partners raised threats of retaliation and domestic steel users complained of being hurt by price increases and restricted supply.
There also has been no sign of a third pending report, examining the causes of significant bilateral trade deficits, which was also due by the end of June.
Sign up for Morning Trade A speed read on global trade news — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Democrats, who are eager to prove to voters that they are tougher on trade than the tough-talking Trump, have accused the president of being all mouth and no action.
“There is a real cost to all the overhyped rhetoric, when the follow-through isn’t there,” Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said Thursday.
One result of the White House's delayed action has been a spike in steel imports over the last few months by foreign suppliers looking to avoid tariff increases that could result if Trump follows through on his threatened action.
“This episode demonstrates how tough talk without a real strategy hurts American workers,” Wyden said.
Any so-called Section 301 action by the administration against China would produce a lengthy investigation that could extend into all aspects of Chinese industrial policies. Unilateral U.S. trade sanctions could be the ultimate result.
Section 301 allows the U.S. to take unilateral action against countries that impose barriers to U.S. exports. That could take the form of increased import duties, but that would likely violate WTO rules. So the administration could look for some other form of retaliation, like restricting Chinese investment in the United States.
U.S. companies have complained they are often forced to share valuable technology with Chinese counterparts as a condition of doing business in the country.Liverpool Football Club today announced it will expand the Main Stand at Anfield - and we have reaction to the news from key figures at the club, past and present, which you can now watch for free on LFCTV GO.
Tom Werner, Brendan Rodgers, Steven Gerrard, Ian Ayre and a host of Reds legends all share their views on the announcement and their excitement at the plans. Click play below to watch our clips.
For more information on Liverpool FC's plans to expand the Main Stand, visit www.liverpoolfc.com/stadium-expansion.
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Watch the video here »MADISON, Wis. -- And the hits just keep on coming for Wisconsin (4-2, 1-1), who seemingly can't go a week without a significant injury.
Next to fall victim was junior linebacker Leon Jacobs, who will miss the rest of the 2015 season, per sources. Against Hawaii, Jacobs re-injured his dislocated toe, an injury that never healed 100 percent from fall camp.
Team doctors met with Jacobs on Monday and his surgery is scheduled for this Thursday. Jacobs is expected to be in a cast for six weeks, followed by six more weeks in a walking boot.
Jacobs will apply for a medical redshirt and sources are confident he'll be granted an extra season in Madison.
With freshman Chris Orr now in the starting lineup at inside linebacker, Badger247 is hearing Jacobs could move back to his original position of outside linebacker when he returns in 2016, taking over for senior Joe Schobert.
Jacobs had played in each of Wisconsin's previous 32 games. He recorded 10 tackles, including two for loss, and.5 sacks in three starts.
Since taking over for Jacobs, Orr has 35 tackles, including one for loss, and two pass break ups.
Behind Orr and freshman T.J. Edwards, former walk-on and freshman Ryan Connelly will be Wisconsin's No. 3 inside linebacker.After a solid but unspectacular career at West Albany High School, and a five-year stop with the Oregon Ducks as a walk-on, Will Murphy carved out a two-year NFL career by following the simple advice his father taught him: Keep your head down, and focus on each detail.
But lately he's preferred the long view, and has looked back with a smile on stories about his time with the Philadelphia Eagles, such as this:
"Right after my first training camp, I was going out for my first preseason game and come out of the tunnel at Lincoln Financial Field," Murphy said. "I'm kind of standing there in the end zone like, I can't believe this is happening. And Michael Vick comes up and puts his arm around me and says, 'Welcome to the NFL Murph, it's the best job in the world.'"
It was the best job, anyway. The 6-foot-2, 193-pound receiver was released by the Eagles in May after two seasons on the practice squad, and has spent the past two months at a career "crossroads," taking the time to remember his unlikely journey to the NFL while looking as far into the future as he can.
"It was a crazy ride," he said.
His summer spent fishing and golfing must come to an end at some point. His choices will come down to coaching -- he said he's chatted about the profession with Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost -- or trying to join Nike, where he can see himself involved in product testing.
"If I went into coaching I'd love to get a (graduate assistant) spot because I think that's just a great intro to coaching, and it'd give me a year to find out if that's something I really want to do," said Murphy, who is volunteering as a coach this week at former teammate Ben Butterfield's youth football camp in Sherwood, which runs through Saturday evening.
"The best part about sports is just about being around the guys, so since that's ended I miss just being around that team chemistry and I think coaching would be that next step I could get that feeling from."
Eagles coach Chip Kelly is entering his third season in charge in Philadelphia.
Murphy held one of the more fascinating perspectives on Eagles coach Chip Kelly's unorthodox transition into the NFL after he left Oregon and immediate joined his former coach in Philadelphia in 2013.
There, Murphy was one of nine former UO players on the roster coached by a staff littered with UO connections. Together, they watched as Kelly went against the NFL grain by following his Oregon system.
"It felt like I was still in Eugene when I was out there," Murphy said. "It was a blast. They didn't listen to what everyone was saying, like, 'Oh he's crazy.' Chip has always had his plan and he sticks to it and he gets people that are on board with it.
"When you get on board and he brings you in, it's amazing to be doing something that's revolutionary. No one's doing it. Everybody wants a part of it now, everyone's trying to get their foot in with them to learn what they're doing."
Now Murphy has been searching for the best place to get his foot in the door.
His next job, however, probably won't begin with words of advice from Vick.
"Now when it's over is when you kind of look back at it like, 'Wow, I can't believe that happened," he said.
-- Andrew Greif
[email protected]
503-221-8100
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Loyalty Bonus Due to high user retention current loyalty payments would be less than 1 satoshi for the vast majority of users. For this reason loyalty payments have been suspended indefinitely.Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during his book tour stop at First Unitarian Universalist Society Meeting House in Burlington, Vermont on Nov. 22, 2016. (Photo: MONICA DONOVAN/for the FREE PRES)
WASHINGTON - Bernie Sanders’ office says the Vermont senator had a small basal cell carcinoma removed from his cheek in an outpatient procedure.
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer, a form that is slow-growing and highly curable.
Sanders’ office says the hour-long procedure was completed Thursday and the senator returned to work afterward. He later returned to Vermont.
The senator competed for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read or Share this story: http://bfpne.ws/2hLtjrBGish is a 2004 side-scrolling platformer video game developed by indie developer Cryptic Sea (pseudonym of Alex Austin) and published by Chronic Logic. A sequel was announced, but subsequently canceled in late 2009 after McMillen left the project.
The game was featured in the first The Humble Indie Bundle in May 2010.[1] Following the success of the promotion, Cryptic Sea pledged to go open source with the game which happened on 29 May 2010.[2]
Gameplay [ edit ]
Freegish. Gameplay screenshot of
In Gish, the player maneuvers the eponymous character, a 12-pound ball of tar. Besides movement Gish has four abilities: becoming sticky, slick, solid, and jumping/expanding. When sticky he can climb up walls, stick to ceilings, and plant himself firmly to a solid object. Becoming slick makes Gish slippery and frictionless, letting him slide down pipes and squeeze out of being crushed at same time getting under objects. Being in solid state turns Gish's body into a rigid weight, allowing him to push any object he might have squeezed under, fall faster, squash enemies, smash breakable platforms, sink in water, and resist being run over. To jump, Gish must first compress his body, then expand to launch himself into the air.
Gish's abilities can be combined for use in certain situations - for instance, while both sticky and slick he can climb walls without grabbing loose objects, and while slick and solid he can slide downhill at high speed.
Plot [ edit ]
Gish is a ball of tar who lives happily with his human girlfriend Brea, until one day a mysterious dark creature kidnaps her. Gish fights through several levels of enemies in the sewers of Dross until the final boss appears: Hera, Gish's former classmate who has an unrequited affection towards Gish. Gish rejects her, and Hera threatens to drop Brea into a pool of lava. After Gish defeats Hera, he must rescue Brea. If the player succeeds, Brea and Gish escape and become famous entomologists, as well as the world's first legal inter-species marriage. If the player fails, Brea burns to death in the lava pit and Gish goes on to live a life of celibacy, "volunteering most of his time to charity organizations that specialize in bringing lava awareness to the mainstream." In the latter case, Brea's picture is crossed out from the final group photo of the game.
History [ edit ]
Development [ edit ]
Gish was developed by Alex Austin, Edmund McMillen and Josiah Pisciotta. All of the music and sound effects were created by Tim Smolens and Jeff Attridge of Game Audio Magic. The game features songs by Smolens' band Estradasphere, including Feed Your Mama's Meter from the album Buck Fever. Edmund McMillen frequently uses music by Estradasphere in flash games created for Diverge Creations.
The game was distributed by Chronic Logic and other distributors starting in 2004. A sequel was announced, but subsequently canceled in late 2009 when Edmund left Cryptic Sea.
Humble Bundle and open sourcing [ edit ]
In May 2010 Gish was featured in the first Humble Indie Bundle. Following the success of the Humble Bundle promotion, Cryptic Sea pledged to go open source with the game which eventually happened under the GPLv2 on May 29, 2010.[2] As result, on 3 June 2010 Gish was ported to AmigaOS 4.[3] A hack for the game was created soon after the open-sourcing that allowed Gish to grow larger and smaller.[4]
Community continuation [ edit ]
Freegish is a fan-made project based on the Gish source code. Freegish has the goal of substituting the proprietary Gish artwork for free artwork,[5] and develops also engine ports for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac OS X. Freegish is also well suited for handheld game consoles such as the Pandora.[6][7]
Reception and legacy [ edit ]
The game was overall well received.[8][9] In July 2016 Steamspy reported for Steam alone over 300,000 owners of the game.[10]
Awards [ edit ]
2005 IGF Grand Prize (Seumas McNally Grand Prize) [9]
2005 IGF Innovation in Game Design [9]
Game Tunnel's 2004 Indie Game of the Year [8]
Game Tunnel's 2004 Adventure Game of the Year[11]
Gish also won Computer Games Magazine's 2004 "Best Independent Game" award.[12]
Cameo appearances [ edit ]
Gish appears briefly in the PC game Dumbo & Cool in one of the game's later levels.[citation needed]
In addition, Gish is an unlockable playable character in two of McMillen's flash games, Meat Boy and Spewer,[citation needed] as well as a boss, an enemy and an item in The Binding of Isaac. All games can be found on Newgrounds and have been remade for The Basement Collection, while Isaac is a separate game purchasable through Steam. Gish also appears in the Xbox Live Arcade version of Super Meat Boy as an unlockable character. He also makes an appearance in "Clubby the Seal", another game on Newgrounds.
Gish appears in McMillen's game The End is Nigh as a secret NPC.
In "Jelly Escape", a game on AddictingGames, he makes an appearance as an acquired skin.[13]
Gish will also be playable in the upcoming game UFHO2.[14]
See also [ edit ]
Putty - a similarly themed game from 1992
- a similarly themed game from 1992 Super Morph - a similarly themed game from 1993Why Does Cynthia Ozick Write? 'I Simply Must,' She Says
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kathy Willens/AP Kathy Willens/AP
Cynthia Ozick is revered by those who love literature. She's written novels, but also short stories and essays. Her fiction has been nominated for various awards and she's received high praise from critics as well as her fellow writers.
But you won't find her on best-seller lists. Ozick seeks neither fame nor fortune from her writing. For Ozick, she feels it a necessity to write. "I can't not," she says.
And she wishes others would take it as seriously as she does. In her new book, Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays, Ozick laments the loss of a literary culture in which, she says, "the publication of a serious literary novel was an exuberant communal event."
Ozick spoke with NPR's Lynn Neary about the empathy needed to create good villains, and how she grew to love reading as a child, when the weekly visit from the bookmobile was the highlight of her week.
Interview Highlights
On the importance of novels
I have argued this question, novel versus essays, and I do come out on the novel side. Because though both these forms use intellect and imagination, they do it in different proportions — the essay more on the intellect side and the novel more on the imaginative side.
And the imaginative is freedom. You're at liberty to inhabit other people — including the bad guys — which is sometimes very thrilling, since you won't do it in real life.
On how imagining "the bad guy" relates to empathy
It's the beginning of empathy, indeed. And it's also a place where you can make judgments, where you can enter other people's minds and at the same time subtly, not didactically, not as if you're giving a sermon or a tract. But you can also make judgments, and they can be social judgments, moral judgments, metaphysical judgments.
Judgment is usually frowned on nowadays. People say, "Oh, you're so judgmental." But that's really what novels give us. They give us freedom to do anything, including to make judgments.
On yearning for the past
I wouldn't say "yearning," because one can't have it back. And so why yearn? But there was a time when a new novel came out — let's take [Saul] Bellow — and it was a public event. And really, it wasn't just an elitist hobby.
I remember — this goes way, way back into my early childhood — when Gone with the Wind was published, the world was whirling around this novel. I remember walking to school and seeing shopkeepers sitting outside their shops reading Gone with the Wind. This was an event. It changed people's minds.
Maybe I have a yearning for that, though I don't see it would ever happen again. On the other hand, didn't we see that with Downton Abbey? So maybe it isn't all lost.
Writers simply can't help themselves. In a way they're sort of like the queen of England. Every writer is doomed to his or her profession. What else is the queen going to do with her life? She was born a queen; she's stuck. And writers are stuck, too.
On her interest in writing
I always knew that this was what I wanted to do. I think this is true of most writers — especially anybody who's read Little Women, which is every writer. Not so much the male writers, let's admit it, but every writer who grows up has wanted to be Jo.
On reading as a child
The neighborhood I grew up in, a kind of semi-rural patch of the Bronx, didn't have a library. And so the green truck came every Friday afternoon and we used to wait for it on a corner. And the kids would jump up and down: The library's coming! The library's coming! And then they would throw on the grass two boxes: one of magazines, and in the other box, the fairy tale books.
So the kids would dash to the boxes and go home. And you were only allowed two books and one magazine. And by the time Saturday came they were all finished and you had to wait another week.
On being remembered
Just think of all the writers who are far better known than I. I've been mostly obscure for decades....
I don't think one writes for immortality. I think beginning writers always think they will have fame. But if fame — which is power — is what you want, then you'll get it, probably. But it's not something necessary to want or need.
On why she writes
Because I can't not. I mean, what else am I going to do with my life? That's another way of putting it. I simply must. Writers simply can't help themselves. In a way they're sort of like the queen of England. Every writer is doomed to his or her profession. What else is the queen going to do with her life? She was born a queen; she's stuck. And writers are stuck, too.WASHINGTON (AP) - Private communications of Donald Trump and his presidential transition team may have been scooped up by American intelligence officials monitoring other targets and improperly distributed throughout spy agencies, the chairman of the House intelligence committee said Wednesday - an extraordinary public airing of often-secret information that brought swift protests from Democrats.
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes' comments led the committee's ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff, to renew his party's calls for an independent probe of Trump campaign links to Russia in addition to the GOP-led panel's investigation. Schiff also said he had seen "more than circumstantial evidence" that Trump associates colluded with Russia.
In back-to-back news conferences at the Capitol and then the White House - where he had privately briefed the president - Nunes said he was concerned by officials' handling of the communications in the waning days of the Obama administration.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif, walks out of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, to speak with reporters after a meeting with President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
He said the surveillance was conducted legally and did not appear to be related to the current FBI investigation into Trump associates' contacts with Russia or with any criminal warrants. And the revelations, he said, did nothing to change his assessment that Trump's explosive allegations about wiretaps at Trump Tower were false.
Still, the White House immediately seized on his statements in what appeared to be a coordinated public display.
Moments after Nunes spoke on Capitol Hill, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer read his statements from the White House briefing room podium. The California congressman quickly headed up Pennsylvania Avenue to personally brief the president and to address reporters outside the West Wing. Nunes' decision to brief the president was particularly unusual, given Trump almost certainly has access to the information from his intelligence agencies.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said Nunes' disclosure could be a "weapon of mass distraction" in light of allegations of coordination between Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"This could be a lot of theatrics," said Speier, also a member of the House intelligence committee.
"This is a bizarre situation," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in an interview on MSNBC. "I'm calling for a select committee because I think this back-and-forth shows that Congress no longer has the credibility handle this alone."
Outside the White House, Nunes said, "What I've read bothers me, and I think it should bother the president himself and his team."
Trump said he felt "somewhat" vindicated by the Republican's revelations. "I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found," he said.
The disclosure came two days after FBI Director James Comey publicly confirmed the bureau's own investigation into the Trump campaign's connections with Russia and rejected Trump's explosive claims that President Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper during the election. Comey's comments came during the intelligence committee's first public hearing on Russia's election interference, an investigation being overseen by Nunes.
Nunes briefed reporters on the new information without consulting with Schiff, and that did not sit well with the top Democrat on the committee.
Schiff declared he now has "profound doubt" about the integrity and independence of the committee's probe. He said that "a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way."
Later, in an interview with MSNBC, Schiff said evidence "that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation" exists of Trump associates colluding with Russia as it interfered in last year's election. He did not outline that evidence.
Nunes said he believed the Trump team's communications were caught "incidentally." But he suggested the contents may have been |
long Johnny Sexton punt forced him back into his 22, and Brown marked it, then kicked long back to Sexton [around the 12:00 minute mark]. His fourth take – and last of the half – came on the half hour from a scuffed snap drop goal effort from Rob Kearney after a mix-up between Conor Murray and Mike Ross saw a pass to no-one scoot along the deck behind everyone.
He only got the ball once from an Irish kick in the second half, and that was when he brilliantly took a bomb under stiff competition from Andrew Trimble right on the touchline [at around 51:35], and then somehow released Jonny May with a sneaky offload before he was bundled into touch – a superb piece of fullback play.
So all told, Mike Brown got the ball five times in 80 minutes from Irish kicks. One of those was a goalie’s save, which clearly wasn’t a kick to him; one was a botched drop-goal attempt, which could have gone anywhere and certainly wasn’t intentionally kicked to him; one was a chip which was more or less kicked to him, but bounced before he got there and the Irish backs should have done better with their tackling attempts; one was a kick for which he turned, caught, marked and kicked back to the same person who had kicked it in the first place; and the last was a brilliant take right on the touchline which was very arguably intended as a contestable between Trimble and May, rather than Trimble and Brown.
Ireland knew that Brown was a big threat on the counter and tried to avoid him. Big players find a way to make big plays though, and three of Brown’s efforts – the save, the counter off the bouncing chip, the catch and offload under pressure – were great fullback plays.
Landmine magnet Neil Francis once wrote an article in the now defunct Sunday Tribune where he outlined an implied hierarchy amongst Irish players regarding test caps. Unfortunately it’s not available online, so you’ll have to rely on The Mole’s scratchy memory of it, but it went something like this:
World Cup
Six Nations
November Internationals
Summer Tour
My memory of the article is that Franno posited it as a generally agreed-upon subject amongst players of his generation: the World Cup was the one you wanted most, because it only came once every four years, had a huge viewing audience, the biggest stage, was the subject of blanket media coverage across the rugby world [and reasonable coverage across the entire sporting world] etc.
Next up [and close behind] was the Six Nations – it was a tournament, so the games meant something tangible, there’s a huge history and sense of rugby culture behind it which you became a part of once you’ve played in it, there’s a packed house for every match and it dominates sports coverage throughout February and March.
In third place, and lagging a good way behind, came the November internationals – you played in front of your home crowd and [in Franno’s day, only sometimes] against good teams, but there was little at stake, and it carried none of the prestige of the Six Nations. Caps were more easily won in November than they were in February or March.
The last rung was the summer tour, where there was nothing at stake, you were far from home, media coverage was sparse, it was the end of the season and caps were handed out generously to young players or injury stop-gaps.
It’s a theory that makes a good degree of sense, bar the fact that all rugby players primarily play for the free kit you get, and you’d get more on tour than you would for home games. With that proviso aside, it’s worth recapping new caps and first starts over this Six Nations in the light of Franno’s Weighted Cap Scale©:
First Cap: Marty Moore [22, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Jordi Murphy [22, @ England, 22/02/14]
Marty Moore [22, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Jordi Murphy [22, @ England, 22/02/14] First Start: N/A
N/A First Six Nations Cap: Marty Moore [22, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Jack McGrath [24, vs Scotland 02/02/14], Dan Tuohy [28, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Tommy O’Donnell [26, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Dave Kearney [24, vs Scotland, 02/02/14]
Marty Moore [22, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Jack McGrath [24, vs Scotland 02/02/14], Dan Tuohy [28, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Tommy O’Donnell [26, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Dave Kearney [24, vs Scotland, 02/02/14] First Six Nations Start: Devin Toner [27, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Dan Tuohy [28, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Chris Henry [29, vs Scotland, 02/02/14], Dave Kearney [24, vs Scotland, 02/02/14]
Over the next few paragraphs, we’ll focus the lens on the performance in the English game of the three forwards in this group who have played the most rugby in the championship thus far: Chris Henry, Devin Toner and Marty Moore.
Chris Henry topped the Irish tackle count with a flawless 15/0 and headed the Irish Ruck Marks table with a very laudable 110 [0 turnovers, 2 decisives, 30 hits, 4 guards and 4 presents]. While he never quite got the crucial jackal and turnover that brought the commentators’ attentions down on him, he was everywhere the action took place over the 73 minutes he spent on the pitch.
He was Ireland’s second most effective player at the breakdown in the first half with 60 Ruck Marks [17 hits, 3 guards and 4 presents], trailing Peter O’Mahony’s 66, and joint most effective player in the second half with 49 marks [2 decisives, 13 hits, 1 guard] along with captain Paul O’Connell.
It wouldn’t be accurate to say that the Ulster man has ‘effortlessly’ filled the No7 in Sean O’Brien’s absence, because so much of his game is about effort, throwing himself into contact after contact and denying the effects of fatigue. His second half effort at the breakdown was particularly noteworthy: along with being an active participant in 16 rucks [with just one ‘guard’ amongst those involvements, and no ‘presents’ – who made sure all those rucks passed inspection?], he completed 5 tackles that led to English rucks and had 3 carries that led to Irish rucks.
During his 33 minutes on the pitch in the second half there were 55 rucks [25 with the English in possession, 30 when Ireland had possession] and as either ball carrier, tackler or rucker, he was involved in 24 of them – not much shy of 1 in every 2 rucks. That really is a first class work-rate.
Henry’s battle with England skipper and opposite number Chris Robshaw can be seen as the distilled essence of the game: both players played a committed, physical and brave game, with Robshaw just edging it.
Copier Needs More Toner
The Moynalvey-born second row backed up his big game against the Welsh with another strong performance in Twickenham. As The Mole wrote in a previous article, the toughest examination of a second row’s credentials at test level comes against South Africa, but a Six Nations game against England in Twickenham is probably next on the list. The English have long produced some of the best second rows in the world – Johnson, Shaw, Dooley, Beaumont, all the way back to Wavell Wakefield – and take pride above all else in a dominating forward performance on home soil.
They didn’t get a dominant performance at the weekend, but they managed to wrest the upper hand, and in Courtney Lawes [just past his 25th birthday] and Joe Launchbury [just shy of his 23rd], they look to have found a complementary partnership that could take them not just into RWC15, but RWC19 and beyond.
With the scary potential of the English second row duly acknowledged, what about the Irish second row? The Mole holds the opinion that the performances of Toner over the last month have been one of the biggest upsides of the campaign thus far for coach Joe Schmidt.
Toner has dramatically increased his effectiveness at ruck and breakdown since the November series: his best Ruck Mark in that month was a 50 against the All Blacks [0 turnovers, 0 decisives, 14 hits, 2 guards, 7 presents], while he has almost doubled that score in each of the last two games, notching 97 against the Welsh [0 turnovers, 1 decisive, 22 hits, 6 guards and 15 presents] and 90 against England.
Toner’s Ruck Mark of 90 [0 turnovers, 1 decisive, 23 hits, 7 guards, 5 presents] placed him fourth on the list of Irish players, while seeing his 15 ‘presents’ against Wales dwindle to just 5 at the weekend. That’s arguably an improvement – while he may not have been involved in as many rucks as he did against Wales, he produced a more effective involvement at those in which he participated.
His 14/1 tackle count had him second amongst those in green and actually doubled that of his partner in the second row, Paul O’Connell. O’Connell’s workrate at ruck time was typically high [finishing second behind Chris Henry with 109 Ruck Marks – 0 turnovers, 1 decisive, 29 hits, 5 guards and 8 presents] and the Irish scrum and lineout functioned very well, but his work in the open field was ordinary, and sub-par by his high standards.
On two occasions he reverted to some bad habits and fell into English tackles, giving up any leg drive or forward momentum on contact. He spilled the ball forward from a simple two-out pass from Heaslip – maybe he wasn’t expecting it on that occasion, but he gave the same pass twice later on the in game, so it’s clearly something the pack have worked at – and missed three of ten attempted tackles.
Moore Moore Moore
Moore was the first-used of the Irish subs, replacing fellow Leinster tighthead Mike Ross after 61 minutes. The veteran had had a surprisingly busy outing with ball in hand – carrying four times for 9m – and made a rake of good tackles, completing 11 of his 12 attempts. As with Paul O’Connell, his contribution to the success of the Irish set pieces cannot go overlooked: the Irish scrum had the upper hand practically throughout the game, and the lineout was again well-varied and productive.
However, Ross struggled somewhat with his involvement at the breakdown. While in the Welsh game he had accumulated a very respectable 58 Ruck Marks over his 53 minutes on the pitch [0 turnover, 1 decisive, 11 hits, 7 guards, 7 presents], in the English game he left with just 30 [5 hits, 3 guards, 9 presents] to his name after 61 minutes. The difference between the two marks is predicated on the number of tackles he had to make in each game – while in the English match, as mentioned above, he was forced to make 12 tackles, he was only forced into 5 tackles [4/1] in the Welsh game.
20 stone tightheads aren’t going to give you a huge amount of down-and-ups. They can’t very often make a tackle, bounce back on to their feet and go jackalling for the ball like a backrow or a centre does.
It’s important to give context to Moore’s Ruck Mark of 46 in 19 minutes [12 hits, 5 guards]. While it outshone Ross’s efforts over an hour at the breakdown, Ireland had possession for almost the entire time he was on the pitch, putting together 42 rucks to England’s 6. Moore wasn’t put upon to make a single tackle, and with Ireland wary of kicking the ball away late in the game, there were a significant number of rucks in the same area of the pitch: the Castleknock man could look up from one ruck, see the next one three or four metres ahead and plow into it.
Still, it’s a great effort from the 22 year old. He took on a couple of full-tilt carries, and threw himself into every contact situation. This is a guy who played more B&I Cup games last season than Pro12 games, and yet he has now played as much Six Nations rugby [64 minutes – 18 minutes against Scotland, 27 minutes against Wales, 19 minutes against England] as he did in the league in 2012-13, without looking out of his depth.
Conclusion
Maybe The Mole falls into Neil Francis’ “small margins brigade”, but I’m alright with that. That was a tough, tight game, and the margin for error was pretty small.
There was a fairly strong air of disappointment from Irish supporters in the aftermath. Somewhere between the Welsh and English games, there seemed to have been a general swing in the mood from “all we want is consistency of performance” to “GRAND SLAM GRAND SLAM GRAND SLAM!”
However, it’s worth remembering that Ireland finished second from bottom in last year’s table and won just one game. The year before that, we won two. The year before that, we won three. It would have been a reasonably neat little run if we had won four in 2010, but unfortunately, we only won three that year too.
Under Declan Kidney’s stewardship, Ireland went on quite a slide from the start of 2010 onwards, and lost a fair bit of the confidence that is important – maybe pivotal – in winning close games.
I don’t know what the formula is to winning tight games; I don’t even know if there is one. The phrase “winning is a habit, and so is losing” isn’t without its own degree of truth, but it doesn’t really give much insight. Smoking is a habit, but it’s easy to start compared to how difficult it can be to quit. Winning is conversely a difficult habit to start, and an easier habit to lose.
I’m not sure you start winning tight matches that you had previously been edged out in just because you change coach. Changing head coach brought a slam in 2009 on the back of a poor, two-win performance in 2008 … but Ireland had won back-to-back Triple Crowns in four-win efforts in 2006 and 2007. Furthermore, it would be obtuse to overlook the enormous contribution that our greatest ever player, having the best season of his fifteen year test career, made to our championship win in 2009.
The 2007-08 season, with its horrific World Cup and abject Six Nations, saw Eddie O’Sullivan’s coaching career absolutely collapse in about eight months. A couple of poor performances in the pre-RWC August friendlies saw the rot kick in, and he pulled the shutters down and walked away four days after the heavy loss in Twickenham that closed the Six Nations. Essentially, all the crap results happened in one season, the coach jumped rather than was pushed, and the wound was cauterized pretty quickly.
The road back may be a little longer this time. The last time Ireland faced Italy, we lost by a clear seven point margin, failed to score a try and only ever led for eight of the eighty minutes. Obviously there were peculiar circumstances in that game – namely Ireland losing three backs in the first half to injury – but the result still stands as the record of the last match between the two teams.
However, Italy have typically been much more competitive when at home in the championship than when on the road. While they’ve been a livelier, more competitive team under Brunel than they were under Mallett, the loss of Zanni and especially Parisse loads the deck in Ireland’s favour. Parisse has long been the Italian’s playmaker, in both the English and the American senses of the word: he makes many of the attacking decisions for his side, and he’s also directly involved in most of their brightest moments. In the Italian’s first match of the tournament against Wales, he had 29 possessions compared to outhalf Tommaso Allen’s 23; in the game against France he had 28 compared to Allen’s 29, and the number only really faltered against Scotland, where he had 17 to Allen’s 23 [incidentally, Allen scored 13 points that day].
In comparison, Jamie Heaslip had 23 possessions to Sexton’s 50 against England; 13 to Sexton’s 31 against Wales; and 20 to Sexton’s 41 against Scotland. There’s a lot of work in there from Heaslip, but it’s clear that Ireland’s direction comes from the No10. Parisse really is the dominant figure in the Italian side – not just a talisman – and he’s a huge loss.
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MANHATTAN — Emergency crews responded to Grand Central Tuesday afternoon as fire burned inside a restaurant's duct work, sending dark smoke billowing above the transit hub, fire officials said.
The call came in about 2 p.m., FDNY said. Witnesses reported seeing heavy smoke pouring from the terminal's roof.
An MTA spokesman said the smoke came from Junior's, located in the basement food court of the terminal. FDNY said the smoke was caused by fire in the restaurant's duct work.
According to the FDNY, a fire suppression system went off in the kitchen, sending water into the restaurant.
By 2:30 p.m., the fire appeared to be extinguished and an acrid smell of burned food lingered, a witness told PIX11 News. Large puddles of water covered the floor of the food court and the restaurant appeared to be cordoned off by emergency tape.
Patrons in the restaurant were evacuated. There were no evacuations from the actual terminal.
No one was hurt, fire officials said.
The MTA says the smoke condition did not impact train service.
Greg Mocker contributed to this report.CLOSE Brazilian officers arrested 10 people allegedly planning an attack at Rio during the Summer Olympics.
Brazilian soldiers stand on patrol during a security rehearsal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games opening ceremony outside Maracana stadium on July 17, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo11: Mario Tama, Getty Images)
Brazilian authorities arrested 10 people loyal to the Islamic State who were believed to be planning attacks during the Summer Olympics, a government official confirmed Thursday.
Investigators say those arrested were discussing targets in Rio, which leads them to believe they were planning attacks during the Olympics. Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said the group was part of a "novice cell" and that "they went from simply making comments about the Islamic State and terrorism to preparatory acts."
The arrested were in nine different states and are accused of having made contact online with the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The suspects are Brazilians. Ten people were arrested and two others were being sought.
The arrests come just two weeks before the Summer Olympics open in Rio. Brazilian magazine Epoca reported that the anti-terrorism division of Brazil’s federal police agency made arrests as part of a covert operation.
Moraes said there were no specific targets for an attack.
Federal police monitored messages exchanged on social networks, where the individuals allegedly laid out plans to attack Olympic venues and talked about purchasing weapons, Epoca reported. The court-approved intercept of the communications found the group had sworn an allegiance to the Islamic State.
Investigators referred to the group as an ISIS cell in a news release.
Moraes said the communications including messages sent and received from WhatsApp, a smartphone application that has drawn the ire of the Brazilian government. WhatsApp has been shut down by judicial order multiple times in Brazil in recent months, barring mobile carriers from transmitting data from the app.
It’s estimated WhatsApp is used by 100 million Brazilians.
WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, does not store the data and the messages are encrypted. Diego Dzodan, Facebook's vice president for Latin America, was arrested in March and held for nearly 24 hours for refusing to release messages as part of a drug-trafficking investigation; an appeals court overturned the lower court’s decision to arrest Dzodan.
Brazil enacted new anti-terror laws in the months leading up to the Summer Games, which will commence with opening ceremonies on Aug. 5.
Contributing: Taylor BarnesThe Works Of Humankind.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The airliner crashed between two and three hundred feet from my office in the Pentagon, just around a corner from where I work. I’m the deputy General Counsel, Washington Headquarters Services, Office of the Secretary of Defense. A slightly different calibration and I have no doubt I wouldn’t be sending this to you. My colleagues felt the impact, which reminded them of an earthquake. People shouted in the corridor outside that a bomb had gone off upstairs on the main concourse in the building. No alarms sounded. I walked to my office, shut down my computer, and headed out. Even before stepping outside I could smell the cordite. Then I knew explosives had been set off somewhere.
I looked to my right and saw a raging fire and smoke careening off the facade to the sky.
One of the attorneys who works for me called in sick Tuesday. The satellite office he works in was utterly destroyed. His wife and child will hug him more tightly tonight.
Another friend, who works for a government contractor in the Army section of the Pentagon that took a direct hit, crawled out of what was his office to safety.
People walked around in a daze, looking at the gaping hole and flames, appearing uncomprehending. The skies, normally leaden with commercial jets, were empty. Helicopters circled the building and an occasional F-16 streaked by. Sirens blared from what seemed hundreds of emergency vehicles. I lost count of the hook and ladder companies. People left their vehicles in the parking lot and started walking the bridges towards D.C. Hundreds of F.B.I., Secret Service and Defense Department plainclothes investigators were deployed in the parking lot, recording witness statements. Photographers by the dozen made their way to as close to the flames as they could bear.
Two explosions, a few minutes apart, prompted me to start walking. I walked for three miles past office buildings, restaurants and shopping malls. Everything was closing down, public transportation ceased, people were milling about the streets unsure of what to do. Cells phones stopped working, and traffic was total gridlock. As I walked along, I heard the bad news from car radios. Reaching U.S. Route 1, I approached a young man in a pickup and asked him if he was headed towards Alexandria. He gave me a ride although he hadn’t planned to travel that way. We traveled five miles in two-and-one-half hours. When he got close, I thanked him, left, and walked the last mile home.
- - -
I’m still processing the events of this past Tuesday. On Wednesday I went into work but in the early afternoon we were told to evacuate the building because an unidentified plane was making its way to Washington. It later proved to be a plane chartered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Everyone went home early.
On Thursday, we were all still numb. We spent almost the entire day consoling each other.
An attorney I’ve known for fifteen years was killed instantly when the plane went into the building. He had retired two weeks ago and went to work for a government contractor. He was in the Pentagon to pitch a contract to a Lieutenant General. Everyone in the room died from the explosion of jet fuel.
A woman I met told me that on Tuesday morning she went to get a cup of coffee. When she tried to return to her office, it was gone and two of her colleagues were gone as well.
Friends of mine had relatives or business associates who worked in the World Trade Center.
A month ago, while in New York City, my granddaughter and I decided to go to the observation deck of the World Trade Center. As we were riding up the escalator to the mezzanine to purchase the tickets, a thought occurred to me: how misguided the terrorists were who attempted to bring down an indestructible building by setting off a truck bomb in the basement. So much for the works of humankind.“(These demonstrations are) not the exercise of freedom of expression, but constitute an act of violence that incurs grave pain and wounds to Korean residents in Japan”, says a resolution from South Korea demanding that Japan crack down on “hate speech” demonstrations against Korean residents. The demonstrations against Korean residents in Japan that South Korea speaks of have been organized by a fringe far-right group called Zaitokukai – a motley group of ultra-nationalist extremists whose rallies tend to attract around 20 people at the most. The group’s rallies are exceptionally small and unpopular, being widely condemned by mainstream Japanese society at large.
By contrast, the movement to ban “hate speech” in Japan has been massive. Thousands and thousands of people – citizens, “human rights activists”, politicians, lawyers, musicians, journalists, writers, celebrities, and others from all walks of life – have been persistently lobbying, protesting, petitioning, and campaigning for the Japanese government to pass comprehensive legislation outlawing all forms of “hate speech”, including “hate speech” disseminated through the Internet. This is also being demanded by the United Nations in accordance with “international human rights law”, which mandates bans against a wide range of speech.
Public “anti-hate speech” marches and demonstrations like the “March on Tokyo for Freedom” (an extremely ironic and Orwellian name) and “Tokyo No Hate 2014″ – among others – have drawn thousands and thousands of participants (way more than the tiny racist demonstrations organized by Zaitokukai). These “anti-hate speech” marches and demonstrations call on the Japanese government to “sincerely adhere” to “international human rights law” and outlaw “hate speech”. Numerous assemblies have also been held demanding a Japanese government crackdown on “hate speech” and “human rights” organizations have conducted polls which found that all politicians in Japan believe that “hate speech” should be outlawed. Not only are “human rights” groups and the United Nations loudly campaigning to enact “hate speech” legislation in Japan, but entire groups have been created for the sole purpose of combating “hate speech” (including online “hate speech”) through the law. Why? To “protect society”, of course – the rallying cry of every censor in history.
“Human rights” groups have demanded “hate speech” laws in Japan for many years, but the campaign to outlaw “hate speech” in Japan has really been picking up steam with the activities of Zaitokukai making headlines. As one might expect, there has been quite a lot of scare-mongering about “hate speech” in the Japanese media recently, including hysterical fear-mongering about the so-called rise of online “hate speech” (fueled by the UN, which has made censoring the Internet in the name of “human rights” one of its top priorities and has been relentlessly harassing Japan to implement “hate speech” legislation). Every single argument about the need to ban “hate speech” is, of course, a painfully naive appeal to emotion, and these arguments always inevitably go on about the need to “protect human rights” and to “balance freedom of expression” against the “human rights” of others – in particular, extremely vague and impossible-to-define “human rights” like “dignity” and “honor” (one can find some examples of these arguments here, here, and here).
Censorship advocates also repeatedly stress how “hate speech” makes Japan look bad, how it could cause tension with Japan’s neighbors, how it “dishonors” Japan, and how it could tarnish Japan’s image during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, when the entire world will be watching. Most of these censorship advocates seem to think that “hate speech” is against the law in the US, and they often use “the West” as an example for Japan to follow in outlawing “hate speech”. These cheerleaders for censorship never even consider the numerous unintended consequences of allowing the government to regulate ideas and opinions – instead, they simply focus on the evils of racism and bigotry, as if outlawing these opinions will simply cause them to magically disappear. And what constitutes “hate speech” is, of course, entirely subjective, as the label could be applied to literally anything. “Human rights activist” Yoshifu Arita – who, like any “human rights activist”, considers “hate speech” to be a form of “violence” – is among the Japanese politicians pushing the hardest for a legal ban on “hate speech”, and has even described insulting speech about politicians as “hate speech”. Like most modern-day censorship activists, Yoshifu Arita bases his pro-censorship arguments on “human rights”. “For other nations, Japan’s sense of human rights probably appears to be going against (the times)”, Arita says. In a stunning example of meaningless postmodernist discourse, Arita has also stated, “I would venture to say that we need to restrict hate speech in order to protect freedom of speech.”
Ironically (but unsurprisingly), many of the same people pushing for “hate speech” laws in Japan are upset about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s stated intentions to change the Japanese Constitution and limit freedom of speech by making certain vaguely-defined kinds of speech “contrary to public order” and consider this to be the sign of a coming police state – even though “hate speech” has been used as a justification for Abe’s plans. “In our country, we currently have organizations spewing hate speech without any regard whatsoever for fundamental human rights”, reads one editorial in support of Abe’s plans. Many of these same people are also highly outraged about Abe’s new whistleblower-muzzling State Secrets Law, seeing it as a gross infringement on freedom of speech. Being a censorship activist requires an extreme level of mental gymnastics – convincing oneself that censorship does not curtail freedom of speech in some cases, but does in others.
Many people have pointed to views held by Japanese politicians (some of whom allegedly have links to Zaitokukai themselves) as a reason for passing “hate speech” legislation in Japan – such as, for example, this “human rights activist” who describes one Japanese politician’s controversial Twitter comments about the Ainu people as constituting “violence” against a minority. But what these people fail to consider is that “hate speech” laws will be wielded not by minorities, but by those in power – the very same people in the Japanese government who tend to hold racist views themselves. Some of the people currently pushing for “hate speech” laws in Japan include far-right nationalists like Sanae Takaichi and Toru Hashimoto, among others. Takaichi is a far-right politician and Hitler admirer with links to neo-Nazism who has already stated that she intends to use “hate speech” legislation to silence people protesting against the government because, in her view, lawmakers need to work “without any fear of criticism”. Hashimoto is another far-right politician who has publicly stated that Japan’s historical wartime “comfort women” were “necessary”.
These are the people who will have the power to censor speech, and it is 100% guaranteed that these people will abuse that power. If anything, they will use these laws allegedly intended to “protect minorities” in order to silence minorities. The path to hell is paved with good intentions, and “anti-hate speech” campaigners are nothing more than useful idiots for politicians who have far more insidious purposes for wanting to pass speech-restricting legislation. At any rate, “hate speech” laws could very easily be used to shut down pro-North Korean schools in Japan – the very same schools that Japanese racists hate so much. These schools – known as chongryon – teach allegiance to Kim Jong-un, hatred of Japan, and hatred of the West. Wouldn’t it be more than a little bit ironic if “hate speech” legislation actually allowed Japanese racists to finally shut down pro-North Korean schools, which they’ve always wanted to do?
If someone holds hateful and despicable views, then the best thing you can possibly do is to encourage them to make those views as widely known as possible. To quote the free speech activist Harvey Silverglate, “you want to know who openly hates you because you want to know whom not to turn your back to.” People who hold hateful and despicable views NEED to be seen publicly so that we know who the enemy is. In the US – where people are free to speak their minds openly – there have been countless cases of politicians and public figures making offensive comments publicly and then losing any chances that they had of gaining any more power. Take, for example, Missouri politician Todd Akin, who was slated to become a Senator until his career was completely destroyed when he publicly stated that women who are victims of “legitimate rape” don’t get pregnant. The outrage following these comments was enormous, and Akin’s political career was utterly destroyed. However, if Akin had been a politician in a culture where “hate speech” is criminal, he would not have made these comments for fear of being prosecuted, and the public would never know how despicable and misguided his views truly were. As a result, he may very well have gained more political power.
Rather than getting rid of bigots, “hate speech” laws have the effect of pacifying bigots, forcing them to make themselves appear more civil and reasonable. This simply helps them gain support, as the public would never actually support a raving lunatic bigot. The more extreme and outrageous bigots are, the more they damage their cause and the more they drive people against bigotry. Indeed, one suspects that a key reason why so many Japanese far-right-wingers and nationalists want to ban “hate speech” is because extremists like Zaitokukai are making them look bad. If you really want to make people hate bigots, then you should encourage bigots to be as loud, obnoxious, vile, offensive, and extreme as possible. A perfect case-in-point here would be the Westboro Baptist Church, whose disgusting homophobic demonstrations at funerals have done more to advance the cause of gay rights and to unite people against homophobia than perhaps any other group ever has.
Likewise, the disgusting racist demonstrations of Zaitokukai have brought the issue of racism in Japanese society to the forefront and have united people against racism in a way never before seen in Japan, driving people to speak out against racism in Japanese society rather than simply ignoring it and pretending that it doesn’t exist. Compare this to the recent anti-Islam demonstrations in Germany – a country which has extremely strict “hate speech” laws. These German demonstrations against “Islamification” have gained huge support by not coming across as overtly bigoted. If these demonstrators had been waving Nazi flags and chanting “KILL THE MUSLIMS!”, they would gain no support and would, in fact, do a great deal of damage to the anti-immigration movement. But, in countries like Germany, bigots are required by law to hide their true feelings, so the public has no way of knowing how bigoted they truly are and, as a result, the public may very well end up supporting them.
There is absolutely zero evidence – none whatsoever – that “hate speech” laws (which wereoriginally spread worldwide by the Soviet Union) have ever done anything to reduce bigotry. In fact, all evidence points to the fact that they have done exactly the opposite. In Weimar Germany, numerous prosecutions for “hate speech” turned the Nazis into martyrs, gave them a platform through the courts, and helped them gain public support. The exact same thing is happening again in Europe right now, as the far-right continues to surge across the continent, emboldened by “hate speech” laws which turn them into sympathetic martyrs and give them a “persecuted prophet” complex.
Take, for example, the case of France. When France banned anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala from giving shows, he was immediately transformed into a superstar and public martyr figure, with the “hate speech” cases against him providing him with tons of free advertising and attracting countless new supporters, who even marched through France chanting anti-Semitic slogans in support of Dieudonné. Likewise, when France recently banned pro-Palestinian protests, the protests immediately escalated into violent riots. And, for an even more recent example, France prosecuted the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo numerous times under “hate speech” legislation, but that most certainly didn’t stop the tragic shooting at the magazine’s headquarters from occurring. Censorship never gets rid of the things that it aims to censor – if anything, it only makes the problems that it attempts to solve even worse. Censorship either gives the censored much more exposure and magnifies their views or it attempts to forcibly sweep them under the rug, driving them underground where they grow stronger and more dangerous.
“International human rights law” – which was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union – mandates the banning of “hate speech” and “hate groups” along with “propaganda for war”, and the UN’s “human rights” bodies have used it to demand bans on everything from Australia’s E. S. “Nigger” Brown Stand (which, by the way, had absolutely nothing to do with race) to Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, which the UN’s “human rights” leaders called an “incitement to racial hatred” and attacked France for not banning. The UN has harassed every nation from Germany to Sweden about not enforcing “hate speech” laws strictly enough, making it abundantly clear that it is simply not possible to censor speech enough to satisfy the international “human rights” lobby.
If this “human rights” cancer spreads to Japan, then it will inevitably spread to the United States as well, despite America’s stubborn insistence on maintaining near-absolute freedom of speech in the face of increasing international pressure to pass laws against “hate speech” and “blasphemy”. Freedom of speech remains a uniquely American value, but there are already “human rights” groups pushing for “hate speech” laws in the US, including the Montana Human Rights Network, for a recent example. “Human rights activists” are pushing for blasphemy laws in the US as well, particularly in response to “blasphemous” content which has provoked a violent reaction overseas. As of right now, the only reason that the Internet is so free is because the United States |
adverse health effects, I never felt the supposed 'Chinese Food Syndrome' other than a headache one morning, but I'd also been drinking the previous night because I'm a terrible scientist, so I don't know if it was a booze or an MSG hangover. But only 36 hours after I went off the week-long diet, I started to feel flu-like pains, extreme fatigue, and appetite loss. I wondered, Was this MSG withdrawal? Was I not hungry because the food I had in front of me wasn't alchemically made more delicious by that most magical white powder?
I went 18 long years without MSG, outside of the occasional snack bag of chips, I'm happy to have this mana of flavor in my life. It made me feel a little shitty after eating so much of it, but I also could have been just having a forced psychosomatic response like so many other 'food sensitivities.'
Or maybe I just had a hangover.After playing the high-flying, rocket-powered, graceful vehicular mayhem of arcade sports game Rocket League back in 2015, my first thought was, “Nintendo should absolutely rip this off for the next Mario Kart.” I still think that’s a good idea, but now Nintendo fans won’t have to settle for an imitation because Psyonix’s Rocket League is officially coming to Nintendo Switch this holiday. We recently got to play the game on the console/handheld hybrid, and it fits as perfectly as you’d hope.
If you missed the Rocket League phenomenon, the Switch version will be an incredible opportunity to fix that. But here’s what you’ve been missing. A sequel to awkwardly (if accurately) titled PlayStation 3 game Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, Rocket League is basically soccer with cars. Instead of kicking a ball into a net with Pelé or whoever, players slam go-karts into giant metal spheres to rocket them into the goal for points and glory.
Rocket League strikes a brilliant balance between accessibility and depth. Anyone can understand “drive car towards ball,” and extra mechanics like boosting and double-jumping all feel like natural extensions of the idea. But once you get a handle of the game’s physics, you can pull off some truly insane maneuvers. Drive up the side of the wall and fall backwards to block a shot. Double jump in the air to intercept a pass. Boost sideways and jump at an angle to make the perfect shot on goal. Forget MOBAs, Rocket League is the beautiful eSport.
That beauty remains on Nintendo Switch. I first played the game on PC, and naturally that version was more graphically impressive than the Switch version. However, the team made the right choice to prioritize 60 FPS, so the game runs nice and smooth even in handheld mode. The team helping developers Psyonix on this port, Panic Button, are also responsible for the miracle that is Doom on Switch. You can’t blame poor technical performance for your loss, only your own poor performance. And the game’s visuals are still plenty bright and cheery and explosive shrunk down on the handheld screen.
Besides, once you’re in the heat of a match, everything else melts away. All you can focus on is you, your teammates, your opponents, where the ball is, and where the ball is going to be. All of my old Rocket League instincts immediately came back to me, and I never noticed that I was playing with Joy-Con instead of a traditional controller, so it must’ve felt just fine. I don’t remember the rumble being particularly HD, so the effect was subtle if it was there at all.
But of course the biggest thing the Nintendo Switch adds to Rocket League is the ability to play the game anywhere. The short length and immediacy of the matches works great with portable play. And this is absolutely the type of game you want to take with you wherever you are. I once redownloaded the game on a friend’s Xbox because I just had to show it off, and the Switch would’ve been a way easier solution. With two Nintendo Switches two players can also compete (or cooperate against computers) locally, another feature you’ll never be able to live without once you’ve experienced it. You can still play online as well, even against Xbox and PC players.
The Nintendo Switch version of Rocket League will also feature some cars based on Nintendo franchises like Mario and Samus, which I unfortunately didn’t get to see in this demo. But even without them, Rocket League is another fantastic example of how just the nature of the Nintendo Switch itself can make old great games even better and absolutely worth playing again. Rocket League races onto Nintendo Switch this holiday.
Want to learn more? Here’s everything you need to know about the Nintendo Switch.
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Let us know what you like about Geek by taking our survey.This minimalist art print is inspired by Star Wars. Great for any room or the perfect gift to a loved one or friend.PIXOLOGY PRINT INFO**Printed on Archival Heavy 60lb. Polar Matte Paper, 100% Acid Free.**Each print uses Canon LUCIA Pigment Ink System**Colors may vary slightly as different monitors are not always calibrated to exactly match print output.**Textures and distressed look are part of the print** 11x17" Image size with a 2" white border perfect for framing without the need for a mat** Total paper size 13x19"** All prints are dated and signed on the reverse side of the print unless otherwise specified.** POSTER ONLY (Does not include frame or mat)COPYRIGHT INFO FOR ORIGINAL ARTWORKArtist retains all reproduction rights and copyrights.Sale of print does not reflect transfer of copyright.BUNDLESBe sure to check out my bundle packs.Any 3 prints for $50.00 or any 5 prints for $75.00SHIPPINGAll prints come carefully rolled into a sturdy protective shipping tube. All prints are shipped with Track and Trace as standard. International tracking numbers are deactivated once the item leaves the U.S.** Items ship within 7-10 business days after payment is receivedFor a full list of available prints visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/pixologySubmitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Over the weekend a close friend sent me the following image, which was found spray-painted somewhere in Brooklyn:
The words above reflect a state of mind and disposition that has been expressed by philosophers and revolutionaries for thousands of years. It is not a novel or new concept, but it is a concept that seems to have been forgotten across much of these United States. The population has largely been domesticated and this is the primary reason why there has been such little pushback to the global oligarchs looting the landscape. A pathetically large percentage of the population would rather not think, they’d prefer to be told what to believe. They would rather not have any risk in their lives, they’d prefer to have shiny gadgets handed to them. They would rather not explore the wonderful expansive world around them, they’d rather sit on the couch and watch television.
Planet earth is a truly incredible place. Majestic mountains, glistening and seemingly endless blue seas, powerful dense forests. Its beauty is too profound for me to accurately put into words. At the same time, there are terrible tsunamis, horrific hurricanes, devastating floods and many more natural disasters that pose a constant deadly threat.
I moved to Colorado in December 2010 for many reasons, but one of the most appealing things was to get away from the big city. As a kid who had grown up in Manhattan and spent 90% of my life in that environment, I felt a deep longing to move closer to nature and vast open spaces. When weather permits I like to go on a lengthy hike at least once or twice a week. On essentially all of these hikes there are both bears and mountain lions active, amongst a host of other creatures. I mention the first two because of their ability to do severe bodily harm to me at any moment should they choose to. Being aware of such dangerous animals creates a sense of fear but also thrill. Do I carry a gun on my hikes? No, I don’t. Do I wish the Colorado state government to go into the woods and hunt down all the bears and mountain lions so that I can be 100% sure of my safety from them? Of course not. I understand this part of the world is wild and potentially dangerous, and that’s a large part of what I love about it.
Two typical signs at Boulder trailheads:
The same could be said for the world at large and society itself. Beyond the obvious reality that we are all going to die anyway, there is the point that no matter how hard you try to avoid harm or hard times, those things can come to your doorstep any time they choose. At the end of the day, it really isn’t up to you. What is up to you is how you spend each day. The things you think about, the stuff you create, the people you love. All of those things can only reach their highest potential in a free society.
Now I’m someone who certainly believes in laws and such laws applying to everyone equally. I think the entirity of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution are absolutely essential. I also believe in the saying: “No Victim, No Crime.” Taking it a step further, I do no have a problem with societies and communities actively taking measures to protect themselves from both outside and inside threats as long as such measures are consistent with a free people. However, such protective measures cannot and should not be seen in a vacuum.
For example, after all we have witnessed in the past few years, is there any reason whatsoever that a rational human being would trust the U.S. government and intelligence agencies on anything? No, there isn’t. So then why would you trust them to protect you? Why would you trust them to use the Big Brother surveillance grid for your best interests, rather than as a totalitarian tool to squash dissent?
I find it incredibly bizarre that so many people who will claim in polls to distrust the government, will at the same time support the police state grid being built around them. Why? Fear. Fear of terrorists. A fear that has been nurtured and encouraged by the very government frantically trying to have every human being on the planet on watch 24/7. While in my mind the trade-off between “safety and freedom” should always err toward freedom, there are times when it must even more aggressively bend in that direction. I believe that to be the case today since we have a government and elite power structure of oligarchs that has proven itself to be beyond corrupt and beyond morality.
These folks do not care about the country, or the Constitution, the poor and middle class or civil society. Their actions have proved without a shadow of a doubt that they care about nothing but themselves and furthering their wealth and power. They are not constructing the largest surveillance society in human history to protect you, they are doing it to protect them. From you. The sooner we all recognize this, the better.Around the 44-minute mark of this week’s Podcast Ain’t Played Nobody, Steven Godfrey and talked about how hard it can be for a casual fan to differentiate between programs in the MAC.
Bill: You’ve got the teams that habitually struggle: so Akron, Kent State, Eastern Michigan on average, before last year. You have the teams that have clearly shown a lot of upside, but in the MAC, if you show a lot of upside, it means you lose your coach a lot, and then you start over, and then you show upside again. So, Bowling Green... Godfrey: Northern Illinois. Bill: Central Michigan probably falls into there. Miami (Ohio) has hit a little bit of a downturn, or did and might be on their way out of it. For a long time, of course — you know, Cradle of Coaches — they prided themselves on hiring a great coach, losing him to a big school, and then hiring another great coach. You’ve got your volatile teams. Western Michigan for a long time was either good or terrible but never the best. Toledo has been, on average, by far the best team in the conference over the last five, 10 years... hasn’t won a MAC title in that time because somebody’s always been better, or they’ve lost the one game they can’t lose. Ohio is an interesting one because they were one of those destitute programs before Frank Solich showed up. Godfrey: So Ohio does defy the stereotype, but that doesn’t necessarily make them watchable. It’s just that they have a coach who you can say will be there. Bill: Yeah, they are sound, and they are going to give hell to better teams... that will probably beat them. Basically, that’s Ohio’s rep at this point.
Ohio Bobcats Head coach: Solich (88-67, 13th year) 2016 record and S&P+ ranking: 8-6 (92nd) Projected 2017 record and S&P+ ranking: 6-6 (103rd) Biggest strength: The Bobcats have a deep stable of backs (Dorian Brown, A.J. Ouellette, Maleek Irons) and an experienced line blocking for them. Biggest question mark: The defensive line was one of the mid-major universe’s best but must completely retool. Biggest 2017 game: The trip to Bowling Green (Oct. 14) could set up the MAC East race’s finish. Summary: Ohio has been absurdly steady and will probably win another six to eight games this fall. I will probably type the same thing a year from now.
There’s such a thing as podcast shorthand, where you end up sharing a lot of thoughts that are not quite fully formed or researched. It is the biggest plus and minus for the format. But I think most of what I said holds up.
From an S&P+ perspective, WMU ranked either 10th in the MAC or among the top three nine times in an 11-year span (2005-15) without making a MAC Championship appearance.
Toledo has ranked either first or second in the MAC in S&P+ for all but one season since 2010. And the Rockets’ last MAC title game appearance was 2004.
And then there’s Ohio. Reliable Ohio. In 2005, Solich inherited a destitute program, with no bowls since 1968 and two winning records since 1983. In six seasons in Athens, Jim Grobe twice finished above.500, and that was enough of an accomplishment to score him the Wake Forest job.
Solich took this bottom-of-the-barrel program and turned it into something. Per S&P+, they ranked second in the MAC in his second season and 10th in 2008. Since then: third, fifth, eighth, sixth, seventh, ninth, fourth, and sixth.
When no one is capable of controlling the MAC East, Ohio swoops in and takes the crown. The Bobcats did so in 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2016. Their four title appearances in that span are second to only NIU.
Of course, they’ve lost in all four. Akron and Buffalo have combined for two appearances and two titles. WMU broke through last year. Miami, Bowling Green, and Toledo have each won a pair, and NIU and CMU have three each.
Ohio’s job in the MAC has been to play the role of “gritty big-game opponent that Team A finally overcomes in the fourth quarter.” The Bobcats do it in MAC title games, and they do it in bowls — they gave 10-win Troy fits before falling by five in 2016, did the same to 11-win Appalachian State in 2015, and led a 10-win ECU in the fourth quarter in 2013 before losing by 17.
This is a fine life. Compared to Ohio’s pre-Solich existence, it’s a great life. Ohio is the steady Good Guy, the Bill Pullman-in-Sleepless in Seattle who loses to the leap of faith.
At 72, Solich has shown no signs of either speeding up or slowing down. Ohio dealt with injuries in the offensive backfield in 2016 but rode defense to another division title. And in 2017, the offense looks like it could rebound, and the defense has to rebuild up front.
If Bowling Green doesn’t bounce back, or Miami (Ohio) isn’t quite ready to build off of last year’s late surge, or Akron can’t overcome a brutal schedule, the Bobcats could win another division title all the same.
2016 in review
2016 Ohio statistical profile.
Last year’s Ohio preview talked about a team that was supposed to have an interesting backfield of quarterback JD Sprague and running back A.J. Ouellette. But Sprague left the team in August due to thoracic outlet syndrome, and Ouellette injured his foot three carries into the season and was lost for the year.
The offense never settled. New quarterback Greg Windham dealt with ups, downs, and injuries, as did new No. 2 running back Maleek Irons. Only one of the top four receiving targets played in all 14 games. And for good measure, the two-deep in the secondary got reset quite a few times as one DB after another suffered knocks.
The result: an offense that started slowly, a defense that produced a wide array of outcomes, and a team that was neither good enough to win easily or bad enough to get blown out. Nine of Ohio’s 14 games were decided by one possession, and only one was decided by more than two.
Ohio fought well against good teams but mostly lost. It let bad teams stick around but mostly won. The caliber of opponent almost didn’t matter.
Ohio vs. S&P+ top 75 (1-3) — Avg. percentile performance: 35% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 5.8, Ohio 5.3 | Avg. score: Opp 28, Ohio 24
— Avg. percentile performance: 35% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 5.8, Ohio 5.3 | Avg. score: Opp 28, Ohio 24 Ohio vs. No. 76-plus (7-3) — Avg. percentile performance: 35% | Avg. yards per play: Ohio 5.5, Opp 4.8 | Avg. score: Ohio 27, Opp 21
Ohio’s offense was basically the same against everybody, and the defense found slightly more success about bad teams than good. But the range was as small as you’ll see.
Offense
Full advanced stats glossary.
Since Sprague was going to be a senior anyway, Ohio headed into 2016 knowing it would be replacing its starting QB in 2017. It just turned out that it would be replacing Windham instead.
Quinton Maxwell got a bit of a head start. He took over the starting role midseason, and after some ups and downs against EMU and Kent State, he looked great, if inefficient, in wins over Toledo and Buffalo. He completed only 19 of 38, but with 375 yards, four touchdowns, no picks, and a passer rating of 167.6. He looked downfield for big plays and scrambled efficiently at times.
He was also a redshirt freshman, and freshmen who look for big plays tend to make a lot of mistakes. Maxwell fumbled eight times, and after his two-game flash, his passer rating plummeted to 103.2 in a loss to CMU and a low-scoring win over Akron. Despite Ohio clinching the MAC East under Maxwell’s watch, Solich elected to go back to a healthy Windham for the MAC title game and bowl.
Longtime Ohio coordinator Tim Albin employed the Protecting Your Limited Quarterback approach, passing frequently on standard downs and rushing frequently on passing downs to keep opponents off-balance. (Granted, some of those passing downs rushes were scrambles.) It was basically a more extreme version of the Bobcats’ 2015 attack, which featured mobile quarterbacks Sprague and Derrius Vick.
Maxwell is mobile enough, but at 6’3, 223 pounds, he’s the most quarterback-sized quarterback Ohio has had in a while. He’s got a big arm that he doesn’t mind using, and it will be interesting to see if Albin employs him in more of a standard way, giving him more downfield looks on passing downs.
A lot of that will depend on Maxwell’s developing maturity and the line’s ability to protect him. The Bobcats return three starters up front and five linemen with starting experience, but all-conference right tackle Troy Watson is gone.
A lot more will depend on what exactly Ohio’s rebuilt receiving corps has to offer. The top three wideouts (Sebastian Smith, Jordan Reid, Kyle Belack) are all gone, and the only returnees targeted more than 20 times last year are utility man Papi White (47 carries, 78 targets), tight end Troy Mangen, and sophomore Elijah Ball.
Now, you could do worse than those three. White was a big-play machine out of the slot in the second half of the season (last six games: 23 catches, 438 yards, five touchdowns), Mangen has been a three-year contributor, and Ball is a former star recruit. If a new, exciting target emerges from a pool of well-regarded freshmen (redshirts Keevon Harris and Cameron Odom, February signees Brevin Harris, K.J. Minter, and Willie Cherry), that might be enough.
It should help that there are some exciting options in the backfield. Ouellette, a nice efficiency guy, returns, as do last year’s explosive (but not particularly efficient) rushers, Dorian Brown and Irons. If Maxwell isn’t ready to carry the offense, these three could handle a decent load.
Defense
Both Albin and defensive coordinator Jimmy Burrow have been with Solich’s Ohio since the beginning. This almost unheard-of continuity has contributed to Ohio’s steadiness, but while the offense has had quite a few ups and downs, the defense has improved of late. After ranking between 79th and 93rd in Def. S&P+ each year from 2011-14, the Bobcats ranked 57th and 61st, respectively, the last two years.
Pulling off nearly the same defensive rating last year was a feat, considering how much ridiculous turnover Ohio had to deal with in the secondary. The Bobcats came in having to replace eight of its top nine tacklers in the backfield, which almost guarantees regression in your pass defense. Then, they had to deal with an exploding two-deep — of the 10 players who made at least one tackle per game (a sign of being a regular contributor), only four played in all 14 games. The other six missed a combined 34 games.
Five of those 10 regular DBs were either freshmen or sophomores, including safety Javon Hagan and corners Kylan Nelson, Jalen Fox, and Mayne Williams. Hagan and Nelson each picked off three passes.
Ohio’s pass defense regressed only from an excellent 34th in Passing S&P+ to a solid 68th. The secondary played conservatively, and an excellent pass rush picked up some slack. Six players made at least three sacks, and Ohio ranked 19th in Adj. Sack Rate.
In 2017, it will be the secondary’s turn to pick up slack: eight of those 10 regular DBs return, while four of those six pass rushers do not.
For that matter, five of the top seven linemen are gone. Nose tackle Cleon Aloese and end Kevin Robbins are decent anchors, and Burrow employed a deep bench up front last year, meaning players like tackles Tony Porter and Kent Berger and end Trent Smart saw action. But Ohio is only an injury or two away from deploying freshmen or redshirt freshmen up front.
The return of middle linebacker Quentin Poling (for what seems like his 16th year in Athens) will help. Poling has been an exciting contributor since his freshman year, when he combined 7.5 tackles for loss and five sacks with three interceptions. If the tackles can stand up blockers, Poling and fellow senior Chad Moore will make plays.
Still, depth is a concern. If the starting lineup remains mostly intact, Ohio should have another strong defense.
Special Teams
Ohio made up for its mediocre offense with mostly strong defense and excellent special teams. Kickoffs were an issue, and Papi White wasn’t amazingly productive in punt returns, but Michael Farkas’ punts were unreturnable (he combined a 40.9-yard average over 69 kicks with 28 fair catches and 26 punts inside the 20), kick returns were steady, and place-kicker Louie Zervos was a major weapon. He was asked to attempt 35 field goals — three more than anybody else in the country, and, frankly, far too many — but made 22 of 25 under 40 yards and a solid seven of 10 over 40.
To put that another way, a sophomore (Zervos) and freshman (Farkas) powered a unit that ranked 16th in Special Teams S&P+. Special teams could be a strength for a while in Athens.
2017 outlook
S&P+ sees a bit of a backtrack. The offense, already shaky, must replace a good chunk of its receiving corps and a part-time starting QB, and a strong defense is rebuilding up front. And with a No. 103 projection and a schedule that features six games with win probability between 40 and 60 percent, the Bobcats are projected to go only 6-6 overall.
It’s not hard to assume a bit more, though. Maxwell seems to have upside, and the run game should get a steadying hand with the return of Ouellette. If youngsters like Maxwell, Papi White, Elijah Ball, and half the secondary all progress, this team could have one of Solich’s higher ceilings.
Still, as we saw in 2016 and most of the decade previous, Solich’s teams are as much about high floors as ceilings. A bunch of closely projected games? Sounds great! They make every game close anyway, and they know how to maneuver when they get there!
Ohio is the MAC East baseline. If someone else wants to surge forward, the title is there for the taking. But the Bobcats can step in and represent the division pretty well. And just as I hope Bill Pullman’s Walter ended up happy in Sleepless, I do hope Solich nabs a conference title before he retires. If he ever retires.
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Papers apologise to readers for publishing anti-Indian comments alleged to have been said by US officials
Two leading Pakistani papers admitted today they had been hoaxed by a fake account of the WikiLeaks cables that portrayed Indian generals as vain, "geeky" and engaged in a "genocide" against Muslims in Kashmir.
The News admitted the story "was dubious and may have been planted". The left-leaning Express Tribune, which is published in co-operation with the International Herald Tribune, offered "profuse" apologies to readers.
The bogus story – a laundry list of Pakistani nationalist accusations against archrival India – may be the first use of the WikiLeaks revelations for propaganda purposes, and underscores the depth of hostility between hardliners in the two countries.
According to the reports, American diplomats issued withering portrayals of top Indian generals, calling one "self-obsessed, petulant and idiosyncratic".
There were also accounts of covert Indian intelligence funding for Islamist militants in Pakistan's tribal belt, and for Hindu extremists inside India.
The fake files also carried accounts of US officials heaping praise on Pakistan's top generals and exonerating the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of any involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
A search of unpublished cables in the WikiLeaks database proved the claims to be entirely baseless, and by this morning two of the five papers that published the story hurriedly retracted it. The exact source of the claims is murky.
The News, a major English language newspaper, said the story had been written by Online, a small Islamabad-based news agency. The story quoted Online owner Mohsin Baig saying that his staff "were themselves unclear about the source of the story".
Later the editor of Online, Siddique Sajid, said his reporters had "lifted the news" following a Google search of WikiLeaks stories.
The absurdity of the fake story is heightened by the fact that the real WikiLeaks contradict some of the more outlandish claims.
The fake claims say the US believes that Hemant Karkare, a police investigator killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was secretly targeted by his own government to stop a probe of Hindu extremist groups.
But in late 2008 the US ambassador to New Delhi wrote that such a suggestion was "completely unsubstantiated", "outrageous" and "outlandish". In stiff criticism of a Congress party minister who supported the idea, David Mulford accused the party of "pandering to Muslims' fears".
He wrote: "Crass political opportunism swayed the thinking of some Congress party leaders."
An account of US diplomats describing the Indian army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, as an "incompetent combat leader" and "rather a geek", is also unfounded.
The WikiLeaks files contain at least four references to Kapoor, none of which used such language. Instead they show the Indian general as an implacable opponent of Pakistan.
In June 2009, Kapoor used a meeting with US national security adviser Jim Jones to claim that Pakistan was home to 43 "terrorist camps", while rejecting suggestions of engaging in fresh peace talks.
"There's a trust deficit between the US and Pakistan but there's also one between India and Pakistan," Kapoor reportedly said.
The fake files debacle provoked soul-searching in the usually vigorous Pakistan news media, which has exploded in size in recent years with the advent of dozens of new TV channels.
"This is a very sorry state of affairs," said Afzal Khan, a former director of the state news service, Associated Press of Pakistan.
"Any editor should have seen that this was very obviously a planted story."
Addressing the papers caught out, media commentator Nadeem Farooq Paracha tweeted: "Sirs, your flies are open."
But several rightwing media outlets appeared to be trapped in denial. The Nation, a small English language daily, published an editorial today saying the report exposed the "true face" of India.
And Ahmed Quraishi, a pro-military Pakistani TV personality who had also been caught out, accused the Guardian, New York Times and Der Spiegel of also peddling propaganda, describing the papers as "establishment publications par excellence".
The top Urdu language papers, Jang and Nawa-e-Waqt, which sell many more copies than English publications, also declined to retract the story.
Last weekend Nawa-e-Waqt supported calls by a Muslim cleric for a Christian woman accused of blasphemy to be killed.
Some bloggers said the furore also contained lessons for WikiLeaks.
Writing in Foreign Policy, Joshua Keating said the piecemeal manner in which WikiLeaks has released the cables – only a tiny fraction of the 251,000 files have been published – made it "easy to just make up cables to serve your political agenda".
He added: "It's actually surprising this hasn't happened yet."An advertisement for war bonds. NPS PHOTO The First World War, then known simply as the Great War, was in Edison's time the deadliest war in human history. The war would be waged between the Allied Powers of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia against the Central Powers of Germany, the Austrian-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. However, the four years of conflict would be made even more horrific by the introduction of mechanized warfare, with new advanced technology as a result of the latest industrial age. New innovations in weaponry such as machine guns, tanks, and airplanes all had the potential to cause horrific losses of life on the battlefield. World War I was significant for Thomas Edison's life and business even before America's entry into the war in April 1917. Unlike contemporaries such as Henry Ford, who advocated a strict pacifist approach, Edison believed in preparedness, in response to potential threats against the United States. This philosophy advocated arming the United States military for war, with the assumption that America would eventually be forced to enter the conflict. Various prominent individuals during this period, including General Leonard Wood, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, former secretary of war Henry Stimson, and various other prominent politicians and businessmen also advocated this approach, eventually gaining the support of President Woodrow Wilson. Thus, Edison aided the United States military, particularly the Navy, in preparing to defend American shores from enemy attacks, particularly from submarines. Edison greatly feared the consequences of warfare with modern industrial weapons. As he said in an interview with the New York Times in October 1915,"Science is going to make war a terrible thing –too terrible to contemplate. Pretty soon we can be mowing down men by the thousands or even millions almost by pressing a button." This motivated Edison to aid the United States military in arming itself for defense against potential enemies. During the spring of 1915, Edison described his preparedness ideas, basing them on the stockpiling of munitions and military vehicles and on recruiting a large army of reservists from the private sector, highlighting the concept that military preparedness needed to be organized along industrial lines. The Naval Consulting Board at their first meeting, 1915. NPS PHOTO Later that year, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels recognized the usefulness of Edison's technical expertise, and offered Edison chairmanship of the new Naval Consulting Board. In a letter to Edison, Daniels wrote "One of the imperative needs of the navy, in my judgment, is machinery and facilities for utilizing the natural inventive genius of Americans to meet the conditions of warfare as shown abroad…" To meet this need, Daniels established an organization that would consist of a group of scientists and administrators responsible for evaluating the public's ideas for innovations to the U.S. Navy. Many of the ideas reviewed, however, were deemed to have very little value, and of the 11,000 ideas gone over by the Board, only 110 of them would even be seriously considered, with only one, the Ruggles Orientator (a precursor to the flight simulator) actually being produced and implemented by the U.S. Navy. The USS Sachem, 1917. NPS PHOTO Edison, wanting to be spared of much of the bureaucratic work of the Naval Consulting Board, played a largely ceremonial role as chairman. Far more significant were his private endeavors to provide for the U.S. Navy, particularly in detecting enemy submarines at sea. By 1917, the year America entered the war, Edison had dedicated all of his time to naval research. Particularly notable are Edison's experiments conducted at Eagle Rock, NJ, where he outfitted a laboratory out of an old casino to investigate locating gun positions via sound. Even more notable was his work aboard the USS Sachem on the Long Island Sound. The USS Sachem was a private yacht outfitted by the U.S. Navy for Edison and his employees. From August to October in 1917, Edison conducted experiments aimed at the camouflaging of ships and torpedo detection. To this end, the Sachem was equipped with instruments to detect submarines by sight, sound, and magnetic field. In all, Edison would spend eighteen months in the field, and would conceive of a total of forty-eight different projects, including a hydrogen-detecting alarm to avert the danger of undersea explosions, vaseline and zinc antirust coating for submarine guns, and an antiroll platform for ships' to ensure accuracy in rough seas. However, despite his various experiments and innovations, Edison nevertheless grew increasingly agitated with the Navy for failing to implement any of his ideas. Of the forty-eight new inventions and improvements he proposed, the Navy failed to develop any of them beyond the prototype stage. This later caused Edison to accuse them of lacking the imagination or the foresight to see the usefulness of his work. As he wrote in 1918, "Nobody in Naval will do anything on the account of taking risks that an innovation will bring in … no training at Annapolis to cultivate the imagination." Edison and the crew of the USS Sachem, 1917. NPS PHOTO If Edison's work during this period had one significant effect, it is the resulting creation of what became known as the Naval Research Laboratory. Edison firmly believed in the necessity of a federal research laboratory to produce new ideas and inventions to improve the military. This is significant because previously, the United States federal government had only introduced such institutions on a limited basis, such as the National Academy of Sciences during the Civil War. At the very first meeting of the Naval Consulting Board on October 7th, 1915, Edison's proposal of the creation of a permanent naval research laboratory was adopted. Specifically the proposal included a laboratory on the water where a ship could be docked, nearby a large city, and would be run by civilians rather than the military. In 1916, Congress appropriated $1 million ($21.1 million today) for the new laboratory, which was less than the suggested $5 million ($115 million today). This forced the Board to develop a more scaled-back, less equipped laboratory, run by naval officers instead of civilians, and with more emphasis on basic scientific research and testing, rather than production. Also, construction of the laboratory would not be able to begin until the early 1920s due to the war. Despite various problems, including Edison's later objections to the changes to his original proposal, the 1923 opening of the first Naval Research Laboratory hallmarked the beginning of a permanent commitment to research and development. This would begin a new era of government-funded research, which would lead to various inventions that are still in use today, such as radar, jet engines, GPS, nuclear weapons, and the Internet.No. Really.
In a decision that can't possibly have any negative repercussions for the city's helpless residents, Springfield, Illinois mayor J. Michael Houston has given the key to the city to noted terrorist leader and snake enthusiast Cobra Commander. Ostensibly this was done as a promotion for the upcoming JoeCon, the G.I. Joe collector's convention which will be held in Springfield April 9th through 12th, but I think we all know Cobra Commander is plotting something.
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Joe fans likely remember that Springfield housed a secret Cobra base in the original cartoon, seen in the memorable and quite scarring two-part first season finale "There's No Place Like Springfield," and has been popping up in G.I.Joe lore ever since. In the original episodes, Cobra filled the entire town with secret agents in disguised, and used the innocent-looking town to try and trick Shipwreck into believing he wasn't a member of G.I. Joe but a normal family man. And then they tried to mentally traumatize him by forcing him to watch his "wife" and "children" literally melt before his eyes in a house fire. It was messed up |
BevShots is a company that sells images of alcoholic drinks that have been taken under a microscope. From their website:
"In 2006, the Florida Board of Governors implemented the State University Research Commercialization Assistance Grant Program. The program’s goal was to increase commercialization of products and technologies that emerge from research taking place at state universities in Florida. Lester Hutt, founder and president of BevShots®, was employed under the grant to research the market for the beverage images and decided this endeavor had enormous potential. Hutt personally invested to start the company and licensed the images from Florida State University and Davidson, thus bringing life to BevShots®! Since then BevShots® has popped the cork on www.BevShots.com, allowing consumers to view and purchase their favorite drink related products. Now, not only are the vibrant images available for purchase as art pieces, BevShots® is set to launch a new gift line which includes coasters, stainless steel flasks, women’s fashion scarves and much more."
Though it's definitely sad that scientists have to resort to selling "women's fashion scarves" to fund their research, the pictures are pretty cool.
All images courtesy of BevShots.JUNEAU —A bill that would allow concealed guns on University of Alaska campuses is headed to the state House after senators passed the measure Thursday.
The bill strips the University of Alaska Board of Regents' ability to designate broad concealed-weapon free zones on its campuses, allowing them to be carried in classrooms and dorms. It does allow the university to restrict them in areas where disciplinary actions or sexual harassment and domestic crimes are investigated.
It also allows the university to track which students keep weapons in dorms in order to make housing decisions for students who don't want to share rooms those who have firearms.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, said gun-free zones on campuses make them targets for killers. He highlighted the growing number of mass shootings in the United States in recent years.
"I don't want the students and the faculty at the University of Alaska to be a soft target as the dial seems to be ratcheted up over the last few years," he said.
The measure passed by a vote of 13-5.
Students have testified on both sides of the issue. Supporters of the bill said they want to be able to protect themselves on campus.
Others, such as University of Alaska Southeast student Lily Pothier, cautioned lawmakers against assuming concealed weapons would make students as a whole feel safer.
"This could affect relationships between student to student, between staff to student," she testified to the education committee. "I also think that the change that happens in the atmosphere of a public space when people are aware that there are concealed weapons is not a positive change."
Voting yes: Sens. John Coghill, R-North Pole; Mia Costello, R-Anchorage; Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla; Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage; Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla; Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks; Anna MacKinnon, R-Eagle River; Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage; Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage; Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna; Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak; Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage.
Voting no: Sens. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks; Dennis Egan, D-Juneau; Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage; Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. Sen. Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, was excused, and Sen. Donny Olson, R-Golovin, was absent.
In the U.S., at least 19 states ban concealed weapons on college campuses, 23 states allow individual universities to decide whether to allow concealed weapons, according to a 2015 guns on campuses overview from the National Conference of State Legislatures.In 1975, directing his seminal play Waiting for Godot, Beckett justified his non-naturalistic production as an interpretive game. “It is a game, everything is a game” he began, “It is a game in order to survive”. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar contender, The Revenant, has survival at its core.
Famously rooted in a brutal production, forcing it’s actors to undergo a freezing climate and icy conditions, The Revenant is a powerful experience that vividly realises a profound truth in humanity: our search for purpose.
Hugh Glass (DiCapario), and his son (Forrest Goodluck), amongst an army of hunters and trappers, are desperate to find pelts amongst the treacherous conditions of Missouri. Set in the 1820’s, Native Americans protect their land and the group are soon hunted themselves by the Arikara tribe, ambushed unexpectedly and losing two thirds of the group. Amongst the survivors is Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), a dangerous half-scalped racist whose only interest is himself. There’s also Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), a young man still trying to understand his place in the world, challenged by the differing attitudes. The leader of the hunting group, Captain Henry James (Domhnall Gleeson), continues to lead knowing that Glass’s expertise is vital to their survival. But plans are scuppered when an enormous grizzly bear mauls Glass within an inch of his life.
DiCaprio, in interviews, views The Revenant as an “epic art film”. As the gruff men carry Glass on a hand-made stretcher, through the lush forest and challenging mountainsides, it recalls Aguirre, Wrath of God. While Aguirre deftly plots the slow loss of sanity amongst explorers in the 1500’s, The Revenant acknowledges how Glass’s drive to survive is simultaneously his loss of humanity: the beauty and perfection of nature contrasting with the flawed instincts of man. Using natural light, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki excels himself, as the perfectly captured freezing temperatures, prickly frost-covered trees and vast Missouri river runs parallel to Glass’s journey as he traverses across the American landscape.
After Birdman last year, a cinematic experience refusing to cut away, The Revenant captures sequences that leave you out of breath. A shot in the opening ambush effortlessly chases a hunter before his death moves our attention to the Native responsible, who is killed himself, moving to his victor, and so forth. This may be a flashy manner to shoot an arrow-and-gun fight, but it is integral. These first twenty minutes establish themes that linger until the final haunting frame of the film. Godot’s theme of our mortality and purpose is central to The Revenant, and this ongoing capture of life and death begs the question, what’s the point?
While similarly brutal, The Passion of the Christ presents the Christian question (and answering) as to the purpose of Christ’s death, The Revenant is more ambiguous placing man in the position of Christ. Hardy’s hyper-masculine Fitzgerald represents the greed and dominance of our modern world, his actions controlled by his need for money. His ethics are clearly corrupt but not unfounded, or unheard of. And while young Jim Bridger is conflicted as to who to trust, the Captain knows to trust Glass but won’t put his life on the line for it. Fitzgerald and Glass are two sides of the same coin, both experienced in the forest and survivors too. The Revenant reveals how experience shapes and dictates our actions, and when reborn, our will – and purpose – to survive can be rebuilt. We have to choose what foundations to build upon.
Originally written for Culturefly on January 17th 2016
AdvertisementsThe defending Arena Football League champs will face Tampa Bay Storm at the Wells Fargo Center
The Soul clinched a spot in ArenaBowl XXX with a victory over the Brigade. Photo provided by the Philadelphia Soul
By Al Thompson
The Soul defeated the Baltimore Brigade, 69–54, on Aug. 12 to advance to ArenaBowl XXX. Just like the playoff game, it will be played at the Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St., on Saturday, Aug. 26 (7 p.m. kickoff). Philadelphia’s entry in the Arena Football League will face the the Tampa Bay Storm (11–4). The Soul won all three games against the Storm this season. Riding a 17-home game win streak, the Soul (14–1) will be playing for their third championship since joining the league in 2004 and defending their ’16 championship title.
“I’m proud of all this team has accomplished this season,” Soul head coach Clint Dolezel said after the game. “We have worked very hard to get to this point and I’m excited to defend the title once again.”
The Soul’s Darius Reynolds looked very NFL-like leading the receivers with nine catches for 171 yards and six touchdowns.
“I just wanted to give us a chance to make plays,” Reynolds said in the Soul’s chaotic locker room after the win. “[Quarterback] Dan [Raudabaugh] had a great night. I can’t take all the credit for it. Dan made a lot of great throws from the pocket. Our line gave him time to make some great throws.”
The touchdown that ended up being the winning score was a wild one. With just under four minutes to go and the Soul leading 55–47, quarterback Dan Raudabaugh, who completed 23-of-35 passes for 324 yards and nine touchdowns, fired a pass to the corner of the end zone where there is a big two-door gate where the all the dance team members, promotional personnel and away team players come and go through.
As Reynolds made his leap for the ball, he ran out of arena and, and with a defender draped all over him, went into the gate, which incredibly opened up for him. It appeared to give Reynolds an extra step and allowed him to make the acrobatic catch to put the Soul up for good, 62–47.
Reynolds said he was just focusing in the ball, not the wall.
“When you are near the sideline you just have to tap your feet,” Reynolds said. “I felt the wall give but I couldn’t let go of the ball. I just decided to hold on to it.” The referees were good with it and the Soul were on the the championship game for the second year in a row.
Darius Prince added four receptions for 76 yards and one touchdown, while Shaun Kauleinamoku tallied eight receptions for 66 yards and one touchdown.
Offensive lineman Michael Simons, a veteran of the league but in his first year with the Soul, said he could tell Reynolds and Raudabaugh were in the zone from the beginning.
“It’s playoff mode, man,” Simons said. “Everybody turns it up another notch. The thing with Dan is, he’s the best quarterback in the league. You give him time, he’s going to complete everything. He’s the best.”
Every Soul player and coach said they were thrilled to have the title game at home.
“Last year we had to go to Arizona to play in it,” Reynolds said. “This year our fans get to be at home and everybody’s going to come out and support us and get to enjoy it. We worked hard all year to make sure we had the ArenaBowl here.”
Dwayne Hollis, who is up for Arena Football League Defensive back of the Year, is equally as excited about the home field advantage.
“It’ll be a change,” Hollis said. “I’ve been to two neutral sites as a player in the ArenaBowl, and we went out to Arizona last year, it’ll be great to win one at home and celebrate with our fans here at home.”
Sources have revealed the Arena Football League is expanding with teams in Albany, N.Y. and Newark, N.J.
Hollis said he heard there may be new teams coming in and obviously was happy to see the league’s gamble with restrictions on who can own an AFL franchise appears to be paying off.
“It’s great for Arena Football,” Hollis said. “Once you see Arena Football one time, you’re hooked to it. I know the league has gone through its growing pains, going back to five teams (this year). I just want to give kudos to all the guys who stuck around to play in this five-team league. It’s going to pay off.”
Follow Al Thompson on Twitter @thompsoniii
ArenaBowl XXX
Philadelphia Soul (14–1) vs.
Tampa Bay Storm (11–4)
Aug. 26, 7 p.m. kickoff
Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St.
Tickets: $15-$60
TV: 6 ABC
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
philadelphiasoul.comPoland's government says it still refuses to publish a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal that struck down key legislation that has blocked the work of the court.
Refusing to publish the ruling prevents it from becoming binding. The move has deepened a constitutional crisis in the country and the comment Saturday by government spokesman Rafal Bochenek indicates a resolution is nowhere in sight.
Bochenek spoke a day after the Venice Commission, an international human rights body, said democracy is threatened by moves that have crippled the constitutional court. It said refusing to publish the judgment would be "contrary to the rule of law" and would "further deepen the constitutional crisis."
Bochenek said the commission's opinion would be sent to the parliament so all political sides could seek a resolution.LEAFLY API LICENSE AGREEMENT
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Supporters of Egypt's revolution logged another victory Thursday with the resignation of Ahmed Shafiq, the prime minister appointed by former President Hosni Mubarak just before he was toppled by a popular uprising last month.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is ruling the country until new elections are held, announced on its Facebook page Thursday it had accepted Mr. Shafiq’s resignation and appointed former transportation minister Essam Sharaf to form a new government in his place.
Shafiq’s ouster demonstrates that the armed forces are eager to maintain stability and recognize that keeping Mubarak associates in office would have the opposite effect. It is another manifestation of Egyptians' newly discovered people power as they take to the streets to demand far-reaching change beyond the ouster of Mubarak.
But while protesters welcomed Shafiq's departure, many were skeptical about his low-profile replacement and vowed to keep up the pressure on the government.
“It’s good news, but it’s |
and it won my opponent the game. Even casting a Dack, stealing something small like a Mox Ruby and then getting him killed with Lightning Bolt is a three-mana two-for-one in your favor. Sometimes, it's the little incremental advantages that end up winning games, and Dack is somewhat of an expert in that field.
As I sit here typing, it occurs to me that Dack is in nearly every deck that I've covered. That's pretty impressive considering that this is a format that allows every set and card ever printed! If anyone at Wizard's R&D is reading this, thanks! Keep the Vintage playables coming!
Utility Cards.
Like all blue decks full of Counterspells, The Answer has to have some answers for resolved threats. This is where Fire/Ice comes in. Fire is decent removal (although I feel it isn't as good as it was when Delver was more popular online), and Ice can be a tempo play when it shuts down something like a Tolarian Academy, It pitches to Force as well, so it's a great fit.
Echoing Truth is a bounce effect with the echoing ability. This spell targets every other card with the same name as the one the original spell did. The first time you bounce a Griselbrand with Echoing Truth, the usefulness of the card will reveal itself! I think that other bounce spells would likely get the nod in a different build, but it's pretty clear that the original architects for this deck decided to shy away from cards with a converted mana cost of one. The single-blue mana requirement makes Echoing Truth easier to cast than something like Boomerang, and being able to wipe the board of a horde of tokens in one fell swoop is an ability that can't be underestimated.
Prime Real Estate:
The Mana Base.
The Answer plays Magus of the Moon, so playing a healthy amount of basic lands is a no-brainer. The non-basic lands that the deck does play are either fetches or mana-ramp lands like Tolarian Academy or Ancient Tomb, This deck wants to get to a high mana-count fast, so a full set of moxen and Black Lotus is used.
Being that this deck doesn't really play any significant number of one-drops, it becomes even more important to build up a healthy mana base in a timely fashion. With eighteen lands, five moxen and a Lotus, this deck packs a lot more mana than the average Vintage deck. Many of the one-drops employed by other Vintage decks are cantrips. Ponder, Brainstorm, and Preordain allow those decks (like Delver for instance) to get away with running less lands. Workshops decks tend to take advantage of that fact by dropping a Chalice, or simply by taxing those cantrips until they are unplayable. When, for instance, a Delver deck is forced to hit its land-drops by naturally drawing them, things get ugly in a hurry. The Answer can't play that game, as there are no cheap hand-sculpting cards in the list. It takes 24 sources of mana (18 lands, 5 artifacts) for the deck to reliably play a land each turn.
There are pros and cons to this plan. Sometimes, hands have far too much land and must be mulliganed, and sometimes you can be prone to missing an early land-drop or two. Overall though, the numbers used means that mana-screw isn't all that likely. This deck also has built-in defenses to Shops decks. I love playing glorious, textless basic Islands and uncracked fetches while my opponent sits their waiting to use their Wasteland.
One of the ways that Shops decks beat the hate-cards played against them is to make them unplayable in the first place. Shutting off cantrips, as I mentioned, makes hitting the land-drops needed to cast that Ingot Chewer through multiple Sphere of Resistances a difficult endeavor. I've lost count of how many games I lost to Shops with the perfect answer stranded in my hand, all because my deck couldn't cough up one more basic land. Luckily, that type of scenario shouldn't happen all too often, as this deck is stocked to the gills with mana.
The Sideboard:
After writing ten or so Vintage articles, I think it's pretty clear what these cards do. I think that it's important to note that this deck still plays plenty of Shops-hate in the sideboard, even though the main deck is considered to have "a positive match-up" against Shops. In my experience, even a deck that can beat shops quite often still has to fight for every inch of it. Of course, there are exceptions, but that's true for nearly all facets of life.
The sideboard is designed to help against Shops, Dredge, Oath, and Mentor. There are only two anti-Mentor cards, and zero anti-Delver cards. That suggests to me that this deck's creator either didn't fear Delver whatsoever, or they just didn't expect to play against it enough to matter.
Match-ups:
Delver/Mentor Aggro Control Decks
In my experience, Delver can be an easy match-up if you draw well, but if they establish a decent threat early enough, it can be difficult to maintain control. The same goes for Mentor decks, but Mentor tends to be much slower at first, but has the chance to "combo out" with a flurry of tokens and A Time Walk.
In this match-up, I simply focus on countering or killing Young Pyromancer or Delver. Pyromancer is by far the deadlier card, so I focus my efforts on it whenever possible. Against Delver or Mentor, Chalice of the Void is great. Just like Shops likes to hinder a Delver deck with Chalice, The Answer can (and should try to) do the exact same thing.
Magus of the Moon, however, isn't so good against Delver (although it is good against Mentor, which is almost always three colors). The reason I say this is that Delver decks play Lightning Bolt and Pyroblast, which are made easier to cast with a Magus giving everyone Mountains.
Personally, I'd add more cards to the main deck and sideboard that would help in the aggro-control match-ups. Switching from Magus to Blood Moon would allow the deck to run either Pyroclasm or Volcanic Fallout. Fallout might be a stretch with its double-red casting cost though. When the Delver deck is on the play, the efficiency of their threats can overwhelm the counter-magic this list employs.
"Delver", "Mentor, and "Pyromancer" decks really should just be referred to as "Gush" decks, as I feel that more accurately describes their modus operandi. The point is that these decks can potentially out-draw The Answer because they're much more focused on drawing cards and they play far fewer lands.
Just like Gush decks try to gain virtual card advantage through a lighter mana base, The Answer can gain virtual card advantage by negating a large swath of the Gush deck's spells by resolving a Chalice of the Void. My experience is that Chalice is extremely important in this match-up. Just be aware that this strategy will receive a lot of "splash damage" from anti-shops cards that become relevant against this build.
Mishra's Workshop
This deck is supposed to be well-positioned against Workshop decks, and I'd say that's accurate. Basic lands help quite a bit in this match-up, and Magus of the Moon can put a damper on their mana-production. Dack Fayden is great at stealing Forgemasters and Golems, and Mana Drain can find a lot of juicy targets.
In this match-up, Chalice of the Void can do a lot of work if you know how to use it. It's obviously bad at one, as Shops doesn't have and targets of note at that CMC. At zero, a Chalice on the play will slow Shops down considerably. At two mana you begin to find most of the lock pieces that the deck plays. Personally, I'd trade the ability to cast Mana Drain to preemptively disrupt every single Thorn of Amethyst, Sphere of Resistance, and Phyrexian Revoker in a Shops player's deck.
There are six anti-artifact spells in the sideboard, so after game one things should only get better. Just remember to make this face when you cast Hurkyl's Recall:
Thanks AtomicBoosh!
Oath/Grixis/Other Combo/Control Decks:
This deck has a healthy amount of Counterspells, so defeating the combo/control decks of the format should not be a problem. Most of those decks aren't going to run as many counters as The Answer, depending how all-in they are.
Storm decks tend to run just a set of Forces, with some number of Missteps and/or Flusterstorm. The Answer has its own Flusterstorms as well as Mindbreak Trap, so Timetwister has a decent chance of finding us some countermagic. Just remember to keep four mana open if possible. This will allow you to cast Flusterstorm or Mindbreak Trap through a Defense Grid!
One thing I've learned from piloting The Answer is that decks like Grixis, Oath, Storm, and "Vault" Combo rely heavily on their greedy mana bases to pull of their combo. This is where Magus of the Moon really shines. Shutting off lands like Tolarian Academy, Forbidden Orchard, and even just Mana Confluence can be a major setback to combo deck pilots.
Many of these decks can pack their own Red Elemental Blast or Pyroblast, and Magus beats only go so far sometimes. Remember to protect your Consecrated Sphinx or Jace with either a Chalice or counters. It's possible to lose a game because you can't find something to close it out in time.
Why Should Anyone Play "The Answer"?
First of all, I don't think that this deck is right for just anyone. I'd say that if playing hard control decks like Landstill are in your wheelhouse, then this deck would be a great choice as it has been designed to take advantage of the current Vintage metagame.
It isn't always an easy deck to win with. With decks like Oath, Grixis, and other decks with a combo finish, once you are clear to make your "I win now" play, you can close out a match. It's possible to still lose a game with The Answer even if both players are hellbent, and you have a Jace or Sphinx out.
Gush decks like Delver and most Mentor builds run up to sixteen ways to draw one or more cards. These decks are willing to counter anything and everything possible, if for no other reason than to fuel more delve spells like Treasure Cruise. My friend and clan-mate James "Niffiwan" Cady put it best. He said something to the effect of "Delver decks with their huge amount of counters and card-draw can afford to play bad Magic and just counter anything, just so they can Cruise again". The more I thought about his words, the more sense they made. Refilling your hand so often makes up for wasting counters sometimes.
This is a control deck that must be a little more frugal with its counter-magic. Each win that I got with this deck took some work, there are really no free wins with this list. Sure, you could get a Magus online early, but that probably isn't even the right play, depending on the exact situation. You must be willing to be patient while piloting The Answer.
If you like a deck full of broken combos, this isn't your cup of tea. I am the type of player that likes to cast Mana Drain, so I enjoyed this deck. If you're a die-hard control freak that loves to ruin people's day with Chalices and Blood Moons on legs, then this deck just might be The Answer for you.
Closing Thoughts
I've been an advocate for Vintage for a little while now, and I enjoy every minute of it. It's funny to me that even though I'm new to the format, it's actually the way I've wanted to play Magic as long as I can remember. I remember back in the early 2000's, long after I'd sold my initial Magic collection, I built two proxied Tolarian Academy combo decks to play against my friends with.
When Vintage Masters came online, I hoped that I'd be able to make a Vintage deck at some point. I've now done that, and I've barely played any other format since. I have enough Phantom Points in my collection to do a free Cube Draft, and I still haven't touched them. The chance of drafting a Black Lotus seems tame when there's one already sitting in my collection!
This brings me to the point of this little speech. Think about the MTGO Cube for a moment. Many of the Cubes are powered, and the ones that aren't are called the "Legacy Cube"! People must enjoy playing with older Magic cards, otherwise the Cube would be populated with something else. If people like playing with older cards, and using the power nine, then why aren't there more events firing and people playing online?
One person I know enjoys cubing. They've told me numerous times about how awesome it is to draft Tinker, Lotus, and Blightsteel in the same deck, Personally I think that those cards create an unbalanced draft experience, whereas in constructed Vintage everyone can have those cards in their deck if they wish. To each their own, I suppose. Anyway, this individual that just LOVES powered cube had the following reply when I told him that I'd been playing Vintage lately.
"You're playing Vintage?", he said. I replied in the affirmative, and that prompted him to follow up with "Well, that's a dead format, but you can do whatever you want I guess".
In all honesty, I was offended by his comment, but I made sure not to get visibly upset. I just told him that there is an online community of Vintage players, and plenty of Vintage events in paper, and even a Vintage Championship every year.
His reply to this was that since there are no Vintage Pro Tours or Grand Prix that it isn't a "real format" (I believe those were his exact words). Then he said something about Vintage is probably a fun format because you get turn-one wins, and that seemed to be the extent of the positive things he apparently sees in Eternal Magic altogether (he also criticized Legacy for being "stale", which is a whole other can of worms I'm not going to pry open in this article).
I firmly believe that there is a segment of the human population who's ill-informed opinions are both difficult and pointless to change. I'm going to assume that this particular gentleman is a card-carrying member of this subsection of society, and I'll leave him to have his own opinions as he sees fit. However, for the record - I humbly disagree with everything that he said to me that day.
First of all, as I've mentioned before, turn-one wins are the exception in Eternal formats. They are NOT the rule. You already know that, because you've read my articles, so we get to move along briskly.
The second point I would like to talk about is a bit deeper. I know that for a lot of competitive Magic players, the Pro Tour is the Holy Grail. I understand that, and I sympathize completely. The Pro Tour was once my ultimate goal in life as well. I had the chance to play in one once, I missed the opportunity, and while it bothers be quite a bit, I've grown to accept it. Even if I really wanted to try to qualify for the Pro Tour again, my adult life as a Husband and Father would make that quite difficult. I have no qualms with anyone who is able to grind Grand Prix and RPTQs to "stay on the train", but it isn't something that I can do anymore.
The thing is, just because I can't dedicate my entire life to that one goal doesn't mean that I don't want to play competitively. I enjoy playing best-of-three matches using sideboards. I don't get the same satisfaction playing casually. I have fun playing the game the way I want to, just like a casual player playing Commander with their pals. I prefer to play in a tournament format though, even when it's just a pick-up game.
So, don't tell me that I'm not playing a "real format" because there isn't a Pro Tour for me to qualify for. There's Vintage and Legacy Championships to qualify for, there are even some large tournaments like the NYSE that are proxy tournaments. The most recent NYSE in particular had great prize support and drew in a lot of talented players. Just because I don't have to sit with 4,000 other people for two days to win one of those tournaments doesn't make them any less "real".
While I'm on the subject of "real" formats, would you all like to know something that isn't a "real" format? CUBE! Where's your Cube Pro Tour? Where are your Cube Grand Prix? People still like playing it though, and some people love it so much that they take it very seriously. They enjoy being the person that drafted the most broken deck out of all the broken decks. That's great! Have fun with it! Just don't knock Vintage until you've actually tried it. I'm pretty sure that the person I had the aforementioned conversation with has never played either Eternal format before.
To me, Vintage the best example of "real" Magic that exists today. The community is incredible, the games are epic, and the cards themselves have history to them. Some of these cards are older than the hands of the players wielding them - that's pretty incredible to think about! I've also noticed that there are a lot of professionals playing Vintage. Not Magic professionals mind you, but people with actual professions. Lawyers, doctors, school teachers, and otherwise grown-up responsible types certainly seem to make up a much larger portion of the community compared to other Magic scenes. That fact is a major selling point for me because I like associating with decent, hard-working people. It's comforting to know other players like myself, responsible adults who happen to like to game competitively in their leisure time.
That's all I have to say for this week. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Recently the interviews that I've done have created a lot of positive feedback, so I'll try to do more in the future. I've been meaning to do another article with some in-depth strategic content for some time now, and I hope to have one soon. In the mean time, if you're a newer reader, I'm going to add a couple links to my older articles. These two are one's that I consider my best, and they showcase the type of strategy content that I'm itching to get back into.
Mental Probing and Gitaxian Missteps: This article discusses my thoughts on Probe and Misstep. The Prison-Industrial Complex: My article on Shops decks. This one seems to have been the most popular. If you want to see my entire catalog, click here.
One more quick thing before I go. The sample hand last week was a keeper. I don't think it was a "snap keep" though. Don't ever actually snap keep a hand unless you're going to run out of time if you don't. The hand had one true lock piece, and a second card that is a lock piece some of the time. Specifically, this hand on the draw won't stop cards like Force of Will and Lightning Bolt from being live provided the opponent hits their first couple land drops. While this was a good hand and I'd have kept it, it's far from the type of Shops hand that just rolls someone over.
Magic is all about math, prediction, percentages, and reasoning. Several people presented me with their opinions on that starting hand, so I accomplished my goal of starting a dialog wherein people discussed their reasoning behind their decision to keep that starting seven. To everyone who played along, thanks! By the way, I kept a very similar hand before, and still ended up losing. I didn't hit another mana-taxing effect fast enough, and my opponent was able to Preordain enough lands to the top to eventually land a Dack Fayden. I still think that I made the right choice given the odds.
It's time to...
MULL IT OVER!
Here's another starting hand, generated by Magic Online's shuffler. Please remember, I'm NOT white-listed!
If this hand seems familiar, it's because it was randomly generated from today's featured deck, The Answer.
It's game one, you're on the play against an unknown opponent. Do you keep?
Imagine the same scenario, except that you know your opponent is on Martello Shops? Do you keep this hand on the play? What if you were on the draw?
Until next week, stay chill and play Snow-Covered Islands!The Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, responded to the Statement on behalf of the Opposition.
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Please fill in our quick feedback survey to help us improve our news content.After the in-your-face Fourth of July “gift” that North Korea delivered to President Trump in the form of an intercontinental ballistic missile test, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see President Trump and the Pentagon retaliate by bombing North Korea. The reason goes not only to Trump’s erratic behavior, especially when teased or taunted, but also because a bombing attack would reflect the Cold War mentality that unfortunately still holds the Pentagon in its grip.
I’ll bet that most Americans today do not realize that during the Kennedy administration, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were recommending that the president initiate a surprise nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, much like the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Why no congressional declaration of war against the Soviet Union first, as the U.S. Constitution requires?
The Pentagon’s reasoning was that a surprise attack was necessary to knock out the Soviet Union’s nuclear first-strike capability and most of its retaliatory capability. If they were forewarned that such an attack was coming, such as with a congressional declaration of war, that would enable them to strike first with a nuclear attack on the United States.
Why was the Pentagon recommending nuclear war against the Soviet Union?
Remember: This was the Cold War, the era in which the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA — the three principal components of the U.S. national-security state — were telling Americans that peaceful coexistence with the communist world was impossible. This was going to be a war to the finish, they firmly believed, with only one side standing at the end.
In the early 1960s, the Pentagon knew that the United States had vast nuclear superiority over the Soviets, notwithstanding Pentagon and CIA public statements to the American people to the contrary. But they also knew that it was just a matter of time before the Soviets increased their nuclear weapons to such an extent that U.S. superiority wouldn’t make any difference. After all, if 100 nuclear bombs can wipe out a nation, who cares if one side has 100 and the other side has 1,000?
The Pentagon’s argument was this: Since war with the Russians was going to happen anyway at some point in the future, it would be in the interests of the United States to initiate the war now, before the Soviets had time to acquire more nuclear weapons and even achieve parity. In this way, the United States could wipe out most of the Soviet nuclear capability and win the war.
The operative word was “most.” When President Kennedy asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff how many Soviet nuclear bombs would be likely to hit the United States in a retaliatory strike, they responded that it might be enough to kill only 40 million Americans. Since the entire Soviet Union, including all the communists in the country, would be wiped out with a nuclear carpet-bombing campaign and since the U.S. would have lost only 40 million Americans in a retaliatory strike, the U.S. would be considered the winner of the war.
As President Kennedy departed from a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in which their first-strike recommendation was discussed, he remarked indignantly to an aide, “And we call ourselves the human race.”
The thing that most of the mainstream media miss in the Korean crisis is the reason why North Korea has been striving for nuclear weapons. The U.S. press continues to imply that North Korea wants such missiles for offensive purposes — that is, to initiate a nuclear war against the United States.
Not so. North Korea knows that if it did that, the U.S. government would respond with the same type of carpet-bombing campaign that it waged during the Korean War, only this time with hundreds or thousands of nuclear bombs. North Korea does not wish to go out of existence, which is precisely why it has no interest in initiating a nuclear attack on the United States.
So why does North Korea want nuclear weapons, especially ones that can reach the United States? It wants them for the same reason that Cuba, another communist state, wanted nuclear weapons back in 1962 — for defensive purposes.
Defense against whom?
Defense against the U.S government, of course.
Think back to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Cuba had never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so. It was the CIA that had attacked Cuba. The reason? Regime change, a core principal of the U.S. national-security state since its inception after WWII. Both the Pentagon and the CIA were determined to oust Fidel Castro from power and replace him with a pro-U.S. dictator, similar to the one who Castro ousted from power, Fulgencio Batista.
That was the purpose of those Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba — not to start a nuclear war with the United States but simply to deter the U.S. government from invading Cuba again and effecting a regime-change operation there.
As we all know, even though the Cold War supposedly ended in 1989, the Pentagon and the CIA have never given up their dream of regime change in Cuba. That’s what the U.S. embargo is still all about.
By the same token, the Pentagon and the CIA have also never given up their dream of a regime change in North Korea, whose regime they believe is even more evil than the one in Cuba. North Korea knows that they have never given up that dream. It also knows that it could never defeat the United States in a war. Thus, North Korean officials know that their only chance is to acquire nuclear weapons in the hopes of deterring a U.S. regime-change operation.
After all, whatever else might be said of North Korean officials, they are not stupid. They saw the U.S. back off from regime change in Cuba when faced with nuclear weapons. They saw Saddam Hussein, who did not have nuclear weapons (despite false assurances from U.S. officials that he did), lose power (and his life) in a U.S. regime-change operation. They saw what happened to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, after the U.S. targeted him for a regime-change operation. The last thing that North Korean officials want to hear is someone like Hillary Clinton proudly exclaiming about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un what she said after Qaddafi was killed in the Libya regime-change operation: “We came, we saw, he died.”
Why might Trump and the Pentagon strike now? Not just because of Trump’s erraticism, but also because the Pentagon sees its hope of regime change in North Korea slipping away. If they strike now, the chances of nuclear retaliation against the United States are virtually nil. The longer they wait, the greater the chances that North Korea will improve its capability of striking the United States with a nuclear attack.
The dark irony in all this is that the only reason that North Korea wants nuclear weapons is because of the U.S. national-security state’s post-World War II foreign policy of empire and intervention. If the U.S. government had never intervened in Korea’s civil war and if it had never engaged in regime-change operations around the world, none of this would be happening.
It is that foreign policy of empire, interventionism, and regime-change that might now lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Koreans and the tens of thousands of U.S. troops who are stationed there as a “trip wire” to guarantee U.S. entry into another Korean war.
At this point, the best thing Trump could ever do is simply order all U.S. troops in Korea to return home immediately and leave Korea to the Koreans. Unfortunately, however, given the Pentagon’s and the CIA’s Cold War mindset, that is not likely to happen.Born in Harlem and raised in Bensonhurst, Jerome Liebling enlisted to fight in World War II, then returned to study art thanks to the G.I. Bill. In the late 40s, he joined the Photo League, a group who aimed, through their work, to shed light on poverty and other issues of social justice. Liebling, who passed away in 2011, then spent decades establishing an art and film program at the University of Minnesota, only to return to his hometown in the 70s, when the Bronx was already burning and Brighton Beach was poised for a major demographic shift. "Renowned for capturing the city's poetic and fleeting moments with a social-minded sensibility," Liebling's body of work is vast, spanning boroughs, decades, and photographic stylesabove all, "trying to find the meaning behind everyday New Yorkers." Inspirational to documentary-makers everywhere, he was "so authentic, in a way that a lot of us had never experienced," said Ken Burns. "You wanted to be like him. You wanted to tell the truth."
Fifty of his photos are on display in "Jerome Liebling: Brooklyn and Other Boroughs, April 24th – June 6th 2015" at the Steven Kasher Gallery until June 6. Go forth.
· Jerome Liebling: Brooklyn and Other Boroughs, 1946-1996 [Steven Kasher Gallery]
· Jerome Liebling [official]
· The Still-Life Mentor to a Filmmaking Generation [NYT]We are volunteer-run no-income service, and sometimes, we need your help!
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Pledge details: This was a huge success! I am absolutely overwhelmed by your support, and deeply appreciate it. While I was asleep, we ended up with +$772 extra balance; I created a special section at the end of the page for this "repo.or.cz fund".
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Pledge details: Unfortunately, the current admin (Petr Baudis) can't spend nearly as much time on repo.or.cz maintenance and enhancements as it would deserve. Thus, he's seeking for volunteers to help with both day-to-day maintenance and development. You will be richly credited and eternal glory in the Git community awaits you, plus it will surely make a great CV bullet-point! :) We are sure really cool things could be done by developers with fresh ideas, especially after the hardware upgrade. (more details)
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I gave at TedXUniversityofArizona (now TEDXRillitoRiver) in May of 2013. Enjoy!
—
Have you ever had that dream where you are back in school, except that you realize you are naked, and all of your classmates are pointing and laughing at you? Do you remember the shame, the helpless frustration of that dream?
Well, that dream was my life. Not that I went to school naked. But the shame and frustration — that was my reality. Every day, I felt like school was a warzone, and everybody else was on the other army. I felt like everybody was against me, but I didn’t know why, or how to fix it.
Welcome to my life, at age 7.
This is me. I was awkward. I didn’t have a terrible life growing up — my family loved me, I usually had at least one friend, and when it came to Super Mario Brothers…I was a pretty big deal.
But I didn’t fit in at school, or anywhere really. And I didn’t know why.
I would try my hardest to make friends and I just….wouldn’t. People would become upset with me for reasons that I couldn’t see. When I would try to be friendly, people would be mean to me.
There are three memories I have from that time.
First, walking home from school with my mom, saying “How do you TALK to people? I don’t even know how to TALK to people! How do conversations work?”
Second, sitting down at a lunch table and seeing every other kid at the table stand up and move away. Me being me, I decided to exploit my newfound power, and so I kept following the kids from table to table, forcing them around the lunch room for several minutes before giving up and eating alone.
Third, coming home from school running into my Dad’s arms, sobbing “I’m bad, I’m bad, I’m bad”
That was elementary school for me. It was a hard time. Middle school was a little better, but I still had a lot of challenges. I mean, here’s a picture from middle school — I’m the kid in the tie dye. As you can see, I still had some trouble fitting in.
So it wasn’t until high school when things started to turn around.
See, my parents are great parents. They’re in the audience, and I strongly encourage you to give them a high five before you leave — they deserve it. And while no parent wants to believe that their kid is “different,” by this point my parents had realized that maybe I was marching to a different drummer, or maybe an entirely different orchestra.
So right before I started high school, my parents took me to a psychologist, and I was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.
In case you haven’t heard of Asperger’s, we’ll do a quick lesson. It’s a neurological condition on the autistic spectrum that makes it so that I couldn’t learn social skills naturally.
You can think of it this way. If you are a baby born in Japan, you’re going to naturally learn Japanese, just by hearing others speak it around you. But if you take an adult who has never spoken Japanese and drop them in the middle of Tokyo, they’re going to have a much harder time.
If you’re someone without Asperger’s, you just pick social skills up naturally — you’re like the baby born in Japan. If you’re someone with Asperger’s, social skills are like this foreign language that everyone else knows but you don’t — you’re the adult dropped in Tokyo without so much as a travel dictionary.
But remember, I didn’t know any of that growing up. I knew I was struggling socially, but I didn’t know why, or how to fix it. So for me, learning I had Asperger’s was this huge epiphany. When I was diagnosed, the psychologist gave me this big list of social skills that people with Asperger’s struggle with, and I was like
Ok. I can work with this.
So I started studying social skills. I read books on body language, conversation, etiquette — you name it. I watched movies with my parents and paused the movie to ask about social cues that I missed. Any opportunity I had to learn something new about social skills, I took it.
And as I studied, social interaction started to make sense, and I created my own ways for understanding and explaining the social world around me.
For instance, I read lots of books on body language, and they explained all of the little signals your body can send. One example: we point our feet at the thing we’re most interested in, so if you’re talking to someone and their feet start pointing towards the restroom, you should probably let them gracefully excuse themselves.
The problem is, every signal means something slightly different — rubbing your nose means uncertainty, while rubbing |
from falling on anyone’s crops.”5 It might help to explain here that “Ravololona” is the name of a famous Malagasy ody, or “charm.” A charm of that name was once part of the official pantheon of sampy, sometimes called “royal palladia” (Berg 1979), that protected the Merina kingdom in the nineteenth century; one manifestation of which was kept as a hail charm across the mountain from Betafo, the community where I did my doctoral fieldwork in Madagascar between 1989 and 1991.6 One finds it hard to imagine, Viveiros de Castro suggests, that “the Merina” would have agreed with such a statement. For this reason, my comment is the very definition of what should be an “illegal move” in anthropology, since I would appear to be appealing to a form of Western knowledge about reality, rooted in science, that makes universal claims and holds itself as necessarily superior to the understandings—or indeed, the realities—of those we study.7 There are a number of problems with this line of critique. One is the very existence of a group of people who can be referred to as “the Merina.” In the piece I actually carefully avoid using the word “Merina” in this way.8 There’s a simple reason. While “Merina” does seem to have been sometimes used in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a generic term for the inhabitants of the northern part of the central plateau of Madagascar, and has since become established in the anthropological literature, not a single person I encountered during my fieldwork ever referred to himor herself as “Merina.” They called themselves all sorts of other things: by their status group (andriana, hova, or mainty), geographically (“people from here in the center of the country …”), or many other ways beside. If they were speaking about fanafody or medicine, they almost invariably referred to themselves simply as “Malagasy,” as if to suggest that in this context, social or geographical differences were pretty much irrelevant. It made sense that they should do so, as ideas and practices concerning fanafody were indeed largely uniform across the island. But it raises some sticky questions for the ontologist. Medicine is always treated as a pan-Malagasy phenomenon; if there was a tacit ontology underlying it, presumably, it must be island-wide. Ideas about ancestors, on the other hand, varied considerably in different parts of the island. Does this mean reality was layered? And if someone living in Betafo might be in a different reality from someone in Tulear when dealing with ancestors, but in the same reality when it came to fanafody, then why can’t both of them be in the same reality as New Yorkers or Londoners in some third way, say, when it comes to epidemiology? This is not just idle musing. It’s directly relevant to the concept of fanafody, which was also used to refer to the kind of medicine one might have prescribed at a clinic or pharmaceutical dispensary. It was commonplace to juxtapose anything considered “Malagasy” with something else, that was considered “Vazaha”—a word which can be translated “French,” “of European stock,” or simply “foreign.” There were both Malagasy and Vazaha ways of doing most anything, from eating breakfast to engaging in political debate. This was true of medicine as well. But it’s important to emphasize that this habit is not just a product of colonialism. Madagascar was, from its initial settlement, a center of trade and migration, and there is reason to believe that the habit of juxtaposing “Malagasy” and foreign ways of doing things goes back to long before the colonial period, perhaps, even to the earliest days of human occupation (Graeber 2013a)—though presumably, at first, the paradigmatic foreigners were not Vazaha but Silamo (“Muslims”). What I’m getting at here is that it’s simply impossible to think of “magical power, as the Merina conceive it”—or even as Malagasy would conceive it—as existing in any sort of conceptual bubble, in which those ideas define their own reality. Fanafody has always been a form of engagement with a larger world. This is in part because it has always been seen as somehow quintessentially Malagasy and defined against the outside world; but it is also because, despite that, it has continually incorporated foreign techniques, objects, and ideas. In the seventeenth century, fanafody often seems to have involved bits of Arabic writing. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, at the height of the slave trade, charms were typically composed of two elements: rare woods, and trade beads or silver ornaments (the latter melted down from Maria Theresa thalers or similar coins). Both the beads and silver originally came into Madagascar as foreign money (Edmunds 1896; Bernard-Thierry 1946; Bloch 1990; Graeber 1996: 141.). This sense of dialogic confrontation inherent to the very constitution of fanafody was also reflected by the way people talked about it. Ways of talking about medicine are—and by all accounts have always been9—marked by an endless diversity of often contradictory perspectives, including expressions of dramatic skepticism. These contradictions are not incidental but constitutive of the nature of fanafody itself. *** This, in turn, leads to the most important point of all. Would a Malagasy informant object to the statement “Ravololona cannot really prevent hail from falling on anyone’s crops”? As someone who spent over a year living in a community once protected by a charm called Ravololona, and with neighbors that still were, I can assure the reader: people said things like that all the time. Of course it all depends on who you ask. Many inhabitants of Betafo were quite insistent that Ravololona could not prevent the hail under any circumstances, it was simply a fraud—and so, for that matter, was their own local hail charm, Ravatomaina, owned by a very ancient and venerable but highly controversial astrologer named Ratsizafy. Most of them were careful to add there were other hail charms that could stop hail, or that they were pretty sure there probably were. But a few denied the efficacy of hail charms of any sort. Arguments about the efficacy of one or another sort of fanafody, or of fanafody in general, were, in fact, so common I would even call them a popular form of entertainment—not as popular, perhaps, as arguments about money or complex polyamorous relationships, but popular nonetheless. In other words, my statement was not some kind of high-handed dismissal of conceptions held uniformly by some people called “the Merina,” it was an intervention in an ongoing Malagasy conversation. If it came off as slightly cavalier, it was only because I identified so thoroughly with my informants that I felt I could express myself as one of them might have done. What’s more, the existence of such arguments was the very starting point of my original analysis. Because this was one of the things that most surprised me when I started doing fieldwork; something I did not anticipate, and that did indeed unsettle my working assumptions. I went to Madagascar expecting to encounter something much like a different ontology, a set of fundamentally different ideas about how the world worked; what I encountered instead were people who admitted they did not really understand what was going on with fanafody, who said wildly different, and often contradictory, things about it, but who were all in agreement that most practitioners were liars, cheats, or frauds. Coming back from the field, I consulted with colleagues who had been in similar situations (in the Andes, Andaman Islands, Papua New Guinea …) and discovered that such sentiments are actually quite commonplace. They also confessed they never knew quite what to do with them. And in fact, this is precisely the aspect of magical practice that is most often dismissed as unimportant, or simply left out of ethnographic accounts. So I decided to take my informants seriously, and by doing so, to rethink my theoretical assumptions. As I point out in the passage cited by Viveiros de Castro, the essay on fetishism is an extension of an earlier argument: that of the last chapter of my book Toward an anthropological theory of value (2001).10 Now, I feel a bit awkward quoting myself, but in this instance it seems that I will have to. Here is how the chain of argument that led to the conclusions Viveiros de Castro cites originally began: Anthropologists usually acknowledge this sort of skepticism—the aura of at least potential disbelief that always seems to surround the sort of phenomena that gets labeled “magic”—but almost always, only to immediately dismiss it as unimportant. Evans-Pritchard, for instance, noted that most of Zande he knew insisted that the majority of witchdoctors were frauds and that there were only a handful of “reliable practitioners.” “Hence in the case of any particular witchdoctor they are never quite certain whether reliance can be placed on his statements or not” (1937: 276). Similar things have been reported about curers almost everywhere. But the conclusion is always the same: since everyone, or most everyone, agrees there are some legitimate practitioners, the skepticism is unimportant. Similarly with the tricks, illusions, and sleights of hand used by magical performers like shamans or mediums (pretending to suck objects out of people’s bodies, throwing voices, eating glass). The classic text here being of course Levi-Strauss’ “The sorcerer and his magic” (1958), about a young Kwakiutl man who learned shamanic techniques in order to expose their practitioners as frauds, but who ended up becoming a successful curer anyway. The point is always that while curers (for instance) can hardly help but know that much of what they are doing is stage illusion, they also think that since it does cure people, on some level it must be true. So again, the tricks are of no significance. Now there are good historical reasons why anthropologists have tended to take this attitude—the existence of missionaries being only the most obvious—but what if we were to turn things around and consider this skepticism as interesting in itself? Take attitudes toward curers. Evans-Pritchard says that at Zande seances, no one in the audience “was quite certain” whether or not the curer they were watching was a charlatan; I found this to be equally true in Madagascar. People tended to change their minds about particular curers all the time. But consider what this means. Curers, genuine or not, are clearly powerful and influential people. It means anyone watching a performance was aware that the person in front of them might be one whose power was based only on their ability to convince others that they had it. And that, it seems to me, opens the way for some possibly profound insights into the nature of social power. (Graeber 2001: 243–44) In other words, far from arrogantly discounting what my informants told me, I was trying to take those informants seriously, even when they were making the sort of statements that other ethnographers ordinarily dismiss as unimportant, or outright ignore. Neither was the assertion that medicine only operates by convincing others that it is effective just something I extrapolated from doubts about individual healers. Most people I knew in Madagascar considered it a matter of common sense that if a person really didn’t believe in medicine, it wouldn’t work on them. Very early on, for instance, I heard a story about an Italian priest sent there to take up a parish who, on his first day in the country, was invited to dinner by a wealthy Malagasy family. In the middle of the meal, everyone suddenly passed out. A few minutes later two burglars strolled in through the front door, and then, realizing someone was still awake, ran out again in fear. It turned out they had planted an ody in the house timed to make everyone in it fall asleep at six P.M. but since the priest was a foreigner who didn’t believe in that kind of nonsense, it had no effect on him. That much was common knowledge. Several people went even further and insisted that even if someone was using medicine to attack you, it wouldn’t work unless you knew they were doing it. Now, the first time I heard this it was from fairly well educated people and I strongly suspected they were just telling me what they thought I wanted to hear. After all, it almost precisely describes the attitude of most people in America: that if magic does work, it is purely by power of suggestion. But as time went on, I met a number of astrologers and curers, people who had next to no formal schooling and clearly would have had no idea what Americans were supposed to think (one of them was actually convinced I was African), who told me exactly the same thing. And just about anybody would agree with this if you asked them in the abstract. Usually they would then immediately begin to offer all sorts of qualifications—yes, it was true, unless, of course, it was something they’d put in your food. Or unless it was one of those really powerful love charms. Or unless … The bizarre thing is that this principle was utterly, completely, contradicted by practice. Everyone would agree to it, but no one ever acted as if it were true. If you got sick, you went to a curer. The curer would usually tell you that your illness was caused by someone using medicine of some kind and then, reveal who it was and how they’d done it. Obviously, if medicine can harm you only if you know someone is using it on you, the whole procedure would make no sense. In fact, the theory contradicts practice on almost every level. But if no one ever acts as if it were true, why did the theory even exist? (Graeber 2001: 244–45) As I mentioned, people discussed and argued about such matters all the time—not just about fanafody, but anything having to do with spirits, ancestors, or the general category of things that operated by imperceptible means (zavatra manan-kasina). It was precisely these conversations that led me to develop the notion of the paradox of creativity, and hence of politics.11 Such conversations knew endlessly subtleties, but speaking very broadly, they tended to take one of two directions. Either one started by asserting that what we might call magical powers did exist, but then immediately began qualifying that most of the concrete examples they actually knew about were probably simply social phenomenon (since the astrologers, or mediums, in question were imposters). Or one began by asserting that magical power was purely social in nature—and then, immediately began qualifying that, by noting certain types of fanafody that actually did seem to work whether you thought they should or not and even, in some cases, became particularly irritated at skeptics and punished them in horrible ways. In either case, I came to realize, “you have the same uncomfortable relation between two premises that are pretty clearly contradictory, yet in practice seem to depend on one another” (2001: 245). For instance, the premise that harmful medicine only affects you if you believe in it can only be true if most people think it isn’t true—since, obviously no one actually desires to be harmed by evil medicine. Similarly, the opposite premise, that spirits will punish those who scoff at them, obviously depends on the existence of skeptics. Most were quite aware of these paradoxes as well, and played around with them in endless ways. A teenage sister and brother, Nivo and Narcisse, whose parents had moved from the city to the countryside, once explained to me that as soon as they arrived in the village, their neighbors started using harmful medicine to try to cause them to fall ill, just so they would be forced to submit themselves to local healers who also happened to be figures of political authority. “Oh course it didn’t work on me,” Narcisse assured me, “I don’t believe in that sort of nonsense.” His sister looked slightly annoyed. “Well, I thought I didn’t believe in it either,” she said, “But I guess I must believe in it, because ever since I got here, I just keep getting sick all the time.” Most ethnographers have simply ignored such conundrums, or at best treated the skeptical discourse was somehow extraneous, foreign, a product of “Western” education, or otherwise as dross pasted over the real stuff (that is, whatever seems to most fly in the face of “Western common sense”). But in this case, the tension of the two contradictory perspectives pulling at one another is precisely what is constitutive of the world of fanafody, and everything associated with it. What’s more—and this is an argument that I cannot really develop here, but it’s important—political power was treated in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Merinaritual in much the same way. The powerful ody that protected the kingdom were similarly paradoxical: they were created by rituals which posited that they were both products of collective agreement, and autonomous powers in their own right.12 But so were kings. The Merina monarch was treated effectively as a kind of ody, and as such, both as a being created (and continually recreated) by the people through conscious acts of agreement,13 and as something prior to the very existence of the people, alien and incomprehensible—both at the same time. This, too, lead to endless unresolvable arguments: e.g., myths that claimed the ruling dynasty descended from heaven were always balanced by proverbs such as “kings did not really come down from the sky” (Graeber 2001: 237–38). And here too, the paradoxes were not incidental, but constitutive of the object; even Malagasy myths about the origins of life and death, which are surely seen as conveying important truths about the human condition, tend to end with the tag-line, “it is not I who lie; these lies come from ancient times.” Now, of course, the OTer might still object: perhaps what you say about fanafody is true on a certain level of practice. But is this not all premised on the possible existence of certain forms of power fundamentally different from those allowed for in the ethnographer’s commonsense universe, and therefore, a certain tacit ontology alien to our own? I would reply that this all turns on what one actually means by “ontology.” The meaning of the term is in no way self-evident. Many anthropologists have come to use it very loosely, as little more than a synonym for “culture” or “cosmology.” OTers have something much more specific in mind. Before responding, then, it well be necessary to delve a little more deeply into what that actually is.
Ontology, epistemology, and other mooted terms Go to Abstract The debate Ontology, epistemology, a... What if the world did exi... Malagasy epistemology, or... A final note on the polit... References Notes
One thing is abundantly clear: when proponents of the ontological turn in anthropology use the word “ontology,” they mean something very different from what philosophers have traditionally meant by the term. 1) Nothing exists;
2) If it did exist, it could not be known;
3) If it could be known, it could not be communicated.15 “Ontology”, like “epistemology,” or “semiology,” are words of relatively recent coinage. 14 Still the broad conceptual divisions they represent can be traced back to the very origins of Greek philosophy. As a handy mnemonic, I might here make appeal to the three premises put forward by the Sophist Gorgias of Leontini, a contemporary of Socrates, which together comprised the whole of his philosophy: Now, at first glance, these three premises might seem to deny the very existence of (1) ontology, (2) epistemology, and (3) semiology—or as most now prefer to call it, semiotics. But in fact this is not the case. This is because “ontology” is not a word for “being,” “way of being,” or “mode of existence,” but refers instead to a discourse (logos) about the nature of being (or alternately, about its essence, or about being as such, or in itself, or about the basic building blocks of reality … the only really important word at this initial juncture is “about”). Therefore, “nothing exists” is an ontological statement. Similarly, “if it did exist, it could not be known” is an epistemological statement, if obviously a rather minimal one: since epistemology is not knowledge of the world but rather, a discourse concerning the nature and possibility of knowledge about the world. (Note too that such knowledge presupposes, as Gorgias was aware, the existence of a world that knowledge can be about. You can’t have knowledge of something that isn’t there—other than the knowledge that it isn’t. Gorgias is just adding that you can’t have knowledge of something that is there either [not that anything is there].) Finally, semiotics is not communication, but the study of communication, or more broadly a discourse about the nature and possibility of communication,16 and therefore presumes that there’s something to be communicated. In contrast, when OTers deploy these words, they seem to mean something quite different. To propose an initial approximation: ontology corresponds to “way of being” or “manner of being,” epistemology “way or manner of knowing,” and semiotics, if the term is used it at all (it has become unfashionable), as “way or manner of communicating.” Now there’s nothing wrong with using words in a new way, but if one does so, and does not make it clear how one’s new usage differs from the more traditional one, one is likely to cause confusion. Many of what are now considered the founding texts of OT do seem to be trying their best to avoid such confusion. “Since these terms—‘epistemology’ and ‘ontology’—are much used and abused in present day discourse,” note Henare, Holbraad, and Wastel in what is generally considered the most important founding text of all, the introduction to Thinking through things (2006: 8), “it is important to be quite explicit about what work we want them to do for our argument.” But it’s not clear that they entirely succeed. It might be helpful, I think, to look at this essay in particular, to make clear the kind of slippage these terms undergo. The authors’ central argument is that preceding decades had begun to see a broad—and hitherto unacknowledged—shift (or “turn”) in anthropological theory “from questions of knowledge and epistemology towards those of ontology” (2006: 8).17 Previous anthropology, they note, like most social sciences, saw itself as a form of knowledge, and consequently, saw its mission as a matter of understanding and accounting for the forms of knowledge of those it studied (their cultures, symbolic systems, or worldviews). What this tended to mean in practice was imposing some theoretical model (Structuralism, Hermeneutics, Dialectical Materialism …) as the framework for understanding what Malinowski originally called “the natives’ point of view.” Yet it has become increasingly clear this was a trap. It’s only by moving away from this “epistemological orientation” towards an “ontological orientation” that we can allow our informants to set the terms, even if it means “unsettling” our own theoretical assumptions of what it is possible to say about them. This is an admirable aim, and certainly the idea that an ontological approach would mean taking one’s informants more seriously as interlocutors is the heart of its appeal. For the moment, though, I mainly want to draw attention to what is happening to the philosophical terms. The authors cite, as inspiration, a series of now-famous lectures delivered almost a decade before in Cambridge by Viveiros de Castro himself: Anthropology seems to believe that its paramount task is to explain how it comes to know (to represent) its object—an object also defined as knowledge (or representation). Is it possible to know it? Is it decent to know it? Do we really know it, or do we only see ourselves in a mirror? (Viveiros de Castro 1998: 92) This all-too-familiar question, “how can I know the Other?” is, absolutely, an epistemological question in the philosophical sense of the term. They go on to cite Viveiros de Castro’s conclusion, that this reflects a trap created by Modernist thought: The Cartesian rupture with medieval scholastics produced a radical simplification of our ontology, by positing only two principles or substances: unextended thought and extended matter. Such simplification is still with us. Modernity started with it: with the massive conversion of ontological into epistemological questions—that is, questions of representation—, a conversion prompted by the fact that every mode of being not assimilable to obdurate “matter” had to be swallowed by “thought.” The simplification of ontology accordingly led to an enormous complication of epistemology. After objects or things were pacified, retreating to an exterior, silent and uniform world of “Nature,” subjects began to proliferate and to chatter endlessly: transcendental Egos, legislative Understandings, philosophies of language, theories of mind, social representations, logic of the signifier, webs of signification, discursive practices, politics of knowledge—you name it. (ibid.) It seems to me that Viveiros de Castro’s assessment here is substantially correct as well. Obviously, the soul/body, mind/matter division was hardly the brainchild of Descartes; it goes back at least to Pythagoras. But Descartes introduced a much more radical version of the dichotomy, largely, I would argue, by eliminating the old Stoic/Neoplatonist category of imagination, which for the Scholastics had served as a quasi-material intermediary between the two.18 As a result, philosophy did turn away from questions about the nature of the world, which were increasingly relegated to science, and toward questions about the possibility of knowledge. Humean skepticism, and Kant’s apriorist response, were obviously crucial turning points in this respect. Viveiros de Castro goes on to argue that as a result, social sciences have tended to focus on questions of mind over body, intellect over lived reality. This is a somewhat tougher case to make (there’s an awful lot of resolutely materialist social science) but surely there are strong currents pulling in this direction. What I want to emphasize here though is that as he makes the argument, one can already observe the term “epistemology” shifting from its classic philosophical meaning (“questions about the nature or possibility of knowledge”) to “questions of knowledge,” and then to simply “knowledge.” Structuralism itself, to take one fairly random example, is hardly a form of “epistemology.” It might have involved an epistemology, a theory of the nature of knowledge, but when Claude Lévi-Strauss (1958) proposed a structural analysis of the Oedipus myth as a story about eyes and feet, he was in no sense elaborating on that theory. He was simply applying it, engaging in that sort of social science one would engage in if one assumed that theory was true.19 Henare, Holbraad, and Wastel (2006: 9) go on to argue: The assumption, then, has always been that anthropology is an episteme—indeed, the episteme of others’ epistemes, which we call cultures (cf. Wagner 1981; Strathern 1990). The inveteracy of this assumption, argued Viveiros de Castro, is owed to the fact that it is a direct corollary of “our” ontology—the ontology of modern Euro-Americans, that is. And the problem with that, in turn, is that since this Euro-American ontology assumes that there is one real world, one nature—the one revealed by Western science—it also assumes that difference can only be a matter of different perspectives on, or different ways of perceiving, knowing, or representing that single reality. This leads to a bifurcation within the sciences. “Natural” science is dedicated to unveiling the uniform laws that govern that undifferentiated reality; “social” science is the study of different ways different people think about or represent it. These formulations involve a curious effacement of the domain of action. Surely social scientists do not simply study how people perceive, know, or represent the world; they also study how they interact with it, shape it and are shaped by it—not to mention, how they act on one another. But framing things in this way would make it much more difficult to maintain the conceptual clarity of the argument.20 Instead, the authors conclude that what’s needed is not to examine how human projects of action, or for that matter, non-human projects, problematize these divisions (body/mind, nature/culture, material/ideal, etc.) but rather, to rethink the very idea that one can speak of a single, undifferentiated, natural world at all. Our insistence on the unity of nature (and therefore, as a corollary, our assumption that all difference can only be cultural) is, they say, a product of our own Western, dualist ontology. We should not impose it on others. In fact we should not even impose it on ourselves—at least, when we are thinking about others. In the presence of genuine alterity, we must speak not of people who have radically different beliefs about, or perceptions of, a single shared world, but of people who literally inhabit different worlds. We must accept the existence of “multiple ontologies.” Note here how in the course of this argument, the meaning of “ontology” has also undergone profound changes. After all, if “ontology” simply means a discourse about “the nature of being in itself,” one could hardly assert that Western philosophy is particularly monolithic: most philosophers considered “great” are considered great largely because they came up with a different ontology, and even OTers draw much of their conception of what a non-dualist ontology might be like from the work of Gilles Deleuze, who never claimed to be doing anything more than writing his own creative synthesis of ideas derived from such post-Cartesian philosophers as Leibniz, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Bergson, and Whitehead. So “ontology” drifts from being an explicit form of philosophical discourse to referring to the—largely tacit—set of assumptions underlying the practice of natural and social science (which do tend to remain stubbornly fixed, whatever philosophers say about them), and from there, to being the tacit assumptions underlying any set of practices or modes of being of any kind at all. What happens, then, to the older philosophical conceptions—lets call them Ontology 1, Epistemology 1, and Semiotics 1, so as to distinguish them from the new OT usages, which we can refer to as Ontology 2 and Epistemology 2 —under this new dispensation? Well, if Epistemology 2 really just refers, as Henare, Holbraad, and Wastel (2006: 9) claim, to “systematic formulations of knowledge,” then it follows that all branches of philosophy, including Ontology 1, Epistemology 1, and Semiotics 1, are simply different forms of Epistemology 2 —and therefore, precisely what OT thinkers propose to move away from. In which case, would not Ontology 2 have to refer (just by process of elimination) to tacit assumptions about the nature of being “in itself ” and the forms of action and modes of experience these make possible (or, possibly, too, to the anthropologists’ explicit theories about such tacit assumptions)? This would appear to be the case. But that raises another problem: What, in that case, would “in itself ” mean? Consider here the following definition, which I must emphasize comes from someone I consider to be an unusually subtle and philosophically sophisticated OT thinker: “Ontology—the investigation and theorization of diverse experiences and understandings of the nature of being itself ” (Scott 2013: 859) Let’s unpack this. So: ontology21 begins as a mode of academic theory-making, a form of discourse, but its object is not discourse (since that, presumably would be Epistemology 2 ) but “experiences and understandings of the nature of being itself.” “Understanding” sounds a lot like knowledge, but let’s say for the sake of argument that we are speaking of the tacit understandings underlying certain forms of “experience.” Arguably this might escape the charge of Epistemology 2. But that leads to the question: How exactly is it possible to have an experience of “the nature of being itself ”? One can certainly have experience of specific manifestations of being (toothpicks, oceans, bad music coming from a party upstairs …). But normally that’s just called “experience.” Perhaps a mystical experience, such as might have been had by Jalal al-din al-Rumi or Meister Eckhart, might qualify as an experience of “the nature of being itself ”? But presumably, this is not the sort of thing the author is talking about either. It only really makes sense if “being itself ” is simply whatever “understandings” people might be said to have of it. In which case all “itself ” is really doing here is pointing to that familiar anthropological object, the tacit assumptions about the nature of time, space, action, personhood, and so on, that underlie what used to be called a particular cultural universe—just, now constructed as an “as if,” the sort of Ontology 1 one imagines the people one is studying would construct, were they the sort of people who spent their time engaging in speculative philosophy. If so, the meaning has changed little since Irving Hallowell first introduced the word in his essay “Objiway ontology, behavior, and world-view” back in 1960.22 What’s changed is not the quest for underlying assumptions, but the larger significance being ascribed to them. What OTers are arguing, unless I very much misunderstand them, is that when in the presence of assumptions, or as they put it, “conceptions” that are sufficiently foreign to the ethnographer’s own (e.g., that stones are persons, or powder is power), the ethnographer must act as if those conceptions are—for the speakers, and anyone presumed to share their Ontology 2 —constitutive of reality, and therefore of nature, itself. This “as if ” is crucial. Saying there are “many natures” might seem like a very radical claim. But no one is actually arguing that there are parts of the world where water runs uphill, there are three-headed flying monkeys, or pi calculates to 3.15. They are not even suggesting there are really places where tapirs live in villages—at least, if “really” means it would make sense to say tapirs live in villages even in a world where there had never been Amerindians who said they did. Each different nature, then, can only exist in relation to a specific group of human beings sharing the same Ontology 2. This at least saves the formulation from obvious absurdity. But even here, the language often seems to slip back and forth between the subjunctive “as if ” and simple declarative. Here is Henare, Holbraad, and Wastel (2006: 14, italics in the original) defending their claims that, say, Cuban Ifá diviners exist in a different “world” against the obvious objection: If things really are different, as we argue, then why do they seem the same? If “different worlds” reside in things, so to speak, then how could we have missed them for so long? Why, when we look at Cuban diviners’ powders, do we see just that—powder? … [Because] the very notion of perception simply reiterates the distinction that “different worlds” collapses. The point about different worlds is that they cannot be “seen” in a visualist sense. They are, as it were, a-visible. In other words, collapsing the distinction between concepts and things (appearance and reality) forces us to conceive of a different mode of disclosure altogether. At first glance, this seems to make no kind of sense. If one dissolves away the distinction between appearance and reality as so much false Cartesian dualism, shouldn’t that mean that things are what they appear to be, and therefore, that things that look the same are the same and that’s pretty much that? But what the authors are really saying is very different: that we shouldn’t pay too much attention to what things look like, but should instead listen to what people say. Moreover, [authoritative] statements must be treated as a window onto “concepts,” and concepts treated—through a form of “radical constructivism”—as if they were themselves realities of the same ontological standing as “things,” or indeed, constitutive of the world itself.23 The “ontological turn,” then, involves not only abandoning the project of ontology1, but adopting a tacit ontology which seems indistinguishable from classical philosophical Idealism.24 Ideas generate realities. One could go even further. What they seem to be proposing is abandoning the entire project of philosophy (or at least, philosophy in anything like the forms it has historically taken in Europe, India, China, or the Islamic World.) Science, in contrast, would be preserved, but as the special property of “Westerners” or “Euro-Americans”25—which if taken seriously, would amount to one of the greatest acts of intellectual theft in human history, since after all, much of what underlies what we now call “Western science” was actually developed in places like Persia, Bengal, and China, and in (dare I say?) the real world. Most scientific research is no longer being conducted by Euro-Americans at all. *** I know this is a bit unfair. Such proposals are not really meant to be taken in this kind of programmatic way. More than anything else, OT is a theoretical framework designed to open space in order to engage in a particular form of ethnographic practice. And this form of practice is not without its merits. Having said much that is critical, let me end, then, on a positive note. I think the real strength of OT lies in the fact that it encourages what might be called a stance of creative respect towards the object of ethnographic inquiry. By this I mean first of all that it starts from the assumption that since the worlds we are studying cannot be entirely known, what we are really in the presence of is—as Viveiros de Castro (2015: 13) puts it, borrowing language from Deleuze, “the possibility, the threat or promise of another world contained in the ‘face/gaze of the other,’” a possibility that can only be realized through the ethnographer, even as the ethn |
seeks $1 billion in damages and alleges that tens of thousands of distributors were “unknowingly recruited into Defendants’ pyramid scheme through manipulation and misinformation.” The second suit filed four days later claims that “[t]he only people who make money from the LLR pyramid scheme are the very few at the top of the pyramid.”
In April, a consumer whose pair of $25 LuLaRoe leggings ripped the first time she wore them and who couldn’t obtain a refund from the company filed a lawsuit in Oregon state court. The lawsuit alleges that the company is fully aware that the leggings are defective but “recklessly continues to manufacture, market, and sell them to Oregon consumers anyway.” It seeks to require the company to pull the leggings off the market.
In March, two customers, who operate a Facebook page dedicated to complaints about defective LuLaRoe leggings and clothing items that has more than 25,000 members, filed a federal class-action lawsuit alleging that the company has failed to employ proper quality control measures to avoid shipping out defective products and that it represents that the products are fit for normal use despite knowing about the defects.
The lawsuit also alleges that the company shifts the burden of the defective products to its distributors who have to deal with consumer refunds and returns. The distributors, according to the lawsuit, have difficulty reaching the company to obtain credits for returned goods and have reported that when they call LuLaRoe they are placed on hold for an hour, then disconnected, and their emails are not answered. The suit states:
Aside from investing thousands of dollars and having to sell hundreds if not thousands of pieces of Defendants’ clothing to make a return on their investment, excluding the time and expenses involved Fashion Consultants’ ability to be profitable is also greatly diminished because of the defective Products they receive from Defendants.
The suit claims that during a weekly conference call, the founders told distributors not to spend time and energy sending defective products back to the company but to resell them instead.
LuLaRoe said in a statement to TINA.org that it stands by the quality of its products and that the lawsuit is without merit.
The company established a new returns policy in April allowing customers who aren’t satisfied with a purchase to return it for a full refund, credit or exchange within the first 30 days and a credit or exchange within 90 days. In addition, a new “Make Good Program” allows anyone who purchased a clothing item between Jan. 1, 2016 and April 24, 2017 that is defective to return it to the distributor for a gift card, refund or replacement if they file a claim by July 31 2017. The returns do not cover items that ripped because of improper care or normal wear and tear, among other exceptions.
But a lawsuit filed in May in federal court in California alleges that the new return policies fail to provide adequate relief for consumer and aggressively shifts the burden of the company’s defective product issues to distributors.
One lawsuit filed against the company alleges that it illegally used a design developed by a Hungarian artist as a pattern on its clothing. The artist filed the lawsuit in January alleging that the company misappropriated his “Cool Lion” design and marketed items with a similar pattern. LuLaRoe said it is investigating this claim and is trying to resolve the matter.
Another complaint, a federal class-action lawsuit filed against the company in February, focuses on the taxing issue that was the subject of many FTC complaints. It alleges that the company collected sales tax on purchases in locations where there are no such tax. LuLaRoe’s payment platform charges customers a retail tax based on the location of the distributors selling the item, though retail sales are only subject to taxation regulations based on where the goods are delivered.
LuLaRoe told TINA.org the tax issue stemmed from a software failure that misidentified the accurate location of its purchasers and that it is in the process of providing refunds to all affected customers.
It is not the first tax issue company owners Mark and DeAnne have faced. The IRS and California have placed liens against their properties and businesses totaling more than $700,000 in the past decade and property records show several remain outstanding. The company said the Stidhams have been “very transparent about the financial challenges they faced prior to the launch of LuLaRoe and the success of the business” and that “all viable liens have been satisfied and resolved.”Leave it to Teatro ZinZanni to leave us hanging. After losing its home on Lower Queen Anne in March, the much-loved dinner theater has relocated its antique Belgian spiegeltent (mirror tent) to Redmond’s Marymoor Park for a six-month run of its classic production, Love, Chaos and Dinner.
On the menu is the same winning combo of cabaret, cirque and comedy, plus the usual multicourse dinner. But this time with James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Wilson—who has been busy shaking up Bellevue's dining scene and getting into the wine country resort game—at the culinary helm.
You’ll have your work cut out for you just trying to dine while taking in the spectacle, so don’t worry too much about the plot. If tradition holds, you’ll leave with all your senses sated, thanks to a cast of Teatro veterans, like yodeling dominatrix Manuela Horn, trapeze artists Duo Madrona and singer, dancer and comedienne Ariana Savalas as Madame ZinZanni.
Teatro ZinZanni
10/19–4/29/2018.
Times and prices vary.
Marymoor Park, Redmond, 6046 W Lake Sammamish Pkwy
888.929.7849; zinzanni.comSouth African Cave Yields Strange Bones Of Early Human-Like Species
Enlarge this image toggle caption Photo by Robert Clark/National Geographic Photo by Robert Clark/National Geographic
Scientists have discovered the fossilized remains of an unusual human-like creature that lived long ago. Exactly how long ago is still a mystery — and that's not the only mystery surrounding this newfound species.
The bones have a strange mix of primitive and modern features, and were found in an even stranger place — an almost inaccessible chamber deep inside a South African cave called Rising Star.
"It is perhaps one of the best-known caves in all of South Africa," says Lee Berger, who studies human evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
In 2013, some local cavers found some fossils inside Rising Star cave. Berger had asked them to be on the lookout, so they brought him photos.
"And there I saw something I perhaps thought I'd never see in my life," recalls Berger. "That is, clearly primitive hominin remains lying on the floor of a cave."
A jaw and a skull were just sitting there in the dirt — usually such bones are encased in rock.
Berger was excited, but he knew he personally could never reach this fossil site. To get into the cave chamber, you have to climb a steep, jagged rockfall called Dragon's Back, then wiggle through a small opening that leads to a long, narrow crack.
The crack is only about 7 1/2 inches wide, and goes down more than 30 feet. Squeezing through it is the only way to reach the chamber of bones at the bottom.
Since he couldn't go, Berger sent in his tall, skinny 16-year-old son. "When he came out after 45 minutes, he stuck his head out. And to tell you how bad I am, I didn't say: 'Are you OK?' I said: 'And?' And he says, 'Daddy, it's wonderful.' "
Enlarge this image toggle caption Photo by Robert Clark/National Geographic/Source: Source: Lee Berger, Wits, photographed at Evolutionary Studies Institute Photo by Robert Clark/National Geographic/Source: Source: Lee Berger, Wits, photographed at Evolutionary Studies Institute
Berger got funding from the National Geographic Society to excavate the site. And he advertised for research assistants on Facebook — for skinny scientists who weren't claustrophobic. Six women took the job.
They worked in the chamber almost like spacewalkers, communicating with researchers outside via cameras and about 2 miles of fiber optic cable. The team in the chamber used paintbrushes and toothpicks to gently unearth fossil bones — there were more than 1,550 of them, an incredible treasure trove. The researchers describe their find Thursday in a journal called eLife.
"Often I was wondering, 'How on Earth are we going to get that fossil out?' because the density of bones in that chamber was so great, it was like a puzzle to get each fossil out," says Becca Peixotto, one of the scientist-cavers and a doctoral student in anthropology at American University.
The bones come from at least 15 individuals, says John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist from the University of Wisconsin, Madison who was on the team that studied the bones.
"We have every age group represented" among the fossils, he says. "We have newborns; we have children of almost every age; we have adults and old adults."
He says these creatures were short — less than 5 feet tall — and thin. They have a particular combination of features that has never been seen before. "It's a new species to science," says Hawks. Researchers have named it Homo naledi, because "naledi" means "star" in a local South African language.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Photo by Mark Thiessen/National Geographic Photo by Mark Thiessen/National Geographic
"They have a very small brain — they are not human-like at all in their brain," Hawks says. "It's around a third the size of a human brain today."
But the creatures had feet like us, and walked in a very human-like way. Their hands were also like ours, but their fingers were more curved.
The researchers also tackled this question: How did these human-like creatures get into such a crazy spot? It looks as though the cave chamber has always been hard to reach.
There are no animal bones there, except for a handful of bits from birds and mice. There's no evidence that a carnivore dragged the human-like creatures in, or that they somehow got washed in. And there's no evidence of a mass death, such as a cave accident.
toggle caption Photo by Mark Thiessen/National Geographic
Berger believes someone had to have put the bodies there.
"Homo naledi was deliberately disposing of its dead in a repeated, ritualized fashion in this deep underground chamber," he says.
That's quite a claim — that kind of ritual has been thought to be unique to modern humans or our very close relatives.
And really, the whole discovery — from the bones to their bizarre location — has perplexed experts on human evolution.
"To be honest, I would really distrust anyone who thinks they understand what the significance of these finds is," says Bernard Wood, a paleoanthropologist at George Washington University.
Usually scientists can tell how old fossilized bones are, but in this case the geology of the cave gives no clues. The bones could be less than 100,000 years old or several million years old.
"These folks do not have an age, yet they have some remarkable fossils, and the context of them is also remarkable," says Wood. "It's not only remarkable, it's also rather weird. But nonetheless, the fossils are important. So the community is, I think, struggling to work out what it all means."
He notes that only a small section of the cave chamber has been excavated, and it looks like many more bones are down there.
"There is the potential for thousands of specimens in that cave," says Wood. "Intellectually, it's a real puzzle. And I think it's going to take scientists quite a time to get their heads around what the real significance of these discoveries is."The latest GDP figures are out. These figures are a measure of economic activity, but say nothing about what that activity is. GDP counts growth in the illegal drugs and sex market just the same as the growth in farming or manufacturing, for instance.
As usual, news reporters and analysts will be scrambling to ask what this means for the UK economy. But the real question is what is means for the lives of people across the UK. And the answer? Very little.
The economy this figure describes does not reflect the reality of life for most people. The UK’s economy is so strongly rigged in favour of the few, that, despite economic growth since 2007, most people haven’t seen an increase in incomes.. Meanwhile, the wealth and income of the top 1% and top 0.1% has soared.
The UK is also one of the most regionally unequal countries in Europe, with a vast proportion of GDP remaining in the capital.
Figure 1: GDP per person in regions across the UK
Gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant in purchasing power standard (PPS) in relation to the EU28 average, by NUTS2 regions, 2014. Source: Eurostat
For people waking up this morning in Bradford, Plymouth or Sunderland, these figures might as well be describing another country altogether.
Last year millions voted against business as usual, ignoring the stat-based economic arguments of the Remain campaign. It’s clear we need a new way of talking about and understanding our economy.
Key to that is how we measure success, properly holding the government to account on the things that really matter: health, inequality, wellbeing and taking care of our environment.
As we begin the process of leaving the EU, focusing on what we need the economy to achieve has never been more crucial. While the government’s industrial strategy is right to focus on creating jobs, we have to ask what kind of jobs?
The UK’s labour market resembles an hourglass. We have lots of very highly paid jobs in technology and finance, and far too many low paid, insecure jobs in retail and services, with a hollowing out of jobs in the middle. While we avoided the worst effects of unemployment during the recession, research suggests that this was at the expense of the quality of jobs.
The first pillar of Theresa May’s proposal for an industrial strategy is investment in science, research and innovation. It’s an important step, but we cannot fix Britain’s economy with more very highly paid, highly skilled jobs alone.
The regions currently suffering most are those where traditional industries have declined and nothing has replaced them. As we have found in our pioneering work with coastal communities, there is huge untapped potential and energy in these areas. People want to take control of what economic development looks like in their areas.
Having a job is about much more than just having money. What we desperately need are jobs that not only decently paid, but also reflect peoples’ aspirations and skills, offering security, a sense of purpose and opportunities for progression.
As plans for the industrial strategy unfold we must look beyond projections of how much they will boost GDP, looking instead at the extent to which they will create decent jobs, tackle regional inequalities, and give communities genuine collective control over their own futures.
Only then can our economy truly start improving peoples’ lives.heic1015 — Photo Release
Breaking waves in the stellar Lagoon
A spectacular new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the heart of the Lagoon Nebula. Seen as a massive cloud of glowing dust and gas, bombarded by the energetic radiation of new stars, this placid name hides a dramatic reality.
The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a dramatic view of gas and dust sculpted by intense radiation from hot young stars deep in the heart of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8). This spectacular object is named after the wide, lagoon-shaped dust lane that crosses the glowing gas of the nebula.
This structure is prominent in wide-field images, but cannot be seen in this close-up. However the strange billowing shapes and sandy texture visible in this image make the Lagoon Nebula’s watery name eerily appropriate from this viewpoint too.
Located four to five thousand light-years away, in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer), Messier 8 is a huge region of star birth that stretches across one hundred light-years. Clouds of hydrogen gas are slowly collapsing to form new stars, whose bright ultraviolet rays then light up the surrounding gas in a distinctive shade of red.
The wispy tendrils and beach-like features of the nebula are not caused by the ebb and flow of tides, but rather by ultraviolet radiation’s ability to erode and disperse the gas and dust into the distinctive shapes that we see.
In recent years astronomers probing the secrets of the Lagoon Nebula have found the first unambiguous proof that star formation by accretion of matter from the gas cloud is ongoing in this region.
Young stars that are still surrounded by an accretion disc occasionally shoot out long tendrils of matter from their poles. Several examples of these jets, known as Herbig-Haro objects, have been found in this nebula in the last five years, providing strong support for astronomers’ theories about star formation in such hydrogen-rich regions.
The Lagoon Nebula is faintly visible to the naked eye on dark nights as a small patch of grey in the heart of the Milky Way. Without a telescope, the nebula looks underwhelming because human eyes are unable to distinguish clearly between colours at low light levels.
Charles Messier, the 18th century French astronomer, observed the nebula and included it in his famous astronomical catalogue, from which the nebula’s alternative name comes. But his relatively small refracting telescope would only have hinted at the dramatic structures and colours now visible thanks to Hubble.
Notes
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
Image credit: NASA, ESA
Contacts
Oli Usher
Junior ESA/Hubble Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Email: [email protected] day, another embarrassing foreign policy circus in the nation’s capital that can only further erode trust in American leadership at home and abroad. At its center is Rex Tillerson, who traded his job as top dog at the oil giant ExxonMobil to become secretary of state, only to find himself substantively and personally undercut by President Trump as recently as Sunday on the issue of Korea, where Mr. Tillerson wanted negotiations as Mr. Trump threatened war.
On Wednesday, after NBC News reported that Mr. Tillerson was on the verge of resigning last summer, the secretary quickly called a news conference in which he asserted that he never considered doing so, though he did not personally deny a report that he had grown so disenchanted with the man in the Oval Office that he once called him a “moron” at a Pentagon meeting with the national security team and cabinet officials. Mr. Tillerson was said to be particularly upset by Mr. Trump’s highly politicized speech to the Boy Scouts of America, an organization the secretary once led. Various other Trump officials reportedly urged him to stay on at least until the end of the year, and Vice President Mike Pence counseled him on ways to ease tensions with the president.
The conflicts are numerous and mounting. Last week, in Beijing, Mr. Tillerson described efforts to explore contacts with North Korea over the nuclear issue, only to have Mr. Trump scorn the initiative as a waste of time, leaving the impression that he was focused mainly on military options. In June, Mr. Tillerson called on Saudi Arabia and other gulf states to ease their blockade of Qatar, only to have Mr. Trump endorse the crackdown. The Trump administration has twice certified that Iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear deal that was one of former President Barack Obama’s major diplomatic achievements. Mr. Trump has left little doubt about his contempt for the deal.
Domestic issues have also caused a wedge. Mr. Trump reportedly was furious when Mr. Tillerson distanced himself from the president’s disgraceful handling of the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Va., by saying the “president speaks for himself.”“I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.”
-George Washington. Letter, April 21, 1778.
“True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels them—-the desire to do right—-is precisely the same.”
-Robert E. Lee, letter to General P. G. T. Beauregard, October 3, 1865
There seems no reason why patriotism and narrowness should go together, or why intellectual fairmindedness should be confounded with political trimming,* or why serviceable truth should keep cloistered because not partisan.+
-Herman Melville (1819–1891)
*trimming= opportunism
+i.e. truth should not be hidden away just because it does not support the American cause.
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”
-Mark Twain
“How much longer are we going to think it necessary to be ‘American’ before (or in contradistinction to) being cultivated, being enlightened, being humane, & having the same intellectual discipline as other civilized countries? It is really too easy a disguise for our shortcomings to dress them up as a form of patriotism!”
-Edith Wharton
“My patriotism is not an exclusive thing. It is all-embracing and I should reject that patriotism which sought to mount the distress or exploitation of other nationalities.”
-Mohandas K. Gandhi
“I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility which will enable America to remain master of her power—-to walk with it in serenity and wisdom, with self-respect and the respect of all mankind; a patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. These are words that are easy to utter, but this is a mighty assignment. For it is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.”
– Adlai Stevenson
“We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior.”
-Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“It seems that American patriotism measures itself against an outcast group. The right Americans are the right Americans because they’re not like the wrong Americans, who are not really Americans.” –
-Eric J. Hobsbawm
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
-Howard Zinn“IT’S all to do with their brains and bodies and chemicals,” says Sir Anthony Seldon, the master of Wellington College, a posh English boarding school. “There’s a mentality that it’s not cool for them to perform, that it’s not cool to be smart,” suggests Ivan Yip, principal of the Bronx Leadership Academy in New York. One school charges £25,000 ($38,000) a year and has a scuba-diving club; the other serves subsidised lunches to most of its pupils, a quarter of whom have special needs. Yet both are grappling with the same problem: teenage boys are being left behind by girls.
It is a problem that would have been unimaginable a few decades ago. Until the 1960s boys spent longer and went further in school than girls, and were more likely to graduate from university. Now, across the rich world and in a growing number of poor countries, the balance has tilted the other way. Policymakers who once fretted about girls’ lack of confidence in science now spend their time dangling copies of “Harry Potter” before surly boys. Sweden has commissioned research into its “boy crisis”. Australia has devised a reading programme called “Boys, Blokes, Books & Bytes”. In just a couple of generations, one gender gap has closed, only for another to open up.
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The reversal is laid out in a report published on March 5th by the OECD, a Paris-based rich-country think-tank. Boys’ dominance just about endures in maths: at age 15 they are, on average, the equivalent of three months’ schooling ahead of girls. In science the results are fairly even. But in reading, where girls have been ahead for some time, a gulf has appeared. In all 64 countries and economies in the study, girls outperform boys. The average gap is equivalent to an extra year of schooling.
xx > xy?
The OECD deems literacy to be the most important skill that it assesses, since further learning depends on it. Sure enough, teenage boys are 50% more likely than girls to fail to achieve basic proficiency in any of maths, reading and science (see chart 1). Youngsters in this group, with nothing to build on or shine at, are prone to drop out of school altogether.
To see why boys and girls fare so differently in the classroom, first look at what they do outside it. The average 15-year-old girl devotes five-and-a-half hours a week to homework, an hour more than the average boy, who spends more time playing video games and trawling the internet. Three-quarters of girls read for pleasure, compared with little more than half of boys. Reading rates are falling everywhere as screens draw eyes from pages, but boys are giving up faster. The OECD found that, among boys who do as much homework as the average girl, the gender gap in reading fell by nearly a quarter.
Once in the classroom, boys long to be out of it. They are twice as likely as girls to report that school is a “waste of time”, and more often turn up late. Just as teachers used to struggle to persuade girls that science is not only for men, the OECD now urges parents and policymakers to steer boys away from a version of masculinity that ignores academic achievement. “There are different pressures on boys,” says Mr Yip. “Unfortunately there’s a tendency where they try to live up to certain expectations in terms of [bad] behaviour.”
Boys’ disdain for school might have been less irrational when there were plenty of jobs for uneducated men. But those days have long gone. It may be that a bit of swagger helps in maths, where confidence plays a part in boys’ lead (though it sometimes extends to delusion: 12% of boys told the OECD that they were familiar with the mathematical concept of “subjunctive scaling”, a red herring that fooled only 7% of girls). But their lack of self-discipline drives teachers crazy.
Perhaps because they can be so insufferable, teenage boys are often marked down. The OECD found that boys did much better in its anonymised tests than in teacher assessments. The gap with girls in reading was a third smaller, and the gap in maths—where boys were already ahead—opened up further. In another finding that suggests a lack of even-handedness among teachers, boys are more likely than girls to be forced to repeat a year, even when they are of equal ability.
What is behind this discrimination? One possibility is that teachers mark up students who are polite, eager and stay out of fights, all attributes that are more common among girls. In some countries, academic points can even be docked for bad behaviour. Another is that women, who make up eight out of ten primary-school teachers and nearly seven in ten lower-secondary teachers, favour their own sex, just as male bosses have been shown to favour male underlings. In a few places sexism is enshrined in law: Singapore still canes boys, while sparing girls the rod.
Some countries provide an environment in which boys can do better. In Latin America the gender gap in reading is relatively small, with boys in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru trailing girls less than they do elsewhere. Awkwardly, however, this nearly always comes with a wider gender gap in maths, in favour of boys. The reverse is true, too: Iceland, Norway and Sweden, which have got girls up to parity with boys in maths, struggle with uncomfortably wide gender gaps in reading. Since 2003, the last occasion when the OECD did a big study, boys in a few countries have caught up in reading and girls in several others have significantly narrowed the gap in maths. No country has managed both.
Onwards and upwards
Girls’ educational dominance persists after school. Until a few decades ago men were in a clear majority at university almost everywhere (see chart 2), particularly in advanced courses and in science and engineering. But as higher education has boomed worldwide, women’s enrolment has increased almost twice as fast as men’s. In the OECD women now make up 56% of students enrolled, up from 46% in 1985. By 2025 that may rise to 58%.
Even in the handful of OECD countries where women are in the minority on campus, their numbers are creeping up. Meanwhile several, including America, Britain and parts of Scandinavia, have 50% more women than men on campus. Numbers in many of America’s elite private colleges are more evenly balanced. It is widely believed that their opaque admissions criteria are relaxed for men.
The feminisation of higher education was so gradual that for a long time it passed unremarked. According to Stephan Vincent-Lancrin of the OECD, when in 2008 it published a report pointing out just how far it had gone, people “couldn’t believe it”.
Women who go to university are more likely than their male peers to graduate, and typically get better grades. But men and women tend to study different subjects, with many women choosing courses in education, health, arts and the humanities, whereas men take up computing, engineering and the exact sciences. In mathematics women are drawing level; in the life sciences, social sciences, business and law they have moved ahead.
Social change has done more to encourage women to enter higher education than any deliberate policy. The Pill and a decline in the average number of children, together with later marriage and childbearing, have made it easier for married women to join the workforce. As more women went out to work, discrimination became less sharp. Girls saw the point of study once they were expected to have careers. Rising divorce rates underlined the importance of being able to provide for yourself. These days girls nearly everywhere seem more ambitious than boys, both academically and in their careers. It is hard to believe that in 1900-50 about half of jobs in America were barred to married women.
So are women now on their way to becoming the dominant sex? Hanna Rosin’s book, “The End of Men and the Rise of Women”, published in 2012, argues that in America, at least, women are ahead not only educationally but increasingly also professionally and socially. Policymakers in many countries worry about the prospect of a growing underclass of ill-educated men. That should worry women, too: in the past they have typically married men in their own social group or above. If there are too few of those, many women will have to marry down or not at all.
According to the OECD, the return on investment in a degree is higher for women than for men in many countries, though not all. In America PayScale, a company that crunches incomes data, found that the return on investment in a college degree for women was lower than or at best the same as for men. Although women as a group are now better qualified, they earn about three-quarters as much as men. A big reason is the choice of subject: education, the humanities and social work pay less than engineering or computer science. But academic research shows that women attach less importance than men to the graduate pay premium, suggesting that a high financial return is not the main reason for their further education.
At the highest levels of business and the professions, women remain notably scarce. In a reversal of the pattern at school, the anonymous and therefore gender-blind essays and exams at university protect female students from bias. But in the workplace, says Elisabeth Kelan of Britain’s Cranfield School of Management, “traditional patterns assert themselves in miraculous ways”. Men and women join the medical and legal professions in roughly equal numbers, but 10-15 years later many women have chosen unambitious career paths or dropped out to spend time with their children. Meanwhile men are rising through the ranks as qualifications gained long ago fade in importance and personality, ambition and experience come to matter more.
The last bastion
For a long time it was said that since women had historically been underrepresented in university and work, it would take time to fill the pipeline from which senior appointments were made. But after 40 years of making up the majority of graduates in some countries, that argument is wearing thin. According to Claudia Goldin, an economics professor at Harvard, the “last chapter” in the story of women’s rise—equal pay and access to the best jobs—will not come without big structural changes.
In a recent paper in the American Economic Review Ms Goldin found that the difference between the hourly earnings of highly qualified men and their female peers grows hugely in the first 10-15 years of working life, largely because of a big premium in some highly paid jobs on putting in long days and being constantly on call. On the whole men find it easier than women to work in this way. Where such jobs are common, for example in business and the law, the gender pay gap remains wide and even short spells out of the workforce are severely penalised, meaning that motherhood can exact a heavy price. Where pay is roughly proportional to hours worked, as in pharmacy, it is low.
There will always be jobs where flexibility is not an option, says Ms Goldin: those of CEOs, trial lawyers, surgeons, some bankers and senior politicians come to mind. In many others, pay does not need to depend on being available all hours—and well-educated men who want a life outside work would benefit from change, too. But the new gender gap is at the other end of the pay spectrum. And it is not women who are suffering, but unskilled men.In January of 2015, as the US Department of Defense was chafing under the sequestration of its budget, the Pentagon leadership got some great news. A study prepared by the Defense Business Board (DBB) and a team from the global management consulting giant McKinsey and Company found that even with "moderate" changes to business practices, the DOD could save $125 billion over five years.
That would be enough to fully fund operations for 50 Army brigades, 10 Navy carrier strike group deployments, or 83 wings of F-35 fighter aircraft (one wing being about 36 aircraft—purchase price not included) for each of those five years. And all that savings could be had simply by fixing the military's bureaucratic back-office, according to the study—a force of more than one million uniformed government, civilian, and contractor employees. DOD's bureaucratic force is now almost as large as the military's active duty force itself, which stands at 1.3 million soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen.
That good news, however, did not fall upon welcoming ears. DOD officials had no real idea how much bureaucratic overhead was costing them, as the costs were never accurately measured. When they saw the numbers from the DBB, the Washington Post reports, some of the Pentagon's leadership was afraid of a legislative backlash. After DOD officials had complained for years about not having enough money to Congress, the department feared findings would trigger further cuts to the DOD's budget. So the data for the study was designated as sensitive, and an overview of the report that had already been published to the Defense Business Board website was pulled.
Over half of the DOD's budget is spent on human resources management, health management, financial management, logistics, acquisition and procurement programs, and managing the Defense Department's vast real estate holdings. Most of the savings projected by the DBB would come from boosting productivity in these areas by four percent—and by pushing government employees to retire early or by renegotiating contracts.
That's not how we do things here
A small chunk of the savings—$5 to $9 billion—would come from making DOD's IT systems more efficient. Part of the problem identified with DOD's IT by the DBB was "insufficient [funds] dedicated to modernizing and automating the business processes." In total, 20 percent of DOD's IT spending is on development and modernization, while 80 percent is spent on operations and maintenance of existing systems. That ratio won't surprise many in government IT—it's actually more for modernization than many agencies budget.
The DBB recommended that DOD move to establish an IT shared services organization within DOD and embrace cloud and cross-DOD sharing of big data analytics among other things. But DOD already has an IT shared service organization—the Defense Information Systems Agency—which has struggled to get the military to embrace its cloud computing services. Some shared services have already happened: DISA got the Army to take point on adopting a DISA-hosted common enterprise e-mail system, but that effort took years to roll out to the Army. The Air Force, Navy, and Marines have adopted the system on a much smaller scale for a variety of reasons.
Scaling those sorts of IT consolidation efforts up to things like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and other major business systems may not be as painful as e-mail migration, but squeezing savings of $5 billion to $9 billion over five years would be hard sailing based on previous DOD efforts to consolidate or outsource networks.
The rest of the savings projections DBB cited in the study may also have been a shade or two overly optimistic, as they were based on changes that would have likely required tweaking legislation and regulations governing nearly every aspect of the DOD's operations. That's precisely the defense that Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work, who ordered the study, gave for shelving the report. He told the Post that the projected savings were unrealistic because the DBB failed to understand the impact of federal civil service laws, the difficulty of renegotiating federal contracts, and the desire of members of Congress to have Defense jobs in their district.
"There is this meme that we’re some bloated, giant organization," he told the Post's Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward. “Although there is a little bit of truth in that... I think it vastly overstates what’s really going on.”
Work added that some of the recommendations have been incorporated into DOD plans to save $30 billion by 2020. But more automatic budget cuts are coming under sequestration—$113 billion over the next four years, unless a Trump administration reaches an agreement with Congress.Share 0 Shares
Famous for creating the iconic “v-twin” single seat three-wheeler vehicle, the Morgan Motor Company was founded in 1910 by Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan, and it is still quite active to this day. One of the company’s latest creations is the EV3 – an electric-powered prototype that could serve as a great source of inspiration for the next generation of three-wheelers.
As you can see for yourself, the EV3 relies heavily on the standard model as far as looks are concerned. Its power comes from a single electric motor placed at the rear, which is good for 75 |
Conservative Jews teach that God created the universe and is responsible for the creation of life within it, but proclaims no mandatory teachings about how this occurs.
Many Conservative Rabbis embrace the term theistic evolution, and reject the term intelligent design. Conservative rabbis who use the term intelligent design in their sermons often distinguish their views from the Christian use of the term. Like most in the scientific community, they understand “intelligent design” to be a technique by Christians to insert religion into public schools, as admitted in the Intelligent design movement‘s “wedge strategy“.
Conservative Judaism strongly supports the use of science as the proper way to learn about the physical world in which we live, and thus encourages its adherents to find a way to understand evolution in a way that does not contradict the findings of scientific research. The tension between accepting God’s role in the world and the findings of science, however, is not resolved, and a wide array of views exists. Some mainstream examples of Conservative Jewish thought are as follows:
Professor Ismar Schorsch, former chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, writes that:
The Torah’s story of creation is not intended as a scientific treatise, worthy of equal time with Darwin’s theory of evolution in the curriculum of our public schools. The notes it strikes in its sparse and majestic narrative offer us an orientation to the Torah’s entire religious worldview and value system. Creation is taken up first not because the subject has chronological priority but rather to ground basic religious beliefs in the very nature of things. And I would argue that their power is quite independent of the scientific context in which they were first enunciated.
Rabbi David J. Fine, who has authorized official responsa for the Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, expresses a common Conservative Jewish view on the subject:
Conservative Judaism has always been premised on the total embrace of critical inquiry and science. More than being compatible with Conservative Judaism, I would say that it is a mitzvah to learn about the world and the way it works to the best of our abilities, since that is to marvel with awe at God’s handiwork. To not do so is sinful. But here’s where the real question lies. Did God create the world, or not? Is it God’s handiwork? Many of the people who accept evolution, even many scientists, believe in what is called “theistic evolution,” that is, that behind the billions of years of cosmic and biological evolution, there is room for belief in a creator, God, who set everything into motion, and who stands outside the universe as the cause and reason for life. The difference between that and “intelligent design” is subtle yet significant. Believing scientists claim that belief in God is not incompatible with studying evolution since science looks only for the natural explanations for phenomena. The proponents of intelligent design, on the other hand, deny the ability to explain life on earth through solely natural explanations. That difference, while subtle, is determinative. David J. Fine, Intelligent Design
Rabbi Michael Schwab writes:
…the Jewish view on the first set of questions is much closer to the picture painted by adherents to intelligent design than to those who are strict Darwinians. Judaism, as a religion, and certainly Conservative Judaism, sees creation as a purposeful process directed by God, however each individual defines the Divine. This is clearly in consonance with the theory of Intelligent Design. What Darwin sees as random, we see as the miraculous and natural unfolding of God’s subtle and beautiful plan. …However, as unlikely as it may seem, this does not mean for one moment that Judaism’s view rejects wholesale the veracity of Darwin’s theory. In fact, I believe that it is easy to incorporate Darwin and Intelligent design into a meaningful conception of how we humans came into being… We have frameworks built into our system to integrate the findings of science into our religious and theological beliefs. That is because we believe that the natural world, and the way it works, was created by God and therefore its workings must be consistent with our religious beliefs. …One of the most well known ways our tradition has been able to hold onto both the scientific theory of evolution as well as the concept of a purposeful creation was by reading the creation story in Genesis in a more allegorical sense. One famous medieval commentary proclaims that the days of creation, as outlined in the book of Bereshit, could be seen as representative of the stages of creation and not literal 24 hour periods. Thus each Biblical day could have accounted for thousands or even millions of years. In that way the progression according to both evolution and the Torah remains essentially the same: first the elements were created, then the waters, the plants, the animals, and finally us. Therefore, Genesis and Darwin can both be right in a factual analysis even while we acknowledge that our attitudes towards these shared facts are shaped much more strongly by the Torah – we agree how the process unfolded but disagree that it was random. Parshat Noah — November 4, 2005, How Did We Get Here? Michael Schwab
The claim that evolution is purposeful is in conflict with modern day evolutionary theory.[citation needed] The precise way in which God inserts design is not specified by Schwab or other rabbis.
Rabbi Lawrence Troster is a critic of positions such as this. He holds that much of Judaism (and other religions) have not successfully created a theology which allows for the role of God in the world and yet is also fully compatible with modern day evolutionary theory. Troster maintains that the solution to resolving the tension between classical theology and modern science can be found in process theology, such as in the writings of Hans Jonas, whose view of an evolving God within process philosophy contains no inherent contradictions between theism and scientific naturalism.
Lecture God after Darwin: Evolution and the Order of Creation October 21, 2004, Lishmah, New York City, Larry Troster
In a paper on Judaism and environmentalism, Troster writes:
Jonas is the only Jewish philosopher who has fully integrated philosophy, science, theology and environmental ethics. He maintained that humans have a special place in Creation, manifest in the concept that humans are created in the image of God. His philosophy is very similar to that of Alfred North Whitehead, who believed that God is not static but dynamic, in a continual process of becoming as the universe evolves. From Apologetics to New Spirituality: Trends in Jewish Environmental Theology, Lawrence Troster
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The text above comes from an early version (2005) of the Wikipedia article on ‘Jewish views of evolution’, much of which was written or edited by Robert Kaiser. Later versions were subject to editing wars between religious fundamentalists, and well-intentioned but not well-trained students. As such, the organization and focus of the article became lost amidst endless edit wars and censorship. What is presented here has been edited with an eye towards academic honesty and linguistic clarity.
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Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) & Modern Orthodox opposition to Evolution
Nearly all ultra-Orthodox Jews, and many Modern Orthodox Jews, do not accept evolution, and many believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old.
A recent scientific study in Skeptic Magazine showed that many Orthodox Jews modern enough to attend university, nonetheless oppose evolutionary theory. It found that those with an educational background in the sciences were actually more likely to reject evolutionary theory, than those without any prior scientific background. This was an interview with 176 Orthodox Jewish students who sat at the kosher area of a New York City public college cafeteria. It was interpreted as showing general disbelief in basic scientific facts about nature and a rejection of evolution. It concluded that the Orthodox Jewish students, though modern enough to attend a secular public university, get their scientific information not from their professors but from their religious beliefs and from Orthodox Jewish scientists who in turn conform to the beliefs of their religious authorities.
The study’s findings suggest that hostility towards evolutionary theory is at least as common among Orthodox Jews as it is among other religious groups more typically associated with hostility towards evolutionary theory, such as fundamentalist Christian Protestants.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986), one of the most important decisors or Jewish law in 20th century Orthodoxy, “ruled that the reading of an evolutionary textbook was absolutely forbidden and that belief in evolution is so great a heresy that even being exposed to it was forbidden.8 If the textbook was absolutely required for other purposes, Feinstein ruled that the specific pages containing references to evolution had to be torn out and thrown away. Indeed, many yeshivas do just that. ” – Feinstein, M. 1959. Iggerot Moshe, Yoreh Deah. Brooklyn, NY: Balshon Press.
The Orthodox Union regularly publishes creationist materials, including the book Human Intelligence Gone Ape by Josh Greenberger, which by its own description “disproves the theory of evolution in more ways than one. It shows how evolution is genetically impossible.”9 The Orthodox Union also put out A Science and Torah Reader, which declared evolution incompatible with Orthodoxy and scientifically invalid.10
In the Summer 5760 issue of the OU official journal, Jewish Action, there was an article entitled “Genesis, Cosmology and Evolution” that contains all the standard creationist arguments, such as “Darwinism elicits a dogmatic view of evidence,” “Darwinists circumvent or disregard evidence and logic,” “irreducibly complex biochemical systems,” and “Genesis’ creation story is scientifically accurate.”11
Orthodox Jews & Science An Empirical Study of their Attitudes Toward Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Modern Geology by Alexander Nussbaum.
http://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/orthodox-jews-and-science/
The Slifkin Affair
While Orthodox Jewish scientists garner community praise for using their secular scientific status to promote the scientific validity of Torah, and are obligated to do so, even that enterprise necessitates prudence. Orthodox Jewish scientists require and seek the imprimatur of the great living rabbis for their works. But with the ever-increasing shift to the right, what was acceptable yesterday may be Kefirah (or kfirah, rejection-heresy) today. To be declared a Kofer, or a heretic, means excommunication and social ruin.
Ironically, it was apologetics written by Orthodox Jewish scientists (which spoke about six time periods of creation as a means of sidestepping the issue of the age of the universe while also debunking evolution) that led to almost all the living Rabbonim (great Rabbis) to recently declare in that any Jew who believes the universe is older than 5,766 years is a Kofer. Some Orthodox scientists have even had to state that the universe was created to look older as a test of faith but is actually only 5,766 years old.
Rabbi Nosson Slifkin, formerly Talmud instructor at a leading Ultra-orthodox yeshiva, gained fame as the “Zoo Rabbi” for his interest in the wildlife mentioned in the Torah, and his writing of numerous nature books from the Orthodox perspective. However, last year a committee of 23 of the leading Rabbonim declared his works banned and put him in cherem (or herem), which means the total exclusion from the Orthodox Jewish community, and the highest possible ecclesiastical punishment. The ban read, in part, “He believes the world is millions of years old — all nonsense! — and many other things that should not be heard and certainly not believed.”12
http://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/orthodox-jews-and-science/
From the same article:
The Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists14 whose telling motto is “Science in the service of Torah,” published a book entitled Challenge: Torah Views on Science,15 which promotes creationism.
Rabbi Dr. Moses Tendler, former chair of the Yeshiva University biology department, in a 1987 article entitled “Evolution, A Theory that Failed to Evolve,” wrote “The [fossil] record … reveals that species remained unchanged … There are no transitional forms! … There is no theory of evolution to attack or defend in 1987 … To sum up: In 1987 there is not one piece of scientific evidence for macroevolution or the development of one species from another.”16
Rabbi Avigdor Miller, a highly revered American Haredi Rabbi of the Lithuanian Yeshivah Tradition, who was also highly respected in Hasidic communities such as Satmar, was strongly opposed to the theory of evolution, and wrote strong polemics against evolution in several of his books, as well as speaking about this subject often in his popular lectures, taking a Creationist position. Several selections from his books on this subject were collected in a pamphlet he published in 1995 called “The Universe Testifies”.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Rebbe of the worldwide movement of Chabad Lubavtich Hasidism, was avidly opposed to evolution, and his following remains largely committed to that position, though individual Chabad Hasidim may hold different views.
Related resources
The Creation/Evolution Continuum
December 7th, 2000, by Eugenie C. Scott
The National Center for Science Education
http://ncse.com/creationism/general/creationevolution-continuum
Many — if not most — Americans think of the creation and evolution controversy as a dichotomy with “creationists” on one side, and “evolutionists” on the other. This assumption all too often leads to the unfortunate conclusion that because creationists are believers in God, that evolutionists must be atheists. The true situation is much more complicated: creationism comes in many forms, and not all of them reject evolution.
It is highly desirable to move people away from this inaccurate dichotomy. A simple classroom exercise, the Creationism/Evolution Continuum, has been used successfully by middle and high school teachers as well as university professors to illustrate the many intermediate positions between the extremes. It can be scaled up or down in detail, depending on the educational level of the students and the time available to the teacher or professor.
What is critical, however, is that any teacher using this exercise in a public school be acutely aware that the purpose of the lesson is to illustrate to students the factual error of the dichotomy they (probably) came to class with. The purpose is not to change the students’ religious views. I cannot stress this too clearly: public schools must be religiously neutral. It is unconstitutional to promote or denigrate religion in the public schools – although it is legal to teach about religion, which is all the Creation/Evolution Continuum is intended to do. A teacher cannot legally promote religion, but can and should descriptively educate students about the variety of religious views relevant to this controversy. It would be unethical as well as illegal to tell students that any particular position on the continuum is religiously superior to another. However, it is not unethical nor illegal to distinguish between fact claims made by holders of certain views on the continuum (such as Young-Earth Creationist views of a 6,000 year old Earth) and the standard scientific consensus on such views (in this case, that the Earth is billions of years old).
With this caveat in mind, then, teachers are encouraged to use the continuum exercise to educate students away from an erroneous dichotomous view of the relationship of creationism to evolution….
AdvertisementsForeign Minister Julie Bishop says last week's chemical weapons attack has "hardened" Australia's view that Bashar al-Assad cannot be part of the long-term solution in war-torn Syria.
Ms Bishop has also warned the government is concerned about the threat of terrorist attacks targeting Easter celebrations, in the wake of the bombings on Coptic Christian churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday. Islamic State claimed responsibly for the attacks, which have so far killed 43 people.
After maintaining for years that Mr Assad should be phased out of power once Syria is stabilised, the Turnbull government has joined the United States in turning up the heat on the regime and its global backer Russia, following last week's chemical weapons attack. Australia and other allies have expressed support for the Trump administration's surprise response, a missile strike against a Syrian military airbase said to be involved in the attack.
"Our position has always been that Assad has no long-term position as leader but when Russia came in and backed Syria, we needed to work with Russia and Iran and others who are supporting the Assad regime to transition him out of the leadership," Ms Bishop told Sky News on Monday morning.Truth in Satire
The Republican Healthcare Bill Reveals they’re secretly Die-Hard Environmentalists
Their animosity for human life is really a bold purge to save the planet
Kay Zare Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 29, 2017
Since the Republicans have revealed their bills to repeal and replace Obamacare, there has been wide support among a diverse group of Americans, from black market organ dealers to post-apocalyptic rogue warriors. But within this extraordinary bill, is a secret and powerful plan to address the planet’s warming climate that goes far beyond the puny Paris Accords.
The current rate of CO2 emissions, methane from melting permafrost, industrial growth, cattle farming, and overall fossil fuel use are all underpinned by a simple truth: human activity. Without it, much of these disastrous environmental hazards would come to a screeching halt and allow the natural cleansing mechanism of the planet to heal itself.
The new Republican healthcare plan is a bold new initiative in environmental restoration: massive population loss. With this new strategy, the trickle down of human life into the ground will help replenish the biodiversity of our soils and recover some of the degradation of recent damage from industrial agriculture.
Most environmentalists know the damage our industries do to our natural resources. While much of the media focus has centered on car emissions, in fact raising cattle release far more global warming gases. Those cows are being fed corn, wheat and soy which takes millions of acres and billions of gallons of water to grow. A single walnut takes 5 gallons. Each pound of beef takes 1,800 gallons of water to make. Many people may be aware of these things by now. What they may not be aware of is that throughout it’s life, an average human drinks over 20-thousand gallons of water. This needs to stop.
At a time when virtually all scientists agree that human activity is the primary cause of global warming, Republicans are the only party willing to address those environmental threats by ridding the planet of its source: human people.
What the country needs now is real leadership. In order to rally the people and present their case for the urgency of this action, Senator Mitch McConnell, Representative Paul Ryan and the rest of the House and Senate Republicans as well as President Trump must congregate a massive demonstration — a national march, starting at the Capitol Building and striding headlong into the Potomac.
The nation is right behind you.Workers trying to protect a pelican nesting colony during the BP oil spill in 2010. Photo: Kim Hubbard/Audubon
Today a federal judge granted approval for the $20 billion settlement that stemmed from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico six years ago. The settlement, which was announced last July, includes $5.5 billion in penalties related to the Clean Water Act and nearly $7 billion for environmental restoration work, paid out over the course of 16 years. It's the largest fine that the U.S. Department of Justice has ever doled out to an individual company or person.
The disaster, which unfolded over the course of the spring and summer of 2010, killed 11 people and an estimated 1 million birds and other wildlife. Last January, BP's lawyers' pleaded with a federal court for lesser damages. The Justice Department's attorney said in response: "BP's litigation position in this phase suggests that it still doesn't understand the gravity of what's happened here; they continue to focus on their own hardships rather than the hardships of the environment and the people."
“It’s finally time for BP to pay for what they broke. Now we can focus on rebuilding America's Delta," David Yarnold, Audubon's CEO, said in a statement today. For more news coverage on the spill and stories about the revival of the Gulf, visit this page.By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva
Disasters like Hurricane Nargis can't be prevented but could be planned for The risk of disaster worldwide is increasing, says a new UN report. Climate change, environmental degradation and badly planned urban development are more likely to affect populations around the world. The report warns that millions of lives are in jeopardy because proper risk assessment is rarely carried out, particularly in developing countries. The UN says money spent on risk reduction is a cost-effective way to reduce deaths and injuries. The Asian tsunami of 2004, or last year's earthquake in China are natural phenomenon which can't be prevented. But the Global Assessment on Disaster Risk Reduction says there is a lot we can do to reduce our own risk - the problem is, we aren't doing it. We already know that climate change means more extreme weather events - but the UN's Assistant Secretary General Margareta Wahlstrom says most countries have failed to look at how that will affect their own towns and cities. The local effects of disasters like the 2004 tsunami need research "We don't know enough of the impact of climate change at local level," she explained. "We know a lot about the global parameters but how it is going to play out in local communities, we don't have enough research, knowledge and scientific basis for that yet." The report highlights some staggering differences in risk assessment and reduction between rich and poor countries. Japan and the Philippines for example have equal exposure to tropical cyclones - but for every one death in Japan, 17 people die in the Philippines. This report is aimed not at the emergency services, but at governments and their planning and finance ministers. The UN says spending money on risk reduction is a good investment - while loss of life, property and livelihoods is very costly.
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W. T. Sampson High School (W.T.S.) is the only American high school that is in a communist country. W.T.S is a unit school, which means one or more schools that act as one entity. The high school is at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. It is operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity of the United States Department of Defense. W.T.S. is the oldest DoDDS school.[2]
Currently enrolled in W.T. Sampson High School are 167 students.[3] Students are the children of military and civilian families stationed at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The school is accredited by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges (NCA) and has held accreditation since 1931.[4]
History [ edit ]
W. T. Sampson School was officially dedicated on October 25, 1956. Named after Admiral W. T. Sampson, USN, a Spanish–American War naval hero who headed the U.S. Fleet that operated in the water surrounding Cuba.[5]
Academic assessment [ edit ]
Students of the DODEA school system are subject to two assessment standards to measure academic performance.
There is the TerraNova that is taken in Grades 3-11. "DoDEA students scored substantially higher than the national average (50th percentile) in all subject areas."[6]
The other test is the SAT. The SAT is not a required test. The participation rate of DoDEA students in 2009 was 67%. The national SAT participation rate was 46%.[7]
[8] TerraNova results [ edit ]
Subject Matter 9th Grade 10th Grade 11th Grade Reading 80% 79% 80% Language 77% 75% 72% Math 72% 73% 69% Science 75% 71% 70% Social Studies 78% 79% 77%
[9] SAT results [ edit ]
SAT DoDEA National Average Critical Reading 505 501 Math 498 515 Writing 492 493
Campus [ edit ]
Previously, the campus was on Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill is the location of the base church. Across from the chapel was a series of offices and classrooms that was the original location for the school from 1931 to 1986.
The current home of W. T. Sampson High School is a modern campus. Its campus was dedicated in 1986.[10]
The school has been remodeled in recent years. The school has an Information Center, one full-size computer lab, Internet access in all classrooms, and a gymnasium.[11]Dolphins defensive end Cameron Wake was fined $16,537 by the NFL for a hit on Jets quarterback Geno Smith on Sunday that drew a roughing the passer penalty.
That amount is what's spelled out for a first offense in the NFL's Review Process for On-Field Rules Violations.
The play happened in the second quarter of the Jets' 37-24 season-ending victory. The Jets had the ball, second-and-7 from their own 34, when Smith rolled to his right and threw a pass for wide receiver Eric Decker that fell incomplete. But just after Smith released the ball, Wake came crashing into him. The play immediately drew a flag for a 15-yard penalty, as expected; it likely drew a fine because the crown of Wake's helmet appeared to make contact with Smith's helmet from below the facemask.
Smith was momentarily shaken up, but he didn't miss a play. He wound up completing 20 of 25 passes for a career-high 358 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a perfect passer rating of 158.3, the first of his career.
NFL Football: NY Jets and Rex Ryan take on Dolphins in season finale 64 Gallery: NFL Football: NY Jets and Rex Ryan take on Dolphins in season finale
Dom Cosentino may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @domcosentino. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.LG is closing a security hole that makes it possible for attackers to steal chat histories and other sensitive data stored on an estimated 10 million G3 phones.
The vulnerability resides in an LG app called Smart Notice. It comes preinstalled on new LG G3 devices and displays a variety of notifications and suggestions, including recommendations to stay in touch with favorite contacts, saving recent callers' contact information, and birthday reminders. The app fails to validate data presented to users, making it possible for attackers to manipulate data such as contact information so that it executes malicious code on affected handsets.
"Using the vulnerability, an attacker can easily open the user device to data theft attack, extracting private information saved on the SD Card including WhatsApp data and private images; put the user in danger of phishing attack by misleading the end-user; and enable the installation of a malicious program on the device," researchers wrote in a blog post published Thursday. "We informed LG, which responded quickly to notice of the vulnerability and we encourage users to immediately upgrade their application to new Smart Notice release, which contains a patch."
The researchers said they were able to exploit the bug by presenting vulnerable phones with contacts that were laced with malicious code. When events such as callback reminders or birthday notifications were displayed, Smart Notice would then execute the hidden payloads.
"With a little tweak, we were able to load external scripts from a remote host and'refresh' our code every few seconds, giving us the ability to have active command and control over the LG phone and send new payloads," the researchers reported. They continued:
Since Smart Notice uses a “WebView”-based application, a programmer could extend the functionality of the “JavaScript” to run server side code, allowing the attacker a bigger set of options. For this, we examined the client side application code, located in the following path: root/system/etc/mrg_default_forms/ConciergeBoard/. We found two possible scenarios:
The first scenario is to use the Callback function (ConciergeBoard\card_forms\reconnect_noti): The second scenario is to use the Birthday function (ConciergeBoard\card_forms\birthday_noti_contact): When a callback notification is set, the “@string” parameter displays the contact name without any validation. Further investigation revealed to us where the update process is found: (ConciergeBoard\default_view\container) The update uses an internal function ‘doAction’ that is in fact a JavaScript interface ability published to the WebView. We assume there are many more functions that we could use to extend our attack. We extracted the LGConciergeBoard Apk (Android Package Kit) in order to detect any other interfaces to use, and to learn how to access them. We found out that the “doAction” function is used as a JavaScript Interface which can communicate with “IurlActionHandler,” “setDbActionHandler,” “cardActionHandler” etc., obviously providing many sets of payload vectors to attackers.
The researchers developed several proof-of-concept payloads, including one that harvests data from the the SD card, another that opens the browser to any remote site, and a third that performs a denial-of-service attack that "could make the [user's] phone go crazy."
The vulnerability was discovered and privately reported by researchers from security firms BugSec Group and Cynet. Now that LG has issued a patch, people with vulnerable phones should install it as soon as possible.When Rachel Crooks, a higher education professional at a small Ohio university, recently found herself in New York, she felt many emotions, but none of them were a surprise. Crooks is a stoic Midwesterner and speaks in a soft, flat manner. She stands six feet tall and as straight as a bamboo shoot. The surname is a misnomer, since she comes off as anything but crooked. When we met at Umami Burger on Manhattan’s West Side for an early-evening drink, she told me that she was too nervous to eat, but she was resolute about what she’d come to New York to accomplish: the removal of our president.
Crooks is one of the 16 women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct before last year’s election. This week, several of them are telling their stories on CNN, Megyn Kelly Today, and in other outlets. Crooks came to New York because she wants the country to recognize that Trump should be included in the Great Purge of Bad Men from Harvey Weinstein to Matt Lauer to Al Franken. “Why is Trump immune when everyone else is suffering consequences?” she says, taking a seat with a glass of white wine. “This is deep-seated behavior. I don’t understand why the country would be O.K. with this.”
Crooks is 34. Over a decade ago, she spent one year and one year only in New York. She grew up in Ohio and played competitive volleyball. Her father is a retired maintenance mechanic and her mother is a nurse. Her dad coached her in club volleyball, and her sisters played the sport too. “Volleyball’s definitely a family sport for us,” she says. She was recruited to Syracuse University for volleyball, but left her junior year to finish up her degree in Ohio. “I didn’t want to play volleyball in college, but it was my track to a free ride,” she tells me. “It was pretty apparent when I got to Syracuse that it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I probably would have stayed there and graduated if I could’ve afforded it.”
After graduating college, she had her heart set on moving to New York City. “It was the ambitious thing to do, I thought, and I felt I had so many things that I wanted to do that weren’t going to happen elsewhere,” she explains. “When you grow up in rural Ohio, you want to taste something different.” She flew to New York with her belongings one Sunday, along with her boyfriend, who would get a job teaching test prep at the Princeton Review. She had an interview at the real-estate development firm Bayrock Capital on Monday, after answering a Craigslist ad for a receptionist. She was hired and started working there the next day. “I really had no taste of anything else,” she says.
Bayrock was located on the 24th floor of Trump Tower. The residential elevators to the apartments at the top of the building stood outside the glassed-in nook where she sat answering telephones. “Pretty regularly, I’d see Trump standing there,” she says. She didn’t know much about Bayrock’s business—the company’s dealings, including the fiasco at the Trump SoHo, have become a focus of interest for investigators in recent months. “It seemed pretty prestigious, a company at Trump SoHo, a good sign,” she says, though guys who worked with Bayrock were always giving her an up and down, and one of them even once told her, “You would be perfect if you got a boob job.”
When Christmas rolled around, the entire Bayrock office was invited to Trump’s party. Crooks couldn’t attend because the city was in the midst of a transit strike, and she was living far away in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. “I’d basically have had to hitchhike home if I went to the party,” she says. The next time she saw Trump at the elevators, she decided to go thank him for inviting her to the party. “I don’t know what drove me to do that,” she says. “All I can remember is feeling very confident in approaching him and not wanting to be the receptionist. I don’t know.”
She’s told the story of what happened after that too many times to count, and now she retells it quickly, in shorthand: They shook hands, and then he gave her a double-cheek kiss, which is something she’d come to expect from important New York men and thought of as totally normal. Not so normal was the way that Trump kept kissing her on each cheek over and over, in between saying things like, “Where are you from? You should be a model. Do you know I have my own agency?,” and then kissing her on the lips. Then he went up the elevator. (Trump has denied all allegations of sexual impropriety.)
Crooks felt strange. She immediately hid in her boss’s office and called her sister, she says. “I was trying to explain what happened, and not knowing how to interpret it,” she says. “I can’t believe he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.” She felt ashamed and denigrated by the encounter. “I thought to myself, ‘What image was I portraying, that you thought you could take advantage of me like that?’ I was embarrassed that I did something that made me come off the wrong way, completely the wrong way.”
Crooks only stayed in the city a few more months. Her boyfriend was outraged by her story about Trump, and didn’t want to be in the city anyway; he soon left to study abroad. “Do not go home because of that man,” she says her aunt warned her, referring to Trump. And she doesn’t think she left New York because of Trump. Not really. “I didn’t want to stay in New York by myself after my boyfriend left, but maybe if I had had a better work experience, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Hard to say.”
“If there’s a spectrum of accosting women, what happened to me is minor,” she continued. “But these things chip away at you, like that comment about the boob job. God. Totally eroding.”
When she first came forward, after the Billy Bush tape was made public, Crooks had high hopes that women’s voices, including hers, could be dispositive. She’d consulted closely with her sister and friends before coming forward publicly, and they encouraged her, saying she might change an election. “I thought it was making a difference at first—women speaking out. It seemed like the discourse about Trump was becoming more negative.” But after the [James] Comey letter, things changed. “The public seems very fickle. This man who was accused of sexual misconduct and assault had won over a very accomplished woman. It was like, ‘How can this still be happening?’”
On the night of Trump’s election, Crooks didn’t watch TV. When she went to sleep, she didn’t know that Trump might have landed the presidency. Her friend sent one word to her in the middle of the night via text: sigh. She soon signed up for a bus trip to D.C. for the Women’s March. “More like the women’s shuffle,” she says. Two charter buses left from Columbus, and she sat in a seat alongside her aunt; representatives from the Ohio legislature and a former U.S. congresswoman were on their way with them too. Standing at the front of the bus, a leader asked each attendee to tell everyone why they were attending the march. “And the very first woman said, ‘I’m here because I believe those 16 women.’” Crooks held her aunt’s hand and squeezed it, crying a little.
Crooks lives in a small town in Trump country, and still feels nervous thinking about Trump’s supporters sometimes. “I was once walking my dog on a wooded path, and a jogger was coming toward me, then stopped and said, ‘You’re one of the girls who came out about Trump,’” she says. “My heart was thumping. Then, he said, ‘I think you’re great.’”
She takes her hand off the stem of her white wine, and gestures to the East Side. “Maybe it’s an irrational fear, but I was there on the path all alone. Trump has said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and people would still like him, and he’s right. He believes he can get away with anything.”TruTV will air the first TV program to put forward admissions from those involved, and probe deep into the proofs of a conspiracy
UPDATE: Former Gov. Jesse Ventura will appear on the Alex Jones Show live today at 11 AM CENTRAL to discuss the JFK Assassination episode of Conspiracy Theory (PREMIERES FRI, NOV. 19 AT 10 PM / 9 CENTRAL).
Aaron Dykes
Infowars.com
November 19, 2010
Long-time prober of the JFK assassination, Jesse Ventura will have his first chance to prove on television that a conspiracy, not a lone gunman, killed Kennedy. The proof includes a shocking audio confession and much more; airs this Fri, Nov. 19 at 10 PM EST / 9 PM CST
In the next episode of the hard-hitting second season of Conspiracy Theory, former Governor Jesse Ventura will take on what he has long regarded as the most significant event of his generation and the 60s era– the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The program will air this Friday, Nov. 19 at 10 PM EST / 9 PM CST, just days before the 47th anniversary of the iconic president’s death. But TruTV will air more than just memories and heated debate about the grassy knoll. For the first time ever on television, viewers will witness, at last, a confession in one of the most-controversial murders in all of |
space race is the competition to send women over the moon – to create a female equivalent to those drugs and treatments aimed at overcoming erectile dysfunction. Sex aids for women to achieve orgasms could take the form of a female Viagra, or perhaps cream, shot, surgery or even electrodes inserted into the spine. In any case, the race is on, and as every salesman knows, sex sells, so there’s gold in them thar hills.
Director Liz Canner’s uncanny documentary started out as a cinematic rumination on female pleasure, but ended up an exposé of Big Pharma. She had been hired by a pharmaceutical firm to edit erotic videos that would be used during clinical trials of a cream intended to aid human female subjects to attain orgasms.
However, the company that hired the cagey Canner – who has a background of making human rights documentaries about Nicaragua, the LAPD and the L.A. riots – got much more than it bargained for. Like health insurance industry whistleblower Wendell Potter, Canner grew increasingly disturbed by what she was in a unique position to witness, and the filmmaker went rogue.
The result is Orgasm Inc., a probing look at what could be called the “Female Sexual Dysfunction Pharmaceutical Surgical Complex” (FSDPSC). Pills, surgery and other treatments can be costly and contain health risks, so according to Canner, in order to overcome these objections, Big Pharma concocted the myth that female sexual dysfunction is a “disease.” Now, having identified this dire condition, the FSDPSC is riding to the rescue with the cure.
Females happen to be different from males, however. The “solution” is not simply a feminine version of those boner pills exalted in ubiquitous TV commercials. In the quest to create a female Cialis, there’s billions of dollars at stake, but so far these “treatments” promise more than they deliver.
Canner exposes the fact that most of the public pitchmen and women for these various drugs, etc., aimed at inducing vaginal and clitoral orgasms are paid by Big Pharma. All those TV therapists, scientists and the like fail to disclose their financial ties to the firms manufacturing the products they’re appraising and praising. During the Bush years, paid Pentagon officers served as pundits pontificating in news media outlets about the Iraq War, while columnist Armstrong Williams secretly took money from the administration while pushing Bush’s educational policies. Williams’s “defense” was that he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong.
Perpetrators of these covert conflicts of interest are worse than immoral – they’re amoral, absolutely lacking any ethical compass. Like the insider trading culprits captured in the Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job, the perps have cognitive dissonance; they operate in a realm that’s so sleazy and corrupt they simply can’t recognize what’s right and wrong (the legal definition of insanity, by the way).
The corruption Canner cannily reveals in Orgasm Inc. makes a strong case that we need a “truth in advertising” law applied to pitchmen/women, requiring them to disclose to viewers/listeners/readers their financial ties to what they’re pitching, either a product or a political position. Let’s call a flack a flack.
The worst abuse Canner exposes in Orgasm Inc. has to do with what’s called Designer Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation surgery. Much has been revealed about the dangers involved with “boob jobs,” but now we have plastic surgery on female private parts to “treat” female sexual dysfunction. Is this just a high-tech version of the kind of female genital mutilation decried in “backward” Third World nations?
Sexuality is a powerful force: Our sense of self-worth, attractiveness, need for intimacy and emotional satisfaction are wrapped up in it. Canner craftily shows that the FSDPSC preys upon women, exploits and heightens their insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, promising them pleasure and approval, all of which it stands to profiteer from, whatever results they produce.
When it comes to nudity, Canner’s filmmaking is pretty conventional: She exhibits a certain Puritanism, even as she knows full well that sex sells – hence her doc’s catchy title and its titillating advertising graphics. But there is no graphic nudity in Orgasm Inc., even when this could have greatly benefited viewers. For instance, when discussing vaginal plastic surgery, it would have been useful for audiences to actually see what’s being spoken about. After all, film is a visual art form, not just talking heads. For decades artists have fought valiantly for the freedom to depict sexuality honestly. It’s weird that the only genitalia to be seen onscreen comes in the form of pubic puppets (!). Despite this criticism, Orgasm Inc. is an insightful, inciting documentary.This is one of the most enjoyable columns I get to write each year. My summer drinking syllabus. Though in the past, we also have featured fall and winter beer lists, there is something special about summer drinking.
This is a time for frosty koelschs, lagers and wheat beers to drink during those blistering July days. This is also a great time for some big ales to give you comfort on cool August evenings.
As I do every year with this list I am going to suggest some new releases, seasonals and some old friends to quench our thirsts. My biggest suggestion is if you can’t find one of these particular brands in your neck of the woods try a different brewer’s interpretation of the style.
So without further ado, in no particular order here are the 9.5 Beers You MUST Drink This Summer.
Nightshift Brewing Bee Tea Wheat Ale: This nano-brewery from Boston impresses me with every batch. I was torn between their Somer Weisse and the Bee Tea for this list. Bee Tea Wheat Ale is brewed with sweet orange peel and orange blossom honey. Aged on organic, loose, gunpowder tea leaves. The beer weights in at a veiled 8% ABV. Make no mistake this is a big beer. The beer boasts huge citrus esters and a wonderful dry finish.
Kona Longboard Island Lager: This is a session beer to beat all session beers. This beer is a crowd pleaser, a well-made lager with plenty of character and flavor. The favorable ratings of this beer on the beer geek sites are a testament to this malty treat. Kona Longboard Island Lager is also unassuming enough for your macro beer fan to enjoy. Kona Longboard Island Lager also gets bonus points for its packaging, we love cans here at TMR.
Rogue Ales Bacon Maple Ale: This collaboration with VoooDoo Donuts is brewed with maple syrup and bacon. This beer is a perfect breakfast beer on your next camping trip. Do not tell me I am the only one that has morning cocktails on vacation. This quirky novelty has tons of smoky aromas and wood esters. There is also a ton of maple in the aroma and the flavor. Rogue Ales Bacon Maple Ale is also a great cooking beer! Maple braised breakfast sausages anyone?
Narragansett Lager: They say you can’t go home again but you can go back to grandpa’s basement fridge. This is a great old school lawn mower beer. Narragansett Lager is an incredibly drinkable lager with a blue collar barroom vibe. The beer has a great crisp aroma with touches of sweet corn and a faint hop touch in the finish. Narragansett Lager also comes in a variety of packages including “pounders,” Boston vernacular for a 16 ounce can; as in “These ‘Gansett pounders are wicked awesome!
New Belgium Ranger IPA: The first hop bomb on our list. For me summer is all about hops. Ranger is an American style IPA that is a full-frontal assault of hops. This beer boasts a generous 70 IBUs and a beautiful malty backbone to balance it perfectly. If you are looking for a beer to stand up to your summer BBQ favorites this is the beer. Ranger also pairs up nicely with your favorite Mexican dishes.
Harpoon Rich & Dan’s Rye IPA: This is a convert from Harpoon’s 100 barrel series. It was received so well in a limited run Harpoon decided to make this beer available year round. This beer is a great session brew perfect for the dog days of summer. Its crisp mouth feel is incredibly refreshing with earthy aromas and a bit of spiciness in the finish.
Green Flash Brewing Saison Diego: This Belgian farmhouse ale has been renamed a San Diego beach house ale by the brewer. I love Saisons in the summer because they blend the perfect balance of sweet aromas and funky finishes. This is a very well put together interpretation of the style with gorgeous ginger and orange aromas and a refreshing carbonation. They should put a picture of this beer next to the definition of “refreshing” in the dictionary.
Dogfish Head Brewing Midas Touch: I love to include a fireside sipper to this list each year. Midas Touch is the perfect beer for those cool nights around the fire pit. This is a big beer at 9% ABV with big flavors and a complex profile. This is a very vinous beer with grape, honey and dark fruit aromas. I would suggest this beer not only for beer fans but also for that wine drinker that claim they do not like beers. This is a beyond unique brew from one of the world’s most unique brewers. Midas touch will also pair up nicely with grilled chicken or a plate of fresh summer melon.
Boston Brewing Company Third Voyage: This big beer from Sam Adams is phenomenal. This IIPA is packed with cascade hops bringing the beer up to 80 IBUs. The cascade hops give this beer their signature piney/citrus aroma. The ABV of this beer is also an impressive at 8%. Third Voyage has a nice malty presence that balances the 80 IBUs well, but let’s not fool ourselves this is a hop forward beer. A true hop bomb through and through.
Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Hard Cider: Yes I know, this is not a beer but it is found in the beer aisle so this cider is our.5 this year. What I like most about Angry Orchard products is the clean and organic aromas and taste of the apples. This ginger version of Angry Orchard’s cider adds another dimension. The ginger adds a nice sweetness to the aroma of this cider. Angry Orchard Apple Ginger has a nice dry finish that gives this cider a session-like drinkability.
There are my 9.5 for the summer. If you can’t find these beers or if you are looking for past summer beer lists you can find them here. Have a happy and healthy summer and let us know what you think of these beers in the comments below.1. 212 million copies of this year’s Ikea catalogue have been printed, in 29 different languages, making it twice as widely distributed as the Bible (there are an estimated 100 million bibles either sold or given out each year).
2. The first item of Ikea flatpack furniture was the LOVET, a leaf-shaped side table, which first appeared in the 1956 catalogue.
3. Ikea’s first shop was set up in Almhult, southern Sweden, and was 6,700 square metres. The average Ikea is now about 32,000 square meters.
4. Ikea employs 150,000 people, or “co-workers”, as they are called.
5. Ikea is named after the initials of its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd, the farm on which grew up and Agunnaryd, the nearby village.
6. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder, first started selling matchboxes as a child, before selling fountain pens, cigarette lighters and nylon stockings. The company was incorporated in 1943.
7. Between September 1 2012, and October 25 2012, it sold 503,441 Billy bookcases around the world. It is its most popular product
8. Its upholstered furniture is usually named after Swedish place names, its chairs after Swedish men's names, its garden furniture after Swedish islands, its curtains after Swedish women's names. ‘Dick’, ‘Prick’ and ‘Bugga’ are all names that nearly made it into production.
9. When it first entered the USA market, Ikea could not understand why its small flower vases were selling so well. It turned out they were being used as big tumblers.
10. 85 per cent of all of its products are common to all of its stores around the world.
11. Last year it distributed 2.5 billion little wooden dowels, which hold its furniture together, and 50 million Allen keys
12. Ikea has 287 stores in 26 countries. It has none in South America or Africa but is planning one in Cairo, Egypt, soon.
13. Kamprad first opened a restaurant in an Ikea shop in 1960, after he realised too many people visited the shop, but left without buying because they were hungry. Ikea estimates it has sold 11.6 billion Swedish meatballs and 1.2 billion hotdogs to its British customers since it opened in the UK in 1987.
14. Ikea made €1.2 billion turnover from selling food at its restaurants in 2011.
15. Ikea’s total turnover was €24.7 billion in 2011, up by 7 per cent on the year before.
16. Ikea sources 20 per cent of its raw materials from China. It was one of the first companies to source from China, when Kamprad bought 20km of cut-price denim, which was used for sofa upholstery.
17. 60 per cent of its products ultimately derive from the forest
18. The first Ikea store in the UK was opened in 1987 in Warrington.
19. Ikea originally wanted to open near London, but chose this location because the Warrington and Runcorn Development corporation invited the retailer to be part of its regeneration plans for the area.
20. Ikea’s next UK shop is planned for Reading
21. UK customers have bought 12.8 million mattresses from Ikea since 1987, nearly one for every two households in the UK. An estimated one in five children in Britain have been conceived in an Ikea bed.
22. Its highest selling product line in the MALM, a range of bedroom chest of drawers and beds
23. Ikea furniture and products uses between 800 to 1,000 different types of screw
24. Last year 60 million hinges were distributed by Ikea
25. Pre-tax profits increased from £3.27bn to £3.76bn in the year to August 2011.Previous | Next 420 Friendly Posted at: 2009-06-09 01:51:29 Original ad:
26 year old female who loves music looking for friendly male concert buddy.
i have tickets to see STS9 tomorrow night and am looking for someone to go with me to see them. you must be 420 friendly! From Timmy Tucker to ***********@***********.org
Dear potential concert buddy,
I saw your ad and am very interested. I love music. About myself, I am a 25-year-old music loving male. I see all kinds of concerts and would love to check out STS9, I'm not quite sure what kind of music that is.
I am not sure what you mean by 420 friendly, however. Do you live near route 420? That isn't a problem for me, since it is kind of on the way to Philly anyway. Email me back if you want to go to the show with me.
Thank you,
Tim
From Stacey ***** to Me
hi tim. i wasn't talking about route 420...you have to be "cool" if you know what I mean.
stacey
From Timmy Tucker to Stacey *****
Stacey,
Glad to hear back from you! Unfortunately I am a little confused. I am cool, at least my mother and co-workers say so. So if you want someone who is cool, I am your guy!
Tim
From Stacey ***** to Me
no i dont think you get me. you need to be down with the chronic lol. ya get me?
From Timmy Tucker to Stacey *****
Stacey,
Are you talking about Dr. Dre's album The Chronic? I love hip hop! Is that what kind of music STS9 is? I assure you that I am "down" with that album. You can play it in the car on the way to the show if you like.
Tim
From Stacey ***** to Me
um no...ok i dont think you are the type person i want to go to the concert with no offense
From Timmy Tucker to Stacey *****
Stacey,
I'm not sure why you suddenly decided not to go to the concert with me. I am kind of disappointed, because I just bought an ounce of headies and was looking for someone else to smoke it with. My other friend has tickets to go see bisco in Baltimore so I guess I'll just go with him.
Sorry we couldn't be friends,
Tim
From Stacey ***** to Me
wtf are you fucking serious? why were you being so dense about the 420 thing! and wtf you are seeing bisco but you never heard of sts9?
From Timmy Tucker to Stacey *****
I'm not sure what you mean about the "420 thing." What are you talking about?
From Stacey ***** to Me
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View all commentsIn February, James Frey was invited to speak to a small seminar in the graduate writing program at Columbia called Can Truth Be Told? There were nine of us, and we were reading books like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Kathryn Harrison’s memoir The Kiss for our discussion about the ethical questions that emerge when writing nonfiction. We had read A Million Little Pieces, Frey’s 2003 memoir about his harrowing drug addiction and time in rehab, as well as The Smoking Gun’s report detailing Frey’s false claims. We were surprised Frey actually showed up.
The class took place during an intense blizzard. Frey arrived in a white T-shirt and khakis, promptly removed his boots, and walked around on a soggy carpet in his socks. Grinding down on a piece of gum, he asked the name of the class. Leslie Sharpe, the professor who had invited him, explained that we were studying the differences between factual truth and emotional truth and how memoirists address those disparities in their work. We all laughed awkwardly.
But he was game. You don’t have to hold back, he told us. I’ve been asked everything. And for the next two hours, as the snow piled up on the arched windows behind him, Frey delivered his opinions on the memoir genre (bunk, bullshit, a marketing tool that didn’t exist until several decades ago); fact and fiction (there’s no difference); truth (it doesn’t exist, at least not in the journalistic sense); Europe (where he turns for validation); America (which is obsessed with honesty and raises people up only to tear them down); the best writers (Mailer, Vonnegut, Hemingway, Baudelaire, Henry Miller, Cormac McCarthy); documentary (a thesis on truth that hasn’t been proven yet); Oprah (I should have never fucking apologized); the kind of writer he wants to be (the most controversial and widely read of his time); making literary history (he’s in it to change the game and move the paradigm; he won’t write anything that doesn’t change the world); self-editing (a trap for young writers); mistakes (part of the spontaneity of a work of art); and, most important, how to write (don’t give a fuck; sit for ten hours a day, 600 days in a row; write what you want to write, and make sure there is one hell of a disclaimer at the beginning).
When he was working on A Million Little Pieces, Frey told us, he wanted to write in the tradition of Tropic of Cancer, A Season in Hell, and Paris Spleentransgressive works by transgressive authors. As he pointed out, heavy hitters never write like the established writers of their own time. Hemingway used short, declarative sentences; Miller wrote about sexuality in the first-person present tense; Mailer blurred the line between fact and fiction. These men created their own styles. Frey said Mailer even told him, right before he died, You’re the next one of us.
Frey said he never considered whether A Million Little Pieces was fiction or nonfictionand anyway, before the memoir craze of the nineties, it would have been published as a novel. If Picasso painted a Cubist self-portrait, he suggested, nobody would say it didn’t look like him. Much of his performance for us echoed comments he’d made to journalists. My best friends are almost all artists, he told a Canadian reporter earlier this year. I have very few friends who are writers I’m a big fan of breaking the rules, creating new forms, moving on to new places. Contemporary artists like [Richard] Prince, Hirst, and Koons do that, but there are no literary equivalents. In literature, you don’t see many radical books. That’s what I want to do: write radical books that confuse and confound, polarize opinions. I’ve already been cast out of proper’ American literary circles. I don’t have to be a good boy anymore. I find that the older I get, the more radical my work becomes.
Frey also talked to the reporter about how contemporary artists make their work. A lot of artists conceptualize a work and then collaborate with other artists to produce it, he said then. Andy Warhol’s Factory is an example of that way of working. That’s what I’m doing with literature. At the end of the seminar, Frey elaborated on this concept and made an unexpected pitch. He was looking for young writers to join him on a new publishing endeavora company that would produce mostly young-adult novels. Frey believed that Harry Potter and the Twilight series had awakened a ravenous market of readers and were leaving a substantial gap in their wake. He wanted to be the one to fill it. There had already been wizards, vampires, and werewolves. Aliens, Frey predicted, would be next.The Endup Building on Sale for $5.2M
By Peter Lawrence Kane
The Bold Italic Editors Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 25, 2014
The gentrification monster, not nearly satisfied by devouring long-term residents with rent control, is now whetting its appetite for SF nightlife icons. The Sound Factory is going condo, Café Cocomo is dunzo, the future of Yoshi’s SF is always in jeopardy, and a new development next to the Independent seems destined for a collision course with future NIMBY neighbors. And now, the three-story building housing the EndUp is on the market, for $5.2 million, according to Curbed SF.
To be clear, the EndUp is not closing, the club is not for sale and it’s not insolvent. Whoever buys the building will have the club as lessees. Were it not for the pattern swirling all around it, it might not even be news. But if you drove by it recently and thought, “Oh yeah, I haven’t been there in ages,” now might be a good time to go — just in case. The EndUp is, of course, a huge after-hours destination and maybe SF’s nearest approximation it has to a German megaclub that never closes. (It’s one of those venues with a huge, hardcore fan base which also spurs other people to say, “OMG, never again.”) One huge weekly party that gets a lot of attention now is Sundaze, an afternoon of Top 40, hip-hop, and EDM that feels slightly out-of-joint in an increasingly luxe and buttoned-down Central SoMa.
Curiously, Curbed lists the EndUp’s “gross-looking vinyl banquettes” as a con for anyone contemplating purchasing the building. Here I must protest; lots of fun things happen on gross-looking vinyl, and this city needs to treat it like an endangered species. However, the MLS listing also has some amazingly surreal shots of the EndUp looking rather weird in broad daylight. Weird not because it’s lit by the sun, but because there aren’t also people in it at that hour, out of their gourds with a good time.Hillary Clinton Becomes First Woman To Top Major-Party Ticket
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Locher/AP John Locher/AP
This post was updated on June 6.
Hillary Clinton, now the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, has become the first woman to top a major U.S. political party ticket. An updated count from The Associated Press shows that she now has support from the 2,383 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
Clinton supporters got emotional on the campaign trail in California this week as the candidate closed in on the nomination.
"We're making history, and that is the revolution," retired schoolteacher Monica Brown told NPR's Tamara Keith through tears at a Clinton event. "Hillary to me represents those dreams that women can do anything they want and here you are. That any girl can do anything that they want."
Clinton herself reflected on the historic moment on Monday, saying, "It's really emotional, and I am someone who has been very touched and really encouraged by this extraordinary conviction that people have."
"This is the final glass ceiling," said Alan Schechter, political science professor emeritus at Wellesley College and Clinton's thesis adviser. He has known her for 50 years and added, "I'm extremely proud of her."
That "glass ceiling" (a phrase Clinton herself has used often) milestone has been somewhat lost in the drama of this campaign, but is still "a really important moment in American society," political science professor Andra Gillespie of Emory University told NPR earlier this year.
"The impact is just as important for a woman to head the top of a major-party ticket as it was for an African-American to do so eight years ago," she said.
As Gillespie sees it, whoever is at the top of a presidential ticket is "a metric by which we can talk about how America has diversified, how it has become more inclusive, that you're now letting people who don't fit the traditional white, male model assume positions of leadership in the country."
When Clinton failed to get the Democratic nomination in 2008, she spoke about how her candidacy did put cracks in the "highest, hardest glass ceiling."
"Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it," she said. "And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time."
Her success in the campaign now, Gillespie said, is "very much a testament to the work that the suffragettes started over 150 years ago."
Women Who Came Before: From Woodhull And Chisholm To Ferraro And Palin
The first woman to run for president came along about 150 years ago — Victoria Claflin Woodhull. It was 1872, before women were able to vote. She was a fortune teller who opened her own brokerage firm and started a newspaper that promoted women's suffrage.
She received zero electoral votes.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Bill Hudson/AP Bill Hudson/AP
There were others along the way, but the next to gain wide attention in modern history was Shirley Chisholm, who ran for president in 1972. She had considerable experience, having served in Congress (the first black woman to do so). But she failed to garner widespread support. Though her run holds its own place in history — she was the first African-American and first woman to run for a major party's nomination — she ultimately didn't get very far. She won 152 votes at that year's Democratic National Convention.
The first woman to make it onto a major-party ticket was Geraldine Ferraro, who accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president in 1984.
"She really drew huge crowds; I think she was very appealing out there doing the whole thing," said Patricia Schroeder, a longtime friend of Ferraro, who served with her in Congress. "Especially for young women, it was very, very important to see [that]... it's just kind of one more thing you could do.
Enlarge this image toggle caption AP AP
"The sad part is, we didn't really have anyone else for a very long time. I had said, wrongly in retrospect, that she was so terrific as a candidate, that I didn't think any party would have tickets that were all-male going forward. I thought there would be a bunch more diversity."
Schroeder considered her own run for president in 1988, the following presidential election, but ultimately decided against it because she felt she couldn't raise enough money or build her organization quickly enough to run a competitive campaign.
After Ferraro, it would indeed be a long time — 24 years — until another woman made it onto a major-party ticket. That was 2008, when Sarah Palin was selected as John McCain's running mate. Palin was run through the white-hot spotlight of national scrutiny, from her policy positions to her |
tend to find dozens of other problems I never thought about!)
Sure, there is no throttling on the critical messages, but that is because this doesn’t occur frequently enough to cause email flooding.
Here’s a hint. Multi-threading and locking.
Some code, in some thread, somewhere, called logging.critical(). Logging.critical() tried to send an email. I expected logging.critical() to write the email to a local buffer, and for sendmail (or whatever) to pick it up and deliver it later. I knew it would be slow, but I was expecting sub-second response times. I haven’t worked out why that isn’t always true, but it isn’t always true. It can take many seconds to send this email.
But that’s okay, because there are no logging.critical() calls during any performance-sensitive areas, so it won’t affect the “freshness” or the data which is really the critical performance characteristic.
Can you see the call to logging.debug()? It does not send an email; it writes to a log file. Its execution time is measured in hundreds of microseconds, so it isn’t a concern.
Or so I thought.
It turns out that logging.debug() blocks, waiting for the logging.critical() call to complete. Now the debug message is taking 10,000 times longer than it normally does! It still isn’t inside the critical part, but note that it is inside the part that is timed. So when fetching + logging it takes more time than the threshold, out goes another logging.critical() call, which is another email message, which is another blocked logging system, which holds up the next thread, and so it goes.
Meanwhile, the time taken to do a logging.critical() call is increasing as they all wait in queue to send emails. The first one goes out, as expected, in less than a second. The second one took twice as long. The third, three times as long. It got to the stage that my threads were freezing up for 90 seconds. I said before that there weren’t enough of these calls to cause email flooding. I stand by that – there was a burst of few hundred over a couple hours which should be easily handled by a server’s email system. But that is assuming that all the threads in the system are not waiting for every email to actually reach its destination before they continue.
Short Term Solution
I’ve turned off emailing of critical logs for the time being. I have moved the debug log outside of the timed section, to stop it from propagating the problem, in any case.
Outstanding Questions
Before I can implement a long-term solution, I have to understand some issues.
Is my MTA running too slowly, even though it is on the localhost? Could it be making me wait while it sends the email, rather than buffering and sending it later? Could it be protecting itself from elephant-interferers err.. spammers by deliberately running slowly? Or is it inappropriate for me (and SMTPHandler) to have every thought it should be fast enough?
Does SMTPHandler buffer emails before sending them out in a different thread? Apparently not. Could it be configured or rewritten to do so? Do I really need to write such a beast myself?
Could BufferingSMTPHandler help? It seems to try to minimise emails sent by chunking them and only sending when the buffer is full. Presumably, it still blocks other logging during this occasional email, so it remains a problem.
Could SysLogHandler help by taking it out of the domain of Python? Or given my limited experience with syslog, will I just have a new set of problems?
In the meantime, if you use SMTPHandler, and you get random periods of sustained bad performance, maybe this will help you?If sororities started serving alcohol and hosting parties, would women be safer on campus? Photo by Corepix VOX/Shutterstock
Today, the New York Times’ Alan Schwarz investigates a persistent inequality in the culture of campus drinking: America’s frat boys are allowed to throw booze-fueled parties in their houses, but sorority girls are not. All 26 sororities in the National Panhellenic Conference voluntarily agree to keep their houses dry; only a couple of fraternities make the same call. The result: The parties only happen in the frat houses, where the men control the substances being served; choose the themes of their parties, which determines what women wear; man the entrances and exits to decide who gets in, who gets out, who gets kicked out, and for what; and lord over parties’ private spaces, like bedrooms and bathrooms. So far, three studies have demonstrated that fraternity members are three times more likely to commit sexual assaults than other guys on campus. “I would definitely feel safer at a sorority party,” one female student at the George Washington University told the Times as she passed a row of frat houses on Saturday night. “It’s the home-court advantage.”
So now, some young women on campus are fighting for their right to party. It seems obvious that sorority members (and the other women on campus) would be safer in their own homes than at frat parties. The problem is that the scenario is risky for the sororities themselves. For the national organizations and local chapters, banning alcohol is a financial calculation, not a moral one—staying dry helps them to avoid the legal liabilities shouldered by raucous fraternities. Drinking contributes not just to campus rape but also to physical fights, accidents, poisoning, and other destructive behaviors. James R. Favor & Company, an insurance company that covers more than a dozen fraternities, told the Times in 2012 that one national fraternity was paying an average of $812,951 in annual settlements until it went dry, at which point its annual payout dropped to $15,388. An officer with the National Panhellenic Conference told the Times that “she preferred to preserve the relative calm of sorority houses, and continue to let fraternities assume the cost, risk and cleanup of house parties.”
But by protecting themselves from legal risk, sororities are putting their college-aged members in greater danger of sexual assault. Consuming alcohol with members of the opposite sex is such a cornerstone of American social interaction that it’s unreasonable to expect college students not to indulge. So if they want to participate fully in campus life, sorority women are shuffled into fraternity house “Hunt or Be Hunted” theme parties, where they are cast in the role of prey.
At least one sorority, Dartmouth’s Sigma Delta, has no national affiliations, so it’s free to throw its own parties—and its members are now evangelizing the simple pleasures of the sorority rager. On a typical campus, “Fraternity members feel so entitled to women’s bodies, because women have no ownership of the social scene,” Sigma Delta social chair Molly Reckford told the Times. “You can’t kick a guy out of his own house.”Looking for commercial partners in Pakistan? List your company on Macro Market
Pakistan is the 68th largest export economy in the world and the 98th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). In 2017, Pakistan exported $24.8B and imported $55.6B, resulting in a negative trade balance of $30.9B. In 2017 the GDP of Pakistan was $304B and its GDP per capita was $5.53k.
The top exports of Pakistan are House Linens ($3.33B), Non-Knit Men's Suits ($1.89B), Rice ($1.63B), Non-Retail Pure Cotton Yarn ($1.27B) and Non-Knit Women's Suits ($1.04B), using the 1992 revision of the HS (Harmonized System) classification. Its top imports are Refined Petroleum ($7.04B), Crude Petroleum ($2.88B), Palm Oil ($2B), Petroleum Gas ($1.84B) and Cars ($1.35B).
The top export destinations of Pakistan are the United States ($3.5B), Germany ($1.9B), China ($1.85B), the United Kingdom ($1.46B) and Afghanistan ($1.39B). The top import origins are China ($15.2B), the United Arab Emirates ($6.95B), Saudi Arabia ($2.53B), Indonesia ($2.46B) and Japan ($2.37B).
Pakistan borders Afghanistan, China, India and Iran by land and Oman by sea.As the crackdown on the faith-based Gülen movement and Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen reaches new heights with every passing day, Turkish authorities have decided to recall all license plates that include Gülen’s initials, FG.
The decision applies to civilian as well as official vehicles.
License plates including the letters “FG” have already been removed from vehicles belonging to the Denizli Courthouse. The vehicles are sitting in front of the courthouse until new license plates are attached.
Gülen, a peaceful Islamic scholar who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, is accused by the Turkish state of leading a terrorist organization. Despite Turkish requests for his extradition from the US, Turkey has not been able to provide any solid evidence of criminal or terrorist activity on the part of the movement, which is known for its educational work around the world.LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s UK Independence Party (UKIP) was forecast on Sunday to win the most British votes in European parliamentary elections later this month, despite a poll showing the party is seen as racist by 27 percent of voters.
Britain's UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader and member of the European Parliament (MEP) Nigel Farage walks outside the EU Parliament ahead of an interview with Reuters in Brussels February 12, 2014. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
The survey results are not the first to show UKIP winning what is expected to be a closely fought election battle with Labour on May 22, reflecting the party’s growing support despite controversy over some of its campaign tactics.
A poll of voting intentions at the European elections in the Sunday Times put UKIP on 29 percent, 1 percentage point ahead of Labour, while a second survey in the Sun on Sunday gave UKIP a 3 point lead over Labour.
Both polls showed Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives in third place, with 22 and 23 percent of the vote respectively.
UKIP’s campaign for an immediate exit from the EU and tougher rules on immigration has drawn support primarily away from Cameron’s Conservatives in the southeast of England, but is also targeting voters in traditionally Labour-held areas in the north.
Party leader Nigel Farage says he hopes success in the European elections will help the party win seats at a national election in 2015.
The polls also showed that UKIP’s support had not been damaged by accusations of racism, after a controversial poster campaign last month and scandals involving junior party members. [ID:nL6N0NE40H]
More than a quarter of respondents in the Sun on Sunday’s poll said the party had racist views and racist members and supporters.
Thirty-five percent said the party itself was not racist, but that it attracted members with “racist, extreme or odd” views, while 26 percent said they were not racist at all.
Farage said on Sunday the party was non-racist and non-sectarian, but he conceded mistakes had been made in the past when accepting new members.It's been almost two weeks since the deadly East Village explosion and businesses directly affected by the blast are in survival mode trying to get back on their feet. To help them out, conservationist blogger Jeremiah Moss and his initiative #SaveNYC are hosting a Small Biz Crawl for the mom-and-pop shops that survived the blast. The crawl will visit four East Village businesses that need some extra love to recoup losses and help with repairs, plus bring attention to businesses most in need.
Beginning at noon, the group will visit Gem Spa, the longtime magazine shop and egg cream destination that's been operating since 1957, followed by a trip to Himalayan Visions for some shopping. The group then has a choice to buy lunch at either vegetarian greasy spoon B&H Dairy or Paul's Da Burger Joint, both of which were just a few storefronts up from the explosion site. The crawl concludes with a stop at New Yorkers Market to stock up on groceries.
Many area businesses have been struggling to get back on their feet following the explosion, Some places like Pomme Frites were a total loss and will be forced start from scratch if they can get some help. Other spots, like Stage Restaurant and B&H have had an extremely tough go when gas was shut off following the incident. Luckily, ConEd has turned the gas back on at B&H, but owner Fawzy Abdelwahad will need heavy volume to make up for the weeks the eatery has been closed.Nick Fetty | March 19, 2015
Earlier this week state lawmakers proposed a bill that would raise sales tax by three-eighths of a percent to help fund natural resources preservation and outdoor recreation efforts.
Money raised would go to Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund which was approved by 63 percent of Iowa voters in 2010. State Senator David Johnson (R-Ocheyedan) estimates that the bill will generate approximately $150 million each year.
The Senate Natural Resources and Environment subcommittee voted 3-0 to approve Senate File 357 which would go into effect July 1, 2016. The bill has received bipartisan support in Iowa’s democrat-controlled Senate and has also been backed by more than 85 environmental and wildlife groups. The bill will now be advanced to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
However, the proposal in its current form may meet some resistance in the republican-controlled House, according to Rep. Tom Sands (R-Wappello) who also chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.
“It would be extremely difficult for House Republicans to vote to raise fuel taxes and sales taxes in the same year. Our focus in our campaigns has always been to try to lower taxes for all Iowans,” Sands said in an interview with the Des Moines Register.
The Iowa Association of County Conservation Boards outlined several potential projects the bill could fund to improve outdoor recreational activities in Iowa’s 99 counties. Additionally, the group said these projects would create “tens of thousands” of jobs to accommodate the increase in visitors at Iowa parks.
If approved, this bill would be the states first sales tax increase since 1992.Tucked into the end of MLS Commissioner Don Garber's conference call explaining the league's decision to buy Chivas USA were some potentially significant revelations about future MLS expansion. It's not that there were any new names added to the list of prospective cities -- Atlanta, Minneapolis, "Northern California", aka Sacramento, San Diego and San Antonio -- but Garber did seem to indicate that some favorites had begun to emerge, at least as it pertains to those final two spots that would give MLS 24 teams.
Garber first mentioned Atlanta -- even using the word "bullish" -- where Falcons owner Arthur Blank is heading group. Perhaps the best thing the bid has going for it is that Blank is planning to build a $1.2 billion stadium that could be reconfigured for soccer. They've also got someone, Blank, apparently willing to write a big check. We're almost at the point where this seems like an inevitability.
Where this gets a bit more interesting is with the next city Garber mentioned by name: Minneapolis. While this is hardly the first time that the Twin Cities have been connected to MLS, it's never been quite this strongly before.
"That opportunity is one that we're excited about as we believe we need more teams in the Midwest," Garber said. "I think if Minneapolis as a market can continue to show the support that they've had for the NASL club [Minnesota United] and if they continue to make progress on a number of different stadium opportunities, there's a real opportunity there."
What's particularly interesting about this is that Minnesota United was referenced, but not the Vikings. Previously, it had been reported that Zygi Wilf was interested in acquiring a MLS team with the idea of having them play in a stadium primarily built for the Minnesota Vikings. If it's actually the United owners who are driving interest -- and there have been reports that the Twins could be a partner in the deal -- that probably means it would be with the intention of playing in a far more MLS-appropriate soccer stadium.
While Wilf has the stadium and plenty of money, bringing ownerships like United's -- primarily focused on soccer -- into the fold is the exact thing MLS should be looking for when vetting new additions.It was reported in the New York Times yesterday that I have received a letter from the U.S Senate Intelligence Committee. The letter, dated February 17, reached me on March 17- Saint Patrick’s Day.
I am anxious to rebut allegations that I had any improper or nefarious contact with any agent of the Russia State based on facts not misleading and salacious headlines. Claims of Russian influence or collusion in the Trump Campaign by the Intelligence Community are backed up by ZERO evidence.
As I told the Times I am willing to appear voluntarily if the committee isn’t looking for the headline of issuing a subpoena.
Any inference that my innocuous, fully disclosed Twitter exchange and tweets with a hacker known as Guccifer 2.0, who may or may not be a Russian asset, constitutes “collusion” is disproved by the content, the facts and the time-line of events.
My only communication came almost six weeks after the Wikileaks release of the purloined DNC documents that reveal that Hillary had to cheat to beat Bernie.
“Collusion” with someone has to be before the event. Not after. I myself reported his role in the DNC hacking in a piece for BREITBART NEWS August 5th, ten days before my cursory exchange with the hacker who I only now learn is suspected of being a Russian agent.
I am accused of colluding with Guccifer 2.0 to hack and release the DNC documents when my only communication with him via Twitter is six weeks after Wikileaks published the very documents in question. The content of our actual exchanged – now fully released – is benign.
This bogus claim was cooked up to get “Trump Associate communicated with Russian Hacker’ headline and post it to a dozen Fake News Sites thanks to the Brock-Soros smear machine and their many paid bots.
On January 20th, The New York Times reported on PAGE A-1 – WIRETAPPED DATA USED IN INQUIRY OF TRUMP AIDES. I am one of three Trump Associates named in the story. Was I wire-tapped? On what evidence? A Clinton campaign press release? What judge ordered the tap?
More importantly who leaked that I was under surveillance? If I was under surveillance pursuant to a FISA warrant the leak of this information would be a felony by whoever leaked it. The intelligence agencies pushing this false Russian narrative through a series of illegal leaks have hurt my ability to make a living and are soiling my reputation. The government is in possession of no evidence whatsoever that shows that I colluded with the Russian State.
I welcome the opportunity to be sworn and testify before the any Senate or House hearing that will conduct said hearings in public and not behind closed doors. Let’s see if they can handle the Truth.
I hope the Senate will be equally vigorous in questioning former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch as well as calling Ray McGovern, Thomas Drake, William Binney, and Craig Murray about what they know about the surveillance of Donald Trump.
The adamant denials that candidate Trump was under surveillance by the Intelligence Community must be seen in light of their lies about torture at Abu Dhabi, lies why our mission in Benghazi was attacked, lies about renditions, lies about the scope of meta-data collection, lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction and the control of Saddam Hussein. The congressmen and senators on the Intelligence Committee are either gullible or blackmail-able. Of course they buy the lies.
The Obama Administration vehemently denies asking the British M- to conduct the surveillance to provide deniability to the spooks at Langley. The British are feigning outrage but very well placed “drys” very high up in the Tory Party assure me Judge Andrew Napolitano’s report is correct and that the British foreign surveillance service, the Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ, most likely provided Obama with transcripts of Trump’s calls.
The NSA has given GCHQ full 24/7 access to its computers, so GCHQ — a foreign intelligence agency that, like the NSA, operates outside our constitutional norms — has the digital versions of all electronic communications made in America in 2016, including Trump’s.
The flat denials of the Intelligence services and FBI cannot be taken at face value.
The feigned outrage by the Brits is their role as the cut-out. The Watergate cover-up took a year to crumble. The President’s claim that he was spied on will yet be proven.
The double-standard is stunning. We are told the hijacking of the elections by the Russians is a certainty without a shred of proof yet we reject the idea Trump was spied on because there is no proof.
Roger Stone joins the March 20 edition of the Alex Jones Show:UPDATED: USC students are calling for the removal of Bryan Singer’s name from the school’s Division of Cinema and Media Studies due to sexual misconduct accusations against the X-Men director.
Film students launched a petition on Change.org, which has garnered more than 1,500 signatures at press time in support of dismissing Singer’s name.
The petition, created by Emily Halaka, says having Singer’s name attached to the film school “gives the impression that we, both as an institution and as members of the entertainment industry, value his financial contributions over the safety, respect and future of students. It sets a precedent of lenience for sexual criminals and further undermines the visibility and respect that victims of harassment and assault deserve.”
Bryan Singer and his lawyer, Marty Singer (no relation), have repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
In a statement to Variety, the USC School of Cinematic Arts said, “We are aware of the Change.org petition and appreciate the concerns of our students and alumni. We want to assure them that we are taking this matter very seriously and are monitoring the situation.”
Related Bryan Singer's 'Red Sonja' Movie Delayed Amid Controversy BAFTA Suspends Bryan Singer's Nomination for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
Students applauded USC and the School of Cinematic Arts for refusing Harvey Weinstein’s donations following the disgraced mogul’s own firestorm of sexual harassment and assault allegations, but say the name change regarding Singer is overdue.
“It is a gross administrative error that it has been allowed to remain. It is only consistent with our institutional morality to make this change,” the petition states.
Singer has had a number of allegations brought up against in him in recent years. A sexual abuse suit was dropped by accuser Michael Egan in August 2014, four months after Egan accused Singer of abusing him when the aspiring actor and model was a minor in the late 1990s.
A second accuser filed a lawsuit against Singer in 2014. In the lawsuit, the man claimed when he was 17, Singer tried to force him to have sex. Singer denied the allegations, and the accuser later voluntarily dismissed the case.
Jessica Chastain recently brought attention back to Singer’s past allegations. The actress is set to star in the next installment of the X-Men franchise, “X-Men: Dark Phoenix,” which Singer is signed to produce.
“I made a decision very early on to not work with people that I felt abused their positions, and didn’t create a healthy environment for those around them,” she told the Daily Beast before clarifying she didn’t work with Singer on set.
“I actually chose to do X-Men because I’m working with Simon Kinberg, who’s also a first-time filmmaker who I met on ‘The Martian,’ and is an incredible writer and producer,” Chastain said. “He wrote this script — which I can’t say much about, because it’s X-Men — and there are many powerful female roles in this story that Simon is telling.”
Variety has reached out to representatives for Bryan Singer for comment.Easy Tips to Make Sure Your Package Arrives Safely
by Claire Parker, Staples® Contributing Writer
Peanuts, popcorn and exploding bubble roll. Yep, sometimes shipping a package seems more like a circus than a routine activity. Leave the clowning around to others, and stick to these tried-and-true boxing and packaging safety tips to guarantee a smooth arrival.
Containment Issues
First, pick the right box or container for your package. Items enclosed in a box or envelope need a bit of breathing room to sustain the hustle and bustle of being hauled, lugged and delivered. So a space between the item being shipped and the container holding it is crucial.
The goal is to create the most dense inner cube possible while retaining the optimal out-of-box experience for the customer, says Sean Sabre, senior vice president of supply chain sourcing at TBB Global Logistics in New Freedom, PA. Sound hokey? Its not. Think of all the times youve almost sliced yourself open trying to wrangle a toy from its packaging. Doesnt leave you with a great feeling about the sender, does it? Instead, put items in a box thats easy enough for your customer to open, and yet safe enough to protect your merchandise from ruin.
Filling the Void
There are several packing materials you can use to fill the void. Choose accordingly, and your items will be safer for it.
1. Bubble Roll is very good void fill, says Charles Alvino, project specialist for Staples pack and ship team in Framingham, MA. It has excellent cushion protection, is light and easy to reuse, and features use-specific technology, like self-cling, anti-static, etc. But its not form-fitting, so products can shift during transport; pros recommend taping it around the product to create a more form-fitting package. And once those bubbles burst, the wrap no longer protects from direct hits.
2. Peanuts are light, fill voids well and provide cushion protection. But this product also called popcorn can be messy, have high static electricity and is sometimes difficult to reuse, store and dispose of. Anti-static options are available, and cost just a little more.
3. Packing paper is a neater alternative to peanuts and provides ample padding for lighter items. Choose a heavyweight paper that wont compress easily. Pull out a sheet, crumple it and stuff it in. It looks nicer than newspaper and can be reused easily, notes Allen Walton, CEO of the eCommerce Web site SpyGuy Security in Dallas.
Walton, who ships packages of surveillance gear like teddy bears with cameras and pens with voice recorders to customers on a daily basis, says to consider presentation when deciding on packing supplies. Pick a void filler that works best for the product and end user when shipping packages. He uses Bubble Roll when protection and image are key, and packing paper when presentation is not an issue.
The Unusual Suspects
What about delicate breakables, important legal documents, or something really heavy? Here are a few extra considerations to examine when packing items that need a greater level of protection:
1. Breakables. Incorporate an additional layer of protection around the item (like Bubble Roll), fill the void with another layer of either Bubble Roll or peanuts, and put a fragile sticker on the exterior. If you have several small items, pad them completely and then use stretch wrap to group them together so they dont get lost in the fill. You can even purchase a china and glass protection kit that covers all the bases.
2. Documents. When mailing legal documents, you cant risk having them damaged. Use a padded mailer with rigid edges, a flat cardboard envelope or a mailing tube so papers dont get crumpled. And when sending anything of importance or high monetary value, Dont skip the insurance! warns Leslie H. Tayne, founder and managing director of the Tayne Law Group in Melville, NY.
3. Heavy items. Weighty shipments, like furniture, art or books, can precariously shift in transit, so stabilizing them is key to avoiding injury to the handler or damage to the item. Pack the space to the brim so movement is restricted, and use stretch wrap and cover-up sheets to protect furniture from scuffs. Alvino suggests using heavy-duty packing tape and boxes worth the extra expense to make sure the bottom doesnt drop out.
Lastly, you may want to invest in testing to see what kind of durability requirements are necessary for your shipments. The single most effective tip for safely packaging a product thats prone to damage would be to spend the time and money to conduct shock, drop, vibration and compression testing at an International Safe Transit Association certified laboratory, Sabre says.
By following these simple tricks of the trade, your packages are more likely to arrive exactly as a customer or business partner envisions them.And there is no ability to pause other than at the initiation of contact.
After, I thought myself quite accustomed to hard science. I was in for a hypervelocity slug to the face.is an attempt by Zane Mankowski (alias QSwitched ) to determine what realistic space combat would look like by creating a number of subsystem models based on real-life publicly available engineering data, and then handing them to a bunch of playtesters. The final version comes with a range of premade systems and ships, of course, but the ability to build everything to your specification is a key selling point. If you know what “q-switched” is, it’s a good start, but you’re still going to run into a whole mass of hard science, as you fine-tune chemical and nuclear rockets, cannons, railguns, coilguns, lasers and even good old shrapnel warheads.The other key selling point is the hard sci-fi space combat. The game uses N-body simulation of orbital mechanics – thus you’re looking at some counterintuitive maneuvering in order to just get into combat – and is largely set in the asteroid belt and the gas giants’ moons, hence disabling stationkeeping and allowing your trajectory to be perturbed alone can be used to foul up your enemy’s fancy plans. Your maneuvering is limited by Δv budgets. Combat occurs at high relative velocities; contact can be very brief; distances are still quite large – hence the battles are quite hectic.Beware that this game is likely to ruin all of the soft sci-fi for you, permanently. If you’re a fan ofsite, this game is mandatory; if you’re a fan of, there will be no coming back from the Hard Side.The game uses a quasi-turn-based system for strategic maneuvering – with steps from one hour to several days that are quite necessary for skipping through uneventful orbiting. Once anything happens, the game snaps to attention. In Inspection Mode – where the most you see is your drones being released – or if a hostile force makes contact with yours the game reverts to real time, and doesn’t let you to take turn-style steps until the fireworks happen.I dare say the game is not particularly user-friendly, forgoing ease of control and decluttering in favour of giving maximum under-the-hood control. Wanna plate your spacecraft into 10 m of solid gold? Sure, but you’re going to have to skim through 20 lines of physical qualities of gold to conclusively find out why it sucks as armour. You can also use that gold for gun barrels, and virtually anything else; just don’t expect any good results outside,, coilguns. Wanna take your drones into battle? Be sure to watch their fuel levels, lest they will burn out of it. Ships have all too few control options.The game may be released, but in reality it's a bit of an alpha: the dev keeps pushing major updates, such as drop tanks and "extruded" turrets.1 of 5
Morry Gash/Associated Press
If all goes well in 2015, the Packers' third-string quarterback should hopefully never see the field.
But Aaron Rodgers' health hasn't been 100 percent over the last two seasons, with the starting quarterback missing time in 2013 with a broken collarbone and in 2014 with a persistent calf injury.
While backup Scott Tolzien is ready to go as the backup, the Packers learned the hard way in 2013 that even the third-stringers need to be prepared for game action in certain scenarios.
The reason this battle ranks No. 5 is because it may not be a true battle at all. We know that rookie and fifth-round draft pick Brett Hundley must win the roster spot...right? After all, the Packers traded up 19 spots in the draft to select him.
However, veteran journeyman quarterback and Wisconsin product Matt Blanchard is making that No. 3 spot slightly contentious.
Per Demovsky, Blanchard is "so far ahead of" rookie Brett Hundley currently and will enter camp as the third-string quarterback.
What this battle will likely come down to is the fact that there's almost no chance Hundley would clear waivers if the Packers tried to stash him on the practice squad, and teams haven't exactly been knocking down Blanchard's door. But Hundley will have to show something in training camp for fans to feel like that spot on the 53-man roster was earned.This article is over 2 years old
One Nation senator asks for briefing to see science agency’s proof that carbon dioxide affects climate ‘because they’ve never provided it before’
The CSIRO will meet Malcolm Roberts to discuss global warming after the innovation and science minister, Greg Hunt, intervened to help the One Nation senator obtain a briefing.
Roberts told Guardian Australia he would listen to the evidence, despite having described climate data that contradicted his view as “corrupted”.
In Senate question time on Thursday Roberts asked the minister for resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan, for “the specific location of data that proves claims that humans affect global climate change”.
Debunking Malcolm Roberts: the case against a climate science denier Read more
Canavan replied that the Coalition accepted the science on climate change, which Roberts derided as the “opinions and beliefs of the CSIRO”.
Roberts asked the government in question time and in writing to help arrange a meeting with the science agency. A CSIRO spokesman confirmed on Friday Hunt had done so.
Roberts told Guardian Australia the CSIRO would brief him in the next two weeks.
“My core aim is, as always, to get the empirical data that underlies their claim that carbon dioxide is affecting global climate, because they’ve never provided it before,” he said.
The CSIRO publishes a wealth of such data on the Climate Change in Australia website.
The CSIRO spokesman said: “CSIRO does not speak on the details of meetings with individuals, including members of parliament and senators.”
Roberts has consistently rejected arguments that humans cause global warming, despite the overwhelming scientific consensus.
He demanded evidence in his inaugural speech on Tuesday and in an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A, but when data was immediately produced on air, he said it had been corrupted by manipulation by Nasa and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Asked if he would accept CSIRO’s data when he met its representatives, Roberts said: “What we’ve said all along quite openly is that we’re all ears.
“We are going to give them every opportunity to show that humans are affecting global climate. It’s about listening not talking – giving them a fair go to explain it now that I’m a senator.”
In his inaugural speech Roberts said atmospheric temperatures fell between the 1930s and the 1970s.
“Temperatures are now cooler than 130 years ago and this is the reverse of what we’re blatantly told by the Bureau of Meteorology that has manipulated cooling trends into false warming trends,” he said.
Roberts’s claims have already been the subject of rebuttals, including by Guardian Australia and Steven Sherwood, director of the climate change research centre at the University of New South Wales.
'Unelected swill': One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts calls for Australia to leave UN Read more
Sherwood said: “Scientists have all interpreted the evidence, going back decades, and unanimously agree that it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that humans are increasing carbon dioxide and this is causing warming.
“There is not a single respectable atmospheric scientist in the world whom I know of, who disagrees with either of these conclusions.”
A spokesman for Hunt said “the minister has been one of the strongest advocates for climate science in Australia”.
“The minister has a standing offer to any members of parliament to facilitate meetings with the department or key agencies such as CSIRO.”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
A pensioner whose savings for her own funeral were stolen has been given a “surreal” offer of a free funeral.
Glenys Burrows, 92, was asleep when burglars got into her home on Grand Avenue, Ely, Cardiff, and took £10,000 in cash.
She had been saving the money to pay for her own funeral and to give to her family as inheritance.
A community fundraising page has been set up to raise money for Glenys but a funeral directors has also come through with an offer of a free funeral - when the time comes.
Coles Funeral Directors has offered their services for free to arrange and conduct her funeral, which her family hope isn’t for a while yet.
Gareth Coles, owner of the Cardiff company, said they had read her story and were shocked at the “terrible experience” Glenys had been through.
The offer has been put to Glenys who has accepted the help, which is valued at around £2,000.
“I read about Glenys’ ordeal and really felt for her - all her savings and funeral fund stolen.
“We saw that local people had decided to fundraise for Glenys and wanted to contribute in some way. As a local, independent, family-run business, we’re always looking for ways to give back to the Cardiff communities and families we serve, and thought perhaps we could help by offering to cover some of the costs associated with a funeral.
“I’ve spoken to Glenys and offered to waive our professional services fee when the time comes, and we’ve discussed how she can pre-arrange elements if that would give her further peace of mind.”
(Image: UGC MWL)
Son Ken said that the conversation with his mum about organising her funeral was “bizarre” but she was grateful for the help.
“I think it’s a bit of a bizarre idea but it’s a really nice gesture. It was a very strange conversation to have and I joked with her that I haven’t booked the date for her yet.
“I found it a bit strange talking to her about it but at her age it’s important to have those chats.”
Caerphilly florist Nicola Downie also sent a bouquet of flowers to Glenys.
Ken said his mum won’t ever return to her Cardiff home but since the terrifying ordeal her health has improved dramatically.
“She’ll be here forever |
playing our own gender! Patrick is the dwarf barbarian whose name escapes me at the moment because it’s late and I’m tired (Edit: His name is Palliard. Or Palord. Or something. He hasn’t specified the spelling. It rhymes with Mallard though, so we sometimes devolve into just calling him Ducky). Michael is the human monk whose name also escapes me. It’s probably in the audio somewhere named Fashim. Finally, I (Rob) am playing the half-orc alchemist grenadier Ro’Tuk.
Some basic background- this recording was started in the middle of our third session. We were hired as guards/scouts for a caravan heading to the city of Katapesh. After killing a small number of pugwampi (hyena/rat things that make everything within 30 feet of them extremely unlucky) we were sent ahead to the monastery of Sarenrae. Upon arrival, we found numerous pugwampi and other foul creatures, and the entire place was covered in shit and other miscellaneous filth. We destroyed the vermin and continued exploring, eventually coming upon a set of downward stairs. As we descended, a slime mold ooze creature attacked us, bringing us up to speed with the file.
Edit: For some reason, the files (though they are mp3 format) don’t seem to work in mediamonkey and itunes. They work fine in WMP, Quicktime, and Chrome’s player though. Trying to figure that all out. Fixed.
AdvertisementsA statistical look at D.C. United after almost five months and 20 regular season games …
League record: 5-8-7 (5-9-9 in all competitions).
Place in Eastern Conference: 8th.
Points out of final playoff slot: 4.
Supporters’ Shield: 16th out of 20 teams (22 points).
Goal differential: -6.
MLS rank: tied for 17th with Columbus and New England. Only Chicago’s -8 is worse.
Goals for: 19.
MLS rank: 19th, ahead of Chicago.
Goals against: 25.
MLS rank: sixth fewest.
Shots on goal: 79.
MLS rank: 18th.
Corner kicks: 80.
MLS rank: 17th.
Fouls committed: 309.
MLS rank: second most behind Vancouver.
Offside: 49.
MLS rank: tied for third most.
Yellow cards: 43.
MLS rank: tied for fourth most.
Goals scored in first 15 minutes: 1.
MLS rank: tied for 18th (only Colorado has not scored in that time).
Goals scored in last 15 minutes: 8.
MLS rank: tied for sixth most.
Goals conceded in first 15 minutes: 2.
MLS rank: tied for second fewest.
Goals conceded in last 15 minutes: 7.
MLS rank: tied for 8th most.
Home record: 4-4-1.
MLS rank: third worst, ahead of NYCFC and Seattle.
Away record: 1-4-6.
MLS rank: eighth.
Home goals: 12.
MLS rank: tied for 17th.
Away goals: 7.
MLS rank: tied for last with three other clubs.
Record when scoring first: 5-1-1.
MLS rank: sixth.
Record when conceding first: 0-7-4.
MLS rank: 14th.
Home attendance average: 15,692.
MLS rank: 18th, ahead of Chicago and Dallas.
Clean sheets: 7.
One goal conceded: 7.
Muli-goals conceded: 6.
Scoreless performances: 8.
One-goal performances: 8.
Multi-goal performances: 4.
Multi-goal performances away: 0.
Winning streaks: 0.
Losing streaks: 0.
Goals and assists by Nick DeLeon: 0.
Goals by a starting attacker in past nine matches: 1 (Lamar Neagle vs. New England).
Games missed with injury: Chris Korb 20, Bill Hamid 13, Chris Rolfe 11, Patrick Nyarko 8.
Days remaining in MLS transfer and trade window: 10.Amid intensifying rumors that he’s considering a run for president, United States Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has come down hard on the White House over last year’s tragedy at the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
On Wednesday a Congressional committee heard testimonies from witnesses of the September 11, 2012 attack, but eight months after the fact many questions still remain unanswered. Sen. Paul weighed in on the event as well this week, but in doing so challenged the administration of US President Barack Obama and particularly Hillary Clinton, the former Department of State secretary at the helm of the agency at the time of the attack and another rumored candidate in the 2016 election.
In an interview aired on CNN Thursday evening, Sen. Paul said he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that last year’s attack unfolded as a result of a secret arms trade. The confusion in the immediate aftermath of the event — including unfounded admissions from America’s United Nations envoy Susan Rice that contradicted what is known today about the attack — could actually be a cover-up, the senator said.
“I never have quite understood the cover-up — if it was intentional or incompetence,” he told host Erin Burnett. “But something went on. I mean, they had talking points that they were trying to make it out to be a movie when everybody seemed to be on the ground telling them it had nothing to do a movie. I don’t know if this was for political reasons.”
In the wake of the attack, then-UN ambassador Susan Rice said the storming of the consulate resulted after an anti-Islamic video produced in the US ended up on YouTube. The government has since admitted her statement was false, but conflicting reports among Washington’s elite has led in part to Paul’s questioning of the incident.
“I’ve actually always suspected that, although I have no evidence, that maybe we were facilitating arms leaving Libya going through Turkey into Syria,” he said.
“Were they trying to obscure that there was an arms operation going on at the CIA annex?” Paul asked. “I’m not sure exactly what was going on, but I think questions ought to be asked and answered, and I’m a little curious when employees of the State Department are told by government officials they shouldn’t testify and then they are sort of sequestered and kept away from testimony, so I think there may be more to this.”
This is not the first time either that Senator Paul raised questions about possible arms supplies under the CIA umbrella. During her testimony in the Senate, Rand Paul asked then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whether the spy agency was sending weapons from Benghazi into other countries. Clinton replied that he would have to ask CIA officials about it.
On Friday morning, Paul scolded the former State Department secretary in a Washington Times op-ed and said Clinton “should never hold high office again.”
“My office is currently seeking out the witnesses and survivors of Benghazi to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. To date, the Obama administration has refused to let them testify. Too many questions remain unanswered. Now, there are too many new questions,” Paul wrote. “The evidence we had in January already suggested that Mrs. Clinton ignored repeated requests for more security in Benghazi. The new evidence we have today – and that continues to mount – suggests that at the very least, Mrs. Clinton should never hold high office again.”
Paul said during a Thursday radio interview that he’s “considering” a run for president in 2016. A Quinnipiac University poll published earlier the week found that Clinton would dominate the Democratic race, winning perhaps 65 percent of the party’s vote if she decides to run.Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta practiced Monday and coach Mike Johnston termed him "a game-time decision" for Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre.
Maatta had surgery Nov. 4 to remove a cancerous tumor from his thyroid gland. He started skating again a week later, but the original prognosis was for Maatta to miss about four weeks. Tuesday will mark two weeks since the procedure.
"I'm feeling good, I am," Maatta said via the Penguins website. "But we've got to (wait and) see until after [Tuesday] morning's skate, how I'm feeling after that. And then make some decisions after.
"Mentally for sure, I want to get out there. It's been a couple weeks since I've played, so yeah, I'm hungry there. But I've got to still take it easy, not rush it. But we'll see tomorrow."
The 20-year-old has one goal and six points in 10 games this season.
Johnston said forward Pascal Dupuis will not make the trip to Montreal. Dupuis went to see the doctor Monday and Johnston said the Penguins would have an update in the next 24-48 hours.The world of “The 100” gets bigger than ever when it returns for its third season on The CW in January.
In a new extended trailer, which is nearly three minutes long, Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor) finds herself in brand new worlds and face to face with Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), the Grounder commander who kissed her and left her to die in Season 2.
The two are clearly at odds, but Clarke appears to have some issues with everyone, including Bellamy (Bob Morley), who’s drawing concern from everyone for seemingly switching sides, even from his sister Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos).
Also Read: 'The 100' Season 3 Trailer Teases Clarke in Danger (Video)
Meanwhile, new characters abound. A new Ark survivor (Michael Beach), riles up the Sky People, while all out war among the grounders seems imminent.
“The 100” Season 3 premieres Thursday, Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.Continuing with The LEGO Movie news, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed the next set that will be releasing in January 2014, Lord Business’ Evil Lair (70809). The set will include 738 pieces and will retail for $89.99. There are six minifigures in the set including Lord Business, Emmet, Vitruvius, Ma Cop, Pa Cop, El Macho Wrestler, which we first saw last week, and a brick-built Biznis Kitty. Biznis Kitty is a different version of Uni-Kitty in the Cloud Cuckoo Palace (70803).
The set featured is probably at the movie climax. You can see Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) going up against Lord Business’ “mech” in his lair. The lair also shows the El Macho Wrester in a chamber of sorts. Ma Cop and Pa Cop are stuck to the ground from the glue spraying machine hooked up to a brick-built 9v battery on the right which also includes a tube of glue up top. Finally, the Biznis Kitty sits comfortably on the sofa.The New England Patriots’ Tom Brady throws for a two-point conversion versus the Buffalo Bills in the last game of the 2013 NFL regular season. A less random playoff system would make late-season games like this even more meaningful. Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images
A version of this story originally appeared on Football Perspective.
One of my favorite sabermetric baseball articles of all time was written by Sky Andrecheck in 2010—part as a meditation on the purpose/meaning of playoffs and part as a solution to some of the thorny logical concerns that arise from said mediation.
The basic conundrum for Andrecheck revolved around the very existence of a postseason tournament because—logically speaking—such a thing should really only be invoked to resolve confusion over which team was the best during the regular season. To use a baseball example, if the Yankees win 114 games and no other American League team wins more than 92, we can say with near 100 percent certainty that the Yankees were the AL’s best team. There were 162 games’ worth of evidence. Why make them then play the Rangers and Indians on top of that to confirm them as the AL’s representative in the World Series?
Andrecheck’s solution to this issue was to set each team’s pre-series odds equal to the difference in implied true talent between the teams from their regular-season records. If the Yankees have, say, a 98.6 percent probability of being better than the Indians from their respective regular-season records, then the AL championship series should be structured such that New York has a 98.6 percent probability of winning the series, or at least close to it. If you spot the Yankees a 3–0 series lead and every home game from that point onward, then they have a 98.2 percent probability of winning, which is close enough.
This style of setup may seem strange (and, admittedly, the 1998 Yankees are an extreme example), but it preserves the integrity of the regular season by tying the odds of postseason success quite directly to performance during the six months leading up to the playoffs. And despite the long odds, there’s still an opportunity for the underdog to turn the tables and advance. It would take an incredibly improbable sequence of events, but that’s what a team should have to accomplish in order to undo 162 games’ worth of evidence in the opposite direction.
As for football, the NFL obviously doesn’t play postseason series, but the same concept can still be applied. Instead of spotting games in a series, we can spot a team points before the kickoff. In the NFL, Chase Stuart and I once found that a team’s “true” talent can be estimated by adding 11 games of.500 ball to its regular-season record. Using that, we can calculate the probability of either team’s true talent level being higher in a given matchup, and add points until the pregame win expectancy matches said probability.
Take this past weekend’s Bengals–Chargers tilt. In the regular season Cincinnati went 11–5 (true talent:.611) while San Diego went 9–7 (.537); both of those talent estimates come with a standard deviation of.096. Based on their records, the probability of the Bengals’ true talent being higher than the Chargers’ is 70.7 percent. (This is derived from the means/standard deviations listed above and the mathematical proofs laid out here.) For the pregame win probability to be 70.7 percent, we must spot the Bengals about 7.3 points to begin the game—however, the game is also in Cincinnati, and we know this typically means they will start with a built-in 2.5-point advantage, so we’d only need to add about 5 points (spotting them a 5–0 lead to begin the game) to bump their win probability up to the level deserved by their regular-season record relative to San Diego’s. (In this scenario, the Bengals would have only lost by 12 points. Hooray?)
Here are the number of points we’d have to add, rounded to the nearest integer, for all of last weekend’s games:
Note that this also addresses the seeming inequity of having 8–7–1 Green Bay host the 12–4 49ers; the Packers can be at home, but we’ll spot San Francisco a 15–0 lead to start the game—12.8 for the pure difference in regular-season records and 2.5 more because they’re having to play on the road. Likewise, the Saints (11–5) would get an automatic 6–0 lead to start their game with the 10–6 Eagles since the game is in Philly, and the Chiefs would start out leading 3–0 against Indy because they’re having to play on the road despite both teams posting identical 11–5 records during the season. (Congratulations, Kansas City, in this fantasyland you actually won by two points!)
What would the divisional round look like in a world where the best teams start out with an advantage on the scoreboard? In the AFC, the Broncos would get a massive 12–0 lead over the Chargers while the Patriots would have a miniscule 10 lead on the Colts. In the NFC, the 49ers would be up 3–0 on the Panthers, and the Seahawks would get off to a 5–0 start against the Saints—enough to reward the NFC West teams for their superior regular-season performances, but not such big leads that the NFC South franchises would be cooked before the first quarter begins.
One benefit of this setup is that every regular-season game matters. No longer would teams have nothing to play for and rest their starters in Week 17, when an extra win could very easily make the difference between winning and losing a playoff game.
Finally, if we dislike that the NFL playoffs seem to be getting more random in recent seasons, this process will nip that trend right in the bud. For instance, good luck to the 10–6 Giants going into the Super Bowl against the 16–0 Patriots, facing an instant 22–0 deficit—which is what this system would produce by dint of the biggest disparity in records of any playoff game since 2002. (The difference between the 2011 Giants’ and Packers’ records was equally large, but Green Bay would only start that game with a 19–0 lead under this system because they were at home.)
Of course, maybe such unpredictability isn’t a bad thing—the NFL’s popularity has never been greater than during this period of wacky playoff outcomes—but if the goal is purely to make the playoffs fairer and give regular-season games more meaning, a handicapping system like this would reduce the role of randomness and ensure that the best team is rewarded more often with postseason success.Summary: As web application development evolves, it’s playing an increasingly important role in the business world. More and more, application development directly contributes to a company’s competitive advantage. How has web application development changed, and where is it going? Learn more in this article.
Web application development is evolving. Development standards are changing. New tools and libraries emerge on a (seemingly) daily basis.
The big question: Why should businesses care about these changes?
As businesses rely on the web more and more, application development plays an increasingly important role in sustainability. According to a Forrester study, “The software you deploy, and especially the custom software you create, will increasingly be part of your competitive edge.”
The fact is, web application development is evolving, and these changes have a significant impact on the business world. How has development changed recently, and where is it going? Today, let’s explore a few ways development is changing, and how you must adapt.
1. More hardware diversity
Over the past few years, we’ve seen smartphones and tablets explode in both the consumer and business world. This led to the growth of responsive design. Your web applications must now adapt to various screen sizes and interfaces.
Going forward, this trend is only expanding. We’re seeing a new wave of “smart” devices, like watches, glasses, TVs, and more.
What does this mean for development? As explained below, these changes force developers to rethink their development approach.
“Recently, and ongoing, screen sizes and resolutions have changed from the past,” says Marie Sonder, Web Designer and Developer at EZSolution. “You used to be able to just design for a desktop and the different browsers, but now it comes down to all the different screen sizes and resolutions. It forces the developer to determine the hierarchy and what’s most important; like logo, phone, navigation, etc. Speeds of devices are all different. While smartphones and tablets are getting better, they still don’t have the processing power and memory that a power desktop has. It makes the developer have to code differently and make sure everything is clean to get the best page load time possible. Lastly, touchscreen functionality makes a huge difference. You have less “mouse-overs” to get more information, so you have to make it obvious where buttons and certain places are that you are calling for action. They need to be more visible, have some color, and stand out in some way so you know there is an action to be made there from a touchscreen. Again, hierarchy comes into play so that you focus on what is most important, and what needs to stand out and be actionable.”
2. Increasing focus on security
While web app usability and interfaces improved over the last few years, security lagged behind. How bad is it? A recent study found that 96% of all web applications contain at least one ‘serious vulnerability.’
What does this mean for development? Going forward, we’re seeing a greater emphasis on application security. Developers must become well-versed in proper security standards, and make it their top priority.
“The biggest change coming is the pressure for super-high quality applications is going to outweigh the need for development speed,” says Alan Willett, President at Oxseeker Inc. “Cyber-attacks are increasing in number and sophistication. The ramifications of failing to protect from those attacks to the developers of these applications is great financial hardship which will just become worse as the scale continues to grow. This will force developers to rethink the practices they believe are giving them speed but instead are leaving wide open barn doors for the pirates to walk in.”
3. Greater emphasis on tools
Web app development is becoming more complex, requiring an ever-increasing number of skills. Developers must understand architecture, security, databases, front end layout, and more.
As a result, we’re seeing a greater emphasis on tools. We’re seeing new libraries, frameworks, and tools emerge that not only improve productivity, but also fill in the skills gaps for developers.
“Web development tooling, or, tools to make your job as a web developer easier, was ignored for a long time,” says Skyler Slade, Co-founder and CTO of Tandem. “With so many developers switching to web development in the past several years, the mindshare and talent is now focused on making web developers’ lives easier. Tools help you automate a lot of manual work. For example, image “spriting” where different images would be combined into one single file to so that they’ll download quicker. Previously this had to be done by hand, using a tool like Photoshop. Now, using automation tools like Grunt, this process can be completely automated. This saves hours of time. Automation tools can also correct syntax mistakes, format your code to a standard, and a whole host of other things.”
4. More focus on user experience
When mobile apps became popular among consumers, something changed. Users learned to expect the simple, intuitive interfaces found in their mobile apps.
This has serious ramifications for developers. As user expectations change, the user experience becomes critically important. Developers who don’t provide simple, intuitive interfaces will struggle with user adoption.
“As web app development has matured, the focus on making web apps easier to use has grown,” says Mark Calkins, VP Development at Bluehost.com. “Quite a bit of web app development now starts with UI design and even better with user experience testing to provide a simpler, more intuitive user experience.”
5. Greater demand for APIs
In the past, businesses ran all of their software in-house. Now, that’s changing. More businesses are opting for SaaS options that address specific needs. They might use one service for CRM, another for collaboration, and may build their own reporting applications.
What does this mean for developers? Your applications must provide a way to communicate and integrate with other applications. This is why we’ve seen such rapid growth in application programming interfaces (APIs)–a trend that will gain steam in the coming years.
“Everyone wants to integrate with various systems,” says Konstantin Mirin, Founder of IQRIA. “Your customers may have systems in place and you need to provide an API for that. If you keep this in mind from the very beginning, the best way to address it is API-centric architecture.
6. Rich interactivity
We’re already seeing a strong push towards web applications that behave more like native applications. However, this push towards faster and more powerful web applications requires a shift in development methods.
What does this mean for developers? We’re seeing a shift from server-side development to client-side development. As browsers become more powerful, much of the traditional server-side work is now moving to the client side.
“The trend is towards rich, interactive clients using frameworks like Angular.js,” says Slade. “Because of faster JavaScript engines like Chrome’s V8, and frameworks to take advantage of them, a lot of the processing that would traditionally be done on a backend server can now be handled directly in the user’s browser. This makes for a much more pleasant user experience, where, for example, data analysis and visualization can be done in real-time, right in the user’s browser window.”
7. Real time applications
As we move towards web applications that behave natively, a new trend has emerged: Real-time web apps. These are web apps that can communicate with the server and update the application without a page refresh.
What does this mean for developers? As explained below, the push towards real-time web apps opens up some great possibilities. This is a trend we will see more and more in the coming years.
“Building real time applications used to be quite difficult,” says Calkins. “Now, with Node.js and Socket.io, building real time apps has been simplified by an order of magnitude. This is great for instant messaging, chat, real time document collaboration and editing, real-time analytics and a number of other apps. Trello, Yammer, Zendesk and many others are using Socket.io to create real time apps.”
So, what do you think? Is there anything you would add to this list? If so, please share your thoughts in the comments.
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Related Posts:Sylvan Knight
The Sylvan Knight combines martial mastery common to all fighters with the reverence of nature that grants a druid their spells. Sylvan Knights use magical techniques similar to those practiced by woodland druids. They focus their magic on two of the eight schools of magic: Conjuration and Transmuation. These knights learn a comparatively small number of spells, committing them to memory rather than knowing all of their spells through meditation and prayer.
Spellcasting
When you reach 3rd level, you augment your martial prowess with the ability to cast spells. See chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the druid spell list.
Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the druid spell list. You learn an additional druid cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
Spell Slots. The Sylvan Knight Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell entangle and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast entangle useing either slot.
Spells Known of 1st-Level or Higher. You know three 1st-level druid spells of your choice, two of which you must choose from the transmutation and conjuration spells on the druid spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Sylvan Knight Spellcasting table shows when you learn more druid spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be a conjuration or transmutation spell of your choice, and must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 7th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
The spells you learn at 8th, 14th, and 20th levels can come from any school of magic.
Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the druid spells with another spell of your choice from the druid spell list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots, and it must be a conjuration or transmutation spell, unless you're replacing the spell gained at 8th, 14th, or 20th level.
Spellcasting Ability Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your druid spells, since you learn your spells through devotion and attunement to nature.
You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In adedition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a druid spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your wisdom modifier.
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your wisdom modifier.
Sylvan Knight Spellcasting
Fighter
Level Cantrips
Known Spells
Known 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 3rd 2 3 2 - - - 4th 2 4 3 - - - 5th 2 4 3 - - - 6th 2 4 3 - - - 7th 2 5 4 2 - - 8th 2 6 4 2 - - 9th 2 6 4 2 - - 10th 3 7 4 3 - - 11th 3 8 4 3 - - 12th 3 8 4 3 - - 13th 3 9 4 3 2 - 14th 3 10 4 3 2 - 15th 3 10 4 3 2 - 16th 3 11 4 3 3 - 17th 3 11 4 3 3 - 18th 3 11 4 3 3 - 19th 3 12 4 3 3 1 20th 3 13 4 3 3 1
Season's Bond
Many druids believe that each season has an associated element. For the springtime season, that element is air, and it is represented by lightning damage. Similarly, the hot season of summer is represented by fire. The decaying season of Autumn is associated with the earth and acidic damage. Lastly, the cold season of Winter is represented by water and ice, and is associated with cold damage.
At 3rd level, you learn a ritual that creates a bond between yourself and one of your cantrips, changing its damage type. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. The cantrip must deal either fire, lightning, cold, or acid damage. At the conclusion of the ritual, you may choose one of the other three elemental damage types. This cantrip now deals that type of damage. This ritual does not change any other aspect of the cantrip.
For example, if you know the produce flame cantrip, you can perform the ritual so that the cantrip deals cold damage instead of fire. This cold-flame still produces light as the produce flame cantrip. You may use any cantrip you know in this ritual, even if the cantrip comes from a different class' spell list.
Only one cantrip can be affected by this ritual at a time. Attempting to change another cantrip with this ritual replaces the previous cantrip.When Polish writer Adam Mickiewicz needed a bar setting for his epic 1834 poem “Pan Tadeusz,” he named his tavernkeeper “Yankel” and described a watering hole that embodied its Jewish owner: “From a distance the rickety old tavern looked / like a Jew rocking in prayer / the roof like a hat, the thatch spilling down like a beard / the sooty walls like a gabardine / in front, carvings protruding like tzitzit down his body.”
Today it seems like a strange idea: Outside of the Nazarian nightclub-and-hotel empire and a few places in the East Village, what Jews own bars? But in early-19th-century Poland, approximately 85 percent of registered taverns were leased by Jews—and there was no shortage of taverns. For Poles of that time, there was a stereotypical image of a bartender, and he had a beard, a yarmulke and peyos. Jewish domination of Poland’s drinking culture was so complete and lasted so long that Poles simply assumed a connection between Jews and booze. As a standard Polish proverb of the time had it: “The peasant drinks at the inn, and the Jew does him in.”
Unlike most other aspects of the collective Jewish experience—in a tradition that commemorates events that happened 5,000 years ago as though they took place last year—almost all traces of this history have vanished from our group memory. Jews entered the field, dominated it in a region, and then left it almost as quickly as they found it. There’s nothing particularly boozy about Jewish economic history or culture, prior to or since this period in Poland. There are no Jewish cocktails and no spirits that are uniquely Jewish. There weren’t any major Jewish innovations in the industry, and the Jewish legacy left to the world of booze is essentially nil. Why?
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Jews became bartenders in Poland because of a few curiosities of the Polish economy. Chief among them was the system of trade tariffs that raised the cost of exporting Poland’s bountiful grain harvest to the point where landowners couldn’t generate substantial profits selling it abroad. Nobles with land and grain on hand turned to manufacturing—that is, distilling—to turn their product into something worth real money. And Jews, who were usually denied permission to buy land, join artisanal or professional guilds, or pursue higher education, were natural partners: They could provide labor for the distilleries and handle the commercial end of innkeeping.
Indeed, as Glenn Dynner, an expert in Eastern European Jewry who is currently a scholar in residence at the Center for Jewish History, wrote in his recent study of the topic, Yankel’s Tavern, being a tavern-keeper and bartender was about as good as it got for Jews in Poland. He describes it as the era’s equivalent of accounting: an aspirational middle-class occupation, something to which they could apply their skills with a potentially lucrative payoff. As Dynner notes: “They leased taverns because there were not many alternatives for East European Jews.”
And Polish nobles were eager to have Jews run their taverns, largely because of prevalent myths about Jews—chiefly, that they didn’t drink. Dynner provides abundant evidence of what he calls the “myth of Jewish sobriety.” The 19th-century Polish nobleman Antoni Ostrowski described Jews as “always sober,” adding “drunks are rare among Jews.” Indeed, Dynner writes, “Polish folk idioms mocked Jews for having so much much liquor at their disposal yet being so stupid as not to drink it themselves.”
Various writings describe legions of drunken Poles passed out in bars or doubled over fences, while the Jews were busy leeching the Poles of their money and pushing yet more booze on them when they were already drunk and vulnerable to extortion. Later that crystallized into anti-Semitic vitriol. An anecdote from a Catholic priest, written in 1912, speaks volumes about the attitude that the Jewish liquor magnate inspired: “Our small towns and cities are no longer ours, but belong to foreigners. The current municipalities only appear to be in power in small towns and cities; the liquor monopolies hold all the real power. Sober Jews, in a silent economic battle, have foisted intemperance onto us and achieved history.”
Yes, 1912: While many scholars have previously suggested that the Jews’ dominance of the Polish liquor trade concluded in the early 19th century, Dynner marshals evidence showing that the Jews-and-booze trend extended as late as the early 20th century. So, for generations, to have booze in Poland meant to transact with Jews—and, more significant for Jewish culture, to be a Jew in the early modern era was to very likely be associated with the liquor trade. As Dynner noted in an interview, until 100 years ago around three-quarters of the world’s Jews lived in Poland and Lithuania, and as many as 30 percent of Polish Jews were involved in the industry in one way or another.
But then what happened? While Jews in Western Europe enjoyed the fruits of emancipation, their Eastern European counterparts left for Palestine and the United States, where the economic and professional horizons were far broader and the imperatives driving their original involvement in Poland’s liquor trade were totally absent.
Even the Bronfmans, the world’s most famous liquor magnates, couldn’t tie their successes in booze to the legacy of Polish Jewry’s tavern-keeping: They were originally tobacco farmers from Bessarabia. After fleeing the pogroms of Tsarist Russia in 1889 for Saskatchewan, the family’s patriarch Yechiel got a job on the railroad and then another at a sawmill until he and his sons—including Samuel, the eventual builder of the Seagram empire—could get together enough capital to start their own concerns. They sold firewood and seafood and then horses; it was only after buying a hotel and seeing the profits in selling alcohol that the Bronfmans moved into liquor distribution and then happily used their position in Canada during Prohibition to become titans of the industry.
Now there’s not much more than the tradition of drinking Slivovitz—a grain-free alcohol—at Passover to remind anyone of all the drinks Jewish bartenders poured across Poland. It’s of a piece with the overall economic history of the Jewish Diaspora: Through a constant focus on education and skills development, Jews have applied themselves to whatever available field was most advantageous to them. In Poland, that was booze. When they left, they didn’t take it with them.
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Steven I. Weiss is an award-winning journalist and is news anchor & managing editor at The Jewish Channel. His Twitter feed is @steveniweiss.Queensland Rugby Union has secured the signature of Test lock Kane Douglas for the next three years, adding further depth to the St.George Queensland Reds forward stocks.The 26-year-old is an imposing figure standing at 202cm tall and weighing 119kg, but also brings with him significant experience, having already played 75 Super Rugby games and 14 Test matches since making the step up to professional Rugby in 2010.Douglas made his Super Rugby debut for the Waratahs in 2010 and played his first Test for the Wallabies in 2012. In 2014 he made the decision to experience Rugby overseas and moved to Leinster to play in the European Pro 12 competition.
Douglas has returned to Australian shores and said he was looking forward to this next chapter of his life on and off the field.
“It’s going to be a |
thermia, mydriasis, agitation, and confusion
Psychosis includes hallucinations and paranoia
AMT = alpha-methyltryptamine; α-PVP = alpha-pyrrolidinopentiopenone; 6-APB = 6-(2-aminopropyl)benzofuran; BZP = benzylpiparazine; 2C-B = 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine; m-CPP = meta-chlorophenylpiperazine; 2-DPMP = 2-diphenylmethlpiperidine; 3-FMC = 3-fluoromethcathinone; MDAI = 5,6-methylenedioxy-2-aminoindane; MDMA = 3,4-methlylenedioxymethamphetamine; MDPV = 3,4-methlyenedioxypyrovalerone; 25I-NBOMe = 4-iodo-2,5-dimethoxy-N-(2-methoxybenzyl)phenethylamine; PMA = paramethoxyamphetamine; TFMPP = trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine.
Treatment of intoxications
Table 2 lists typically reported acute medical problems associated with novel substances from each class. The clinical toxicity of novel psychoactive substances is generally similar to that of other amphetamines including MDMA. The majority of patients (85-95%) presenting at emergency departments with acute medical problems associated with the use of novel psychoactive substances are minor or moderate poisonings [12, 45, 76]. Common clinical features are hypertension, tachycardia, chest pain, agitation, and hallucinations [12, 76, 77]. Severe and fatal poisonings manifest as serotonin syndrome [67], hyperthermia [38, 78], seizures, and brain oedema due to hyponatremia [79]. These are also the severe complications of MDMA use [31, 80]. Treatment is mainly supportive. Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature should be monitored. Depending on clinical features laboratory tests including electrolytes, creatine kinase, liver enzymes, and cardiac enzymes may be indicated. Acute treatment of a sympathomimetic toxidrome primarily includes benzodiazepines and fluid replacement to control agitation, cardiovascular stimulation and hyperthermia. The use of haloperidol without benzodiazepines is generally not recommended because seizure and dysrhythmia thresholds are lowered and negative drug-induced psychological effects including anxiety may increase [81]. Hypertension should be treated primarily with nitrates. β-blockers should be avoided because of unopposed α-adrenergic stimulation resulting in further increases in blood pressure [82]. PhentoIamine may be useful but α-blockade increases stimulant-induced tachycardia [83]. Combined α-β-blockade with carvedilol reduced MDMA-induced elevations in blood pressure, heart rate and also body temperature [84], but it is not a routine treatment for stimulant-induced toxicity [85]. Physical cooling and relaxation may be needed in cases of severe hyperthermia, but antipyretics are of no use.
Drug screening
Most stimulant-type novel psychoactive substances are not detected by standard immunoassay urine drug screens. Thus, intoxication would typically present as sympathomimetic or serotonergic toxidromes with a negative screening result for amphetamines. Ideally, urine and blood should be sampled and analysed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry by a specialised laboratory. Typically the identity of the novel psychoactive substances will not be readily available for the management of the acute intoxication. Nevertheless, the novel psychoactive substances should be identified to better document the substances and their associated toxicity.
ConclusionI wanted to do something like this for a long time, and finally I think it’s at a point where I can release this into the wild.
We’ll take a look at more than 2 million games, taken from the MillionBase PGN database. I ignored any Chess960 games contained, but in total there are 2,197,113 games. I was interested to see what kind of visualizations I can do, and what patterns would be revealed by considering so many games. It was the biggest collection of games I could find, spanning games from 1801 up to 2013, and players with ratings between 215 (wow!) to 2861 (I wonder who that is?). So I think it’s a pretty good representation of chess games all around.
I also wanted to show off some of the software I wrote for this purpose, checkout the last section for links to those.
Lets start with some general numbers. White wins a bit more often than Black, 39% to 30%, with the rest being draws. It’s not very surprising, although I would have expected the difference to be less. There are also some negligible amount of unfinished games, and I couldn’t discern what happened to those.
This generally seems to agree with all the other statistics out there. Nothing crazy going on here.
Openings
Like many other amateur players, I tend place more importance on openings than I probably should. That being said, I was really excited about seeing the opening tendencies and popular moves. Below is a visualization of the first 5 moves (10-ply) from every game.
Right from the first move, I see that e4 dominates by a large margin (48%), followed by d4 (34%). I would have expected the gap between these two most-popular moves to be smaller, but given the time range of this database, it seems reasonable. I will focus on some of my favorite openings and an insight I found to be quite interesting.
Of course, among e4 openings, the beloved (and my favorite reply as Black) Sicilian (c5) is the most common reply, even more than e5. 2. Nf3 is by far the most played as White, aside from some respectable chunks from Alapin and Closed Sicilian. Interestingly, Black’s second move seems to be a very critical crossroads of how the game will play out.
It’s clear that after Black’s second move, the next couple moves in the opening phase are almost set in stone. I believe this is because the Sicilian has a great deal of opening theory behind it, and people very rarely deviate from mainlines (perhaps because it’s rather sharp, and gets complicated very quickly).
The three big choices are 2.. d6, Nc6 or e6. e6 and Nc6 almost invariably lead to a similar position, but Black chooses to delay his Queen’s Knight’s development for more flexibility in the case of e6 (more on that later).
When 2.. d6 is played, the game almost always follows the pawn exchange line, and ends up in Najdorf (58% of the time!). The Sicilian Dragon (one of my favorite variations in the Sicilian) also gets a respectable 20% chance of occurring.
I knew because of the huge theory behind it, almost all moves in the Sicilian lines are very decisive in how the game will play out, but seeing the critical junctions visually really emphasizes this point.
Other notable openings are Ruy Lopez, with French and Caro-Kann getting a nice chunk. What I found weird was that there were more French games than there were Queen’s Gambit. As a beginner everyone focuses on this classical line, yet it seems a bit under-represented here.
The Indian Defense is the most popular against d4, often resulting in King’s Indian, or Nimzo/Bogo Indian variations.
Regarding uncommon openings, like English (c4) or Reti (Nf3), it’s worth noting that while the main variations are usually followed pretty strictly in other systems, these openings show a lot more variation, and there are less obvious/dominant moves that were followed. If you’re a player that doesn’t like to get into theoretical arguments with your opponent, such openings might be a better fit for you.
Castling
Both colors seem to castle kingside about 80% of the time. What was surprising to me was that Black was more likely to castle queenside, but White was more likely to not castle at all!
Another unexpected result for me was the castling side. I would have expected to see a lot more opposite-side castling, yet it’s at a relatively low 10%, and its almost twice as likely that one side won’t castle. Not sure what to make of this result, but definitely interesting to see.
Endings
I wanted to collect some stats about the game endings, but this little project got a bit out of hand and so I’ll defer the piece-type endings to a later date. I did however get some interesting stats on games ending with check or checkmate. The results aren’t that shocking, but still cute to see.
There are more than 50 thousand games that end in mate! Obviously this is minuscule compared to the size of the database, but I wonder if the players really didn’t see it coming, or just “allowed” their opponent to finish what might have been a nice combination?
Games ending on a check makes me think that either it was a draw-by-perpetual scenario, or that one side had that “Oh shit!” moment, perhaps a double attack by a queen or a knight fork.
Game Length
To get a sense of how long the games took, I plotted them as a simple histogram, number of plies vs number of games.
So, this graph is perhaps too skewed because of some ridiculously long games. The 2 longest games are really long, and I wonder how long the players had to be at the chess board. You can seriously pass out from dehydration!
The longest game, with a whopping 228 moves was played in 2012, and after such an arduous struggle, it ended in a draw. Kinda anti-climactic if you ask me. Guess what the result was for the second longest game, at a measly 227 moves? That was a draw too! So perhaps its wise to not push your luck move after move hoping your opponent will give up and just agree on the draw about 100 moves earlier. Interestingly, the longest game was also one that ended with a check (and also featured my current favorite variation, the Sicilian Accelerated Dragon).
Instead of having a super-skewed graph, I think I can sacrifice 6,474 (0.3%) of the games and focus on the ones with at most 100 moves (or 200-ply).
At first glance my reaction was: “Uh oh, this histogram looks dangerously like a comb distribution“, making me question whether my statistics-gathering was faulty. Although, there isn’t anything that would cause a rounding/collection error. Upon closer look though, you can see that the peaks are higher on odd-numbered plies. This means that Black is more likely to end any given game (whether win, lose or draw). Otherwise, ignoring the peaks, it looks like a good old normal distribution with a mean somewhere around 70-ply.
We shouldn’t ignore the peaks though! And seriously, what’s up with those peaks? The largest peak is on ply 81 (Black’s 40th move), and there is a second peak on ply 120 (White’s 60th move), and a tiny but noticeable peak at ply 160. Hmmm, I wonder if this has anything to do with the classical time controls?
120 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment starting on move 61
Perhaps it’s a result of players pushing to make the time-control, only to realize they’ve messed up their position? Or straight up running out of time? I think the peaks correspond to the standard time controls too closely to be a coincidence.
Heatmaps
Heatmaps are one of my favorite visualizations to show multiple games on the board. They give insight on what moves occured with frequencies and you get a greater sense of the whole board.
Below is the heatmap visualization, which I hope you’ll take some time to play around. There are 4 categories:
Square Utilization: the squares that a piece moves to
Move Squares: squares that a piece moved from
Capture Squares: squares where a capture occurred
Checking Squares: squares where the move resulted in a check
Square Utilization Move Squares Capture Squares Checking Squares
Square utilization shows that White tries to be more aggressive and keep its inherent initiative alive. Comparing White Bishops versus Black Bishops, we see White positions them more actively and closer to the center (d3, e3, b5, c4, f4, g5) whereas Black more often prefers more passive but controlling squares (d7, e7, g7) and is more likely to fianchetto his bishops. This might be an interesting artifact of the hypermodern school that had so much impact on Black’s defense.
White Knights are also almost always placed on c3 and f3, but Black Knights, especially the Queen’s Knight likes keeping it flexible and utilize d7 much more than White does for d2.
The Move Squares are mirrored on both sides almost perfectly. I wonder if this says something about how people think when playing with White vs Black pieces.
Bloodiest squares without a doubt are the d4 and d5 squares, boasting over 6 million capturing moves, about 15% more than any other square.
The long range of Bishops are also highlighted in captures, whereas Bishops capture more around the center, the Knights are very much focused on the key central squares.
Rooks come out as being the most versatile in their bloodthirst, their capture squares span a much greater area than any other piece (even the Queens)
Finally, one very unexpected thing for me was that both White Pawns and Black Pawns deliver checks much more on the kingside. I supposed there would be some bias, as the kings prefer castling kingside and then in the endgame support those pawns easier, but its still astonishing to see how much of a bias there is.
Material Count and Exchange Tendencies
We can see the exchange tendencies of players as the game goes on by plotting the average material count. The material on the board is counted using the standard valuations (Pawn: 1, Knight/Bishop: 3, Rook: 5, Queen: 9).
Surprisingly pleasant graph! The decay is definitely quite expected, as the game goes on and pieces get exchanged. The line pretty much settles somewhere between 12-13, which is about 3 pawns + 1 minor piece each. After about 150 moves (300-ply) things start going a bit wild, I suppose from promotions and blunders, which are much easier to make in the endgame.
As for exchange tendencies, we see that after about 30 moves in, the material on the board is halved. There is a very nice comparison of exchange tendencies per player on Chess-DB’s Game Statistics page.
Another statistic I was interested in is the average material difference during the game. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see, but it’s definitely a nice one.
Wow, what a graph! Values after 250-ply get a bit crazy as promotions and blunders take place, but look at that first section!
Perhaps the best metaphor for a game of chess, the ultimate back and forth between White and Black for control and material dominance. It’s surprisingly balanced all the way up until 120 moves, with White having a slight but probably negligible pull.
Abstract art
I leave you with a rendition of the pieces journeys throughout the game. I think it looks very pretty. Click on the pieces to explore its moves. Every thin strand of line represents 25,000 moves.
Closing words
I hope it was pleasant and maybe even useful or instructive to see so many games analyzed visually. Keep in mind this isn’t meant to be a super scientifically rigorous analysis! Let me know of any other interesting patterns or insights you see in the comments.
For more technical details, you might be interested in checking out chess-dataviz for some of the visualizations, it’s quite easy to use. The numbers were gathered by pgnstats, so check that out if you would like to extract such statistics for your own PGN databases.Those who first discovered this site and the PTB project in 2009 already know Tim Edwards and followed his journey to sobriety. The deafening buzz we created after going live with his desperate need for the funds for treatment both shocked and humbled us.
Today, Tim is proudly 3 years sober, and he and the PTB team continue to help others off the street. We are now hoping to help John, a homeless father of 4 from Houston, Texas, who is struggling with addiction to powerful pain killers.
The first time round, our efforts drew overwhelming positive reaction. However, they also drew a fair share of negative criticism as well, and some people believed we were exploiting Tim for our own gain. As we continue our efforts to help homeless get off the street, we’d ike to take this opportunity to explain the goals of the PTB project for those who wish to understand.
Working with Tim and his friends on the street in 2009, we appealed to the plight of the homeless in a very unique way. Instead of launching a typical “helpthehomeless.com” type website that would blend in with the thousands of others like it, we decided to grab your attention by creating a site on homelessness and addiction—yes—but we humanized homelessness by focusing on a particular individual. In this manner, you got to know Tim. You’ve seen him in times of sadness and deep reflection and you’ve seen him in times of joy and humor. You saw the person behind the addiction—a warm, funny, sensitive, witty man who liked to tell jokes, but one who also desperately needed help. Suddenly homelessness had a face in Tim Edwards, a person that we could all relate to, a person that we really liked.
The PTB project aims to shed light on an otherwise ignored portion of society again through John. As Tim said and John reiterated in his interview, “Pride, dignity, values…all that goes out the window on the streets!” In reaching out to PTB of his own accord, John, like Tim, wants the help he so desperately needs and hopes that his actions will show other people with addictions that even if they’ve come from the bottom and it looks like there’s no way out, that change is possible.
Today we are putting a face to homelessness and addiction in John. We feel that in personalizing the plight of one homeless individual, society will view that as unique. Our efforts also show that many can be reached and redeemed to become functioning members of society once again.
Tim Edwards is living proof of this. As a man who once said, “How can you pull yourself up by the boot straps if you don’t have any?” PTB gave Tim his bootstraps, and he was able to pull himself out of his addiction
Now let’s give John his bootstraps.I should have known better, but the heat of the moment got the best of me. Typically I get double verification for a rumor or leak, but this time I took a leap of faith and decide to take a risk and capture the moment and jump on the 6th pdf leak bandwagon. So I posted the leak on my site roughly the same time it was appearing on other forums and sites. I even begged the question, “too good to be true”, giving me cover if I was wrong. I wanted to believe, the PDF took some of the best ideas from other games and mashed them into 40k. The biggest clue I should have seen right off the bat.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. The changes were just so big, the mixing of the phases, evasion to name a few. Still though I just couldn’t image close to 200 pages of FAQs and rules being a hoax. A hoax that big just didn’t seem worth the hassle for its creators.
Either way it is time to make it official the 6th ed leak codex is a…
httpv://youtu.be/7qKcJF4fOPs
It took 48 hours of investigation, but now I can say that with almost 99% certainty that the leaked 6th ed pdf is a total fake.
Now this certainty doesn’t just come from my usual sources, it also comes from other people in the know and trusted confidants. So unless this is some ploy by GW to deflect the leak, I cannot see how it is anything, but a fake.
Good thing with rumors and leaks is no one dies and everyone has something to talk about. Who knows I might still give these fake rules a try they certainly look fun.Ottawa, Closer than Ever to Replacing Bus Rapid Transit with Light Rail
» Could the Ottawa model of instituting bus rapid transit, then converting to light rail, inspire other cities?
There was a time, a few years back, when talk of building bus rapid transit as a cheap precursor to train service was common. The theory was that cities could invest in new rights-of-way for rapid transit and design guideways specifically for future light rail implementation, but only fork up enough dough to pay for the buses.
After its voters agreed in 2003 to fund a series of new rail lines, Houston’s elected officials realized by 2007 that they wouldn’t be able to do so without a federal commitment — but they weren’t able to get help because of obstacles put in the way by Congressional Republicans representing the city’s suburbs. And so the city turned to buses, deciding to install BRT along its most promising corridors.
Though it was a second-choice solution, Houston — like many other American cities — may have looked to Ottawa as a model for BRT implementation. Canada’s capital has become a gold standard for bus advocates, who point to the region’s 240,000 daily bus riders and 23% transit share as proof that buses can work just as well as rail in encouraging people to choose public transportation to get to and from work. Ottawa’s several busways transport passengers quickly and relatively comfortably. Unlike most “BRT” lines in North America, this city’s are mostly grade-separated, producing actually high-speed buses.
But now Ottawa is planning to give up its primary transitway. Houston eventually got its act together on the federal level and has turned back to light rail, forgetting the bus plans entirely. Is the Ottawa model — raise ridership with buses, and then think about more expensive rail options — falling flat? What went wrong?
The quick answer is that Ottawa was too successful, encouraging the city’s citizens to take an average of 125 trips by public transportation a year, more than any equivalently-sized North American city. The transitway has so many riders that it puts 2,600 daily buses onto two downtown streets, and by 2018, the system will have literally no more capacity. By 2030, Ottawa would have to get a bus downtown every eighteen seconds to accommodate all of its riders — an impossible feat.
Thus for several years, the city has been considering light rail as a replacement; a 2006 plan fell apart because it would have done nothing to increase capacity and decrease commute times as it would have relied on street-running downtown. So Mayor Larry O’Brien and his staff have concocted what is now a C$2.1 billion project to run light rail in a three-kilometer tunnel under downtown. The remainder of the 12.5-kilometer corridor would run from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair Station along the existing transitway, completely displacing the bus service that’s currently there. The 13-station system will be designed for very high capacity, up to 25,000 riders per direction during the peak hour (up from 10,000 today), thanks to platforms long enough to handle six-car trains and even platform screen doors in the underground stations.
The general plan for a downtown tunnel was approved last May by the city’s council, and light rail was signed off as the technology in November. It has received a C$600 million promise from Ontario province and is likely to receive a similar guarantee from the federal government later this year. The project could begin construction in 2013 and open by 2018 — as long as opponents of the rail line don’t take the mayoral seat in this fall’s election.
Though the existing bus transitway is already in place, light rail construction will be expensive, notably because of the tunnel, which will cost C$735 million by itself. Even if bus service had been chosen as the preferred technology, this expense would have been required. But the C$540 million cost to convert the remaining ten kilometers of right-of-way is more surprising; much of that will go towards the big new stations along the line, with the rest to pay for tracks and electrification. Vehicles and a new maintenance facility will cost C$515 million.
With expenses like that — practically equivalent to building a new rail line from scratch — one wonders whether there was ever any fiscal advantage to using buses first along the rapidway. Did the city lose out by not choosing rail when the transitway first opened in 1983?
In terms of operations costs, it almost certainly did. Even with a nine percent increase in ridership in the first year alone, light rail is expected to allow the city to save up to C$100 million annually on bus drivers’ salaries, gas consumption, and right-of-way maintenance. By dramatically increasing the average number of passengers per vehicle thanks to long trains and by switching to clean and cheap electricity from diesel fuel, the city will find notable economies in rail. It will also produce far fewer greenhouse gases — saving 38,000 tons by 2031.
For passengers, though, the conversion to light rail means mixed outcomes. The downtown tunnel will decrease trip times by fifteen minutes, principally by avoiding the congestion currently resulting from bus bunching. But the direct service now offered to many parts of the city will be lost, as many passengers coming from areas not immediately adjacent to the rail stations will be shuttled via bus to the stops, where they will have to transfer to get downtown. This will result in roughly 40% of Ottawa’s transit trips using the rail line.
During rail line construction, bus service will be seriously affected.
Had buses been retained on the transitway and been sent through the tunnel, it would have required a far more extensive tunnel because of ventilation concerns — or it would have necessitated the electrification of the bus fleet, not necessarily a cheap choice either. So Ottawa had basically no choice but to switch to rail.
If the city gets its way, and finds the money, direct service will be extended; light rail will replace the 10,000 daily-rider DMU O-Train as well as a number of the other current transitway routes. A light rail loop across the river into Gatineau, Québec is also being discussed. With the downtown tunnel built, capacity won’t be a problem.
But the underlying question about whether the city should have invested in BRT in the first place twenty-seven years ago returns. Though Ottawa was much smaller then, it was larger than Edmonton, which had installed a modern light rail line in 1978 — including a downtown tunnel. If Ottawa’s politicians had known then that they would have to spend billions converting to rail just to keep up with capacity needs, would they have selected bus service?
For other cities considering investing in reserved-bus corridors before light rail, Ottawa’s may be a cautionary tale. Savings in the short term may ultimately result in far greater expenses — especially when factoring in the high cost of bus operations.
Image above: Route map, from Ottawa Light RailCPUCore Application - Increase FPS
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CPUCores automatically detects all of your Steam games. It also automatically integrates with Steam's ability to launch a game. You simply have to run CPUCores from within Steam, select the Steam game you wish to run optimally, then click the "START GAME" button within CPUCores. That's it!
2) OS Optimizations:
CPUCores does multiple things to optimize your OS. To start, CPUCores will isolate your entire OS to your first core. Secondly, CPUCores examines and constrains key Windows services that are not essential and known to hog CPU resources. Third, CPUCores examines and isolate key Windows processes to ensure a perfect balance of CPU savings without starving key Windows processes.
3) Game Optimizations:
CPUCores will isolate and dedicate processing cores to be exclusively used by your game. In addition, CPUCores will allow game-specific hyper-thread disabling/enabling. Further, advanced options allow you to be specific in what processing cores and/or hyper-threads you want you game to use (or not use).
4) Background / Non-Game Optimizations:
CPUCores examines what non-OS and non-game operations your PC is running. It will do things such as constrain non-game programs to your first processing core. Also, CPUCores will constrain the resources used of common web browsers and flash players. So go ahead, watch your favorite Twitch streams and Youtube videos without fear of FPS drops!
5) Extras:
CPUCores is constantly being updated with new features, enhancements, and overall changes to maximize your gaming FPS. One such change is support for Twitch streaming. With CPUCores, you can isolate OBS to specific CPU consumption, disallowing it from robbing precious CPU resources that your game could be using. So go ahead and stream to Twitch without any unplanned FPS drops!In October 2013 the Club commissioned the independent research consultancy Populus to conduct a fan consultation on its behalf regarding Tottenham Hotspur fans’ use of the Y-word. The Club delayed the reporting of the outcome of this research whilst three legal cases in respect of our fans arrested for using the Y-word were underway. The Crown Prosecution Service has decided not to proceed with those prosecutions and we are now able to outline the findings of the consultation.
An online consultation was sent to all One Hotspur Season Ticket Holders and Members. Respondents were presented with a variety of differing, publicly articulated arguments and views on the use of the Y-word and then given the opportunity to write a free text response detailing their own opinions on the subject.
The response to the survey was overwhelming with almost 11,500 completed consultations received. We should like to take this opportunity to thank fans that participated for providing such detailed, articulate and heartfelt responses on the subject.
The Club has read each and every comment provided in order to gain a thorough understanding of all the sentiments expressed and then asked Populus to undertake a more detailed sentiment analysis of a representative sample. This analysis was carried out on a highly robust and representative subsample of non-Jewish fans, and given the context and history of the word, the Club felt it was also important to include all responses from Jewish fans in this extra analysis.
The outcome of these exercises has clearly demonstrated the complex and evolving nature of this issue.
Fans Usage
The consultation that was carried out, showed that, whilst the majority of all the respondents, 67%, stated that they regularly chanted the word in a football match situation, virtually all qualified this behaviour by putting this into context and outlining many of the issues associated with its use.
The follow-up sentiment analysis carried out by Populus showed that 74% of non-Jewish respondents and 73% of Jewish respondents were generally in favour of fans being allowed to use the Y-word while 12% of non-Jewish respondents and 8% of Jewish respondents stated that they were either unsure or held a neutral position on whether fans should be allowed to continue to use the word.
History of the Word
Some supporters outlined in their comments how the term came into use in response to anti-Semitic chanting from rival supporters with a significant proportion of fans (39% of non-Jewish respondents and 29% of Jewish respondents) stating that the word was part of Spurs’ “heritage and identity”.
One fan explained, “I remember standing at White Hart Lane in the 1970s and 80s while rival supporters especially from London Clubs chanted anti-Semitic songs... Once the Spurs supporters adopted the word as their own identity then the rival chanting ceased.”
A number of our supporters also explained that the term was now “a sign of togetherness, part of our history and heritage” and was viewed as a “badge of honour” sung by fans because they “are proud to be part of Tottenham”.
Intent and Context
Many fans (46% of non-Jewish respondents and 40% of Jewish respondents) did identify however that the context and intent was an important consideration in this debate. One fan said “I think context is the key thing, which determines if any word is offensive, or not. When used by Spurs fans, the term ‘Yid’ is a sign of respect saying ‘you’re one of us’. Most of us are not Jewish; that does not matter because the word is not being used literally.”
Another fan explained, “I consider myself a respectful person and would never use the term ‘Yid’ to cause offence to another supporter or member of the public. The use of the word at the Lane is always in reference to ourselves and therefore intends to cause no harm or distress to others.”
Where fans identified context, many also recognised that context is subjective; and that offence can be taken, even when not intended.
Concerns raised about continued use
A number of supporters, (12% of non-Jewish respondents and 18% of Jewish respondents) outlined that they were against allowing fans to continue to use the term with 4% of non-Jewish fans and 6% of Jewish fans specifically stating that they were personally uncomfortable with its use.
One fan said, “As a Jew I feel the Y-word is socially and morally wrong”, while another stated “I believe we need to drop the Y-word at Spurs because I would not be comfortable to take my children to games and have to explain the fans are singing the Y-word and what it means, especially in the context of the historical persecution of the Jews across Europe.”
13% of the non-Jewish fans were of the view that if people found the term offensive it should be dropped (compared with 4% of Jewish respondents), while a number of fans (8% of non-Jewish respondents and 9% of Jewish respondents) specifically identified that it was now time to phase out the use of the term, with fans citing a number of different reasons as to why. One fan clarified that “even if there is just one fan – Spurs or non-Spurs – who is genuinely offended by the use of the term, then that is one fan too many.”
Another fan explained, “Whether used in the context of direct or anti-Semitic abuse, or as a kind of pre-emptive strike against such abuse, ‘Yid’ retains a negative and aggressive quality. For that reason alone I would urge Spurs fans, whatever their motive, not to use it.”
Notably, 6% of Jewish supporters, used the confidentiality of this consultation to identify that they found the term to be genuinely offensive (compared with less than 1% of non-Jewish respondents). One fan commented “I am not Jewish, but I find the use of the term offensive, embarrassing and inappropriate in the modern world.” While another fan explained “I fully appreciate that in most cases the Y-word is used to describe a Spurs fan, but to those of us who are Jewish and certainly to me it is offensive.”
This consultation has shown that many supporters acknowledge that the use of the word needs to be re-assessed and that, whilst our fans and the law recognise the importance of context, ultimately context is not the only consideration.
We would ask all our fans to give due consideration to the varied sentiments and opinions expressed, in order to ensure that the support of our Club is inclusive and forward–looking.
Click here, to view Populus’ Methodology Statement
Click here, to view data from the fan consultation
Click here, to view data from the sentiment analysisAMIRA Karroum, the “sweet and caring’’ Sydney jihadist was armed and fighting when she was shot and butchered in Syria and is not the only Australian-born female fighter in the region.
For the first time, law enforcement authorities have confirmed that a small number of Australian women have fought in Syria, not simply supported their husbands in the war zone.
Ms Karroum, a former Gold Coast private schoolgirl, who boasted on Facebook of being a “slave to Allah’’ was killed just days after arriving in Aleppo.
It is believed she was lined up against a wall and shot multiple times and then dismembered. Her husband Yusuf Ali, who was born in Adelaide under the name of Tyler Casey, was a dual American-Australian citizen who had undergone al-Qaeda training overseas.
AMRIA KARROUM ONE OF MANY AUSTRALIANS RECRUITED TO SYRIA
MEMORIAL FOR SYDNEY SYRIAN 'MARTYRS'
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Australian Federal Police’s counter terrorism manager Neil Gaughan said Ms Karroum was involved in active conflict with her husband.
“That’s what we are alleging. That she was involved in the fighting with him,’’ he said.
“There’s a couple of women who have gone over as fighters — shooting guns — in Syria.
“They are young women. Under 21. One is dead. Amira Karroum.”
media_camera Amira Karroum.
Mr Gaughan said the brutal deaths of 15 Australians in the region, including Karroum and her husband, underscored that the reality of war zone was different to the romanticised images online.
“Once you go over there and you actually smell and taste it, it’s different,’’ he said.
“Facebook and social media romanticise things. It’s just a totally different environment.’’
Ms Karroum was found in a bullet-ridden house in Aleppo, Syria in January. She was involved in an al-Qaeda affiliated group known as Jabhat al-Nusra that was involved in a brutal turf war with Islamic State.
Her father, who suffered a mild heart attack when he learned of her death in January revealed this week that she was dismembered by her killers.
“She got shot and then they dismantle her body,’’ her father Mohammend Karroum told the 7:30 report.
“They cut her body. I don’t know why they are so cruel. Her and her husband. There was a lot of bullet in her body. And they dismantled.”
It is also believed that Ms Karroum was involved in running a matchmaking service for jihadists in Australia. Her husband’s mother is former Adelaide woman Kristine Hunt.
media_camera Iraqi women members of Iraq's Jaish al-Quds actively fight in the conflicts in the Middle East.
Ms Karroum is believed to have become radicalised when she moved to Sydney where her Fadl Sayadi, a convicted terrorist lived. Mr Sayadi was captured during Operation Pendennis on surveillance tapes praying for westerners to die.
“Shake the ground, you know, cause earthquakes, crack the floor beneath their feels. Allah, I ask you to swallow them in their own ground. Allah, I ask you to blow up their tanks. Allah, I ask you to drop their aircraft, to bring their planes, just drop their |
Founder Paul Ip: “Our partnership with Oreca in the World Endurance Championship has brought outstanding results in 2014 and we are pleased to extend our collaboration with Mr. Hugues de Chaunac’s amazing team this year. Evidently, the Oreca 03R is a race-winning machine and has led our team to three laudable victories in our first full season competing in the World Championship. 2015 marks our third year in endurance racing and with our recent acquisition of the new ORECA 05, we are confident that our forthcoming LMP2 campaign will yield better results! We are looking forward to our first shakedown of the new LMP2 in March!”
KCMG’s WEC Team Manager Erich Kolb: “We’re very excited to unveil the new car! This will be a big step forward for KCMG after a successful 2014 season in the World Endurance Championship. Oreca has been a huge part of this success and we are looking forward to working with them soon.”
Hugues de Chaunac: “KCMG joined the ORECA stable during last year’s off-season and we quickly built an excellent working relationship. KCMG is a multi-faceted team as shown by its many racing programs, and this paid off in endurance racing. The team was one of the best performing in the FIA World Endurance Championship last year and had a legitimate chance at the title. 2015 will be different but the same : a change in that KCMG will be racing an all new ORECA 05, but the same because together we will be building on the bond we formed in 2014. This is the year to deliver! We are happy with the confidence that KCMG has shown and maintained in us. They are a high-quality outfit and very professional. KCMG’s choice confirms our international scale in our activities as a constructor.”
The ORECA 05 will be on track alongside the ORECA 03R, an open prototype which won 23 events between 2011 and 2014. The ORECA 05 will roll out at the end of February/beginning of March ahead of its competition debut scheduled for Silverstone, the first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series.
The new car features the same basic tub as the (Oreca designed and built) Rebellion R-One with a blend of proven 03R underpinnings and new bespoke components designed specifically for the coupeA panel of expert advisors to NASA have expressed concern about SpaceX’s plans to fuel its Falcon 9 rockets with astronauts on board, The Wall Street Journal reports. At a meeting on Monday, members of NASA’s Space Station Advisory Committee argued that fueling is a "hazardous operation" that shouldn’t be performed anywhere near people. The committee said it has had these concerns before, but their anxieties have increased after one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets exploded on the launchpad during routine fueling procedures.
Fueling is a "hazardous operation"
The most vocal about these propellant risks was Air Force Lt. General Thomas Stafford, who chairs the advisory committee. It’s the second time Stafford has called into question SpaceX’s fueling practices. In 2015, he sent a letter to NASA headquarters in which he argued that fueling a vehicle with people onboard goes against decades of human spaceflight procedures, according to The Wall Street Journal. Typically, people have boarded rockets after the vehicles have been fueled, in order to minimize accidents that may spring up during the loading process.
In a statement, SpaceX maintained that it has "designed a reliable fueling and launch process that minimizes" the risks posed to people. Additionally, a NASA safety review board approved a report in June about the hazards posed by the Falcon 9’s fueling, SpaceX says.
But the company also notes that its fueling process isn’t exactly set in stone either. In a recent update, SpaceX said it still doesn’t know the exact cause of the September 1st explosion, but the company did manage to recreate a failure with the Falcon 9 during fuel loading tests in Texas. Now the company is working on improving its fueling processes as it tries to return to flight, and "corrective action" may be taken depending on what SpaceX learns from its investigation. "As needed, any additional controls will be put in place to ensure crew safety, from the moment the astronauts reach the pad, through fueling, launch, and spaceflight, and until they are brought safely home," the company said in a statement.
"Any additional controls will be put in place to ensure crew safety."
Currently, SpaceX fuels its rockets around 30 minutes before they launch, and the plan for future crewed flights is to have astronauts board the Falcon 9 before propellant is loaded into the vehicle. It’s a much different procedure than NASA used for the Space Shuttle: fueling occurred hours before takeoff, and astronauts didn’t board until after the bulk of fueling was complete.
The reason SpaceX has such a short turn around time has to do with the propellant the company uses. SpaceX uses a super cool propellant that’s much colder than what was used on the Space Shuttle. These cryogenic temperatures increase the density of propellant that can be used in the rocket, giving the vehicle much more power. But it also means that the company doesn’t have a whole lot of time between fueling the vehicle and takeoff, since the propellant runs the risk of warming up too much.
Additionally, SpaceX has something the Space Shuttle didn’t have: a nearly instantaneous crew abort system. The Crew Dragon — the company’s vehicle that will carry astronauts to space — is embedded with small engines in its hull that ignite if something goes wrong on the launchpad or during launch. These engines can carry the Crew Dragon up and away from a malfunctioning rocket and get its passengers to safety. SpaceX successfully tested the abort system last year though it has never been used with people onboard. CEO Elon Musk claims that Crew Dragon would have been able to save any passengers had they been onboard the rocket that exploded in September.
The concerns from NASA’s Space Station Advisory Committee come as SpaceX is getting ready to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program in late 2017 or 2018.An inside look at the specifics of how we decide what to do and then decide how to do it.
“How do you guys actually work? How do you choose what to do? How big are your teams? How do you structure the work itself” are questions I get all the time. I’ve been sharing the details in small group workshops and 1 on 1, but figured it was time to write something up so we can share it at large.
We landed on this process after a decade of refinement. Just like we’re always iterating on our product work, we’re also always iterating on how our company works. We consider our company a product too. When you begin to think of your company like a product, you can begin to improve it in entirely new ways. I feel like we’re on version 5.2 of “how we work”.
Let’s get into it:
We work in six week cycles
Roughly every six weeks we start a new cycle of product work. Each six week work cycle contains two type of projects:
Big Batch : Big Batch projects are big features or stuff that’s probably going to take up the full six weeks to get done. We typically take on one or two Big Batch projects in a six week cycle.
: Big Batch projects are big features or stuff that’s probably going to take up the full six weeks to get done. We typically take on one or two Big Batch projects in a six week cycle. Small Batch: Small Batch projects are smaller things, tweaks, minor adjustments, and easy adds that should take anywhere from a day to two weeks to complete. We typically take on between 4 and 8 Small Batch projects in a six week cycle.
To give you a sense of what kind of projects might fit into Big and Small, here’s an actual internal post announcing a cycle’s worth of work.
Once a six week cycle is over, we take one or two weeks off of scheduled projects so everyone can roam independently, fix stuff up, pick up some pet projects we’ve wanted to do, and generally wind down prior to starting the next six week cycle. Ample time for context switching. We also use this time to firm up ideas that we’ll be tackling next cycle. More on this in a bit.
Note: These are not sprints. I despise the word sprints. Sprints and work don’t go together. This isn’t about running all out as fast as you can, it’s about working calmly, at a nice pace, and making smart calls along the way. No brute force here, no catching our collective breath at the end.
Six weeks… What if something’s so huge it’s going to take longer?
We believe there’s a great six week version of nearly everything. Occasionally some things fall outside of this limit — deep R&D projects, brand new tech we’ve never used before, etc. But we’ve come to discover that nearly everything important can be done in six weeks or less. And done well.
The secret to making this possible is something we call scope hammering. We take the chisel to the big block of marble and figuring out how to sculpt, nip, and tuck a feature into the best six-week version possible. It’s all about looking carefully at a feature and figuring out the true essence. Not what can it be, but what does it need to be?
Before any project is included in a cycle, we’ve already figured out what we think the six week version is. We don’t include planning in the cycle time — all the planning and consideration happens in the pitch. It has to happen before the work is slated to be done by a team. That way the six weeks is all implementation and execution. No time is spent on big unknowns — we try to make sure all the big stuff is known enough before we get started.
Who does the work?
Each Big Batch project is assigned a team. So if we take on two Big Batch projects during a cycle, we’d have one team working on one of the projects and another team working on the other project. Small Batch projects are all done by one team. Teams stay together for the full cycle.
A team is two or three people, depending on the type of work. Either one programmer and one designer, or two programmers and one designer. That’s it. No teams of four, five, six. Everything we take on has to be done by a team of three, max.
We think three is the ideal size for most things — complexity begins to increase exponentially beyond that.
Teams are assembled ad-hoc. Before a cycle begins, we ask each person what kind of work they’d like to do over the next six weeks. Teams either coalesce around areas of interest, or we assign people to a team based on their preferences. Teams often change up after the cycle so everyone gets a chance to work with different people, but sometimes they stick together for a few cycles. There are no hard and fast rules about this.
Do we have dedicated project managers?
No. The designer on the team leads the project, but there’s a very close working relationship between designer and programmer(s). They work together on everything.
No matter the role, everyone tracks work in the same place, communicates in the same place, etc. For us that place is Basecamp 3. When everything’s in one place, everyone knows where things are, where things stand, and everyone can be self-sufficient. Splitting work and communication and management across separate tools/products is 1. a highly inefficient, and 2. makes it very difficult for the whole team to see the whole picture.
Do we track time?
No. We don’t measure efficiency, compare actuals vs. estimates. We have six weeks to get something done. However a team decides to get it done during that time is up to them.
What is important is that we don’t run up to the end and figure out we’re out of time. We’re always looking at what’s done, what’s left, and how much time remains. Scope is ever changing — adjusting down if we’re running low on time, or ramping up if we find we have more time than we thought. It’s a negotiation. It’s a very fluid process. What isn’t fluid is the deadline — six weeks from when we started.
Where do ideas come from?
We don’t have distinct time set aside to come up with ideas. There’s not a distinct set of people who come up with all the ideas. Ideas come from all over, and are offered up any time. They come from us, they come from customers. Ideas are always in motion. There’s always a bubbling ocean of ideas. Every once in a while a bubble floats out of the ocean and lands on the shore. That’s when we begin to take a closer look.
Pitching an idea
When an idea feels formed enough, it’s turned into a pitch. A pitch is a fully-formed definition of the problem as well as a proposed solution.
Here’s an actual example of a pitch so you can see the general form they take. We don’t pitch in person — we always write up pitches and post them to Basecamp for review.
Why don’t we pitch in person? For a few reasons:
We feel it’s better to write something up completely. This forces the floor — the person who’s making the pitch can’t be interrupted. They are guaranteed to be able to present their story completely, exactly as they wanted. Further, we believe writing things out makes you consider them at a deeper level. We’re big believers in asynchronous communication — write it down now and other people can absorb it later when they’re ready. Real-time communication in person or virtually forces synchronization of schedules which is highly inefficient. And last, when it’s posted to Basecamp as a message, all feedback and follow up questions are automatically attached to the original post. This keeps all communication about the pitch centralized in one place on one page so everyone has access to the same story. One version of the truth.
How do you decide which projects to take on?
Everyone’s curious about this. The honest truth is that more art than science. Ideas come from everywhere, but ultimately the decision about what makes it into a cycle comes down to me (ceo), David (cto), and Ryan (strategy). A week or so prior to the cycle start, we review all the pitches posted to Basecamp, share some of our own ideas as well, and often vigorously debate the options. And then we’ll often have a call (Skype or Hangout) for 30 minutes, debate some more, and make the final decisions.
What makes the cut depends on many variables — how complete the pitches were, where customers are feeling pain, where we have new ideas we want to try, where stuff feels janky and needs revisiting, business cases we’re trying to make, etc. But whatever the decisions, the good news is that in six weeks we can start all over again with another batch of work. So if something doesn’t make it in, it can be considered again in just about a month and a half.
How does the cycle get announced?
Once the cycle has been defined, and work grouped into Big Batch and Small Batch projects, I write up an announcement and post it to the “Building BC3” project inside Basecamp. The Building BC3 project is the master project for high level Basecamp-related product work. It’s where we talk big picture items, share pitches, discuss ideas, schedule the cycles, etc. Here’s a sample cycle announcement (it’s the same one I linked up earlier, but here it is again if you missed it).
How is the actual work organized?
Each Big Batch project gets its own Basecamp project. Here’s an example of the Templates project that was a Big Batch project. Note: Blackburn is the name of the cycle (we name the cycles after mountains)…
And all the Small Batch projects for a cycle live in a single project. Here’s an example of the Small Batches from the Blackburn cycle:
Each Small Batch project is managed on a single to-do list. Here are the four Small Batch projects for Blackburn cycle:
How does QA work?
There are two people on our QA team: Ann and Michael. They roam between ongoing projects, invited in by the teams when they want something checked and double checked. We’ve found that the earlier they’re involved the better. QA fits into the six week time frame too, so nothing busts a deadline like a pile of last minute QA findings. That’s why we don’t wait until the end to start QA. Most of the time at least.
How are you and David involved?
David and I (Jason) are involved at some level in nearly every customer-facing project and product update.
I work with the designers to explore ideas early and then help refine and simplify things as we go. I’m also working with the designers on copywriting — making sure the words we’re using make sense. Design reviews aren’t critiques, they are problem solving sessions.
David helps the programmers figure out the plan of attack — thinking through the models, maintaining our focus on performance and speed, and negotiating technical compromises that make six week time frames possible.
As mentioned, we’re also both involved in the product planning stage — pitching ideas and figuring out what work makes a given cycle. We work closely with Ryan to think through each feature and look at the product holistically to figure out what makes sense where and when.
There’s more to it, of course…
I’ve tried to outline the major pieces, but I’m sure there are gaps. Of course there are gaps — product work has a lot of it depends moments. But hopefully there’s enough here to give you a basic sense of how things are set up around here at Basecamp.
If you have specific questions, or want to hear about something related that I didn’t cover above, drop a comment and we’ll do our best to fill in the blanks. Thanks for reading — I know it was a long one!
Our entire company runs on Basecamp 3 — we use Basecamp to build Basecamp. From company-wide communication, to product work, to social getting-to-know everyone, to keeping everyone in the loop about what’s happening across the company, everything’s always in one place: Basecamp. If you’re not already a customer, we invite you to try Basecamp 3 it free for 30 days — there’s no reason not to and so many reasons yes to.Head of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Bishop Howard Gregory, has broken ranks with many of his Christian brethren and urged the parliamentary committee examining the Sexual Offences Act and related laws to recommend the removal of the offence of buggery from the law books, widen the definition of rape, and recognise marital rape.
In a written submission to the committee in which he emphasised that his views were personal, Gregory placed his position in line with executed German Christian leader Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who had argued that the aim of the Church is not "that the authorities make Christian policies, Christian laws and so on, but that they be proper authorities in the sense of their special commission".
According to Gregory, the State should not waste time with a referendum on the buggery law but should just strike it from the books.
Gregory said Christians should be cautioned against believing in the view that they must be the gatekeepers of the law against buggery in order to prevent the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
"This submission does not accept the cause and effect relationship which is being introduced into this matter, neither is it advocating homosexual marriages," he said.
Gregory argued that while the anus is not a sexual organ, it has been part of sexual activity between men and women.
Section 61 of the Offences against the Person Act of 1864 criminalises the 'abominable' anal sex - consensual or otherwise. The maximum punishment is 10 years' imprisonment.
But Gregory argued: "Sexual activity engaged in public spaces is illegal and should continue to be so, whether of an heterosexual or homosexual nature.
"Beyond that," Gregory added, "what happens in privacy between consenting adults should be beyond the purview of the Government."
He said to establish that the offence took place under the current laws would require the people being exhibitionists or persons or agents of the State "peeping" into the privacy of consenting adults, "which the Government should not become entangled with".
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, before his party won the 2016 general election, promised that the removal of the buggery law would be put to Jamaicans in a referendum. Since the victory, Holness has said while the referendum will take place, it is not a priority for his Government.
Delroy Chuck, who chairs the parliamentary committee, said at a function earlier this year that CARICOM's parliaments should simply stare down the church lobby and strike down the law. But he soon after reverted to the referendum position after facing criticisms.
Gregory, in his submission, said treating the anal sex issue as a priority and to continue the criminalisation "needs to be seriously questioned as a sustainable position" and whether it is not a distraction to governance "better confined to a realm defined as personal ethics and sexual preference".
"The promise of a referendum on the issue is at best a way in which those responsible for governance are postponing the issue in order to avoid taking controversial decisions," he argued.
Most Jamaicans have historically been against homosexuality. A Gleaner-Bill Johnson poll in 2014 found that 91 per cent of Jamaicans believe lawmakers should make no attempt to repeal the controversial buggery law.
Six church groups and the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society gave their submissions to Parliament, urging the lawmakers to retain the buggery law for the health of the nation and upholding Christian principles.
In a separate appearance, the president of the Marcus Garvey Research Institute, Baba Heru Ishakamusa Menelik, called for tougher penalties, saying homosexuality is not a "normal way of life" and could quicken the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Turning to the thorny issue of marital rape, Gregory argued that there can be rape in marriage, a view that also breaks ranks with the position of church groups, including the fast-rising Jamaica Union of Seventh-day Adventists.
"Non-consensual sex accompanied by threat, intimidation and violence ought to be characterised as rape," he said.
Jamaica's law allows for marital rape in cases where there was physical separation of the man and the woman.
But Gregory said in the context of an abusive relationship, "even without reaching the point of physical separation or abuse", rape can occur.
Gregory further argued that Jamaica would do well to move away from the preoccupation with whether it is an anus or vagina, male or female when it comes to rape.
"Central to the definition of rape is the notion of the sexual activity being non-consensual. When then would the law make a distinction between the experiences of a Jamaican male student... and the female student who may have been raped under similar circumstances," said Gregory, as he pointed to a male student who was allegedly raped by a teacher.
The parliamentary committee completed oral submissions last Tuesday, with its report expected to be completed by November and submitted to the House of Representatives for debate.One of the advantages of working with a big international news network is that colleagues in other countries can alert you to stories in your own country that, for whatever reason, aren't featuring in the domestic media.
For a week, newspapers in South Korea have been dominated by stories of "racist" attacks on their nationals in Australia. There have been six assaults in three months. But in Australia, you'd have no idea they were happening: the stories simply do not feature in the mainstream media.
Should they?
Once my colleague in Seoul alerted me, it didn't take much digging to find out more, and be invited along to film Korean community leaders in Sydney holding "crisis talks" to decide what to do.
That is to say, what to do about the Korean media coverage, not the attacks themselves.
Because Korean-Australians think the Korean media is making a mountain of a mole-hill: adding a racial element to what are mostly random acts of violence. They want to get an alternative message out: that, despicable though the isolated attacks have been, they're mostly random not racial.
That Australia is safe for Koreans.
It matters because the livelihoods of many Korean-Australians are reliant on Koreans visiting Australia. Korea is Australia's fourth-largest trading partner. Tens of thousands of Korean students study in Australia. If their parents think the country is dangerous, those students may stop coming. And that would hit the Korean-Australian community hardest of all.
The editor of a newspaper for Koreans in Australian that I interviewed was despairing of fellow news editors back "home":
"Why can't they improve their maturity when it comes to Australia?" he lamented. "The coverage is at 'kindergarten level': Sensationalism, or kangaroos! That's all. It's so immature."
He blamed one correspondent from a Korean news agency for spreading largely false rumours.
Of course, racism in attacks is often hard to prove one way or another. At least two of the victims of the recent attacks do think the way they looked contributed to the fact they were attacked. And Korean-Australians with businesses bringing Koreans to Australia would want to paint a rosy picture.
But two racist attacks over three months is hardly a pattern: certainly not one - yet - that should cause the diplomatic spat the Korean media suggests is coming.PowerShell for Windows updates? Why would you want to do this other than the fact that it’s a cool thing to do? Well it’s fairly easy to do and can be easilly automated.
Firstly you will need version 5 of PowerShell which is apart of Windows 10. Since version 5 you can now download and install modules online from the PowerShell Gallery.
First thing you need to do is confirm the version of PowerShell you have:
$PSVersionTable.PSVersion
If version 5 or above, confirm you are running PowerShell as administrator and continue with:
Install-Module PSWindowsUpdate Get-Command –module PSWindowsUpdate
Then you will need to register to use the Microsoft Update Service not just the default Windows Update Service.
Add-WUServiceManager -ServiceID 7971f918-a847-4430-9279-4a52d1efe18d
Then run:
Get-WUInstall –MicrosoftUpdate –AcceptAll –AutoReboot
More info here: https://www.petri.com/manage-windows-updates-with-powershell-module
PowerShellSource: Coinsource
Coinsource, the reliable and secure national bitcoin ATM network, today announced the installment of a new bitcoin ATM at Mission Groceries at 2128 Mission Street in the heart of San Francisco, California.
The new machine is only the third bitcoin ATM in the colorful city by the Bay and the only one open every day. It also boasts the latest closing time for a bitcoin ATM in the entire city, with doors open until 2:00 AM daily.
Coinsource’s GenesisCoin bitcoin ATM offers attractive low prices to buy bitcoin, with rates starting at 7% that get lower with higher volume purchases.
Located on the world famous Mission Street between 17th and 18th Streets, Mission Groceries is conveniently located by car or public transportation. Only a block and a half from the 16th and Mission stop on the BART, two blocks from the 16th Street and Hoff parking garage, and surrounded by a myriad of bus stops, Mission Groceries is easy to get to by any mode of transportation, making Coin source’s newest bitcoin ATM easily accessible.
“Coinsource is proud to announce our first bitcoin ATM in San Francisco,” said Coinsource Managing PartnerSheffield Clark. “In particular, we’re delighted to install a low fee bitcoin ATM in the heart of the Mission, easily available to both neighborhood locals and visitors alike.
“We are committed to providing the highest level support to our customers and guarantee always-low fees. All our machines adhere to cutting-edge security standards and provide simple, convenient, instantaneous transfers compatible with any bitcoin mobile wallet.” Clark added.
The newest, easy-to use Coinsource BTM joins a network of active Bitcoin ATMs distributed across the United States, with locations stretching from San Diego to New York City.Ted Cruz had a media availability Tuesday morning and responded to Donald Trump accusing his father of being associated with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to assassinating John F. Kennedy. This led Cruz to rip into Trump, calling him more of a narcissist than President Obama. Cruz went on a rant for 10+ minutes criticizing Trump for attacks on his wife, saying she apparently is "not pretty" enough for the Republican front-runner, his morality and religious devotion. Transcript of key part:
CRUZ: I'm going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying.
He accuses everybody on that debate stage of lying. And it's simply a mindless yell. Whatever he does, he accuses everyone else of doing. The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist. A narcissist at a level I don't think this country has ever seen.
Donald Trump is such a narcissist that Barack Obama looks at him and goes, 'Dude, what's your problem?' Everything in Donald's world is about Donald. And he combines being a pathological liar, and I say pathological because I actually think Donald, if you hooked him up to a lie detector test, he could say one thing in the morning, one thing at noon and one thing in the evening, all contradictory and he's pass the lie detector test each time. Whatever lie he's telling, at that minute he believes it.
CRUZ: The man is utterly amoral. Morality does not exist for him. It's why he went after Heidi directly and smeared my wife, attacked her. Apparently she's not pretty enough for Donald Trump. I may be biased, but I think if he's making that allegation, he's also legally blind.
CRUZ: Every one of us knew bullies in elementary school. Bullies don't come from strength, bullies come from weakness. Bullies come from a deep, yawning cavern of insecurity. There is a reason Donald builds giant buildings and puts his name on them everywhere he goes.
And I will say there are millions of people in this country who are angry. They're angry at Washington, they're angry at politicians who have lied to them. I understand that anger. I share that anger. And Donald is cynically exploiting that anger, and he is lying to his supporters. Donald will betray his supporters on every issue.
If you care about immigration, Donald is laughing at you. And he's telling the moneyed elites he doesn't believe what he's saying. He's not going to build a wall. That's what he told The New York Times. He will betray you on ever you issue across the board. And his strategy of being a bully in particular is directed at women. Donald has a real problem with women.
Ted Cruz is a desperate candidate trying to save his failing campaign. It is no surprise he has resorted to his usual tactics of over-the-top rhetoric that nobody believes. Over the last week, I have watched Lyin’ Ted become more and more unhinged as he is unable to react under the pressure and stress of losing, in all cases by landslides, the last six primary elections --- in fact, coming in last place in all but one of them. Today’s ridiculous outburst only proves what I have been saying for a long time, that Ted Cruz does not have the temperament to be President of the United States.
Cruz on his wife:Cruz said Trump's insecurity is the reason why he "builds giant buildings and puts his name on them."Watch Cruz's full press availability:Nearly 10,000 Marines are taking part in a massive training exercise this week. | Charles Hoskinson/POLITICO Commanders reset Marines' training
FORT A.P. HILL, Va. — A Marine Sea Stallion helicopter quickly circles into a clearing in the pine forest, maneuvering to avoid being targeted by ground fire. Two Cobra attack helicopters circle overhead for protection as observers on the ground radio intelligence to a 14-member Marine special operations team.
Right on time, the huge Sea Stallion touches down and the team — many members having slept through the three-hour flight — rushes off in two lines, spreading out in tactical formation in the tall grass, their M-4 assault rifles at the ready.
Story Continued Below
Somewhere in the woods, there’s a compound containing a wanted terrorist. The mission: Capture or kill him.
It’s not for real, just as close as you can get at a Virginia Army base on the fringes of the Washington metropolitan area. The team is among nearly 10,000 Marines taking part this week in a massive training exercise along the East Coast.
The exercise, known as Mailed Fist, is designed to reacquaint a force used to ground combat in Afghanistan and Iraq with its basic amphibious mission. It’s also designed to show what the Marines can do at a time when budget constraints are forcing military leaders to squeeze the most out of every dollar.
“Austere times are coming. We know it,” said Maj. Gen. Jon Davis, commander of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock, N.C. “It’s all training we have to do.”
He said planners were able to avoid expensive travel to the West Coast and keep costs down by aligning existing training events.
“We haven’t done a wing exercise in 10 years, a big one like this,” he said, noting that deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have consumed much of the effort for the wing’s 17,300 Marines and 400 aircraft.
One of the main goals of the exercise is to reacquaint Marines with their basic mission as America’s expeditionary force in readiness. That means getting Marine units out of the barracks and into the field, where they live in tents and have to purify their own water, Davis noted.
The exercise, stretching from Northern Virginia south to Florida, also includes flying Marine Harriers and other aircraft under austere conditions like those they might find on a foreign shore and training air controllers to handle large-scale operations.
It’s all part of what military leaders call “reset.” As fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan winds down, there’s a need to practice skills that weren’t used as much over the past 10 years of ground combat, while at the same time incorporating the valuable lessons learned from the wars.It’s been 5 years since J.K. Rowling published the last ‘Harry Potter’ book and her fans have been chomping at the bit waiting to see what she’ll write next. Well, it looks like the wait is over as it is being reported that Rowling’s next novel will be aimed at adults.
In a press release from Little, Brown Book Group and Little, Brown and Company, Rowling said:
“Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series…. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life.”
This new book will be the first with the publishing company Little, Brown and Company which is rumored to have exclusivity to her work. “She is one of the best storytellers in the world,” said Little, Brown Publisher David Shelley who will also be editing the novel. “…I am looking forward enormously to helping bring her new novel for adults to her fans and admirers, and to introducing her writing to new readers the world over.”
No details about the book have been given nor a publication date but it was said that this information will be given later in the year.
Rowling has no doubt been proven to be a money maker but it will be interesting to see if her appeal will continue into the adult fare. Since no indication of what her book will be about, we can’t even say if she will be writing in the same genre as ‘Harry Potter’ but for adults. What can be said is that film rights will probably be negotiated rather quickly once the theme of the novel is revealed.
So, would you still read a novel by Rowling even though Harry et al are not featured?
Source: Movies.comThe University of Saskatchewan has announced tuition fees are going up, but argues that the increase is far below what students are paying in other parts of Canada.
Tuition increases in undergraduate and graduate programs will range from zero to five per cent for the 2017-18 academic year.
For students in the College of Arts and Sciences, the hike is 2.5 per cent on average. That means the average tuition for those students will be $6,100.
The U of S says that, according to its figures, the overall rate will be about 18 per cent below what students are paying at comparable programs in Canada.
Lee Ahenakew, chair of the U of S board of governors, said in a news release: "we strive to keep tuition increases manageable, while still ensuring the quality of our programs remains high."
The board reviews tuition rates each year.
Students' union reacts
The University of Saskatchewan Students' Union (USSU), meanwhile, warned that unaffordable tuition is the greatest barrier to education.
In a news release, the students' union also stated that it is well aware the costs of running a university are enormous and that much of the funding comes from taxpayers dollars.
The USSU said a balance between covering costs and keeping post secondary education tuition affordable must be found and issued three recommendations.On the rare occasions I have the opportunity to meet and talk with them, I can’t shake the feeling that they're better dressed than I am, more educated than I am and have more natural manners than I do. I am referring to the people of “Putin's aliyah” – a phrase that took root in Israel a while ago and refers to members of the middle class who left Russia in recent years because of the tightening of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belt around their necks.
For many of them – Jewish, or people of Jewish ancestry – Israel was the default destination for many reasons, in large part because of the automatic citizenship. This was also the case for us – people from the large wave of immigrants who came from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s – but with one significant difference: Whether due to the inevitability of circumstances or a spirit forged in the era of the Cold War and Iron Curtain, emigration for us was a decision from which there was no turning back.
But the post-2000 immigrants, especially those who arrived following the failed protest that erupted after the parliamentary elections in 2011 and 2012 – and even more so after the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in Eastern Ukraine – saw themselves differently |
[ edit ]There seems to be a strange dichotomy among young Catholics. One group is falling in love and getting married. The other half is frequently using the hashtag #ForeverAlone in their tweets and Instagram posts. The first group apparently had no trouble find romance, and with there being so many in the second group, it leads one to wonder why aren’t the people in the #ForeverAlone group pairing up? Well, I maintain there are some serious flaws in the prevailing philosophies and practices in the Catholic Dating scene.
People Behave Irrationally
I am including myself in this statement. I overthink things and wait too long to ask a girl out which ends up making things worse when the relationship eventually fails to materialize. Others do the same things.
Furthermore, People make strange decisions when it comes to choosing a significant other. Girls date guys who look like they got hit by a truck. Guys date girls with looks but poisonous personalities. Jay Z cheated on Beyoncé. In 2014, a girl in her twenties agreed to marry serial killer Charles Manson. People. Are. Idiots.
Lack of Clarity and Misleading Statements
Sometimes girls, in an attempt to let a guy down easy, will be too vague when turning down an offer of a date or will sound reluctant when agreeing to a date. It is like the words “Yes” and “No” have disappeared from their vocabulary. It’s like a Justin Bieber song. “It won’t work right now” implies it might work later and leaves the guy on the hook. A half-hearted “Sure” or “Maybe, if it works for my busy schedule” makes it seem like going on a date with the guy would be a burden. “I don’t know” has the same end result as a no, but does not provide the same clarity. A simple “Yes” or “No” is the best route, but there are times where girls do not say those clarifying words. Clarity is the best way to respect a guy. It does no good to let him down easy if it misleads him. Honesty is your friend, ladies. If you’re not interested, say so. It does not make you an awful person to not be interested in a guy.
I should also point out that guys, too, can be misleading. We lead girls on when we are not interested in them romantically and chicken out when we are interested, and that is not okay for the reasons above.
The Friends First Philosophy
Many Catholics advise others that one must become friends with someone of the opposite gender before dating them. In fact, I have given this advice to others, but I no longer do so because I realized it is bad advice and could do more harm than good.
When one applies this rule to one’s life, one does not actually befriend the other person. The entire time you are becoming friends with this person you are thinking, “Are we friends enough to date yet?”. If your intention is to become friends with someone and then date them, your real intention is to date them. Befriending them for the purposes of dating them is disingenuous, and you do not actually become friends with them. You have a quasi-friendship that easily falls apart and will almost certainly fall apart if the romantic relationship does not materialize. If I had not applied this philosophy to my life, I might have three more friends than I have now. But, I did, so I don’t.
Courting
Some bloggers are starting to figure this one out, but a lot of speakers, especially Catholic ones, are sticking with this idea. Courting will only cause more heartache.
This is a more formal dating process. In this setting, the first date is expected to be the first of many. Both parties are expecting this to be the start of a long-term relationship, so if one party decides it is not right early in the relationship, the other is left with a broken heart because they became too emotionally invested too quickly.
In a more casusal setting, two parties are less invested in the relationship early on and can call it quits more easily. When this happens, there are no hard feelings, and the two individuals can still be friends.
Dating Fasts
This is another highly recommended idea that is just plain stupid. Dating fasts are the idea that one will refrain from dating for a set period of time, no matter who comes along. And, no, seminarians are not on a dating fast. They are not allowed to date, period. The argument that dating fasts are a good thing because they work for seminarians is a hollow argument because are not on dating fasts. They are forbidden to date. Dating fasts imply that one will eventually start dating again. This is not a certainty for seminarians.
Dating fasts are potentially dangerous. When someone goes on a dating fast, neither the heart nor the genitals are turned off. That person is still going to notice people of the opposite gender and begin to wonder about the potential for romance. Waiting to ask someone out or to go on a date with someone only causes more problems down the line. A friend of mine once asked a girl out, and she told him she was interested but on a dating fast. Months later, after her dating fast ended, they went out on a date. It went horribly, and there was no second date. If they had gone out right away, he could have moved on right away instead of being on the hook for months.
When one goes on a dating fast, one stops discerning God’s will. On a dating fast, one refuses to consider dating someone. If God places someone in your life with whom He wishes you to begin a romantic relationship, you will not follow God’s will because you are not open to what God has planned for you. Is it sometimes appropriate to take a step back from dating? Yes, but that should be a matter of continual discernment rather than to choose some arbitrary period of time where you are going to refuse to consider the possibility that God wants you in a relationship. We should be teaching people to discern God’s will with respect to dating rather than promoting a system that shuts down the discernment process.
The System
There are a number of different Catholic chastity and/or dating speakers will often promote a system for dating, a set of rules to follow that is surefire way to avoid heartbreak and find the person of your dreams. Following their system, however, has all the certainty of that fortune cookie that says a large some of money is coming your way.
Usually, “the system” includes things like the friends first philosophy, courting, dating fasts, making a list of the characteristics you want in your future spouse, and bunch of other hokey/stupid ideas and practices. These ideas are often in talks or books with titles that guarantee that following that person’s personal opinions are a surefire way to not be miserable with respect to dating.
Everyone is different. Every situation is different. There are two unique individuals involved in every relationship or potential relationship. They will each bring something unique to the situation. Furthermore, the circumstances in which they interact will also be unique. “The system” might not apply or be the best course of action, and if they try to implement “the system” in that situation, it will screw everything up.
For each unique situation, you only need one guiding principle: Honor the crap out of her/him. No system will always apply, and no system can guarantee an avoidance of heartbreak. However, if you ask yourself how you can honor the other person in each romantic situation in which you find yourself and then follow through with that, you can better handle any situation. Will this guiding principle help you find that special someone? No. Will it avoid pain and sadness? No, that stuff is inevitable. Will it help you make the best of whatever situation in which you find yourself? Probably. Will it help you avoid sin? It should. Is “Honor the crap out of her/him” a guarantee? No.
Lastly, if you are listening to a speaker who either claims they have everything figured out or act like they have everything figured out, immediately distrust everything they are saying about dating. They do not have everything figured out. In fact, generally speaking, nothing they say is original. Every talk that speaker gives is essentially the same. One of the most popular Catholic chastity/dating speakers is especially guilty of this, yet everyone thinks he is amazing. It blows my mind that no one else notices how unoriginal he is. Also, don’t think your personal favorite speaker/blogger has a different system that is unique and better than anything else out there. No, it is the same and still ineffective. As Charlie Munger once said, “When you mix raisins with turds, they are still turds.”
Catholic Match Has Admitted Their Product Won’t Help You
Recently, CatholicMatch brought in Fr. Leo Patalinghug to teach you how to cook for one. Yup, that’s right: Cooking for One. That is like saying, “You know how you use our website to stop being alone? Well, you’re going to be alone forever, so here’s this thing to help you avoid starving while you are alone.” What’s next? Advice on how to find an apartment that will take you and your twenty cats?
CatholicMatch or AveMaria Singles Are Simply Awful Websites
CatholicMatch (CM) will let you sign up for free, but if you actually want to send a message to someone (you know, like, use their website for its intended purpose), you have to pay an expensive fee to do so. AveMaria Singles (AMS) makes you pay before being allowed to search their site. You have no idea if there is anyone in your preferred age range and your general area on their site. At least, Catholic Match (CM) allows you to look and see who is on their website before deciding whether or not to pay. However, with this setup, CM can lead to some confusion and frustration. If one sends someone a message on CM and does not get a response, one never knows if they are not a paying member or if they are just not interested. Furthermore, neither AMS nor CM have an app. People are rarely without their phones these days. An app is the way to go, but AMS and CM are afraid to embrace technology which is strange behavior for a website.
All of the above mentioned problems are non-existent with Tinder. It is free to signup AND communicate with others. There is no ambiguity; you know whether or not the other person is interested because you can only communicate if you both swiped right. Tinder is also an app-only dating service. So, yes, this Catholic would rather be on Tinder than Catholic Match.
We’re Doomed
Unless there is a collective shift in the way young Catholics think about dating (or maybe we start thinking less), there will be unnecessary heartache.Yoga is a process of systematically liberating ourselves from needless suffering. In the yogic worldview, we suffer due to perceiving ourselves as separate from the enduring, cosmic essence from whence we were created. We practice yoga, essentially, to touch our divine nature, which is untouched by human error.
For me, being an urban yogi requires frequent expeditions out into nature to reconnect with the source of our energy, prana. Prana exists in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the foods of the earth. We increase pranic energy in our bodies through yogic practice and lifestyle.
Yogic practice takes many forms, each one pointing the way to the divinity within us, and around us.
The yamas and niyamas teach us basic morality and how to go about our day-to-day lives in excellence. The asanas we use to invigorate the body and set it free from its stressors. We learn to breathe for greater vitality and "give the mind a bone" in pranayama. We tame the senses á la pratyahara to be in control of our actions. We boost our effectiveness by concentrating in dharana. We transcend the limits of the mind in meditative dhyana. We embody our highest potential of living as a divinely connected human being in samadhi.
From ego-centric to world-centric yogis.
In teaching my students these eight "facets" of yoga, as Nischala Joy Devi refers to them, much emphasis is placed on our individual processes of assimilating these teachings. It takes a lot of reminding ourselves to stand with axial extension (asana), to stop interrupting people (asteya), and to be kind to ourselves (ahimsa), as examples.
It's easy to be so self-centered in our yogic pursuits that we lose sight of the role the entire world plays in our growth.
While the self-study (svadhyaya) of understanding our personal challenges and triumphs in yoga is essential, it tends to dominate much of the conversation in the yoga teacher trainings I've led and attended. While we strive for our own yogic equipoise, the natural environment that provides our life force is reeling from worldwide human behaviors that are decidedly non-yogic. Many seemingly inconsequential things done without environ-mentality are proving to have big effects that we can no longer ignore. These, naturally, affect our wellbeing, as there is no real separation between us and our surroundings.
Not everyone is as fortunate as the yogis of Southern California.
From my pirch here in San Diego, I feel profoundly blessed to live where I live, and do what I do. For this reason, I feel that I have a much greater responsibility to the world, to be less self-centered in my practice and more world-centric, to use the phrase of Ken Wilber. Our consumption habits as yogis, from what we buy, how much gas we burn, to the impact of heated yoga classes, must be acknowledged and reckoned with if we are to be truly aligned with yoga.
It's time for urban yogis worldwide to apply our yogic efforts to the wellbeing of our planet.
We focus so much on our physical bodies and personal lives in yoga. How about applying ourselves to the task of healing the ecosystems to which we are inextricably linked? In yoga we adopt the first yama of non-harming and kindness (ahimsa) in relation to ourselves and others. Thus, isn't it essential to be as kind as possible to that which feeds us, and gives us all that we cherish?
Yogic devotion is a renewable energy source.
How about we tap into the devotional bhakti of yoga as a resource to put back into the ecology that gives us life? Why not perfect our environmental practices as fervently as we approach our asanas? The results will reveal themselves in time, but what matters now is action. As Lord Krishna stated in the Bhagavad Gita, "established in Yoga, Arjuna, perform actions." We must act on behalf of our environment now. It is our collective dharma, our life-saving duty, to do so, and every choice counts.
"Planet, my friend, how should we do this?"
I think our best strategy for loving the earth like we love our yoga, is to befriend the environment, and treat it like a friend in our daily actions. When making plans with friends, we ask for their input as far as the logistics, their wants and needs. Not doing so is, frankly, unfriendly. When we're at choice about how to go about some thing, asking for the environment's input just seems more civilized, and could give us some wonderfully pleasant, and unexpected answers.
Me: "Planet, my friend, shall I drive to the store nearby? I am so tired and achy."
Planet: "Dear one, I am sorry you're not feeling well. Perhaps a gentle walk to breathe my fresh air and see my sunset colors would make you feel better?"
Then, like friends do, you weigh the options and make the most logical, kind decision.
We need new societal norms around this. It is in our power to raise communal awareness and appreciation for that which sustains us. It is truly in our best interest to do so, and will undoubtedly serve to advance our yogic embodiment. The exact approach, as in yoga, will vary per individual.
There are countless ways to practice yoga, just as there are innumerable ways to care for our planet.
In our household, our environmental choices include urban composting, limiting our driving mileage, voting on environmental policy, reducing single-use containers, and using remotes to turn off our power outlets at night. Can we do more? Absolutely, and I consider every effort to be yogic in nature. My next step is to extend my efforts outside of my work and home. Thus, I've found the collective of San Diego-based non-profits and volunteer opportunities. Angel Being. Please check out their website if you're called to join a local effort that inspires you.
I love that "mental" exists within the word "environmental."
We know yoga to be as much a mental exercise as it is physical and spiritual. While we're at it, let's be inclusive of the environment as we take actions that shape our realities. Let's make yoga an environmental practice that supports the web of life that supports us. Please, share your thoughts and ecological practices or resources below.
In gratitude,
Susana JonesPatrick Willis' retirement leaves a huge hole in the middle of the San Francisco 49ers' defense.
Seven Pro Bowls. Five All-Pro selections. Countless big plays with 950 tackles, 20.5 sacks and eight interceptions in eight seasons. And immeasurable moments as a team leader.
Chris Borland played well in place of Patrick Willis a year ago, and now it's his job for good. AP Photo/Tony Avelar
So where do the Niners go from here?
Back to leaning on the same guy who stepped up last year when Willis went down after just six games with that chronically injured left big toe -- Chris Borland.
But nothing the Niners do is easy, so that plan is contingent upon Borland being healthy himself because, remember, he missed the final two games with an ankle injury.
And at a generously listed 5-foot-11, 248 pounds and a playing style that borders on full-contact karate, you have to wonder how long Borland can sustain such a flair on the field.
While Borland is no Willis -- no one is -- the then-rookie stepped in quite admirably for the grizzled vet.
Borland racked up tackles like the Niners collected Lombardi Trophies in the 1980s and was all over the field in doing so with 107 stops, two interceptions and a sack in 14 games, eight of them starts.
The question, then, is can Borland sustain such success over 16 starts?
For the Niners to maintain the defensive success they enjoyed under former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, new defensive coordinator Eric Mangini certainly hopes so. Especially with the defense primed to look more like it did in 2014 than it did in 2013, despite other expectations.
Look, Willis was expected to make a full recovery and be joined in the middle of the Niners’ 3-4 defense by another former All-Pro, NaVorro Bowman, who missed all of last season still recovering from the gruesome left knee injury he suffered in the NFC title game in January 2014.
But now speculation is rampant that Bowman could be cut, as well, a did-not-pass-the-physical casualty. Granted, it’s all conjecture at this point, but it’s also a logical leap.
It then seemingly pulls inside linebacker Michael Wilhoite -- who started 16 games at “jack” linebacker last season and had 87 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble -- off the reported trade market, per the Sacramento Bee.
“The standard that Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman have set for inside linebacker play is at the highest level,” former coach Jim Harbaugh said during the season. “Chris Borland, Michael Wilhoite, they are playing great, with a capital ‘G,’ and rising to that level. It is great to see.”
And then there’s the curious case of defensive lineman Justin Smith, who has yet to announce whether he is retiring or returning for a 15th NFL season. The Niners have, however, signed Darnell Dockett.
The linchpin to this whole Willis-retiring deal, though, is Borland.
“Dude can play football,” fellow linebacker Aaron Lynch said after Borland recorded 12 tackles, two for losses, plus a special-teams tackle, three passes defensed and two interceptions against the New York Giants in Week 11.
Replacing a potential Hall of Famer like Willis, Borland will have to maintain that, ahem, style of play for the Niners' defense to remain elite.Box City: an original Balitang America documentary
San Francisco, California is home to some of the richest neighborhoods in America. But it has also become a refuge for the poor, the destitute, the homeless.
Based on the city’s latest homeless count, close to 7,500 are homeless in San Francisco.
Homelessness may not be as prevalent among Filipinos, known for their deep family ties and strong sense of community.
But there are homeless Filipinos in San Francisco. Balitang America found them living in an encampment they called Box City.
In their moments of despair, these Filipinos turned to strangers for help. And these strangers became their family…their community.
Box City documents their first few months at the encampment, as they built their small homes made of cardboard and plywood. But just as they started to find some stability, their worlds came crashing down when the city forced them to evacuate.
Balitang America witnessed these people, with human lives and hearts, had to dismantle their shelters with heavy hearts, and defeated spirits.
While Box City highlights these immigrants’ resilience as a people, it also exposes the harsh realities of life and the fact that the American Dream is not always within reach.
Box City is produced by the same team behind the Emmy award-Winning documentary, Filipino Champions of SOMA.
The film will premiere at the ABS-CBN International’s headquarters in Daly City, where community leaders and advocates, as well as former residents of Box City, will attend.
Box City is airing on The Filipino Channel on Sunday, July 16, 4:25 pm PST / 10:25 pm PST, and Saturday, July 22, 9:30 am PST.
Watch the teaser trailer here:
(Box City teaser on Vimeo)New Zealand's unfamiliarity with English rugby was evident on Tuesday when lock Brodie Retallick was unable to name one member of Stuart Lancaster's touring party.
Asked if he knew any England player ahead of Saturday's series opener, Retallick responded "a couple". When pressed for a name, the second row said "Michael Lawes". Retallick appeared to mean Courtney Lawes, who is en route to New Zealand having helped Northampton win the Aviva Premiership final last weekend and is unavailable for the first Test.
Meanwhile, England's prospects of delivering an unlikely victory in Saturday's first Test improved after Kieran Read was ruled out of the series opener at Eden Park.
The All Blacks head coach, Steve Hansen, revealed that Read, who has been sidelined since April with concussion, woke up on Monday morning "not feeling the best". The reigning IRB player of the year made his comeback for the Crusaders on Saturday only to subsequently suffer a recurrence of the symptoms that have troubled him for the last month. A doubt now hangs over the No8’s involvement in the series, while winger Julian Savea is also a doubt for the opener due to a knee problem.
"We're not prepared to risk him playing and that's our decision, not his, and we'll progress that day by day," Hansen said of Read's situation. "Long term I'm not too concerned, but we're just not prepared risk him this week.
"He's frustrated, as you would be, but we're very lucky we've got capable people who can fill his place. Jerome Kaino and Victor Vito have been performing very well and Liam Messam is an incumbent. We've got some good people to step up."
Steven Luatua has been drafted into New Zealand's training squad for Saturday to cover for Read.
The All Blacks have also lost Sam Cane to a knee injury for the series, although he was not expected to feature in the matchday 23. Matt Todd has been called up to plug the gap.
Savea will undergo a scan on Tuesday, with a decision on his availability made in time for Thursday's team announcement.
Read's loss will be keenly felt with the free-roaming back row among New Zealand's most influential players, but Hansen refuses to overstate the impact his absence will have. "Losing players is only disruptive if we allow it to be. Rugby is a contact sport, we're going to have people get injured and we just have to deal with that," Hansen said.
Local bookmakers have installed New Zealand as overwhelming 1-16 favourites to prevail at Eden Park with England rated 8-1.During a hackathon at FINN.no, we figured we wanted to learn more about deep NLP-models. FINN.no has a large database with ads of people trying to sell stuff (around 1 million active ads at any time), and they are categorized into a category tree with three or four layers. For example, full suspension bikes can be found under “Sport and outdoor activities” / “Bike sport” / “Full suspension bikes”.
In our daily jobs we are working on recommendations. There, we already have a content based (tf-idf) recommender build on Solr’s More Like This. It seems to work well in areas where our collaborative filtering approaches does not. Would it be possible to build a deep learning NLP-model of similar performance?
To achieve a measure of similarity, building a classifier of the previously mentioned categories seemed like a good choice, since we already had a lot of pre-existing data. The NLP team at Schibsted had already tokenized around six million ads as well as trained a word2vec model for us - we were ready to roll!
Some preprocessing still had to be done. We ran through all ads, concatenated the title and description strings, and after a quick look at the data took the first 15 words of each ad.
Model architecture proposed by the paper
Our initial experiments were done with a simple “Bag of words” model included in the Keras repository, but we promptly switched over to “Convolutional Neural Networks for Sentence Classification” based architecture after hearing about it from our colleague, Tobias. By looking at the first 15 words of the ad, and using 200 dimensional embeddings for each word, our input is transformed into a 15x200 matrix. We apply three different convolutions on each document. The three convolutions looks at 2, 3 and 4 words (kernel sizes) in each convolution. It then max-pools each over the whole document, so that you end up with one value per document per convolution. For each kernel size you do 100 different filters. Finally you add a dense layer for classification. In addition to the standard model described in the paper, we experimented with different kernel sizes, number of filters, dense layers, batch normalization and dropout. We also added several losses, so that the model optimized both the higher and lower category at the same time. That helped.
Keras representation of our NLP model
So how did it go? Our hackathon model managed to categorize 10’000 ads into 359 categories with an accuracy of 50%. We were surprised it worked so well, it was about the same accuracy image models have achieved on roughly the same ads. After tuning and pruning it further and adding 1 million data points, we have reached an accuracy of 70% on the 359 classes. In comparison, the bag-of-words model we started with managed an accuracy rate of around 25% and image recognition models have reached accuracies around 50%.
Using the model in recommendations
It is usually the case that category-similarity translates decently to ad-similarity. Using our classifier model we can serve users more ads similar to what they’re already seeing, based on the text of a selected ad.
We use the model by cutting the last dense layer (called feature layer in figure above), then comparing normalized dot products (cosine similarity) between objects. Since our our benchmarks for judging anything a success or failure is based on how it performs in a production environment, we went ahead and did that. This gave us decent results using only text, performing about 5-6% percent worse than our top collaborative filtering approach. When we made an ensemble model combining text and collaborative filtering we managed to improve our existing best model by about 10%. This is likely due to better supporting “cold ads”, or ads without traffic, while still retaining the accuracy of the collaborative filtering-model.
An example of a “cold ad”, where we think our NLP model does a better job at finding relevancy than the traditional collaborative filtering approach
Collaborative filtering recommendations
NLP Recommendations
Further work
The pure text-model does not prioritize the popularity (or perhaps by proxy, how good the ad is) of the ad at all. This leads us to suspect that although users are being directed to similar ads, they could for example be missing an enticing image to make engagement likely. Seeing how the ensemble model in the end is optimized for click-rate, it likely only gives the NLP model high priority when the ad has low traffic. It would be interesting to somehow introduce this aspect into the NLP model.
We would like to eventually have a more thorough NLP representation of all our ads for other teams to build services and functionality on, and this recommender is an important first step to achieve that.
The code can be found at FINN.no’s github page.
Resources
Tags: NLPIf you use Facebook or Twitter, chances are you’ve seen some version of this quote by Jackson Katz, in which the educator, filmmaker, and activist points out how problematic it is that passive language is used to describe violence against women.
Here’s how it begins:
“We talk about how many women were raped last year, not how many men raped women. We talk about how many girls in a school district were harassed last year, not about how many boys harassed girls. We talk about how many teenage girls in the state of Vermont got pregnant last year, rather than how many boys and men impregnated teenage girls.”
Katz then proceeds to point out how, simply by using passive language, we absolve men of all responsibility: “Even the term ‘violence against women’ is problematic…It’s a bad thing that happens to women, but when you look at that term, ‘violence against women,’ nobody is doing it to them. It just happens to them…Men aren’t even a part of it.”
Jackson Katz Llewellyn Simons ©paul shoul
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His words have been making the rounds online in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment and assault against movie producer Harvey Weinstein—and the attendant #MeToo campaign in which women are sharing their own experiences on social media. However, Katz tells Fortune that they are actually a transcription of a speech he made at Middlebury College five years ago. “I have been doing and saying this stuff for a long time—the only difference is now people are paying attention,” he says.
Katz says he began working towards gender equality (“one of the great unmet challenges of the human species”) in college, after was awoken to the pervasiveness of sexism and sexual assault through his work on the University of Massachusetts newspaper.
“I realized that I was in a position of power—as a white heterosexual man—to do something about this giant problem,” he says. Today, is is best known as the co-founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), one of the most widely influential gender violence prevention programs in the U.S., and the first one of its kind to be instituted in sports and military organizations.
In addition to talking about the power of language—which, he argues, “structures thought” and thus has the potential to alter the way people think about sexual violence—Katz spends a lot of his time as an educator time teaching the “bystander” approach, which “moves beyond the perpetrator-victim relationship.” For Katz, every person who knows of a perpetrator’s actions, as well as every person who knows the victim, has a responsibility to speak up. “Their silence is a form of consent and complicity.”
Katz’s main goal is to get “more men in positions of institutional, political, cultural leadership to take this stuff seriously and take it to the next level,” he says. “Women’s leadership has been incredible and transformative but the missing piece is men’s leadership.”
For him, not committing sexual assault or harassment is “way too low a bar for what it takes to be a good guy.”Idaho 1st District GOP Rep. Raul Labrador announced Wednesday that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is endorsing Labrador for governor of Idaho in 2018.
Cruz won Idaho’s 13-candidate 2016 GOP presidential primary with 45.4 percent of the vote to Donald Trump’s 28.1 percent. Labrador was a supporter of Rand Paul for president, serving as his Western campaign chairman; but after Paul dropped out of the race, Labrador endorsed Cruz in February of 2016, and then actively campaigned around the country for Trump in the weeks prior to the general election.
“I’ve worked closely with Raul Labrador over the past few years to advance conservative policies for our country and I can tell you he is one of the most effective, dedicated, and honest men I have known,” Cruz said in a statement. “His fierce commitment to conservative values, his respect for our Constitution, and his pledge to making government accountable to the people will make him a great governor and I’m proud to endorse his candidacy.”
Labrador said, “It’s been a privilege to work alongside Sen. Cruz in Congress to promote policies that support these ideals, and I’m humbled to have his support in this campaign.”
Labrador is in a hotly contested race for the GOP nomination for governor in 2018, with rivals including current Lt. Gov. Brad Little and Boise businessman and physician Tommy Ahlquist. A half-dozen lesser-known candidates also have formed fundraising committees to run for the post.
Last week, former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney endorsed Ahlquist, appearing with him at an Idaho Falls campaign rally.
A PAC allied with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also announced Wednesday that it would back Labrador.
“No surprise here that D.C. politicians and their special interest groups are supporting another D.C. politician,” said David Johnston, Ahlquist’s campaign manager. “Is Congressman Labrador running for Congress again, or is he running for governor of Idaho?”
Little’s campaign had no comment on Labrador’s endorsements, but came back with one of its own: Gem County Commission Chairman Bill Butticci, former mayor of Emmett, where Little was born and raised. Butticci said Little’s family has been “a pillar of the Emmett community for generations,” and said, “I have never run for president of the United States, but I am a conservative Idahoan, and from my vantage point no one else is better suited to be governor than Brad Little.”Table of Contents
The rumor that Emma Smith learned about Joseph's marriage to Fanny Alger by discovering them together in a barn
Note: This wiki section was based partly on a review of G.D. Smith's Nauvoo Polygamy. As such, it focuses on that author's presentation of the data. To read the full review, follow the link. Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)
Question: Did Emma Smith discover her husband Joseph with Fanny Alger in a barn?
William McLellin claimed to have heard a story that Fanny and Joseph were in the barn and Emma had observed them
In 1872, William McLellin (then an apostate excommunicated nearly 34 years prior) wrote a letter to Emma and Joseph's son, Joseph Smith III:
Now Joseph I will relate to you some history, and refer you to your own dear Mother for the truth. You will probably remember that I visited your Mother and family in 1847, and held a lengthy conversation with her, retired in the Mansion House in Nauvoo. I did not ask her to tell, but I told her some stories I had heard. And she told me whether I was properly informed. Dr. F. G. Williams practiced with me in Clay Co. Mo. during the latter part of 1838. And he told me that at your birth your father committed an act with a Miss Hill [sic]—a hired girl. Emma saw him, and spoke to him. He desisted, but Mrs. Smith refused to be satisfied. He called in Dr. Williams, O. Cowdery, and S. Rigdon to reconcile Emma. But she told them just as the circumstances took place. He found he was caught. He confessed humbly, and begged forgiveness. Emma and all forgave him. She told me this story was true!! Again I told her I heard that one night she missed Joseph and Fanny Alger. She went to the barn and saw him and Fanny in the barn together alone. She looked through a crack and saw the transaction!!! She told me this story too was verily true. [1]
Ann Eliza Webb, who was born 11 years after Joseph's marriage to Fanny, claimed that Emma threw Fanny out of the house
Ann Eliza Webb, who was born in 1844, was not even alive at the time of these events, could only only comment based upon what her father told her about Joseph and Fanny. Ann apostatized from the Church and wrote an "expose" called Wife No. 19, or The story of a Life in Bondage. She described Fanny as follows:
Mrs. Smith had an adopted daughter, a very pretty, pleasing young girl, about seventeen years old. She was extremely fond of her; no mother could be more devoted, and their affection for each other was a constant object of remark, so absorbing and genuine did it seem. Consequently is was with a shocked surprise that people heard that sister Emma had turned Fanny out of the house in the night.[2]
Question: What did William McLellin say about Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger's relationship?
William McLellin said that he discussed Joseph's relationship with Fanny Alger during a visit with Emma in 1847
With a lone exception, there is no account after Joseph’s death of Emma admitting Joseph’s plural marriages in any source.[3] The reported exception is recorded in a newspaper article and two letters written by excommunicated Latter-day Saint apostle William E. McLellin.[4] McLellin addressed the letters to Emma’s son, Joseph Smith III. The former apostle claimed to have visited Emma in 1847 and to have discussed Joseph’s relationship with Fanny Alger.[ |
only a few minutes apart) with the result that the average condition seen by most riders is the crowded first vehicle, not its roomy follower. TTC stats might report that service meets standards on average, but most riders are not on an “average” bus or streetcar. This is a long-standing problem with Toronto’s transit service about which the TTC does next to nothing if actual conditions on major routes are any indication.
Finally, it is worth looking at the scheduled service over recent years.
The drop in scheduled buses between 2014 and 2015 results from the introduction of larger 18m vehicles which displaced the regular 12m buses on a 3:2 ratio on affected routes (roughly equivalent to a 60 bus reduction). The effect had largely worked its way into the schedules by fall 2014, and so the difference between 2014 and 2015 is not as marked later in the year.
2016 saw the introduction of vehicles from the order delivered in 2015, although the rise in scheduled vehicles is considerably lower than the size of the order. Based on a 105 bus order, one would expect about 88 more scheduled vehicles for 20% spares. This level of change is visible only in fall 2016, and service cuts plus redirection of buses to streetcar routes have undone much of the benefit. These are the new buses announced in the Tory/Colle press conference early in 2015.
The peak scheduled bus count in January 2017 is the same as in November-December 2016. It is only 3.7% higher (56 buses) than the count in January 2015.
As for the streetcar service, the number of peak vehicles stayed fairly constant until 2016 when it began to drop. A small part of this is due to the introduction of larger vehicles on 510 Spadina which now has fewer new Flexitys serving it than in its days with CLRVs. The main reason for the drop is withdrawal of streetcars from service for maintenance and reliability.
In summary, yes, the TTC bought new buses early in the Tory administration, but the full increase in fleet was only briefly seen on the street, and this has now been reduced by a combination of service cutbacks and redeployment of buses to streetcar lines.
John Tory Discovers Service Shortage
During his election campaign, John Tory’s position was that everything was just fine with transit service, that more buses or streetcars were not a solution to anything, and that his SmartTrack plan would solve every problem. It was a very big chicken that would fill every available pot.
Today, SmartTrack consists of six new GO Transit stations that will be built on the City’s dime, plus the western extension of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT to Renforth Gateway and, maybe, to Pearson Airport if someone else will pay for that part of the route. Gone is the surface-subway frequency of trains from Markham to Mississauga and all that this would imply for a transformation of the rapid transit network. Gone is a service that might carry hundreds of thousands of riders daily. All that remains is election souvenirs and the signature SmartTrack colours.
Shortly after taking office, Mayor Tory and Chair Josh Colle held a press conference to announce that, goodness gracious, the “previous administration” had made unconscionable cuts to the TTC and taken service away from people who really needed it. This about-face compared to his election stance was a pleasant surprise, but it brought nowhere near the resources one might expect to see on the transit system. A promised investment of $95 million turned out to be roughly half that amount once other cuts to the TTC’s budget were taken into account. The TTC is buying new buses ostensibly for more service, but does not have the budgeted resources to operate them.
On the heaviest streetcar line, 504 King, the TTC talks about adding more capacity by running buses on the route, but in fact the buses only barely offset the capacity lost because streetcars have been removed. The capacity actually provided on King has not changed in years, and even this is subject to periodic disruption for events where transit takes a back seat to other civic priorities.
Meanwhile in Thunder Bay
Lest all of this appear to be an anti-Tory rant, Bombardier is no saint in this story either. They have been promising new cars but failing to deliver for a long time, and as TTC CEO Andy Byford says, “we have more schedules than streetcars”. The mess with fleet availability can be traced directly to the delays in manufacturing the new cars thanks to quality control problems that have been well documented elsewhere. The fact that the TTC is now seeing several new cars in a short period is good news (the planned 30th car is enroute to Toronto as I write this), and Bombardier will hit its oft-revised target for the end of 2016. We will, however, still be 70 cars short of where we expected to be by this time. Forty more cars are expected in 2017, but the system will still depend overwhelmingly on the remaining fleet of old cars.
The CLRV fleet (the single section cars) dates from 1977-81 while the ALRV fleet (two-section cars) were delivered in 1987-89. The CLRVs are well beyond the normal 30-year retirement age for a rail vehicle, and the ALRVs would wave their farewells in the next few years. Instead, the TTC shops are working to rebuild enough cars to keep some of the fleet in reliable shape while awaiting the rest of the Bombardier Flexitys.
According to CTV News:
In 2018, Bombardier says it will provide 76 new streetcars to the TTC and 58 in 2019. TTC staff says that works out to a rate of approximately one car every 3.3 days in 2018 and one every 4.4 days in 2019. In his response, Bombardier Transportation Americas President Benoît Brossoit says the company has “doubled our production output over the last three months.” “Based on these results we are fully confident that we will meet our commitment to deliver an additional 40 new streetcars in 2017 and all 204 by the end of 2019.” He said that understand the company “may have failed to meet your expectations” but added that the slow delivery of streetcars “does not reflect the type of company Bombardier is around the world.”
That is a stunning understatement. Bombardier Transportation is headquartered in Berlin, and grew by amassing various European carbuilders along with their designs and expertise. The new Toronto streetcars are an offshoot of a design first unveiled for Berlin’s system. (Yes, gentle reader, they do have streetcars in Europe despite the best efforts of trolls on this side of the pond to claim otherwise.)
When Toronto first looked at replacement streetcars a decade ago, their first target was a vehicle with a low centre section (about 70% of the car) and two high-floor end sections. (A mockup based on Bombardier’s design for Minneapolis was displayed at Dundas Square in mid-2007.) This would have provided accessibility to a limited part of the car, but at the expense of internal circulation problems thanks to having two separate floor heights. When the Berlin 100% low floor design came along, the TTC switched direction. That change cost some time early in the project, and this was compounded by the failure to get an acceptable bid in the first round.
By the time a second round was in, only two bidders remained (Bombardier and Siemens), and Bombardier’s price was much lower than Siemens’. The contract went to Bombardier in mid-2009, and at that point completion was scheduled for mid-2018. After three prototypes, the first production vehicle was to arrive in 2012. This would allow a comparatively relaxed production rate over six years, but production delays have compressed this to a much shorter period even with the end date now in 2019. Even the 40 cars for 2017 is a rate only one third above the originally planned 30/year and this will leave 134 to be delivered in 2018 and 2019, more than double the originally planned rate.
Bombardier builds a range of vehicles over the entire rail spectrum, and wouldn’t have arrived at this position by failing to deliver on their contracts. Indeed, even in Toronto, Bombardier has churned out subway cars for years with some teething problems, but no reason to expect they were incapable of delivery. This history makes the streetcar problems even more troublesome because they were so unexpected, and they came at a time when the company was preoccupied with the survival of its aircraft business.
Bombardier has reorganized its production capacity not just for the TTC order, but for cars destined to Metrolinx LRT lines as well as Kitchener-Waterloo’s ION LRT. Plants in both Kingston, Ontario and La Pocatière, Québec have become part of the LRV manufacturing process. The overall status of delivery schedules for orders beyond the TTC remains a mystery.
Will Huffing and Puffing Get Toronto More Service?
Mayor Tory’s letter to Bombardier is timed intriguingly to land just before the City’s Budget Committee will review TTC financial plans for 2017, and during a period when demands for better service are commonly heard. If anything, this is a diversionary tactic to say “we couldn’t run more service even if we wanted to” and thereby avoid any debate over funding transit improvements. This could well pre-empt even a discussion of what might be needed and what could be done, a typical Toronto transit situation where any real discussion of improvements is sandbagged. Meanwhile, fantasies of new subway lines dance in Councillors’ heads at a cost both directly in borrowing and debt service, and indirectly in the works that never get off of the drawing board for lack of funding.
Holding down property taxes is a holy grail to the Mayor who insists on across the board cuts to spending even when the effect is to undo many of his own promises.
All of Toronto’s (and Ontario’s) capital spending on transit puts the City and the TTC on the verge of substantial increases in operating costs for day-to-day service. Rapid transit is more expensive to operate than the bus routes it replaces, and higher frequency trunk lines attract more riding on feeder routes. Any fare consolidation with GO Transit under the rubric of “SmartTrack” or “Regional Integration” will almost certainly mean additional subsidies for Toronto’s riders. Will these costs be borne from City revenues, or will riders pay for them with higher fares and service cuts? This is vital financial planning, but the area has been utterly ignored by Toronto’s politicians for years.
Recently, Mayor Tory has taken a new, combative position saying, in effect, that nobody before him on Council lifted a finger to improve transit. This is a remnant of “SmartTrack as cure-all” from his campaign days, and it does much disservice to those who fought through the Ford years to limit the damage to the transit system. Those who fight the good fight do not always win, but that failure is far different from inaction, and just keeping issues in the public eye has long-term benefits when political winds change.
The real issue before Council with the 2017 budget is that transit needs better funding, and that there are serious questions about the adequacy of transit service. Trying to shift all of the blame to Bombardier denies the very real problem that service out there on the street is not meeting riders’ expectations and needs.
A productive discussion would find out just how badly behind those needs the TTC really is and work out a way to solve this problem. That would make a great start for a re-election campaign in 2018. Making transit work better now, not in a decade’s time.
But instead, we will hear all about saving precious taxpayers dollars, building new subway lines, and nothing about improving the transit service riders face every day.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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The neocon meltdown over Donald Trump’s astonishing success in the Republican presidential primaries has been one of the more delightful aspects of the 2016 presidential contest. And yet the temptation to indulge in schadenfreude should be tempered by a foreboding for what might happen—not to the Republican Party, but to the Democratic party, should Trump succeed in securing the nomination, as now looks more and more likely. Ad Policy
Writing in The Weekly Standard, William Kristol denounced Trump as “a proud defender of greed, an unabashed indulger in adultery, a wanton mocker of the meek (the “losers”) of this world.” Brookings Institution scholar Robert Kagan took to the pages of The Washington Post on Sunday and likened Trump’s imminent takeover of the GOP to when “the plague descended on Thebes.” Noted neoconservative scholar Max Boot also got his shots in, telling Vox that he is “literally losing sleep over Donald Trump,” and that he believes Hillary Clinton “would be vastly preferable to Trump.” And Boot is far from alone. On Wednesday he, along with dozens of neocon scholars, lobbyists, and former government officials, signed an open letter denouncing Trump’s foreign policy as “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle.” Trump, they charged, “would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world.”
Progressive commentators have opined that Trump is simply the natural consequence of the Republican Party’s intolerance, which some believe, not without reason, reached a fever pitch during the Obama years. In the Daily Kos, Laurence Lewis writes that the Republican establishment has
no one to blame but themselves. For decades, they have played to racism, misogyny, bigotry, and thuggishness, and having loosed the American id, it’s now theirs to live with…it’s a monster of their own making.
In his Post column, Robert Kagan echoed these sentiments almost exactly: “Trump is no fluke. He is, rather, the party’s creation, its Frankenstein monster…” Perhaps so, but readers might find themselves at a loss to recall the widespread neocon revulsion that swept the op-ed pages when Ronald Reagan blew the dog whistle and denounced “welfare queens”; or when George H.W. Bush teamed up with Lee Atwater in order to introduce Willie Horton to America; nor was there a rising tide of establishment outrage when Mitt Romney politely suggested that illegal immigrants should “self-deport.” Then, of course, there is the case of Sarah Palin, who, during her brief but memorable stint as the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, routinely claimed that Barack Obama liked to pal around with terrorists while attendees at her rallies would shout “Treason!” and “Kill him!”
Is Trump guilty of employing dog-whistle rhetoric (and worse)? Yes. Is doing so at all unusual in the context of Republican presidential campaigns? No. So what is it, then, about Donald J. Trump that drives the neocons to distraction?
Here’s a hint: It isn’t the racism.
What drives them up the wall is his apostasy, particularly with regard to foreign policy. And to the astonishment of Kagan, Kristol, Boot, et al., the more Trump indulges in it, the more popular he gets.
Consider the following Trump-sampler from a recent rally he gave in Huntsville, Alabama:
On Iraq: “If we listen to some of these guys [he had just segued from his set piece on Lindsey Graham] on the military, we’re going to be there for another 20 years! We can’t do it! Look, we’ve spent 2 trillion dollars in Iraq. We have absolutely nothing.”
On Russia: “What’s wrong with having Russia work with us instead of always fighting, fighting? What’s wrong with having Russia drop bombs all the hell over ISIS? What’s wrong with that?”
Well, if you are a neocon who has spent the greater part of 15 years itching to fight a new cold war with Russia over countries of scant strategic, economic, or historic importance to the United States, there’s quite a lot wrong with it.
Robert Kagan would have us believe that Trumpism is a natural outgrowth of Tea Party politics. Kagan asks: “was it not the party’s wild obstructionism—the repeated threats to shut down the government over policy and legislative disagreements…. Was it not Ted Cruz, among many others, who set this tone and thereby cleared the way for someone even more irreverent…?” LIKE THIS? GET MORE OF OUR BEST REPORTING AND ANALYSIS
Nice try.
The relevant history that Dr. Kagan leaves out is that the neocons were more than happy to facilitate the Tea Party’s ascendancy during the 2010 midterms. As The National Interest’s Jacob Heilbrunn observed at the time:
…the midterm elections will not produce change in foreign policy, at least on the right. It won’t be more of the same. It will be a lot more of the same. Which is why the neocons, who have astutely supported the Tea Party movement, will retain their supremacy in the GOP when it comes to foreign affairs.
Tea Partiers are simply neocon ultras. Given Trump’s foreign-policy pronouncements, inarticulate and bombastic though they might be, Trumpism could hardly be said to resemble the Tea Party ideology, such as it is. They are two different animals.
Consider the politics of the Iran deal.
Last summer, the Tea Party sponsored an anti-Iran deal rally on Capitol Hill. The featured speakers were none other than Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Cruz ranted that if the deal went through, “Americans will die, Israelis will die, Europeans will die.” And on and on. Trump’s criticism, on the other hand, rested on his belief that it’s a lousy deal because “our leaders are stupid.”
This is very much in line with Trump’s more recent comments on the nuclear deal. At the aforementioned rally in Huntsville, he bellowed: “The Persians! The Persians are great negotiators! They all read The Art of the Deal too, by the way, I can tell you! Our people didn’t read it.” His complaint isn’t that it was done, it’s that it was done badly.
On Israel, he parts ways with the Tea Party/neocon consensus as well. Appearing on MSNBC in mid-February, Trump, in his own convoluted way, said that as president he would try to act as an honest broker between Israel and Palestine. “Let me be sort of a neutral guy…. You understand a lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal So I don’t want to say whose fault it is. I don’t think that helps.”
And so, given Trump’s heterodox foreign-policy positions and the popular support he clearly enjoys among the Republican primary base, neocon stalwarts Kagan and Boot have proclaimed that they are Ready for Hillary, while dozens of other leading neocons have denounced Trump in the aftermath of his strong showing on Super Tuesday. The Republican Party may fracture in the coming months. Yet Democrats, particularly realist and antiwar Democrats, should see this for what it is: an ominous development.
One of the great ironies of recent American political history is that while today’s neocons are ideologues nonpareil, their forebears were nothing of the kind. As E.J. Dionne explains in his classic Why Americans Hate Politics, the original neocons were deeply suspicious of ideology. As Dionne recounts, the first issue of The Public Interest, cofounded by Irving Kristol in 1965, flatly stated that “it is the nature of ideology to preconceive reality; and that it is exactly such preconceptions that are the worst hindrances to knowing-what-one-is-talking-about.” (Sometimes the apple really does fall far from the tree.)
Over time, the first generation of neocons moved right, driven by, among other things, a revulsion to the campus uprisings of the late 1960s and, according to Dionne, “the tendency of many in the New Left to add the Palestine Liberation Organization to the canon of revolutionary organizations worthy of leftist homage.” By 1980, disillusioned by the Carter presidency, the neocons found their champion in California Governor Ronald Reagan. From then on, it was their party. Reagan appointed several of their number to high-level positions, Jeane Kirkpatrick (UN ambassador) and William Bennett (secretary of education) being among the most prominent. But that was just the start. Under Reagan and the decidedly non-neocon President George H.W. Bush, the neocons gained footholds within the national security establishment from which they (in concert with their liberal interventionist allies) continue to exercise a pernicious influence on American foreign policy.
The danger in Kagan and Boot’s professed support for Hillary Clinton is this: Should even a few influential neocons return to their party of origin, the marginalization of progressive-realist foreign-policy voices within the Democratic Party would continue apace. How could that not be the case, in a party that plays host to both liberal interventionists and neocons?
Far-fetched? Be forewarned: In his 1995 collection, Neoconservatism: An Autobiography of an Idea, Irving Kristol wrote that the movement that he helped found “is issue oriented. It will happily meld with the Republican Party if the party is ‘right’ on the issues; if not, it will walk away.”
It would be a tragedy—for their party and for the country—if Democrats welcomed the neocons to their party.With Captain America: Civil War raging in theaters, it is a good time to take a look at the comic that inspired it: Marvel’s Civil War (2006-07) by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. Like Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns [DKR](1986) and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986-87), which have both already received the scholarly treatment here, Civil War pits superheroes against one another in a battle to decide the proper role of super-powered crime-fighters in a democracy.
Civil War is set against the backdrop of the “War on Terror.” The government passes the Superhuman Registration Act in response to a 9/11-like calamity in which a battle between superheroes and supervillains causes the death of six hundred people in Stamford, Connecticut. (The connection between the real and fictional catastrophes is made clear in the artwork of the first issue, which depicts superheroes searching for survivors in the rubble, evoking images of New York City firefighters at Ground Zero.) Just as “9/11” became shorthand for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, “Stamford” becomes a one-word reference to the superhero-caused tragedy. The Act requires all active superheroes to register with and serve the federal government. The first order of business for the heroes complying with the Act is to hunt down those who refuse, leading to the titular civil war.
This rooting in post-9/11 America, renders Civil War, in Roz Kaveney’s eyes, “the most intelligent piece of political comment, protest and analysis that the comics industry has ever produced.” Terry Kading writes about how the real-life supervillainy of 9/11 generated “the mood and the tenor of the superhero narrative, but without the benefits of the superhero.” Without the satisfaction of an avenging superhero to vanquish our attackers, we live in “a more ominous and insecure environment than we have known.” Against this backdrop, Civil War presents difficult questions with no easy answers.
Like DKR and Watchmen, Civil War deals with the proper role of superheroes in society. But where the governments in the earlier works are nearly as evil as the supervillains, the government in Civil War is consciously modeled after the real-world Bush administration’s response to 9/11. In both the real and fictional universes, the government responds to an external threat by restricting civil liberties, reflecting, in Travis Langley’s view, a natural human desire to place security ahead of freedom.
The opposition to the Registration Act is spearheaded by Captain America. Unlike Batman in DKR and Rorschach in Watchmen, Captain America is no vigilante. He has been a government agent his entire life, but he refuses to enforce a law that criminalizes “people who risk their lives for this country every day of the week.” He is the embodiment of American values, which are obviously not always synonymous with government policy. Kaveney describes him as “perhaps the closest thing the Marvel Universe has to a moral centre.” The fact that Captain America leads the resistance suggests that we are to sympathize with its struggle.
Iron Man, on the other hand, has long been associated with the U.S. government as a military contractor and even as a former secretary of defense. As both a weapons manufacturer and weapon himself, he literally embodies the military-industrial complex. But his support for the Registration Act is principled, motivated by a sense of collective guilt for Stamford tragedy:
As far as I’m concerned, Stamford was our wake-up call. What alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity. Becoming public employees makes perfect sense if it helps people sleep a little easier.
Like DKR and Watchmen, Civil War culminates in a battle between the pro- and anti-government forces. Also in DKR and Watchmen, the pro-government superheroes are nearly godlike in their powers while the anti-government superheroes are mere mortals. In Civil War, Iron Man is a normal man who derives his power from his mechanized suit, while Captain America possesses superhuman physical abilities, but not on the same scale as Superman or Dr. Manhattan. In hand-to-hand combat, the two Civil War superheroes are evenly matched, although Iron Man holds the advantage of government support.
Langley identifies the final battle’s inherent challenge:
For either side to beat the other outright would require them to break the other heroes. It would require a villainous act. For either side to surrender while losing would have given neither the chance to do something heroic at the end.
In the end, Captain America has Iron Man defeated when a group of civilians jumps in to stop him. At this point, Captain America realizes he has won “everything except the argument.” He recognizes the irrationality of, in Langley’s words, trying to “beat someone else into seeing one’s rationale.” Given the opportunity to behave heroically, even in defeat, Captain America must take it.WASHINGTON — Born in Canada to an American mother, Ted Cruz became an instant U.S. citizen. But under Canadian law, he also became a citizen of that country the moment he was born.
Unless the Texas Republican senator formally renounces that citizenship, he will remain a citizen of both countries, legal experts say.
That means he could assert the right to vote in Canada or even run for Parliament. On a lunch break from the U.S. Senate, he could head to the nearby embassy — the one flying a bright red maple leaf flag — pull out his Calgary, Alberta, birth certificate and obtain a passport.
“He’s a Canadian,” said Toronto lawyer Stephen Green, past chairman of the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section.
The circumstances of Cruz’s birth have fueled a simmering debate over his eligibility to run for president. Knowingly or not, dual citizenship is an apparent if inconvenient truth for the tea party firebrand, who shows every sign he’s angling for the White House.
“Senator Cruz became a U.S. citizen at birth, and he never had to go through a naturalization process after birth to become a U.S. citizen,” said spokeswoman Catherine Frazier. “To our knowledge, he never had Canadian citizenship.”
The U.S. Constitution allows only a “natural born” American citizen to serve as president. Most legal scholars who have studied the question agree that includes an American born overseas to an American parent, such as Cruz.
The Constitution says nothing about would-be presidents born with dual citizenship.
Detractors have derided Cruz as “Canadian Ted,” saying he can’t run for president because he wasn’t born on U.S. soil.
Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer and former clerk for the U.S. chief justice, disagrees. He reasserted last week that being an American by birth makes him eligible.
Looking ahead
Two visits in recent weeks to Iowa, the first state to winnow the field of presidential candidates, set off a fresh flurry of commentary on the issue. He heads to New Hampshire, another early voting state, on Friday — another strong sign that he’s eyeing a 2016 run.
The political impact of his citizenship status remains to be seen. Doubts about President Barack Obama’s heritage dogged him throughout 2008 and persist among hardcore “birthers.”
Officials at Citizenship and Immigration Canada said that without a signed privacy waiver from Cruz, they cannot discuss his case.
“Generally speaking, under the Citizenship Act of 1947, those born in Canada were automatically citizens at birth unless their parent was a foreign diplomat,” said ministry spokeswoman Julie Lafortune.
For the first time, Cruz released his birth certificate Friday in response to inquiries from The Dallas Morning News.
Dated a month after his birth on Dec. 22, 1970, it shows that Rafael Edward Cruz was born to Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, a “geophysical consultant” born in Matanzas, Cuba, and the former Eleanor Elizabeth Wilson, born in Wilmington, Del.
Her status made the baby a U.S. citizen at birth. For that, U.S. law required at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen who had lived for at least a decade in the United States.
She registered his birth with the U.S. consulate, Frazier said, and the future senator received a U.S. passport in 1986 ahead of a high school trip to England.
Rafael Cruz, now a pastor in suburban Dallas, fled Cuba for Texas as a teen in 1957. He remained a Cuban citizen until he became a naturalized American in 2005.
Automatic citizenship
Until 1947, people born in Canada were British subjects. The system Canada adopted after that closely mirrors that of the U.S.
Both confer citizenship automatically to anyone born on their territory, and to children of citizens even when the birth takes place overseas.
By 1970, the Cruzes had moved to the Canadian oil patch, where they launched a seismic-data business. For purpose of citizenship, being foreigners made no difference.
“If a child was born in the territory, he is Canadian, period,” said France Houle, a law professor at the University of Montreal. “He can ask for a passport. He can vote.”
The fact that Cruz left Canada when he was 4 doesn’t affect his status there, either.
“If you leave when you’re 2 minutes old, you’re still an American. It’s the same in Canada,” said Allison Christians, a law professor at McGill University in Montreal. “He’s a Canadian citizen.”
Having practiced international tax law in the U.S. for 25 years, Christians has made a close study of citizenship rules. They often come into play in tax cases.
“They can feel as American as they want. But the question of citizenship is determined by the law of the territory in which you were physically born,” she said. “It’s not up to the Cruz family to decide whether they’re citizens.”
As a Cuban, Rafael Cruz probably could have requested citizenship for his son, experts said. Even if he’d wanted to, the Cuban Constitution bans dual citizenship. And the chance to register the child passed long ago.
“The U.S. and Cuba have very similar legal patterns and requirements,” said David Abraham, a professor of immigration and citizenship law at the University of Miami.
The situation reflects the overlapping jurisdictions, said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, who called birthright citizenship common in English-speaking countries.
“If Ted Cruz was born in Canada, he is Canadian. He is American. He is a dual citizen,” he said.
That’s not uncommon in Canada, especially in French-speaking Quebec. But even there it can cause headaches for politicians.
In 2006, Canada’s Liberal Party Leader Stéphane Dion — born in Quebec City and also a citizen of France, his mother’s homeland — gave into a public uproar. He promised, reluctantly, to give up his French citizenship if he became prime minister, which never happened.
Taxes
Unlike the U.S., which requires its citizens to pay taxes no matter where they live in the world, Canada only taxes people who reside there.
So there’s rarely much reason to relinquish Canadian citizenship.
For Cruz, though, it may become a political imperative. Though it would not affect his eligibility for the presidency, he could face questions about whether it’s appropriate for a commander in chief to have dual citizenship.
The relinquishment process is easy enough. It can take from a few weeks to a year. There’s a four-page form with a $100 fee. Applicants must appear before a special judge to prove they have citizenship elsewhere and aren’t engaged in fraud.
Records are kept private.
Green, one of Canada’s top immigration lawyers, has counseled pro sports teams, athletes and major corporations. He knows one person who renounced his Canadian citizenship as a condition of joining the U.S. Secret Service.
“I’ve done it for people,” he said. “No problem.”
Follow Todd J. Gillman on Twitter at @toddgillman.
cruz videosReforming MP accuses no campaign of'spiritual terrorism' as only country in Europe to ban divorce heads to the polls
Likened by critics to an island marooned in the Middle Ages, Malta may take a step into the 21st century on Saturday when voters take part in a historic referendum on whether to allow divorce.
If the Catholic church has its way, Malta will vote no, leaving it the only country in Europe and one of only two countries in the world to ban a couple's right to dissolve their marriage.
"Marriage was created by God, Jesus ruled out divorce and we are therefore telling the faithful to vote no," said the archbishop of Malta, Paolo Cremona, who can rely on over half of the island's 400,000 inhabitants showing up at mass.
"Little old ladies are being refused communion if they admit to wanting divorce," said Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the MP who has co-authored the draft divorce law. "We are on a different planet out here, the victims of spiritual terrorism," he said. "People's jobs have been threatened and they are reluctant to speak out."
"I am living on an island where people go to church and oppose divorce but have affairs," said a female civil servant. "Men in Malta are often happier having a mistress than a wife."
For weeks Malta has been plastered with posters showing a picture of a child alongside the slogan: "I trust you with my future – Vote No."
But, says office manager Mario Fava, 37, who has been legally separated for seven years with no chance of remarrying, a generation of Maltese children are feeling the fallout from the ban.
"Lots of people want to start new relationships and have children, but are forced to do it out of wedlock, and you see their kids being teased at school," he said.
Orlando said that about 30% of Maltese children are now born out of wedlock thanks to the breakdown rate in marriages.
"I have been called an anarchist for starting this referendum, even though the draft law is about the world's most restrictive divorce legislation, with four years of separation required before divorce," said Orlando. If the vote passes, the bill will go before parliament.
"The hypocrisy of the no voters is incredible," added Orlando. "Many are separated men cohabiting with a new partner who like not being remarried so they can dump the woman at the drop of a hat."
Malta was occupied by Arab invaders in the 10th century before mounting a fierce fightback against an Ottoman siege in 1565. A century and a half of British rule, which ended in 1964, put an Anglo-Saxon stamp on the culture but left Malta a strongly Catholic country.
Orlando said the church's reasons to halt divorce are also rather worldly. "This is about protecting the church courts that offer annulment as an alternative to divorce," he said.
Catholic church courts can rule that a religious marriage was never valid, due to a reluctance or inability by one partner to have children or for other reasons.
"About 8% of marriages here are annulled, allowing the ecclesiastical tribunals to take precedence over the state," said Orlando. "It's about church power."
Chris Gherxi, a separated restaurant owner who said he would like to "start again, but legally," also had his doubts about the church's priorities.
"What is the difference between an annulment and a divorce? With divorce introduced the church would lose a lot of money in legal fees."Senate Democrats on Friday told President Obama they don’t want to see cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid in his annual budget.
Sixteen senators wrote to the president as fears persist among liberals that Obama will once again offer some entitlement cuts in his budget, which is set to be released March 4.
In last April’s budget, Obama proposed changing the way the government calculates inflation. The change to the chained consumer price index (CPI) would have reduced retirement benefits as well as increasing some taxes.
Obama also proposed increasing means testing for outpatient and drug benefits under Medicare.
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In total, the budget had $1 trillion in spending cuts the administration touted as a sign of Obama’s seriousness on the deficit.
The Senate Democrats are warning that cuts to Social Security do not jive with the president’s focus on income inequality. The issue of entitlement spending is a highly charged one this election year, and many Democrats are trying to paint themselves as the party with compassion.
“Mr. President: These are tough times for our country. With the middle class struggling and more people living |
It's about processes and people rather than bits and bytes."
It's an insightful viewpoint, and one that is also shared by Matt Wallaert, behavioral scientist at Bing.com.
"Introducing technology into a rigid environment is not going to suddenly open up a world of possibilities," says Wallaert. "And technologists have to realize that they can't be about letting kids access anything, anytime - they have to provide some of the structure, without forcing the teacher into that role. There is a lot to learn together as we continue to build out classroom integrations."
As the classroom continues to evolve, many experts agree that schools, students and teachers can glean the following lessons for embracing technology:
Make Information Limitless: Internet access in a classroom (provided it's a safe and monitored searching experience) gives kids the opportunity to expand beyond the boundaries of what they'd find in a textbook.
Give Teachers More Freedom: Technology expands the realm of possibilities for how teachers teach. According to a PBS LearningMedia survey conducted last year, 69 percent of teachers polled said that educational technology allows them to "do much more than ever before" with students. Whether it's taking advantage of online lesson plans, web-based activities or educational websites, technology allows for more flexibility with the curriculum.
Adapt to Different Learning Styles: "Because digital technologies can allow every student to proceed at a different pace, in theory every student could be optimally challenged at the same time," says Arena.
Make Learning More Flexible: "We don't all have to study the same thing anymore," says Wallaert. "One kid can be interested in butterflies and take a journey down that path, while another can be learning about rockets, and both are learning the practical skills of physics."
Get Kids Excited: Hand most kids an iPad and they inherently know what to do, almost instinctually. And while many kids have experienced technology for entertainment, providing them with tools to experience technology for education keeps things fun. A survey of teachers by digiedu found that 93 percent of teachers reported that technology has had a positive effect on student engagement.
Prepare Them for the Future: With standardized testing moving online, and an inevitable tech-filled life ahead of them, kids who have the confidence and familiarity with learning from, creating with and balancing life with technology will only benefit in the future.
Wallaert concludes: "When I imagine the classroom of the future, I imagine a place where teachers and technology are partners in fostering that creative, curious urge and helping harness students' authentic motivations towards learning."
With or without technology, that's ultimately the goal of any classroom experience, isn't it? And if technology can serve as the catalyst for getting to that place, we need to embrace it now.The Bank of Canada hinted Wednesday that Canada's record low interest rates are going to stay right where they are for a long while yet.
In its latest policy decision, Canada's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate, what's known as the target for the overnight rate, steady at one per cent on Wednesday.
That's the rate that retail banks base their lending and saving rates for consumers on, and it's been kept at that level since September 2010.
Wednesday's policy decision is the next-to-last one for Mark Carney as head of the bank before he leaves to London to head up the Bank of England in June.
The Carney-led Bank of Canada has now kept the rate steady at one per cent for 21 consecutive policy meetings.
Despite the lack of change, the bank suggested its outlook for the Canadian economy is actually a bit worse now than previously — a sign suggesting the bank is in no rush to raise rates and slow down growth.
"A material degree of slack has re-emerged in the Canadian economy," the bank said in a statement.
"Considerable monetary policy stimulus currently in place will likely remain appropriate for a period of time, after which some modest withdrawal will likely be required."
In its report released Wednesday, the Bank of Canada said that the Canadian economy is expected to grow by 1.5 per cent in 2013 — less than the two per cent that was forecast in its January report.
The economy is expected to pick up at 2.8 per cent growth in 2014 and 2.7 per cent growth in 2015, before reaching "full capacity" in mid-2015.
"Following a weak second half in 2012, growth in Canada is predicted to regain some momentum in 2013 as net exports pick up and business investment returns to more solid growth," Carney said in a prepared statement Wednesday.
He added that consumer spending is expected to grow at a modest pace, while housing is set to decline further.
Although the interest rate remains unchanged for now, Carney said that it is likely to rise at some point in order to achieve the bank’s target inflation rate of two per cent.
"After a period based on several factors which we list [including the evolution of the housing market and the evolution of household balances], the next move is likely to be up," Carney said.
Scotiabank economist Derek Holt told The Canadian Press that the country likely won't be hit with higher interest rates until 2015.
The tell-tale sign, he said, is that the bank pushed back the closure of the output gap to mid-2015. It had predicted in January that the economy would reach full capacity by the second half of 2014.
"That's a very strong signal that they are not in hike mode until at least 2015, and even then, it's not as if you get worried about inflation pressures instantly once you close off spare capacity — you need to get the economy into material excess demand and that can happen well after that," Holt said.
The Canadian dollar closed down Wednesday following the forecast, falling 0.58 of a cent to 97.41 cents US.Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) campaign raised an impressive $3.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, bringing his total cash on hand to $12.8 million. Brown faces a strong challenge for his Massachusetts Senate seat from Democrat and Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren.
The Boston Globe reports that Brown's war chest is the largest of any Massachusetts candidate for statewide office at this time in the race.
The Massachusetts Democratic Party dismissed the figure. "It's no surprise that Wall Street and the big banks continue to finance Scott Brown's campaign because he continues to put their interests first, ahead of middle-class Massachusetts families," said spokesman Kevin Franck in a statement. A report from the Center for Public Integrity revealed that K Street lobbyists and Wall Street interests had hosted fundraisers for him in the fourth quarter, but it's impossible to know how much was raised, since the campaign hasn't yet released itemized figures.
The Brown campaign said Warren would likely raise more. "Despite our success, we also know that our opponent is getting lots of financial support from extreme liberal special interests, and she will likely surpass our numbers," said Brown campaign finance director John P. Cook in an email to supporters.
Warren raised $3.15 million during third quarter 2011, which was abbreviated to about six weeks because launched her campaign's exploratory committee on Aug. 16. Brown raised $1.55 million during third quarter 2011.
Warren's campaign told the Globe that they will release their fourth-quarter numbers in the near future.
In the 2010 special election following the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy, Brown and his Democratic opponent Martha Coakley spent $20.6 million in a close race.Friday, August 2nd, 2013 at 12:00:00
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New Features and Changes
All new PR Game Launcher and Updater.
100 player servers and 8 player squads.
Integrated Positional Voice Chat (PR Mumble).
40 total maps, including 6 brand new maps.
Updates to existing maps.
2 new factions: African Resistance Fighters and French Armed Forces.
New vehicles and weapons.
New kit geometries for multiple factions.
Added Machine Gunner and Spotter kits.
Reworked rally point system.
New sounds and special effects (explosions, etc).
Overhauled weapon handling and deviation.
Countless other bug fixes, tweaks and changes.
Project Reality v1.0 Server Files
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Ladies and gentlemen, this is it. After 8 years of rigorous development, 21 total releases and countless numbers of changes and additions involving literally tens of thousands of man hours, Project Reality has finally reached the pinnacle moment you all have been waiting for. The award winning Project Reality Team is proud to announce that we have officially concluded development of Project Reality: BF2 v1.0 and a release date has been set:As with our previous major releases, you can preload the files for Project Reality: BF2 v1.0 now. This will allow you to have the files downloaded, ready to go for release; so when we release the password to unlock the installer, you can immediately install and begin playing within minutes! The password allowing you to run the installation files will be released automatically via the password page on August 2nd, 2013 at 12:00:00 PRT (UTC).Due to the sheer amount of content in this release, there is no patch available from previous versions. Any previous installations of Project Reality: BF2 (excluding the v1.0 Open BETA) you currently have installed will be automatically removed during the PR:BF2 v1.0 installation. For those who participated in the Open BETA, please uninstall it via the control panelto installing v1.0. The installer comes packaged in an ISO file and instructions on how to install are detailed on the downloads page While you are downloading the PR:BF2 v1.0 preload release, take a moment to sit back and watch the official Project Reality: BF2 v1.0 Trailer. It provides a quick overview of everything that is included in this release as well as giving you a glimpse into the epic gameplay that awaits you!Project Reality: BF2 v1.0 features thousands of changes and improves every aspect of the game. All of these changes combined with the addition of 2 new factions, 6 new maps, an array of new assets and multiple bug fixes, have helped make PR:BF2 v1.0 into our largest most featured packed release to date and promises players the most realistic, team oriented, online gaming experience available on the PC. Here is a quick rundown of the most noticeable changes:In the coming days leading up to the PR:BF2 v1.0 release, we will be unveiling Developer Highlights featuring a more complete feature list and change log, as well as an updated map gallery of all the 40 maps contained in the release. Be sure to keep a watchful eye on the Project Reality Forums over the week, as there will be large amounts of information and details released!Edit: The complete feature list is available right here Edit 2: The map gallery is available here If you currently host a Project Reality game server, you should receive the server files for Project Reality v1.0 via the Server Admin Control Panel in the next few days, prior to the final release. If you are interested in hosting a new server, please follow the link below to apply for a server license.The Project Reality Team develops modifications and games that are completely free for its community to download and play. If you would like to show your support, please consider donating to our team. Our limited funds go directly towards website expenses, including bandwidth, hosting, domain registration, and maintenance; any extra funds are invested into new content for the mod and website, such as sound packs, models, and software. We never use donation funds to directly pay team members. If you see that we have already met our monthly donation goal, please make a donation anyway as we may not make our goal every month.In conclusion, the Project Reality Team would like to thank all of the supporting Battlefield 2 mod websites, server providers, and of course our dedicated community for their hard work and continued support. Without your combined efforts and contributions, Project Reality would not be where it is today.PR:BF2 v1.0 is by no means our 'final' release. As long as there is a strong community supporting us, we will continue its development, hopefully for years to come! Stay tuned for further information as we count down the days until the Project Reality: BF2 v1.0 release! Please feel free to join us on our IRC channel or visit our public forums to discuss this and other news. Thanks again!It's quite frankly amazing that this show has bullied its way into a tenth season, considering how few genuinely likable characters it has on its roster. That, coupled with the phantoms of any supposed "character development," make watching The Big Bang Theory a masochistic exercise.
But clearly there are plenty of viewers who still find the recurrent, nerdy shenanigans to be endearing or, at the very least, tolerable.
Are those same viewers still able to swallow Leonard's toolish ways on a weekly basis? It would be hard to believe any fans of the show hate themselves that much.
Over the years, Leonard has morphed from the group's most well-adjusted member who couldn't fathom how he had a chance with a girl seemingly way out of his league, to the self-pitying, condescending, distrustful sad sack who brings the group - and the girl he's now oddly blasé about - down.
He's like a more self-aware version of Sheldon's bad traits.
Really, the further his and Penny's relationship has progressed, the more we're left to realize that she is his sole reason for being. That's not a cutesy, romantic notion, either. Without the character of Penny, there would literally be no reason to include Leonard in the show. His character adds nothing but whininess and stasis.Many animals feed on seeds, acorns or nuts. The common feature of these are that they have shells and there is no direct way to know what's inside. How do the animals know how much and what quality of food is hidden inside? A simple solution would be to break the shells, which often takes time and effort -- it would be a big disappointment to know that it's rotten or bad after the hard effort of opening the nuts!
Can animals evaluate the food hidden inside the nuts? This is especially important for some animals who cache the food items for later use without opening and checking each item. We can detect which one is heavier by moving the items up and down several times and focusing on the "feeling of heaviness" we perceive. Humans can also detect the quality of a water melon by knocking on it.
A new study published in Journal of Ornithology suggests that some birds can also use similar tricks in choosing the peanuts from the feeder. Ther study was carried out in Arizona by an international research team from Poland and Korea and revealed that the Mexican Jays (Aphelocoma wollweberi) may be able to "weigh" peanuts and maybe even "listen to" peanuts while handling them in their beaks. Drs. Sang-im Lee, Piotr Jablonski, Maciej and Elzbieta Fuszara, the leading researchers in this study, together with their students and helpers, spent many hours delicately opening shells of hundreds of peanuts, changing the contents and then presenting them to the jays in order to see if the birds can figure out the differences in the content of identically looking peanut pods (peanuts in shell).
"When we presented the jays with ten empty and ten full identically looking pods (pods without or with three nuts inside), we noticed that after picking them up the birds rejected the empty ones and accepted the full peanuts, without opening them." says Dr. Sang-im Lee of Seoul National University -- the corresponding author of the paper. A series of similar experiments with identically looking normal nuts and nuts that were 1g heavier (pods with some clay added) confirmed that jays always were able to distinguish and preferred the heavier nuts. How did they know which were empty without opening them? The researchers used slow motion videos to see what happens when the bird is deciding whether to drop or take away the peanut pod. "We found out that birds shake the nuts in their beaks. We think that these movements may provide them with the information generally similar to our feeling of "heaviness" when we handle an object in our hands", says Dr. Jablonski.
In another experiment the researchers prepared one type of peanut pods by opening the shell, removing two out of the three nuts and closing the shell again. The second type of pod was prepared by opening a small pod, which normally contains only one nut, and closing it. Thus, the jays were to choose between nuts of similar content and mass but of different size. "The jays figured out that the larger pods did not weigh as much as they should and the birds preferred the smaller pods, which weighed as expected for their size", comments Dr. Fuszara. They behaved as if they knew that "something is wrong" with the larger nuts.
So how do they know it? When they shake the nuts in their beaks, the birds produce sounds by opening and closing their beaks around the peanut shell for brief moments. The researchers think that the jays also take this sound into account. "Our next goal is to disentangle the role of sound relative to the perception of "heaviness", and to determine if jays use the same sensory cues for acorns -- their natural food", conclude Dr. Lee and Dr Jablonski.
###Microsoft Research has shown off a new Holographic augmented reality headset technology which promises a compact headset with high-resolution and a wide 80-degree field of view, addressing much of the deficits of the HoloLens.
The headset features true, phase-only holograms in which the image is formed by the interference of laser light. Despite using true phase-only holograms, using optimisations such as eye tracking it is possible to create the holograms in real-time using a desktop GPU (a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 TI) at a high 90 to 260 Hz refresh rate.
The display uses a thin and highly transparent holographic optical element as a combiner, cut in the shape of an eyeglass lens, allowing an optical see-through capability. Even with these miniaturised optics, the display can resolve pixel-scale details over the whole field of view.
The technology also allows the holograms to be correct for issues inherent in using a thin lens, allowing the headset to use simpler and cheaper optics and allowing a sunglass-like form factor.
Of course, the PC driving the display is still external, but the technology is still extremely promising for the next generation of all day Mixed Reality Glasses, which is rumoured to be arriving some time in 2019.
Read more about the new technology at Microsoft Research here.Adagio’s story begins millennia ago, when the world was young and war raged between winged creatures of awesome power. When the last dragon and seraphim fell from the sky, the fate of both races hung in the balance. Find Adagio’s lore beneath the following skin details …
Model Changes:
White wings and corset
Golden rerebrace and vambrace
Glorious halo
Effects Changes:
Gift of Fire casts floating white feathers on healed target
Agent of Wrath comes with painful new flames and doom-black feathers
New basic-attack blade and runes
Why skip to Seraphim Tier II?
In an effort to unleash the creativity of our amazing art team, we will sometimes release skin tiers out of order. This way, if ChainSAW and his artists have a vision for a skin, they can get it out to you immediately without having to worry about the progression and escalation of an entire three-tier skin theme.
Card Crafting Recipe Changes:
Crafting this skin requires multiples of a single card instead of a complicated formula.
Single-card recipe being introduced for Seraphim Adagio and Apprentice Samuel.
Overall crafting and Essence costs will vary from the “old way.”
Skin will be 25% off ICE purchase upon release along with “Daily Deals” on skins.
“Since the introduction of the cards system, some players have struggled with the complexity of card recipes, as well as managing and juggling skin card costs and their actual card collection. In an effort to make this easier for players, we’re simplifying the Seraphim Adagio skin crafting recipe to multiples of a single card. If you wish to craft this skin, you’ll collect a set number of copies of one card featuring the name and splash art of the skin. We’re going to try this out with both Seraphim Adagio Tier II and separately Apprentice Samuel Tier I.
“In addition, the overall crafting and Essence costs (effort required) to unlock the skin will vary from the previous card recipes. Since this is new, we’ll be monitoring these values and player use closely and make adjustments in the future, as needed. Don’t expect it to ‘map’ to the previous model; this is intentionally different.
“Coinciding with these recipe changes, we’re taking steps to make it even easier to get skins directly with ICE. Both Seraphim Adagio and Apprentice Samuel will be 25% off direct ICE purchase upon release. We’ll also be running ‘Daily Deals’ on the entire skins catalog all update long. Check back frequently for deep discounts on all sorts of skins! We’re also investigating more ways to help players get the best possible skin prices on an ongoing basis.” —PlayoffBeard
ALTERNATE FATE LORE
The Death of the Elder Dragons
by SugarVenom
The final battle between the seraphim and the elder dragons ended millennia before the first of the humans. For one thousand years the battle had darkened the skies; feathers and shimmering scales mixed with blood and rained down on the lands.
The last queen of the elder dragons took a mortal wound in her lower belly. With the last of her energy, she flew to her mountaintop nest. There she laid her last clutch of eggs and resolved to die, blood seeping from her wound into a spring that flowed down into the river below.
The last seraphim landed with a flutter of pure white wings next to his conquest. He stood as tall as one of the dragon’s eyes. By then, the elder dragon breathed only once every few minutes; the seraphim was startled when the eye opened.
“You have emerged the victor,” whispered the dragon.
“A meager victory. The seraphim are demolished and the ground shakes with the evil below.”
The azure dragon made a rumbling sound that may have been a cough or a laugh. “It will burst from underground and destroy all, and from the rubble new beings will rise to dominate the world.”
“And they will make war and kill one another while the evil grows, and be eradicated in turn, as has always been the cycle.”
The dragon rolled her topaz eye to the sky. “There are the volcanoes that churn out lava at a steady flow and never explode. Perhaps it could be so for the evil. We should have dug deep, created wells to allow it to escape in a controlled … a controlled…” A bout of wheezing broke the dragon’s thought.
The seraphim rested his palm on the dragon’s brow. “But we did not, because we were always at war,” he said. The blue scales surprised him with their softness. He had never come so close to his enemy. “It may have worked. But there is beauty in the loss of hope, isn’t there? The promise of death and rebirth.” He spread his left wing to show the dragon the blistered wound over his ribs.
“Your heart burns,” said the dragon. “How long?”
“It is a slow death. I have a year, perhaps, if the evil does not swallow the world first.”
“A year.” The dragon closed her eyes. “The last choices belong to you. My eggs are there — take them, or roll them down the mountain as you wish.”
The seraphim waited, stroking the fine scales, while the last queen of the dragons breathed her last. With a gasp of pain he rose and surveyed the nest, the eggs snuggled in together, the hope of the world.By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News
The Chinese earthquake on 12 May killed tens of thousands of people Nasa scientists have said they could be on the verge of a breakthrough in their efforts to forecast earthquakes. Researchers say they have found a close link between electrical disturbances on the edge of our atmosphere and impending quakes on the ground below. Just such a signal was spotted in the days leading up to the recent devastating event in China. They have teamed up with experts in the UK to investigate a possible space-based early warning system. Many in the scientific community remain deeply sceptical about whether such signals are indeed indicators of an approaching earthquake. But Minoru Freund, a physicist and director for advanced aerospace materials and devices at Nasa's Ames Research Center in California, told BBC News: "I do believe that we will be able to establish a clear correlation between certain earthquakes and certain pre-earthquake signals, in an unbiased way." The evidence suggests we're now crossing the boundary in terms of technology readiness
Stuart Eves, SSTL He added: "I am cautiously optimistic that we have good scientific data, and we are designing a series of experiments to verify our data." Despite years of searching for earthquake precursors, there is currently no method to reliably predict the time of a future earthquake. Yet, most scientists agree that some form of early warning system could save tens of thousands of lives. The ionosphere is distinguished from other layers of Earth's atmosphere because it is electrically charged through exposure to solar radiation. On a significant number of occasions, satellites have picked up disturbances in this part of the atmosphere 100-600km above areas that have later been hit by earthquakes. One of the most important of these is a fluctuation in the density of electrons and other electrically-charged particles in the ionosphere. Early warning One study looked at over 100 earthquakes with magnitudes of 5.0 or larger in Taiwan over several decades. The researchers found that almost all of the earthquakes down to a depth of about 35km were preceded by distinct electrical disturbances in the ionosphere. The analysis was carried out by Jann-Yeng Liu, from the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research in Chung-Li, Taiwan. A satellite warning system could monitor for quake "precursors" Though full details have yet to be released, the BBC understands that scientists also observed a "huge" signal in the ionosphere before the Magnitude 7.8 earthquake in China on 12 May. The team at Nasa has also been working with Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in the UK, to investigate the feasibility of a satellite-based early warning system. Stuart Eves, head of business development at the company, told BBC News: "The evidence suggests we're now crossing the boundary in terms of technology readiness." He added: "What we don't know is how big the effect is and how long-lasting it is before the earthquake." Minoru Freund believes other earthquake "precursors" could feed into this system. These include enhanced emission of infrared (IR) radiation from the earthquake epicentre, as well as anomalies in low-frequency electric and magnetic field data. Rock 'batteries' Minoru and his father Friedemann Freund, also from Nasa Ames Research Center, developed the scientific theory behind these earthquake precursors. It boils down to the idea that when rocks are compressed - as when tectonic plates shift - they act like batteries, producing electric currents. "We now pretty much understand the solid-state physics of these rocks," Minoru added. According to their theory, the charge carrier is a "positive hole", known as a phole, which can travel large distances in laboratory experiments. When they travel to the surface of the Earth, the surface becomes positively charged. And this charge can be strong enough to affect the ionosphere, causing the disturbances documented by satellites. When these pholes "recombine" at the surface of the Earth, they enter an excited state. They subsequently "de-excite" and emit mid-infrared light particles, or photons. This may explain the IR observations. Dr Mike Blanpied, a geophysicist at the US Geological Survey (USGS), who is unconnected with the work told BBC News: "At this point, the connection between the laboratory phenomena and processes at work in the Earth has not been demonstrated and is the subject of research." He has two principal criticisms of the work. Firstly, he said the experiments had been done on dry - or briefly soaked - rocks at room temperature and pressure. But deep in the crust, rocks have all their voids filled with mineral solutions and are subjected to high temperatures and pressures. Secondly, he said, the researchers' hypothesis held that rapid changes in stress and strain in the crust began a few days before earthquakes. Dr Blanpied, who is based in Reston, Virginia, said there had never been an observation of rapid strain changes before an earthquake, which meant precursor strains before earthquakes might be too small to have been detected. Minoru Freund agrees that more work is needed to improve on the theory and some of the data. But he said he was planning to work up a proposal for a low-cost, space-borne early warning system based on at least three satellites. [email protected]
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This article was published 29/6/2016 (972 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Mayor Brian Bowman says he has no plans to attend the Steinbach Pride event but says attending Winnipeg’s celebrations proved to be a pivotal moment for him and his family.
While he would not comment on the decision by Steinbach’s elected leaders not to participate in that community’s Pride march, Bowman said attending such an event is the responsibility of a leader.
“I think there is an opportunity to demonstrate that everyone matters in the community by attending events like this,” Bowman told reporters during his weekly Wednesday morning Q and A session.
“As my role, serving all Winnipeggers, I should be at those events…. We want everyone in our community to know and feel they are valued. As mayor, being able to demonstrate that by being present, by being vocal on these issues, I see as my responsibility as a leader.”Bitcoin’s upcoming fork is arguably its most divisive one yet. Clear battle lines have been drawn, setting the stage for a potentially Lutheran-style schism in the blockchain community. (Note: the author is being a bit dramatic, but all signs seem to show that a serious divergence is building momentum.)
By looking at bitcoin’s price, one would hardly conclude that the original blockchain currency is facing turmoil. Bitcoin added a staggering 24% last week en route to fresh record highs. However, one of the motivations for buying bitcoin is the hard fork itself. If you own bitcoin on fork day, you will also receive equal value of the newly minted digital currency. (If your cryptocurrency exchange doesn’t support the new coin, you can always threaten to sue it like the backers of Bitcoin Cash did to Coinbase.)
SegWit2x
The upcoming hard fork, which is scheduled sometime in mid-November, will create two competing versions of bitcoin. We speculated recently that the new coin is unlikely to create controversy over the “real” bitcoin, but as Jeff John Roberts of Fortune argues, this disagreement is already under way.
Like the hard forks before it, the main crux of the debate is how to best optimize the Bitcoin network. Backers of SegWit2x want to double the size of bitcoin blocks to boost transaction capability.
Backers of the new protocol include bitcoin miners who use advanced computers to compile transactions. In their view, bigger blocks are desperately needed to accommodate the massive growth in the blockchain network, as well as to reduce transaction fees. As Roberts also notes, these miners are part of a consortia that includes “certain exchanges, wallet providers, market makers, and storage vaults.” On the opposite side of the spectrum are those who maintain the core protocol that comprises the Bitcoin network.
Below is a rundown of interplay between bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and the upcoming SegWit2X hard fork.
Bitcoin (BTC) SegWit Activated No Increase in Block Size Bitcoin Cash (BCH) No SegWit Activated Increased Block Size to 8MB SegWi2x (B2X) SegWit Activated Increase Block Size
The Game Plan
As one might expect, the broader implications of SegWit2x likely won’t be known until fork day. But that shouldn’t stop you from formulating a game plan. The big question mark right now is which version of bitcoin will get the much coveted BTC ticker name. As it currently stands, exchanges have not opined about which version of bitcoin they will support, although Bitfinex will run the SegWit2x chain as B2X.
On the GDAX, hash power will decide which chain gets the BTC ticker. So far, there is no news on what Bitstamp, bitFlyer and Kraken aim to do.
Rather than track a couple dozen bitcoin exchanges, investors may want to focus on Coinbase. The San Francisco-based platform has long been viewed as the industry’s proxy; how it chooses to handle the fork (and potential split) will have direct implications on the market.
A hard fork is a software change that runs the risk of splitting the blockchain into two, particularly if the community disagrees about it. (Laura Shin, Forbes)
When it comes time to fork, market participants need to be clear about their intentions. The first question you need to ask is: Do I plan on transacting with the various bitcoin chains anytime soon, or am I keen on holding the coins as long-term investments? If you prefer the latter, then you should be thinking about storing your coins in a wallet. (Note: paper and hardware wallets offer more security.)
Those of us who are speculating in bitcoin need to be aware that the upcoming fork could get very messy. It is unclear which chain the exchanges will list as BTC, which means the price of BTC could differ vastly across the brokerage community. (Note: if you observe vastly different prices for BTC, it means you’re looking at two different coins.)
Adding more confusion is the fact that the SegWit2x protocol will fork without adequate replay protection. This means BTC and B2X transactions will appear identical after the fork. To avoid accidentally spending the new coins, you should avoid exchanging from your wallet all together after the fork. This also includes not accepting payments via mobile wallets, since BTC will mirror whichever coin has more hash power.
Furthermore, claiming your coins will prove difficult until well after the fork when dedicated wallets for both blockchains emerge.
If you’re a trader, there’s even more confusion about whether BTC and B2X will have any price correlation. Following the Bitcoin Cash hard fork, BTH and BTC appeared to be inversely correlated for a while. However, lately, anything named bitcoin has moved in the same direction: Up.
The conclusions that we’ve drawn in this section may annoy some of our members, but complex situations usually call for measured steps. In this case, staying on the sidelines until the dust settles might be the best approach.
Altcoin Advantage?
Altcoins have largely benefited from bitcoin’s meteoric rise – that is, until recently. The latest surge in bitcoin has largely failed to take altcoins along for the ride. This has led to speculation that the altcoin universe is undervalued. An exit from the bitcoin asset class could therefore be a tailwind for altcoins pre- and post-fork.
Currently, the original bitcoin controls roughly 63% of the cryptocurrency market. This figure fell below half earlier in the year as investors diversified away from bitcoin while others became more annoyed by bitcoin’s slow transaction process. If diversification is part of your strategy, now might be the top to consider altcoins. The author sees no reason why the altcoin universe cannot control at least half of the cryptocurrency market, especially if we witness a long-anticipated correction in BTC.
Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap With Bitcoin
Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap Without Bitcoin
Final Considerations
There’s no guarantee that bitcoin prices will plunge after the hard fork. Regardless of which blockchain emerges as the BTC candidate, bitcoin is enjoying plenty of upside thanks to growing institutional support from the major exchanges. Both CME Group and CBOE have announced plans for bitcoin futures relatively shortly. a strong sign that institutional capital will flow like never before.
To recap:
Secure your coins in a paper or hard wallet for extra safety. Avoid transacting the BTC symbol before and after fork day. After fork day, access your coins only when you see dedicated wallets for both blockchains. Take advantage of the undervalued altcoin universe if bitcoin becomes volatile.
As fork day looms, keep your wits (and coins) about you and stay out of trouble.Frankenthaler’s breakthrough was palpable in the Denver show. Her work looked like that of no one else, man or woman. But focusing on her revolutionary soak-stains while shutting out all thoughts of credit and sex was hard. Frankenthaler’s reputation may have now eclipsed Louis’s, but why did it take so long? Was it because her work was too delicate? Too figurative? Too tentative? Perhaps Nochlin was onto something when she noted, in Women, Art, and Power (1988), that “the whole art-historical apparatus”—from the museum to the classroom—might be contrived just to keep women “in their place.”
Women artists have been put down in many ways over the years, but the basic technique boils down to this: A critic, a curator, a dealer, or an art historian describes how women paint differently from men, then declares this quality inferior. Women are pegged as controlled, tentative, personal. (For instance, Hartigan recalled in her diary that Clement Greenberg told her women painters were “too easily satisfied” and would make pictures that had a certain “polish.”) Men, meanwhile, are seen as wild and sure, channeling outside forces. (Pollock famously declared, “I am nature.”) In these matchups between alleged feminine and masculine essences, the man typically wins. Finished is not free. Personal is not universal. Nature does not doubt itself.
Greatness is a moving target designed to make women miss. It is no accident that “painting like a man” used to be dished out as a supremely delicious compliment. Irving Sandler once asked Hartigan “if a male artist ever told her she painted as well as a man.” She replied tartly, “Not twice.”
I’m happy to report that I was not similarly tormented by “Revolution in the Making,” the exhibition at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel devoted to abstract sculptors, living and dead, working between 1947 and now. This, I should point out, has nothing to do with the quality of the two shows, and everything to do with the very different |
comes with its own nightclub
City boss Pep Guardiola will oversee a major rebuilding project at the Etihad Stadium
Nasri, meanwhile, all but confirmed his impending departure by selling his plush eight-bedroom Alderley Edge property which was listed for sale at £5.75m.
It had been on the market since late last year with Nasri having been previously rented the mansion out.
Nasri will be one of a number leaving City, who are set for one of the busiest summers in their history.
Nasri all but confirmed his impending departure by selling his £5.75million Cheshire property
Jesus Navas has been used sparingly by Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium this season
Defenders Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy are all out of contract alongside Navas, with decisions still to be made on Yaya Toure and Willy Caballero's futures.
City face a battle to keep young central defender Tosin Adarabioyo - also coming to the end of his deal - although still retain slight hope a compromise can be reached.
Sagna, 34, believes he has two more Premier League seasons to give and wants to remain in England, although Marseille are understood to have monitored his situation.Genre: Action Developer: Alexandria Inc. Publisher: Acclaim Players: 1 Released: 1995
“Send a maniac to catch one.”
Despite my love of run-n’-guns, licensed games weren’t always the safest bet, and Acclaim’s name on the box didn’t often inspire great faith, either… I still have scars from Separation Anxiety. Even so, Demolition Man on Sega CD, despite its somewhat late release, is both surprising and solid it its delivery.
The first few steps off the chopper gave me the impression this would be a straightforward shooter, perhaps not so much as Rolling Thunder, but more Robocop vs. Terminator. The game quickly dashes this and has you zip-lining and leaping about (sometimes blindly!), constantly under enemy fire but typically given enough guns/ammo/anvil-like explosives to manage this. Still, you’re platforming & airborne far more than you’d have expected, looking at the back of the box.
Following a brief cinematic (edited down rather well to catch you up to speed, if you somehow missed this classic film), stage two likely seeks to break the monotony of horizontal shooting by tossing you in an overhead maze of a museum. I often see this compared to Contra III, but this feels far more competent than a Mode 7 demo… think Gauntlet or Smash TV here, with waves of enemies coming from all angles as you attempt to rescue hostages. Your first fight with Phoenix is a bit troubling, as you stumble to sort out what you’re intended to do here (ProTip: shoot Snipes a lot).
The gameplay continues like this, seeing your next level start off smoothly for a few feet, before realizing that in addition to mass murder, you need to be moving both vertically & horizontally to advance the stage. Later areas include a plant, a really cool monorail fight, more overhead stages and a ton more zip-lining. It’s not quite a kitchen sink approach, but the developers clearly didn’t want the player feeling bored.
I recall reviewers in the era not being overly-fond of simple Genesis ports with a few additions, but I personally love seeing a definitive edition of an enjoyable title, and we get just that here: while the Genesis’ soundtrack (brought to you by Tallarico, as cited in that game’s review here) tears it up, it’s a great deal smoother here. Loading times are on the shorter end, and grainy though they may be, the cut scenes are a cool addition too, as they’re worked in to fit the stage you’re going to next (or just completed), and again, what’s not to love about the source film?
However, some of the problems of the Genesis game are still here. John’s speed/jumps feel like they range from classic Prince of Persia hops to manically diving into a chasm, and the more open approach to stages sometimes leaves you wondering exactly where you’re to go. It’s not a brutal or necessarily unfair game for the most part, but you’re definitely going to need to enhance your calm.
Despite its flaws, the Sega CD port of Demolition Man is far better than the SNES version. It’s also a solid alternative to the Genesis cart. It holds up well in a dystopian future where fortunately, not all restaurants are Taco Bell.
SCORE: 7 out of 10
Discuss this review in our forum.What does he eat for breakfast? What was it like working with Chris Morris? What’s the point? As a new series of Black Mirror is released, the comedy curmudgeon answers your questions
Five minutes into our interview, Charlie Brooker leans over the table, his face etched with worry: “Is this thing still on?” he asks, picking up my voice recorder and examining it. “Oh God, I’ve just pressed something and switched if off now, haven’t I? Sorry, it’s just that technology really worries me...”
Black Mirror review – Charlie Brooker's splashy new series is still a sinister marvel Read more
Charlie Brooker worried by technology? OK, so possibly you might have guessed that already from the dystopian short stories that make up the two series of Black Mirror. In its brief life (six episodes and a Christmas special), the show managed to conjure bleak – and, quite often, hilarious – thought-experiments out of everything from screen addiction and downloadable memory to eerie artificial boyfriends brought back from the dead via their social media accounts. That’s before we’ve even mentioned the forthcoming series, which, judging by the feature-length Scandi-noir episode we’ve seen in advance, doesn’t score high on the cheeriness scale.
But while technology can be terrifying, it also has its plus points. For instance, we can quickly gather questions for Charlie on the Guardian’s website from our readers and some famous faces. This is especially helpful because Guardian readers have a tendency to ask things that are smarter, ruder and just plain weirder (“Have you ever made bagels?”) than anything we might have come up with. So, without further ado, here’s what you wanted to know from the smartphone generation’s Rod Serling (copyright: Guardian reader Meestercat) …
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Future imperfect: Bryce Dallas Howard in Black Mirror series three, episode one Nosedive. Photograph: David Dettmann/Netflix
Bearing in mind the past, the present and the possible future – would it be better if I had never been born?
Sara Pascoe
What’s depressing is that I wonder that myself. Now that I’ve got kids, I can get quite fatalistic about thing like nuclear weapons. They’re all primed, ready to go off at the drop of a hat and I think we’ve been incredibly lucky that hasn’t happened yet. And now we have the world getting more polarised and tense... I remember, as a kid, when the reality of nuclear weapons dawned on me, I couldn’t work out why everyone wasn’t running around panicking rather than sitting in cafes having a coffee. Hopefully, some supervillain threat will come down and we will have to unite as a species and fire our nukes into the sun or something. So, yeah, I’m on the fence about whether or not it’s worth being born.
What’s the point?
The Great Edmundo
There is no point. That’s the point. Embrace the lack of a point. If there’s no point then there’s no point giving up. So there.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump campaigns In Colorado. Photograph: George Frey/Getty Images
Donald Trump. Discuss.
Dave Gould
Where do you start? Even if he loses, you worry about what he has whipped up. His popularity doesn’t come from nowhere. There’s a large swath of people who are so fucking furious they feel that someone who represents a massive fuck-you to everything is a good idea. You have to address that because it ain’t going away.
As a writer, do you ever look at Trump and think: “I’d never get away with that!”?
Oh, yeah. We did an episode of Black Mirror [The Waldo Moment] about a cartoon character who ran as an MP, and I remember thinking about Boris Johnson, but I wasn’t sure we had quite got it right. Some of the criticisms of that episode, which I thought were valid, were that they didn’t think a character that crude and basic would ever catch on. Then you look at Trump and you go: “Well...” But you would never accept Donald Trump as a work of original fiction... it would be panned as way too implausible. I have no idea where political satire goes after this.
Did you watch the presidential debates?
Bits of them. I find it remarkable that anyone could support him based on his demeanour and the way he speaks. But then I thought that with George W Bush: “How can anyone watch him answering questions and not see what I’m seeing?” But is that just the way my brain is coloured that makes me see that? That’s what I keep trying to work out. Is it just an optical illusion that some people see this, and some people see that, like that thing where you either see a young woman or an old lady?
If you hate devices so frigging much, why don’t you throw them away or boil them?
Armando Iannucci
I don’t hate them! Armando, creator of Veep and all those wonderful things, is fucking WRONG. I’m pro-technology. I tried that PlayStation VR thing last night and it’s amazing. iPhones – the 10-year-old me would have shat himself with excitement that this would be a thing. But even if I wanted to throw them away I couldn’t, because I’m massively addicted to them. I used to smoke 60 cigarettes a day; I would even have a cigarette in the shower and lean out and throw it in the loo. So, with my phone, it’s the same thing, and that worries me.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The trailer for series three of Black Mirror.
What did you have for breakfast? Also, what music are you listening to currently?
Gavin Birney
I haven’t had anything yet. I often don’t eat it. If I do, I have porridge or Weetabix or Shreddies or Coco Pops. As for music, I’ve always suffered from insomnia but I’ve discovered these things called SleepPhones, which are like headphones that come in a headband, so you can sleep on them without it hurting. I’ve listened to A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead every night pretty much since it came out and I’m out after 30 minutes. I also listen to music when I’m running but I’ll sound like a wanker if I try and describe that; it’s literally everything from minimal techno to KPM library music to some fucking rap act that I shouldn’t be listening to at my age.
Now, you’re writing your own scripts, after years of reviewing them. What took you by surprise about the process of writing?
Russell T Davies
How bloody hard it is. And how the process of writing never really ends because it carries on into the edit suite and beyond that... you can change a lot in the edit. Now, I can spot moments in shows where they’ve made a change and are wallpapering over the cracks; you add lines and just see the back of someone’s head. That happens so often you wouldn’t believe it. Actually, Russell gave me one of the best tips when I interviewed him once. He said that most conversations were just two monologues clashing, because people hardly ever listen to each other. And he’s right: if you just have two people throwing their own monologues at one another it ends up sounding more realistic.
I’ve listened to A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead every night since it came out and I’m asleep after 30 minutes Charlie Brooker
If the choice between the Tories and Ukip can be likened to one between a vampire and a zombie, which is which?
Paul Mason
Is this a real question or just one somebody recorded him asking in a cafe and he’s going to be really angry about it? Er... I would say within those narrow parameters the Tories are probably more like vampires because loads of them live in castles. Also, what’s the Labour party in this analogy? The toothless victims?
I remember reading you in PC Zone way back when and now you’re Rod Serling for the Smartphone Generation™. Do you ever sit back and think: “Bloody hell, look how far I’ve come”
MeesterCat
Yeah. I think it’s sheer luck. When I was writing video games reviews I was aware that I was in a bit of a ghetto, effectively. And I thought: “Well, how do I get out of this?” If I met someone at a barbecue and said I reviewed computer games for a living they would look at me like I’d said: [wobbles lips with fingers] “Blibablibablibablibblibliber.” You might as well have said: “I model balloon animals for a living and I’m really bad at it.” I was just lucky to do the TV Go Home [spoof TV listings] website at a time when the internet was coming out and I was nerdy enough to know how to do that. It was the sort of thing that could have been in a million different comedy books, but because it was on the internet it led me to doing stuff for the Guardian and getting a comedy-writing job. Nowadays, there are a million billion talented people all doing stuff on the internet where they’ve written, presented and edited these things, way beyond what I could have done, but now they’re in competition with a million billion other people. So I look back at my career and say: “Phew!”, like I got off the embassy roof on the last remaining helicopter.
Do you consider yourself to be one of the great dystopianists, like George Orwell or Aldous Huxley?
Aras Basmacigil
Ha, no! Imagine what sort of a level of prick I’d have to be to go: “Yes, I do consider myself the equal of those.” I actually really like the popcorn element of things like The Twilight Zone and Tales of the Unexpected. I don’t necessary think of myself as someone writing with a message in mind... which I think you probably do have to be really committed to in order to be a proper dystopian writer.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images
As your ability to prophesise future news headlines proved so hauntingly accurate with our episode of Black Mirror, retrospectively predicting David Cameron’s alleged congress with a pig, is there anything you would like to postulate now about Theresa May’s past that we can all collectively will into truth over the next five years?
Rory Kinnear
And Rory speaks as someone who had to fuck a pig. He’s quite method you see, so he did actually do it. No, no, he didn’t... I was there that day on set with my wife and we were all hiding in a cupboard around the corner. It was quite funny because Otto the director didn’t shout “cut” when we were shooting that scene. He just left Rory going closer and closer to this pig until he said: “I’m not going any further...”
How far did he go?
Oh, he didn’t even get near first base. He got his hand on the pig’s back and that was as close as he was going to get. As for Theresa May, I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to wish anything nasty on anyone. I’m a softy, really, in that respect. But I’d like to see her have a complete change of heart. So, perhaps she could find a magic whistle that gives her a complete change of heart. That doesn’t sound like the most convincing story I’ve ever thought up, does it?
You’re not selling the new series very well with that idea...
Hopefully, most of this series is at least 5% better than that. That’s a really rubbish answer. But that episode was supposed to be about having empathy for anyone. I was thinking of Gordon Brown when he had to apologise to that woman he had offended, and mixing that with I’m a Celebrity. I remember watching an episode of I’m a Celebrity where they did a live challenge and it was so deeply unpleasant that I felt real, genuine pity for Robert Kilroy-Silk. And I thought: this is a weird feeling.
Is Kanye West a tortured genius or a twat?
Romesh Ranganathan
Well, it’s possible for him to be both. A tortured twat. I think with Kanye, it’s difficult to know where performance ends and twatdom begins. He’s probably managing to pull off both at once quite well.
You’re a big Adam Curtis fan, and so am I, thanks to you. In more than one of his documentaries he seems to expose a paradox wherein neither individualism nor authoritarianism are successful in organising societies. Do you believe that the internet and its provision to provide infinite amounts of individual avatars/blogs/news feeds is somehow related to this rise in demagoguery (Trump/Putin)? Also, how’s your cock?
Craig Connick
Right. Er, I do think that because we are encouraged to perform our opinions online, and because our news feeds are curated by algorithms telling us what we want to hear, then that contributes to the polarisation of opinions on both sides of the political spectrum. But I don’t know if... I think this question is so complicated that I can’t really answer it. Can I just say the answer is “Seven”?
Is that to the “How’s your cock” bit?
No, I’m not answering that bit.
What’s your favourite Pixar film?
Holly
Wall-E... it’s heartbreaking. All Pixar movies are heartbreaking, aren’t they? I hadn’t seen Inside Out until the other day... Jesus Christ! It’s like a tearduct detox, isn’t it? There’s always a point in those movies that’s just harrowing and you’re crying and trying to not let your kids see because it would disturb them.
Do you enjoy baking, and have you ever made bagels?
Barney Cronkbottom
No, I haven’t. I’ve tried baking my own bread and I’ve baked a cake and cookies. And a potato. I’ve baked many potatoes. They never do that on the Bake Off do they?
What’s the best thing you can cook?
I can do a proper Sunday roast pretty well and that involves quite a lot of different things. I can do a lasagne. I can do a casserole. I can do spaghetti bolognese. I’m like a 70s restaurant, basically.
How?
Mike
[Adopts pseudo deep voice] Whhhyyyy? Actually, that makes me sound like an even bigger cunt. I don’t know how. Tell Mike to come back when he’s thought of a proper question. In fact, tell him not to come back. He had one chance and he’s fucking blown it.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sarah Snook in Men Against Fire, episode five of series three. Photograph: Laurie Sparham/Netflix
Why did you sell out to Sky and then Netflix? Channel 4 not good enough for you any more?
ThisNameisMine
The Netflix thing is a bit different, because Channel 4 told us to go out and get co-funding from Americans if we wanted the series to continue... so, we did! I was really annoyed about the way that was reported.
If I’m not constantly throwing firewood into the worry engine then it will just worry on its own and chew up everything Charlie Brooker
There are quite a lot of questions about you selling out. Is that fair, do you think? Did you go through a sell-out period?
Yes... there was a point where I was doing panel shows. Not that I don’t do them now, but there was a point where I did more onscreen things than I do now. It was all fun experience... but I don’t feel the need to do it again. I don’t think I’m a natural fit for a feelgood host of something. But it’s not like I suddenly did a musical or something like that, is it?
I think a lot of your fans saw you as someone who hated everything and then suddenly you...
... lost some weight and got a beard? Yeah. Weirdly, people said I’d sold out when I had kids, because I used to write columns saying I hated children. But inevitably as you get older you mellow out and lose energy. I remember I once wrote a column where I made a joke about a child’s funeral, not a real child, but still... and the editor said: “Don’t put that in, it’s just horrible,” and I was all macho like: [stroppy voice] “The Guardian want to censor me.” Thank God it didn’t go in because I think I would cry if I read that now. So I must have gotten soppier.
Does being more content make it harder to write dark material?
Not really, because I’m always worried. If I’m not constantly throwing firewood into the worry engine then it will just worry on its own and chew up everything... so I’m always working basically, otherwise I crack up. It’s not like I ever sit back and enjoy things, there’s always something to worry about.
What’s the best comment you’ve read about yourself from Guardian readers?
Hmmm, I can’t say any have really stayed with me... Oh, I know! Once I wrote a thing in 2004 about George Bush [he wrote: “John Wilkes-Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr, where are you now that we need you?”] that the Guardian had to apologise for. It was a joke that got taken the wrong way. And someone wrote to say that they were going to smuggle a sniper rifle through customs and kill me, so I had better walk close to buildings, stay under trees and move in a zig-zag. That one stayed with me. Does that count as reader feedback?
When you worked with Chris Morris on Nathan Barley, how did you find navigating that kind of relationship with him? Did you feel intimidated by him, or did you just work as creative equals only concerned with doing a good job?
Dylan Curran
I was definitely intimidated before I met him. I expected him to show up and be his Brass Eye persona. But instead he bounded in, long curly hair, quite goofy and animated... laughing and jolly. It was so disarmingly not what I expected that in reality he wasn’t intimidating. Having said that, I remember the first day we were shooting Nathan Barley – he was so laser-focused and serious I thought: “What the fuck’s happened? Has something bad happened?” He was like a dog that had seen some meat: frozen and super-concentrating. And sometimes, if he’s intellectually interested in something, he’s straight on it and will bombard you with questions about it in a way that you feel any answer you give will be stupid. So I still can feel intimidated by him.
I run a charity that represents civilian victims of secret drone strikes, a topic that apparently helped inspire an episode in the new series of Black Mirror. Do you still “know in your bones that robots are going to kill us”?
Clive Stafford Smith, founder and director of Reprieve
Oh, yeah, I did write that. I think we will probably kill us. Maybe our best way out of it is to invent robots who can kill us in a really gentle way. If we ended up like Keanu Reeves at the start of The Matrix, where he’s plugged into the dreambox or whatever, that wouldn’t be so bad. The tragedy of that film is when he pulls the plug out. It’s all downhill from there.
Is it true you were inspired by drone-strike victims?
Loosely... there’s an episode in this season called Men Against Fire, which is to do with this book called On Killing [By Dave Grossman], about the psychological effect of distance on killing. It was pre-drones, but it talks about how the people who dropped firebombs on Dresden, even though they knew intellectually they were boiling women and children to death, didn’t suffer the level of psychological trauma as someone who, say, had to stick a knife in someone’s ribs. There’s also another project I was working on that I might return to – it was like a long-form Black Mirror and that had drone animals walking around.
How posh are you?
HoG
By background not very. People always assume I went to public school, which I didn’t, so that immediately puts me somewhere. Then again I grew up in a leafy village in Oxfordshire and that’s quite posh in itself. Also I’m drinking a green tea right now in a fancy restaurant... so I don’t really know. I’m definitely a lot posher than I used to be, but I don’t like posh things, particularly. I don’t eat in posh restaurants or drink posh wine because I don’t really get it. But I make TV shows so I must be quite posh.
What’s the poshest thing you’ve ever bought?
An upgrade on a flight. I got upgraded on a flight once and from that point on every time I’ve flown economy I’m just fucking angry the whole time. You end up balancing the urge to say “HOW FUCKING MUCH?” with the desire to just get some sleep. You realise what a horrible system it is, but then if you can pay for it, you will.
2016 started rosy. It was all a giant metaphor for the year: people staring at other people trying to jump over a puddle
Have you ever had a sense of purpose, and by that I mean in terms of making an impact in the way we interact with other people, or in regards of technology; or did you just want to make an observation about the world?
Joyce
I don’t think anything I write would really change anyone’s behaviour. Maybe if I wrote: “Keep off! Wet paint” and stuck it on that chair, that would. Or: “Warning! 200ft hole!”
Given that you’ve imagined an array of terrifying scenarios of the vaguely distant future through Black Mirror, what scares you about our world at present?
Susie Bubble, fashion blogger
Nuclear weapons. The general collapse of society. The rise of racist populism through Europe. Disease. Violence. Wasps and spiders. In that order.
This was asked by about half the people writing in … when can we expect more Screenwipes and Newswipes?
There’s an end-of-year show, which I’m about to go off and have a meeting about. And then there’s another lot that I’m not really supposed to mention … but I will try and squeeze that in at some point next year and then have a break. That’s assuming that the world isn’t just on fucking fire by then.
How are you going to fit 2016 in?
Nina
I don’t know. We had a meeting about this yesterday and it didn’t get that far. We looked at the puddle – remember that? It all seemed quite rosy at the start of the year, didn’t it? Turns out that was just a giant metaphor for the year: people staring at other people trying to jump over a puddle. This year does seem disastrous, but then I’ve thought that every year for the past five years. In a contrary sort of way, when everyone else is worrying about the state of the world, I relax a bit because I feel like at least everyone is on my paranoid level now.
Series three of Black Mirror is on Netflix from 21 OctoberAlabama Senate candidate Roy Moore told reporters on Capitol Hill that they "don't understand religious liberty" and that it "comes from God," rather than the Constitution.
Moore was stopped by reporters while walking through a Capitol Hill hallway when he was asked repeatedly if he stood behind his previous comments that Rep. Keith Ellison shouldn't be in Congress because he's Muslim.
The Republican had written a December 2006 editorial suggesting Ellison should be prohibited from "taking the congressional oath" because of his religious beliefs.
Moore sidestepped reporters' questions by saying it was a "very complicated question" and that he would "address it."
When pressed further on why he wouldn't address the issue today in Washington, but would in Alabama, Moore replied as he entered a Capitol elevator, "Reporters don't understand religious liberty, where it comes from. It comes from God, not from the Constitution."
President Trump has echoed that sentiment during an executive order signing on religious liberty at the White House.
"No American should be forced to choose between the dictates of the government and their faith," Mr. Trump said at the ceremony. He added, "Freedom is not a gift from government. Freedom is a gift from God."
While Moore maintains the freedom comes from a higher power, according to the ACLU, as enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, religious freedom includes two complementary protections: the right to religious belief and expression and a guarantee that the government neither prefers religion over non-religion nor favors any faiths over others.
Earlier, Senate Republicans had welcomed Moore to their weekly luncheon, even though he wasn't their first choice for the Alabama Senate seat.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans backed Sen. Luther Strange, who was appointed to fill the vacancy until the special election after Jeff Sessions was named attorney general. Moore, with the support of former White House adviser Steve Bannon, knocked out Strange in a runoff in September. During the campaign, the former jurist cast himself as a fierce foe of McConnell and the GOP establishment.
Moore told reporters on Tuesday that he spoke to McConnell and it "went well."
The former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice faces Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election.
CBS News' Alan He and John Nolen contributed to this report.Berkeley's UC Theatre to reopen for music events
Detail of the exterior of the UC Theatre, where a major renovation is planned before it reopens next year. Detail of the exterior of the UC Theatre, where a major renovation is planned before it reopens next year. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Berkeley's UC Theatre to reopen for music events 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
Dark since 2001, Berkeley's UC Theatre - the University Avenue cinema beloved by generations of Berkeleyans and famous for its wild midnight screenings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" - will reopen next year as a live music venue after a $5 million renovation.
The new theater, run by the Berkeley Music Group, a nonprofit founded by Berkeley native and former Bill Graham Presents COO David Mayeri, will be a flexible, multitiered space that can accommodate about 1,400 patrons - or 800 seated cabaret-style at tables - and feature a wide range of rock, jazz and Americana, as well as the occasional comedy show, lecture or film.
In addition to a new expanded stage, restaurant and bar, and an education program focused on concert-production workshops and internships for local young folk, the renovated theater will have a sound system from Berkeley's Meyer Sound, whose owners, John and Helen Meyer, are major contributors to the project, along with the late Warren Hellman and his wife, Chris, Nion McEvoy and others.
"When I walked into the theater after spending 35 years with BGP, I saw a room that could just ignite downtown Berkeley and the East Bay music scene," Mayeri says. He has raised about $2.7 million of the $5.2 million goal of the capital campaign that officially takes off Wednesday, when plans for the 97-year-old theater will be announced in the long-shuttered space. Berkeley's Robert Remiker Architects has designed the renovation, with Charles Salter's firm attending to the acoustics.
Mayeri says it's too soon to talk about specific artists. He describes the acts the UC will book as rising stars of the sort who've "graduated" from top San Francisco clubs like Slim's, Yoshi's or the Great American Music Hall to bigger halls like the Fillmore, which has a capacity of 1,200.
Having grown up 12 blocks away, Mayeri, who saw "The Ten Commandments" at the UC in the mid-1950s, has an affinity for the place. He caught some of those interactive midnight "Rocky Horror" screenings that Landmark Theatres hosted there for years.
"I can't say I was brave enough to dress up, but I did attend," says Mayeri, a music business and Internet radio consultant who's donating his time and money to the project.Federal prison located in Fremont County, Colorado
The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) is an American federal prison that provides a higher level of custody than a maximum security prison. It is classed as a supermax, or "control unit" prison, where the safety of inmates and staff is paramount. Located in Fremont County, Colorado, and opened in 1994, it is known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons had declared a need for a unit designed specifically for the secure housing of those prisoners most liable to murder staff or other inmates. Prisoners spend 23 hours per day in single, soundproof cells with facilities made of poured concrete to deter self-harm, and 24-hour supervision, carried out intensively with high staff-inmate ratios. Phones are generally banned and only limited broadcast entertainment permitted. After a three-year sentence, prisoners may be transferred to a less restrictive prison. The aim is to encourage "reasonably peaceful behavior" from the most violent career prisoners.
The high standard of security has been noted by many, though there is some concern about the impact of extended confinement and isolation on mental health.
Function [ edit ]
The institution is unofficially known as ADX Florence, USP Florence ADMAX, or the "Alcatraz of the Rockies".[2] It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex, which is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. The complex also includes an adjacent minimum-security camp that, as of February 2019, houses more prisoners than the supermax unit.
ADX Florence houses the male inmates in the federal prison system who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control, including prisoners whose escape would pose a serious threat to national security.
The BOP does not have a designated "supermax" facility for women. Women in the BOP system who are classified as "special management concerns" due to violence or escape attempts are confined in the administrative unit of Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.[3]
The facility's current warden is David Berkebile.[4][5]
History [ edit ]
In 1983, two federal correction officers were stabbed to death in separate incidents at United States Penitentiary, Marion by members of the Aryan Brotherhood. The stabbings were blamed on inadequate prison design.[6] As a result, Norman Carlson, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, argued for the creation of a new type of facility where the most dangerous, uncontrollable inmates could be isolated from correction officers and other prisoners for security and safety. USP Marion, which went into "permanent lockdown" following the 1983 murders, became a model for the construction of ADX, designed as a control unit prison.[7] Carlson said that such a prison would hold inmates desperate enough to murder corrections officers or other inmates in the hopes of being sentenced to death.[6]
ADX opened in November 1994,[8] and the residents of Fremont County, Colorado[9] welcomed it as a source of employment. The county already had nine prisons, but the lure of 750 to 900 permanent jobs (plus temporary jobs during the prison's construction) led residents to raise $160,000 to purchase 600 acres (240 ha) for the new prison. Hundreds of people attended the groundbreaking for the facility, which was designed by two leading architecture firms in Colorado Springs and cost $60 million to build.[10]
Inmate population [ edit ]
The supermax unit at ADX Florence houses about 400 male inmates, each assigned to one of six security levels.[11] It is designed for 490 inmates but has never been full.[12]
The facility is best known for housing inmates who have been deemed too dangerous, too high-profile, or too great a national security risk for even a maximum-security prison. These include the leaders of violent gangs who had continued to issue orders to their members from lower-security facilities: Larry Hoover of the Gangster Disciples, and Tyler Bingham of the Aryan Brotherhood. ADX also houses foreign terrorists, including Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in civilian court of the September 11 attacks; Faisal Shahzad, the perpetrator of the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt;[13] and Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; as well as domestic terrorists, such as Ted Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph. Timothy McVeigh, who carried out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, was housed at ADX before he was sentenced to death in 1997 and transferred to the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, which houses most federal death row inmates and is where Federal death sentences are carried out. McVeigh's co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, is serving 161 life sentences at ADX. Robert Hanssen, the former FBI agent who betrayed several spies to the Soviet Union and Russia, is serving 15 life sentences at ADX for his crimes. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the perpetrator of the Boston Marathon bombings, was transferred here from another prison in the Florence complex on July 17, 2015. The prison also houses inmates who are a high escape risk, including Richard McNair, who escaped from a county jail and two other prisons before being sent to ADX.
However, the majority of inmates have been sent there because they have an extensive history of committing violent crimes against corrections officers and fellow inmates in other prisons, up to and including murder. These inmates are kept in administrative segregation. They are confined in a specifically designed single-person cell for 23 hours a day. They are removed under restraint (handcuffed, shackled or both), on a 24-hour clock (i.e., their one-hour time out of their cell may occur at any time of the day or night). The hour outside of the cell is for exercise, and with privileges, a phone call. Their diet is restricted to ensure that the foods they are served (in their cell) cannot be used to harm themselves, or to create unhygienic conditions in their cell. At least some cells have showers which reduces the amount of handling guards need to do.[14]
After at least one year, depending on their |
.
Tennessee [ edit ]
The consolidated city-county government of Lynchburg and Moore County, Tennessee, is a dry county, notwithstanding that it is home to the Jack Daniel's distillery. (A special state law allows the distillery to sell small, commemorative bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey to tourists, but not on Sundays.)
Campbell, Blount, Crockett, Hancock, Sevier, Stewart, and Weakley are also dry counties. Several municipalities within Blount County are wet.
Some municipalities and counties allow sales of liquor-by-the-drink and retail package stores.[114]
Texas [ edit ]
Of Texas' 254 counties, 5[115][116] are completely dry, 196[116] are partially dry, and 55 are entirely wet. The vast majority of entirely wet counties are in southern border regions of Texas near Mexico, or in the south central portion[117].
Alcohol law in Texas varies significantly by location. In some counties, 4% beer is legal. In others, beverages that are 14% or less alcohol are legal. In some "dry" areas, a customer can get a mixed drink by paying to join a "private club," and in some "wet" areas a customer needs a club membership to purchase liquor by-the-drink. "...Move to Burleson, which has alcohol sales in the Tarrant County portion of the city but not in the Johnson County side of town."[118] Today beer and wine can be purchased in all parts of Burleson. The only places in the county where liquor can be purchased are a couple of stores inside the city limits of Alvarado.[citation needed]
A bill passed in 2003 by the Texas Legislature allows for Justice of the Peace precincts to host alcohol option elections. To date, this law has allowed many JP precincts, particularly in East Texas, to allow a vote that has resulted in many previously dry counties becoming "moist" and allowing sales of beer and wine, but not liquor.[119]
Texas law prohibits off-premises sale of liquor (but not beer and wine) all day on Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. Off-premises sale of beer and wine on Sunday is only allowed after 12:01 pm.
Texas law also prohibits the sale of alcohol in any "sexually oriented business" in a dry county. Strip clubs in these dry counties often sell "set ups" (a cup with soda, ice, and a stirrer to which one can add their own alcohol) and have a BYOB policy to allow patrons to bring their own alcohol into the establishment.
Utah [ edit ]
As of September 2018 there are 9 cities where alcoholic beverages cannot be purchased.[120]
Virginia [ edit ]
Beer and wine sales are legal in all of Virginia.[123] Of the 95 counties in Virginia, 9 counties (Bland, Buchanan, Charlotte, Craig, Grayson, Highland, Lee, Patrick and Russell) are dry in that retail sale of distilled spirits is prohibited.[123] Virginia cities are not subject to county alcohol laws as they are independent by state law, and all Virginia cities are wet.[123] Virginia also restricts the sale of hard liquors (or distilled spirits) to State-run stores, or VA ABC stores. This set up is unique in that the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control not only is responsible for the sale of liquor, but also for the enforcement of alcohol-related laws in addition to public education campaigns. These campaigns are generally geared towards young adults not of drinking age, but also cover topics such as substance abuse, training for hospitality industry employees, and cautioning of the dangers of mixing alcohol and medications.[124]
Washington [ edit ]
The city of Fircrest was the last dry community on the west coast of the contiguous 48 states. Voters chose to allow the sale of alcohol by the glass in Fircrest in the 3 November 2015 election. [125]
The Yakama Nation prohibits the sale of alcohol on the Yakama Indian Reservation. [126]
The city of College Place allows sale of alcohol in stores, but has no taverns or cocktail lounges.
Wisconsin [ edit ]
The village of Ephraim is the only dry municipality in Wisconsin; it has been dry since its founding in 1853, and its anti-liquor laws were upheld in 1934 and 1992 referenda. [127] Richland Center and Port Edwards were dry for decades, but bars opened in both communities in 1994 after changes to local ordinances. [128] Ephraim passed an ordinance to allow off-site beer and on-site wine sales on April 5, 2016. [129]
Richland Center and Port Edwards were dry for decades, but bars opened in both communities in 1994 after changes to local ordinances. Ephraim passed an ordinance to allow off-site beer and on-site wine sales on April 5, 2016. The city of Sparta is the largest community in Wisconsin that restricts beer and liquor sales to taverns and restaurants that have an on-premises consumption license. Grocery and convenience stores cannot sell beer and liquor there. The community abolished Class A licenses for retail sales in 1966 through referendum, when a local liquor store owner in the city objected to a grocery store's application for a class A license. Referendums were defeated in 1982, 1986, 1992, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011 for class A licenses. Opposition to Class A licenses in the community is widely believed to be from the liquor store owner(s), who locate on the border of the city in neighboring towns that allow Class A licenses. Local opposition from these liquor stores is also widely believed to be a monopolistic motivation to protect their business trade by restricting it in Sparta.[130] On April 7, 2009, in the Wisconsin 2009 spring general election, voters defeated the referendum questions about changing restrictions on the beer and liquor sales in Sparta, for the sixth time.[131] In the April 5, 2011 Wisconsin spring election, Sparta voted for the seventh time not to change restrictions on the sale of beer and liquor in the city.[132] In the April 1, 2014 Wisconsin spring election, the voters narrowly approved the sale of wine and beer in groceries and convenience stores. Liquor sales remain banned in the city.[133][133]America's middle class is deeply concerned about jobs, pay and their future, and many of them are blaming China.
In the U.S., 43% of voters believe trade with other countries is a bad thing, according to the Pew Research Center. It's not that hard to understand why.
China's middle class is booming while America's middle class is stagnating. A typical family in China has experienced the "Asian miracle," an astonishing 70% bump in their income from 1988 to 2008.
But the middle class in the U.S. and across the developed world has stagnated: incomes rose a mere 4% over that 20-year same period, according to economist Branko Milanovic. He studies pay and wealth around the world and just published a new book, "Global Inequality."
Related: Why Americans are so angry in 2016
The Asian middle class miracle
To be clear, a Chinese middle class family still earns around $8,000 a year, a lot less than the typical U.S. household income of about $54,000, according to the World Bank. But the Chinese are getting richer at a much faster rate.
Consulting firm McKinsey predicts that by 2022, the majority of China's urban middle class will earn $9,000 to $34,000 a year. They are embracing all the trappings of a better life: eating out more, vacationing around the world and buying new cars.
Compare that to the U.S. where even people who have jobs worry they are one step away from financial ruin. Expenses are going up, but a typical family earns about the same amount of money now as they did in the mid-1990s.
Milanovic says the Chinese are hardly alone in celebrating better lives. The middle class in India, Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of Asia have also seen their bank accounts swell in the past three decades.
"Globalization is a good force, but you're not going to sell globalization to your domestic population by telling them how good it is for China," says Milanovic.
He can't prove that trade and globalization caused Asia's middle class to surge and the middle class in the U.S. to stall, but he says it's a very "plausible story."
Related: The cost of bringing home American jobs
The appeal of Donald Trump
America's lower middle class is frustrated, and many are gravitating to presidential candidate Donald Trump, who vows to fix "America's disastrous trade policies" and bring jobs back from China and Mexico.
Over 65% of Trump supporters think free trade is raw deal, according to Pew Research.
"The problem with trade is the losers know they're losing and the winners don't know they're winning," says Veronique de Rugy, an economist and senior fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center.
More people are victors from globalization, even in the U.S., de Rugy argues, but that story is harder to tell.
Related: Trump and Cruz predict stock market 'crash'
Global poverty is down
Global poverty is at its lowest level in history. For the first time, less than 10% of the planet is living in extreme poverty, currently defined as $1.90 a day or less, according to the World Bank. It's a huge achievement and has been praised across the political spectrum.
"It's little comfort to say to someone who last lost their job, 'well, you should be really happy because people who are really poor are now much less poor,'" says Milanovic.
So while the majority of people in developing nations appear to be benefiting from globalization (the extreme poor, especially in Africa, are the exception), the results in the U.S. vary depending upon how rich or poor you are.
The more affluent (think incomes around $80,000 and above) have seen their incomes pop 30% to 60%, according to Milanovic's research.
Meanwhile, the lower middle class and poor in the U.S. have barely gotten any benefit.EL James’s erotic novel may have been derided by critics for “appalling writing” and by Barbara Taylor Bradford for its “boring” sex scenes, but that has not stopped women snapping up the tale of a virginal heroine who falls for a bondage-loving billionaire.
Random House, the publisher, said the book is now more popular than The Highway Code.
The 5.3 million figure comprises 3.8 million physical books and 1.5 million ebooks. In terms of printed books, Fifty Shades of Grey has yet to catch up with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which sold over 4 million copies in the UK.
Harry Potter figures were based on print sales alone as the series was not available in digital format when they were first published.
James's follow-ups, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, have sold 3.6 million and 3.2 million copies respectively, taking the trilogy to combined UK sales of over 12 million, according to data supplied by Random House.
Global sales of the trilogy are said to be over 40 million - still a long way from the 450 million achieved by JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
Modern records provided by Nielsen BookScan began in 1998. Before that, sales data was compiled through information supplied by publisher and bookshops.
James, 49, a mother-of-two from west London, is a former writer for TV crime dramas Silent Witness and Wire In The Blood. She rarely gives interviews and the raciest detail she has supplied about her own life is that she likes to eat Nutella straight from the jar.
Fifty Shades of Grey is about to be turned into a Hollywood film, with Scarlett Johansson and Angelina Jolie among the high-profile actresses mooted for the lead role.
James has described the success of the books as “completely and utterly overwhelming”.
Her publishers are more effusive. Susan Sandon, managing director of Cornerstone, a division of Random House, said: “The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon is perhaps one of the most extraordinary experiences of my entire publishing career and I feel privileged to be part of it.
“The speed and sheer size of the sales is incredible.”
The book remains number one in the UK best-seller chart for the 16th week running.24.3k SHARES SHARE THIS STORY
Americans across the nation are outraged to learn that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been lying about his actions following the devastating 9/11 terrorist attacks, which he once called 7-11, for cheap political gain. An investigative report has compared Trump’s rhetoric with the facts on the ground – and the two are not even remotely in line with one another.
At issue is $150,000 which was granted to Trump by the government, which Trump claims was due to his generous help following the worst terrorist attack on American soil. In April, Trump gave an interview to TIME magazine and boasted, “It was probably a reimbursement for the fact that I allowed people, for many months, to stay in the building and use the building and store things in the building.” One can note Trump, even then, hedged his lie by saying “probably a reimbursement,” of which he was just so proud. He went on to create a fake story of emotion, “I was happy to do it, and to this day I am still being thanked for the many people I helped. The value of what I did was far greater than the money talked about, much of which was sent automatically to building owners in the area.”
If Donald Trump is being thanked for his service to New York City following the 9/11 attacks, the individuals doing the alleged thanking can not be located. In fact, there is not a single person on the record ever thanking Donald Trump for allowing them, or their organizations, to use his property at 40 Wall St.
A simple search of records from the “Empire State Development Corporation“, which was in charge of administering the repayment for the recovery program, found that Trump was indeed reimbursed but not for the reasons which he publicly stated. In fact, Trump’s company requested reimbursement for “repair”, “cleanup”, and “rent loss.” Absolutely none of the records show Trump ever asked to be compensated for helping individuals, and there is absolutely zero evidence to substantiate Trump’s claim. What the evidence does show is Trump lied again – and this time his lies dishonor the 2,997 individuals who were killed on that horriffic day.
Furthermore, even if Trump were telling the truth and the records magically disappeared, which they didn’t, there is still the lingering fact that the program recovery program was only for reimbursing businesses which suffered uninsured losses, and not for reimbursing individuals for their philanthropic work. David Catalfamo, who was working with New York’s governor at the time George Pataki, helped to administer the program. He confirmed that Trump was lying and stated, “He’s clearly wrong. I saw him say that and he’s obviously wrong.” Catalfamo went on to describe how the program actually worked for everyone else outside of Trump’s warped version of reality, “It was not part of the program to give money away for the other ancillary stuff. The way the program worked was to help businesses cover for uninsured losses. Businesses came forward with their losses and we covered part of them.”
To add insult to injury, as if Trump dishonoring the 9/11 victims wasn’t enough, he also manipulated the system to receive that $150,000 from the government.
New York had fewer requirements to determine the definition of a “small business”, and apparently Trump fell within those guidelines. So did Morgan Stanley and Bank of China, both multi-billion dollar corporations.
Billionaires leeching off funds which small businesses desperately needed to repair their operations is what individuals should remember about this debacle. Trump’s callousness in lying about his efforts, while knowing he essentially rigged the system to receive $150,000 is an illuminating point about Trump. He is willing to do anything to get ahead, even if it means stealing money from the 9/11 fund. Never forget.
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Add your name to millions demanding that Congress take action on the President’s crimes. IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP!Much has already been written/discussed about Aam Admi Party's relentless effort to raise doubts about the validity of election results conducted through electronic voting machines (EVMs).
As this Firstpost article argues, AAP's attempt to 'hack' a purported 'EVM machine' on the floor of Delhi Assembly was an elaborate ruse to deflect media attention from the corruption charges against Arvind Kejriwal. The plan's brilliance lay in its simplicity. House proceedings provided immunity from lawsuits, live telecast beamed the drama into millions of homes and lack of Opposition inside the House meant uninterrupted propaganda sans questions from media.
If diverting media focus was the immediate goal — and Kejriwal seems to have been successful in snatching the headlines away from Kapil Mishra — the larger rationale behind the slapstick may have been an attempt to quell the hundred voices of dissent bubbling underneath and regain control of a'revolution' that is collapsing under the weight of its own hypocrisy. The'movement' that gained political power with a promise to clean the system is being subsumed by the system.
Kejriwal, without a doubt, did a lot of things right. He gave political wings to an idea and within a very short span of time, turned it into a party in ascendancy. AAP generated enough trust in Delhi electorate for it to be trusted a second time with a bigger mandate. It became the main Opposition in Punjab in a time frame few parties can match. It even threatened to fill up the main Opposition space left blank by a receding Congress.
Yet Kejriwal's wrongs far outstrip his rights. To gain national footprint a party must invest in organic growth. The AAP chief became a victim of media hype and spread his resources too thin in his attempt for national overreach. Perhaps his ambition foisted a deadline tighter than time would allow. The result was a string of sobering electoral defeats that went at odds with the fever-pitch of ambition that he himself suffered from and had infused within the rank and file. This is where the germination of EVM allegations lie.
His moral transgressions are, however, of special interest. Kejriwal's'movement' was a reaction against Congress-isation of Indian politics. However, he began showing signs of that very affliction after coming to power. He systematically dismantled AAP's democratic structure, threw out dissenters and men whom he suspected could be his equals and insulated himself within a fawning coterie. He became AAP and AAP became Kejriwal.
When Kapil Mishra, an erstwhile member of the inner circle, raised allegations of personal corruption against Kejriwal, the party's raison d'etre was threatened. The ruse carried out inside the Assembly on Tuesday was therefore a desperate throw of the dice to stave off an existential crisis.
However, while trying to externalise public rejection of his party, it wasn't just the Election Commission that Kejriwal had targetted inside the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday. By staging the melodrama inside the House, AAP managed to lend a greater degree of gravitas to the allegations than any other setting would have allowed. Advertently or inadvertently, Kejriwal is questioning the validity of electoral procedure conducted by an independent, autonomous Constitutional body and is trying to shake the very foundation of Indian democracy. This is not the cut and thrust of political rivalry — part of any democratic process — but a charge that may end up eroding people's faith in democracy.
There are two ways of looking at this subversion. One, AAP is genuinely interested in pointing out the pitfalls of EVM technology and is creating quite a song and dance about it to bring public attention towards a glaring loophole. In effect, they are doing stellar service for Indian democracy. At least, that's what the AAP would like us to believe.
This would have been a convincing statement had it not been for the fact that Kejriwal finds fault with EVMs only when results do not go in his favour. We have seen how quickly his alarmism against machines turned into indifference after the Delhi Assembly elections.
The charge against EVMs is also a clever conflation of two aspects — the theoretical possibility of hacking the machines and the practical feasibility of carrying out such as an act. Let us take the issues one by one.
On the former possibility, the EC has gone out of its way to counter hacking charges. In an elaborate rebuttal, it has stated why tampering the EVMs is practically impossible. Readers interested to know the technical details may follow this link. Even if there exists a "theoretical possibility" in hacking a standalone machine so secure and disconnected from networks, the practical possibilities of carrying out the hacking is zero. The procedural and administrative securities undertaken by the Election Commission have been meticulously explained in the link above.
Tampering the machines under such a paradigm would not only be a logistical nightmare, for even a party in power to carry out such an audacious act would involve influencing autonomous Constitutional bodies, the entire security establishment and millions and millions of workers at every level of electoral process.
In an old blog post for Pragati, when EVM tampering allegations first surfaced in 2009, K Vidur had written: "Given the manpower-heavy nature of Indian elections (local police personnel, central paramilitary personnel, official observers from outside the state, micro-observers, independent videographers and photographers, media personnel, and hundreds of voters at every booth) and the low capacity of individual EVMs… it will take an army of highly-motivated, centrally mobilised but constituency co-ordinated, election-riggers to influence the outcome at even one constituency. Deploying such an army would reduce to zero the chances of keeping everything completely secret."
It is the second possibility that we must consider while evaluating AAP's tampering allegations. It is trying to bring its own version of anarchism in Indian polity and destabilize the world's largest democracy which has so far defied regional geopolitical trends to show an astonishing compliance with democratic process.
As Prashant Jha writes in Hindustan Times, what differentiates India from Nepal, Bangladesh or Pakistan is the stability of its democratic process and the faith shown by its parties (regardless of ideologies) in the rules of the game.
For the first time since Independence, a political party is trying to tinker with that stability. Arvind Kejriwal owes it to the electorate to show solid, actionable evidence of tampering instead of insinuations and allegations. Else he should be held accountable for his acts of subversion.
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.The first reviews are in for HBO’s big-budget new robo-thriller Westworld — and the results are unanimous (so far). The sci-fi drama is being heralded as a worthy successor to Game of Thrones (which sets a pretty high bar given it’s the network’s highest-rated show of all time and this weekend is on the verge of becoming the most-honored Emmy-winner of all time, too).
HBO has made the first four episodes available to critics (the first season is 10 episodes long). EW will have its own review closer to premiere, but for now, here are some excerpts from around the web. The series premieres Oct. 2.
IGN: “After a lot of build-up and some much-discussed production delays, would it deliver? The answer is a big yes, as those high expectations were met with a terrific, gripping premiere episode (airing Oct. 2 on HBO) that quickly draws you in… its standout cast to its excellent visuals to one hell of a hummable score by the great Ramin Djawadi (the composer of Game of Thrones and Person of Interest), this is top-notch television in every respect. The juxtaposition of life inside Westworld and life for those who are creating Westworld allows for an excellent entry point into the show, allowing us to invest with these artificial life forms from the start, while getting to also see the motivations of those behind-the-scenes.”
The Atlantic: “What would happen if or when the day came that humankind created an intelligence so powerful that it turned against us? It’s a scenario that’s been visualized a thousand ways… But the scenario has rarely been developed with the sophistication and ingenuity on display in HBO’s upcoming series Westworld …. The series doesn’t merely present androids as protagonists or victims. It grants them the defining victory of the outsider: the right at last to tell—haltingly, given their emergent capacities—their stories for themselves.”
The Guardian: “… for those of us who just like story – lots and lots of story! – Westworld will hit the spot as hard as GoT ever did. Gosh, there’s a lot going on… There’s the real world full of robot-wranglers, some of whom are jostling for position inside whatever just-possibly-malevolent company owns the park, others of whom are busy tinkering with their charges’ software and trying to decide whether to make the skinjobs more realistic or quit while they’re ahead. ‘Y’know, before everything goes a bit, like, Skynet on us’ nobody ever quite says, but clearly should.”
Collider: “The series — with a solid logical foundation and world-building — is lovingly crafted, marrying its Wild West aesthetic with cold sci-fi elements of the labs that run the park in a way that feels believably connected … The series even broaches philosophical musings, à la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as to whether it would be better to live a safe life where our pain is erased, or a life of free will with all of its mistakes and hurt. The choice is not always clear. Like Game of Thrones, Westworld is a sprawling story, but it’s never as disparate as the world of Westeros and what lies beyond the Narrow Sea. What matters here is the notion that everything is contained, intimate, and carefully crafted, and fans of Crichton will immediately feel the familiarity with his most famous stories’ themes: where what we overly-confident Homo sapiens create and try and control quickly spirals out beyond our abilities. We are not gods, only tinkerers, and the characters of Westworld are starting to learn that trying to control what we don’t understand can lead to catastrophic effects.”
The Telegraph: “…we’re thrust into a complex, visionary world that is pleasingly in no rush to rapidly churn out its storyline. Like the on-screen robots, its pieces are meticulously put together, its capacity to unleash hell brimming beneath the surface. And it’s beautiful to watch. Utah’s tourist industry best be ready for the swell in numbers this series is likely to create, for its dry, epic spectacle of a backdrop has been rendered to almost as jaw dropping effect as seeing it in real life.”
The Globe and Mail: “In fact, for all its brutal violence and sex – some of the visitors merely want to kill, rape and pillage – the series is a gorgeous exercise in profound melancholy. What horrors has humankind wreaked with a mass devotion to perfection, personal satisfaction and entertainment? At times terrifying bleak and cynical, Westworld is lugubrious. It can have characters announcing, ‘Hell is empty and all the devils are here,’ and set out to illustrate that.”
Games Radar: “About 15 minutes into the Westworld pilot, you’re left with absolutely no doubt that this could be a genuine contender for the HBO’s next smash hit. In one breathless gunfight sequence, show creator and writer/director of the first episode, Jonathan Nolan, manages to nod to Michael Crichton’s original 1973 movie, completely smash your early preconceptions, ask some fairly deep ethical questions, and even court a little controversy. … If the first episode is anything to go on, you need to watch this show — it’s the next big thing.WA Minister for Agriculture, Mark Lewis, with Sam the dog and his handler.
Quarantine WA have welcomed two new biosecurity detector dogs to their team at the Perth Royal Show this week.
Sam and Mollie have been training for roughly 12 months to find fresh fruit, vegetables, plant material, honey and seeds on passengers at the Perth Domestic Airport.
The newcomers will replace two retiring dogs Oscar and Charlie-Brown
Western Australia's new Minister for Agriculture, Mark Lewis, officially gave Sam his working coat, saying Quarantine WA's detector dogs are a critical part of Western Australia's competitive advantage when it comes to exports.
"We all know the eastern states have got some lurgies that we don't have here, and we've got to protect ourselves," Mr Lewis said.
"So it's important for these dogs at the airport, rail or road, or whether it's by sea or mail, these dogs perform a very important part [of our biosecurity]."
External Link: Sam the detector dog earns his coat
Education is key
However it is not only up to the detector dogs to be aware of 'risk material' coming in through the state's borders.
According to acting manager of checkpoint and surveillance for Quarantine WA, Louise Smith, a lot of people are still not aware of Western Australia's domestic quarantine laws.
"Education forms a massive part of quarantine, and we do try to educate as much as possible," Ms Smith said.
Despite on-board and air bridge quarantine rule announcements, and several quarantine bins before a passenger has the chance to meet the detector dogs, Ms Smith said some things still slip through the cracks.
"I remember the day [Oscar] found a flower in a passenger's hair, that is just some of the amazing work they can do."
Minister for Agriculture, Mark Lewis, welcomed the additions to the Quarantine WA team, and said it's "an important day for WA biosecurity".
"I'm very happy to be here today to put the stripes on Sam, having just recently got my own stripes I can sympathise with Sam getting his new badge."St. Olaf College students fill Tomson Hall to boycott classes and demand action and dialogue after numerous acts of incidents of racial hate on campus, Monday, May 1, 2017 in Northfield, Minn. Hundreds of students boycotted classes at St. Olaf College on Monday, instead packing an administration building to protest a rash of racist and threatening messages left around campus. (Photo: Elizabeth Flores, AP)
NORTHFIELD — Hundreds of students boycotted classes at St. Olaf College in southern Minnesota on Monday and instead packed an administration building to protest a rash of racist and threatening messages left around campus at the liberal arts college.
The protests erupted over the weekend after one black student, Samantha Wells, found an anonymous note on her car windshield Saturday calling her a racial slur.
After the boycott was announced, the St. Olaf administration canceled classes for the day so students, faculty and staff could discuss racism and diversity on the private Lutheran school's campus. St. Olaf President David Anderson met with protesters in the afternoon and signed a framework agreement on how to proceed with addressing those issues.
The school released a statement saying other reported racist acts included written racial epithets, and that officials considered it "deeply troubling" that the latest messages were directed at specific individuals.
There have been no reports of physical attacks at the college in Northfield, which is about 100 miles southeast of St. Cloud.
St. Olaf has about 3,000 students, and its student body is 74 percent white, 6 percent Asian, 6 percent Hispanic and 2 percent black, according to the school's website.
Speakers at a rally in the atrium at Tomson Hall on Monday morning demanded that St. Olaf adopt a policy of zero tolerance for racism. Some protest leaders interrupted a meeting led by Anderson, reading aloud an 11-page list of demands.
"Our mission is to hold the administration and students of St. Olaf College accountable for the institutionalized racism that is embedded within the structures of this campus", the document said. "We aim that St. Olaf College will recognize that these racially charged reported and unreported hate crimes are not driven by individual incidents or students, but an ideology that is continuously supported by the administration's lack of action and the student body's harmful attitudes."
The school said it was working with police to determine who was behind the racist messages. Northfield Police Chief Monte Nelson said his department's role was primarily advisory and that it had not opened a formal investigation.
"Someone, somewhere knows who is perpetrating these acts of racism," the statement said, urging anyone with information to come forward.
Read or Share this story: http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/minnesota/2017/05/01/students-protest-racism-st-olaf-college/101165488/Dear Kansas City Freecyclers,
When I first launched Kansas City Freecycle back in September 2003, I had no idea what to expect. At the time, we were only the 5th or 6th freecycle group in existence, and the term “freecycle” hadn’t yet become a staple of the green lexicon. Nearly seven years later, the group has grown in leaps and bounds, serving as a resource with which to rehome unwanted junk for tens of thousands of Kansas Citians (at its peak, the group boasted over 14,000 members). Dozens of smaller local groups have sprung up as well, catering to those living outside the KC metro area.
Though I moderated the group solo for the first year or so, I was lucky to have a number of wonderful, dedicated moderators pitch in and help out as the list matured: Ann and Bill. Shelly and Craig. Danielle. Carla. Brooke. Debra. Sheree. Susan. (And many more whose names escape me at this late hour!) Without them, Kansas City Freecycle would not have lasted as long as it did.
Over time, however, most of the first and second waves of volunteer moderators had to resign due to other commitments or simple burnout. It’s proven tough to replace them; each new call for moderators has generated fewer and fewer responses, even as the list’s membership continues to climb. (The number of chronic complainers and backseat drivers who stepped up to moderate when the opportunity arose? Exactly zero. Interesting, that.) So we’ve limped along, into and halfway through 2010, our resources stretched thinner and thinner. Somewhere along the way, I reached my own breaking point.
And so, with a mixture of regret and relief, I’ve decided that it’s finally time to say goodbye to Kansas City Freecycle. With no other viable options in front of me, I have chosen to delete the list. As of 11 PM, Saturday, July 24, 2010, the Kansas City Freecycle Yahoo Group will cease to exist.
Of course, I do have several alternatives available to me; but, after months of deliberation, I’ve decided that summarily deleting the group is the only course of action I can live with.
I might have tried to recruit and train additional moderators – but, as I’ve already implied, this would require more time, energy and motivation than I have left.
I might have handed ownership of the group over to another member – but this scenario involves a gamble that I’m not willing to make, namely: that the new owner will uphold those ethics and principles that I worked so hard to instill in Kansas City Freecycle (particularly in relation to the group’s no-animal policy, the enforcement of which is the sole reason why I’ve stuck around this long).
I might have given Kansas City Freecyle to freecycle.org and let them choose a new owner and team of moderators. Again, in this scenario I risk freecycle.org misusing my hard work to permit or even promote the freecycling of animals, a practice which opens the doors to all sorts of abuses. Additionally, I’ve grown increasingly disillusioned with freecycle.org and its founder, Deron Beal, over the course of my involvement with KC Freecycle; so much so that I’d rather spend another seven years moderating the group than allow Beal to appropriate my work and take credit for it. *
No doubt, some of you may see this as a selfish move on my part; maybe it is. When weighed against the seven years of blood, sweat and (at times) tears I’ve poured into Kansas City Freecycle, I think it a rather fair bargain.
Luckily, for those of you still interested in participating in a local buy/sell/trade/recycle/freecycle group online, there are plenty of options available. As I said earlier, many smaller freecycle groups exist in Kansas and Missouri; you can find a complete list at freecycle.org. Yahoo also hosts a number of local buy/sell/trade/free groups; we have a partial list on gratis-libros.kcfreecycle.org (see the sidebar); and no doubt you’ll discover more by searching Yahoo, Craigslist, Google and the like. I’m also confident that another freecycle group – or two or three! – will quickly spring up to serve the cities of KCMO and KCKS, whether it’s hosted on freecycle.org, Yahoo Groups, or elsewhere. Maybe you’re the next Kansas City Freecycle moderator? (If so, no animals, mkay?)
Until next we meet, I want to thank the moderators of Kansas City Freecycle for helping to make the group such a success. And, to our many members, current and past – we couldn’t have done it without you.
Keep on (f)re(e)cyclin’,
Kelly G.
founder, list owner and moderator
Kansas City Freecycle |
September 3, 2003 – July 24, 2010
P.S.:
Read the rest of this entry »Clarification: FFRF’s “I’m an Atheist and I Vote” ad campaign is not running on Washington, D.C., Metro buses, which prohibit political and advocacy ads. It’s actually featured on the Prince Williams and D runs on PRTC (Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission) commuter buses.
Commuter buses, BikeShare and kiosks in front of Metro Light parking garages feature messages from millennial atheist voters in advance of Reason Rally & D.C. Primary up through June 6
For the next two weeks, nonbelievers will be taking over the transportation system in the nation's capital.
Capitol Hill employees will ride to work in PRTC commuter buses wrapped with a giant message stating, “I’m an Atheist and I Vote.” Downtown commuters who drive or ride Capital BikeShare will be greeted by illuminated kiosk ads featuring young, millennial atheist voters.
The ads are part of Freedom From Religion Foundation's campaign to highlight the exploding secular voting demographic in advance of the June 4 Reason Rally |
daily, from 10 am to 2 pm in the premises of the House of Anarchy”. And in issue 22 it was stated that: “Comrades, who wish to enroll in the Black fighting squads, should be concerned with obtaining advice.
Not having recommendations they may not be included in the lists of fighting squads. Headquarters”. It was made clear that the Black Guard would not carry out policing operations like the Red Guards (raids, arrests, etc) as this was the latter’s prerogative. As regards the requisitioning of houses, these must be the work of a special commission composed of delegates of local groups. The Secretariat of the MFAG asked the Black Guard HQ to provide a list of all its members on April 4th.
On the other hand the Cheka and Red army units were able to arrest without being controlled by the Soviets, arbitrarily shooting people in their execution cellars after the death penalty had been abolished by the Soviet government. The action against the anarchists was not carried out by Red Guards or Red Army units, who would have refused to take part in these attacks, but by specialised units controlled by the Bolsheviks. It should also be noted that when the Red Guard units were hastily formed in 1917, they included criminals as well as German prisoners of war. Looting was carried out in Moscow in spring 1918 by Red Guard units and by the mandate of the Chekists, and if the Black Guard units were also not blameless, they had were not alone in this.
It was significant that the evening of the attack on the Moscow anarchists Peters, the second in command in the Cheka, was to show the British diplomat Lockhart around the sacked anarchist houses to send a message to the Western powers that the Bolsheviks were the party of order and were able to control and harness the revolution. Noting a murdered anarchist woman lying on the floor of one of the mansions, shot through the neck by the Cheka, he referred to her as a prostitute.
Skirda, A. (2000) Les anarchistes Russes, les soviets et la revolution de 1917. Paris.
Volin. (1974) The Unknown Revolution
Wade, Rex A.(1984) Red guards and workers’ militias in the Russian Revolution
Maximov, G. The True Reasons for the Anarchist Raids (Moscow 1918) at http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/brv25k
Dubovik, A. The Defeat of the Moscow anarchists at http://socialist.memo.ru/books/html/razgrom.html
The murder of Mikhail Sergeyevich Khodounov at: http://gulaganarchists.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/one-of-the-bandits-in-memory-of-comrade-khodounov/Marc Kelly Smith
MY FATHER’S COAT
I’m wearing my father’s coat.
He has died. I didn’t like him,
But I wear the coat.
I’m wearing the coat of my father,
Who is dead. I didn’t like him,
But I wear the coat just the same.
A younger man, stopping me on the street,
Has asked,
“Where did you get a coat like that?”
I answer that it was my father’s
Who is now gone, passed away.
The younger man shuts up.
It’s not that I’m trying now
To be proud of my father.
I didn’t like him.
He was a narrow man.
There was more of everything he should have done.
More of what he should have tried to understand.
The coat fit him well.
It fits me now.
I didn’t love him,
But I wear the coat.
Most of us show off to one another
Fashions of who we are.
Sometimes buttoned to the neck
Sometimes overpriced.
Sometimes surprising even ourselves
In garments we would have never dreamed of wearing.
I wear my father’s coat,
And it seems to me
That this is the way that most of us
Make each other’s acquaintance—
In coats we have taken
To be our own.
—from Rattle #27, Summer 2007
Tribute to Slam Poetry
[download audio]
__________
Marc Kelly Smith: “When people ask me, ‘Well what makes Chicago style different?’ I say, ‘It’s genuine.’ Because, like the show, your bullshit gets you just so far and then somebody’s going to call you on it in Chicago. It’s always been that way.” (web)(Ed. Note: August is known to be a very quiet month in the hockey world. As we wait for September to arrive and training camps to begin, let’s learn a little history about all 30 teams. Behold, our summer A-Z series, in which we ask fans of all 30 teams to drop some knowledge on us! Add your own choices in the comments!)
By: Beth Boyle Machlan, contributor for The Other Half
A. Amirante’s Anthems AND Amazons
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Had I written this in March, John Amirante would be featured here as the Rangers’ regular singer of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But on April 18th, 2015, just before the second game of the postseason against the Pens, the Garden announced with little fanfare that Amirante was singing his last anthem, leaving the fans deranged with rage.
Keep in mind that Rangers fans are usually deranged with rage about something or other, but putting a 35-year veteran out to pasture at the start of the playoffs represented the exact sort of middle finger to ritual and tradition that the hockey gods were unlikely to overlook. They brought Amirante back by popular demand for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final, but the damage was done; the Bolts won that night, according to Dan Rosen, “by playing like the Rangers,” and went on to win the series.
Published in 1980, Amazons claimed to be “An Intimate Memoir By the First Woman to Play in the NHL," Cleo Birdwell. It featured an author photo of a sultry blonde dressed as a Ranger (although her stick barely reaches her shoulder and her skates are the size of her torso), and the picture is an appropriate preface to a story that is light on hockey and heavy on sex.
Story continues
But in case you hadn’t guessed, Birdwell was never really a Blueshirt. She was created by Don DeLillo, author of American Lit survey stalwarts White Noise and Underworld, and apparently not much of a hockey fan. Sadly, DeLillo disowned Amazons back in 1985, and the book is now out of print.
B. Blue Seats
For 47 years, the Blue Seats were the Garden’s answer to Yankee Stadium’s Bleacher Creatures, a nosebleed-level pit filled with hard-drinking diehards, multi-generational season ticket holders, and contempt for the suits in the red seats below. Renovations to the Garden a few years back changed the look of the blue seats, but not their spirit, as anyone who has sat there recently can attest. If you bring the little ones, consider earplugs, or they may learn a whole lot of language to match their seats.
C. Curse of 1940
1940 was a good year for the Rangers; they beat the Leafs to win the Cup for the second time in a row, and they paid off their lease on Madison Square Garden.
It seemed fitting to combine these celebrations, so legend has it that they burnt the MSG lease in the bowl of the Cup. Apparently this ceremony didn’t sit well with the hockey gods, who regarded it as a desecration, and thus kept the Rangers from raising the Cup again until '93-'94.
Another theory behind the Curse is that Red Dutton, coach and GM of the New York Americans, got pissed when the NHL reneged on a promise to revive his Amerks after World War II, handing New York City over to the Rangers; rumor has it Dutton swore the Rangers wouldn’t lift another Cup for as long as he lived. Dutton died in 1987, so it must have taken the curse a few years to wear off.
D. Duguay, Ron AND Don and Dave Maloney
Unlike hockey teams, bands usually play only one line at a time. However, had Simon LeBon fallen off the stage when Duran Duran played the Garden back in 1984, Ron Duguay could have stepped right in.
From 1977 to 1983, he played center by day and frequented Studio 54 at night; today, Duguay appears, often blindingly, as an analyst on the MSG Network. His sartorial splendor dates back to the Reagan Administration, and his mullet made it until 2015; the color of his outfits compensates for the predictability of his commentary.
From 1974 to 1988, there was a Maloney brother on the Blueshirts bench; from 1978-1984, there was more than one.
Dave remains the youngest captain in Rangers history. In 1978-79, he led his team to the SCF; he also led the team in penalty minutes in three separate seasons. His little brother Don holds a ton of great Rangers records: fastest three goals by one player and fastest two goals in one game (a record tied this past season by Martin St. Louis and Rick Nash, against the Sharks). In 1984, the brothers shared the team’s “Crumb Bum” award for community service.
Today, after many years in the Rangers from office, Don Maloney is GM of the Arizona Coyotes, while Dave provides radio color commentary alongside Kenny Albert -- and I know more than one fan who turns the volume off on the TV and listens to Dave instead.
Here’s just one of many game-winning goals for Donny Maloney:
E. Emile Francis
Hall-of-Famer Emile Francis did fine on the ice, but his real contribution to the Blueshirts came from behind the bench.
Francis brought in “Boom-Boom” Gioffrion and Eddie Giacomin, and coached the famous Goal-A-Game line of Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield, and Rod Gilbert. He led the Rangers to the playoffs every year from 1962-1972, when they lost the Cup to the Bruins, and then he lost his job; he went on to help build the St. Louis Blues and the Hartford Whalers. The Emile Francis Trophy is presented yearly to the AHL team with the best record.
F. Fotiu, Nick
Fotiu was the first Ranger ever to have been born and raised in New York City – Staten Island, to be precise. He honed his enforcer skills as a Golden Gloves boxer, and warmed fans’ hearts by tossing pucks far up into the blue seats. They continued to cheer for him after he was traded away to the Whalers in the 1979 expansion, and rejoiced when the team brought him back in 1981 so that he could end his career as a Ranger.
Here he is against the Flyers’ Behn Wilson. “Good shot by Fotiu! Another good shot by Fotiu!”
Fotiu stuck up for his team even when he wasn’t playing. Here, he goes after a guy – possibly an off-duty LA King -- who reached over the glass to restrain the Rangers’ Ed Hospodar.
G. Giacomin, Eddie
There’s a reason why the even the Holiest of Goaltenders, Mike Richter, refers to Eddie Giacomin as “the iconic Rangers goalie.”
Fans loved the big-hearted, fearless Giacomin so much that, in 1975, when the Rangers faced him in net for Detroit two days after putting him out on waivers, they booed their own Blueshirts for scoring and chanted “EDDIE” instead. Final score: Detroit 6 – Rangers 4. You’ll want tissues for this one, folks.
H. Henrik Lundqvist
Yes, his last name begins with L. But we call him Hank or the King, we cheer him as “HEN-RIK!” and we know that he’s the bedrock, the backbone, the brick wall behind the Rangers’ recent success.
Lundqvist was part of the team’s turnaround way back in 2005, when Sports Illustrated picked them to finish dead last in the league. Instead, baby Hank, playing behind Jaromir Jagr and Petr Prucha, netted the Blueshirts their best record since winning the Cup in ’94. Today, his career regular season save percentage is.922, with a GAA of 2.23. (To put that in perspective, Carey Price comes in at.919, 2.44.)
Lundqvist is the face of the franchise – and what a face, amirite?
Seriously, though, another loss in the home stretch might just break Henrik’s heart, and we can’t have that. Rangers, win this guy a damn Cup already.
Just another day at the office:
Spin-o-Rama: Not just for offense anymore!
On a slightly less noble note, we really should have done a Kickstarter to pay the $5K this cost him, but what with his contract, Hank can probably cover it.
I....
I is certainly not for the Islanders, that’s for sure.
Since 1971, the team formerly known as the Fishsticks, now the Brooklyn/Barclay Buffoons (I may have made this up), has been engaging the Rangers in a Battle of New York that has been bitter, vituperative, and sometimes just plain weird, both on and off the ice.
But it’s not just the players, who, let’s face it, come and go, get traded, retire. The real rivalry is between the fans, who have now been hating each other for over two generations. There’s nothing quite like the dark, angry energy of a Rangers-Islanders game; imagining an entire arena eating bath salts chased with gin might give you some idea. Nothing makes a Rangers fan madder than a smug Islanders fan, because what do they have to be smug about? Yes, the Isles won four straight Cups – 30 YEARS AGO! No, as a matter of fact, they have NOT won a playoff series since 1993! And their goal song is incomprehensible.
So would you like to watch Dan Cloutier beat the living daylights out of Tommy Salo and then taunt the Isles bench? OF COURSE YOU WOULD!
You almost have to feel a little bad for them … except you don’t. Why? Because this past year, after beating the Rangers three times during the regular season, Islanders fans decided to create a new cheer: “You Can’t Beat Us.” So we beat them. Nice cheer, guys.
Of course, Rangers fans haven’t always comported themselves with the utmost dignity and grace either. What fun would that be? SANTA-FIGHT!
More recently, here’s Grandpa Dan Boyle making a memorable contribution to Rangers/Islanders Museum of Hate and Rage with an uppercut to Cal Clutterbuck (which sounds like something Franklin W. Dixon would have said about the Hardy Boys in 1952):
J. Jaromir Jagr
Obviously, the most notable fact about Jagr is that he could play the “J” for eight different NHL teams.
Drafted 5th overall in 1990, Jagr wore a Blueshirt from 2004-2008, took over as captain after Messier, and in 2006 became the only right wing to score 100 points in a season, among other records and awards in his time as a Ranger, including the Lester B. Pearson. Now entering his 25th season in the NHL, currently a Florida Panther, Jagr is beloved for his smile, his late, great mullet, and his merry band of Traveling Jagrs.
K. Kelly Kisio
Hall-of-Famer Kisio was a Blueshirt from 1986-1991, as well as the 21st man to wear the Rangers C (the 20th was Greschner, and 22nd was THE Captain, Mark Messier).
When asked by Jim Cerny what he remembers most about the Rangers, Kisio responded: “First thing for me is the fans. If you played hard and showed passion for the game the fans appreciated the effort you put in and would cheer for you and hope for you. But I tell you what, if you didn't play hard and didn't show the type of commitment that they showed in their everyday life, they could get you out of there in a hurry.”
Kisio clearly showed the right kind of commitment, as evident in this clip, which was chosen in part for the purity of its description: “Kisio sets up a Pierre Larouche goal and then whips some ass.” It’s true! Enjoy!
L. Leetch, Brian
Oh, baby. D-Man Leetch’s No. 2 jersey sails over the Rangers’ home ice. In that epic Cup year, he became the first American to take home the Conn Smythe, and over the course of his career also snagged two Norris Trophies and the Calder Cup.
In 2004, after failing to make the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season, the Rangers held their historic fire sale, and Leetch was traded to the Leafs for two prospects and two picks. Today, he occasionally plays the Trebek-like straight man to Duguay’s technicolor commentary on MSG Network.
Here’s the goal that started Game 7:
M. Mark Messier, Mike Richter, AND “MATTEAU! MATTEAU! MATTEAU!”
Yes, Stephane Matteau scored the game-winning goal in double-overtime of Game 7 against Brodeur and the Devils to clinch the Eastern Conference Final and move on to that glorious Cup win. There’s no such thing as a bad goal in that situation, but the perfect placement of that puck has long since been overshadowed by the pure joy of Howie Rose’s exultant cries, a moment that makes any real Rangers fan wonder how the hell this room got so dusty, who’s chopping onions, etc. Oh, who cares. Watch it and weep, and keep the Kleenex handy.
We may have to play with the order of Mike Richter’s initials to put him here, but there’s no doubt that he belongs, not only for his netminding, but for his continued career as an all-around amazing human being. After saving pucks, he graduated from Yale (yes, really) and now saves the planet (again, yes, really) as a founder of Healthy Planet Partners and by working with Riverkeeper, the Nature Conservancy, and the Sierra Club.
But enough of that hippy crap; let’s watch him play. In Game 4 of the final, the Rangers were trailing the Vancouver Canucks when a wild pass left Pavel Bure breaking from the blue line Kreider-style, only to be tripped up by Brian Leetch. Bure was awarded a penalty shot … and then Mike Richter took that award, threw it on the ground, and stamped it into splinters with this right leg stretch save.
And then there’s Mark Messier, the Messiah, the Moose. What to say about a guy with a 25 year career in which he was the only NHL captain to win the Cup with two different teams, came in second all-time in regular season points, playoff points, and games played, and whose name graces the league’s Leadership Award? (Extra points for not giving it to Toews until he won his third cup, because HAHA, Tazer, how does it feel to want?)
How about that he stood behind his guarantee of a win in Game 6 against the Devils with a hat trick, including this empty-netter?
Or that he scored the Game 7 game-winner?
And that he smiled with that big Messier Muppet-mouth for one of – if not THE most – iconic images in Rangers history?
Here’s the whole thing:
N. Nash, Rick
Poor Rick Nash. Or is it poor Rangers? Depends on who you ask, but you probably shouldn’t ask during the playoffs … unless of course that’s EXACTLY when you should ask.
The Paradox that is Rick Nash – the Nashadox, if you will – can be summed up in the fact that the guy came in third in the league in scoring this year on the strength of the first part of the regular season, and then proceeded to go practically dry for the final third, including the playoffs. (The one night he got two goals, in Game 6 against Tampa, the Rangers didn’t even need them.) But the game is more than goals, right? Nash continues to rack up points via assists (14 in 19 playoff games). He’s a possession-dominant forward who plays great D, and coach Alain Vigneault is positive his playoff game will fall into place; he didn’t get much postseason experience in Columbus. Which makes sense, right? I mean, look at this, especially the absolutely filthy dangle at 1:20:
But tell that to the fans. This summer, the Nashadox crossed sport and gender lines:
Tobin Heath is apparently the Rick Nash of the US national team, she only scores unimportant goals with 2 goal cushions #RangersTwitter — Beezer (@Angry_VBK) July 6, 2015
I’ll let the blue-seaters (see: B) in front of me during the second round series sum it up for you …
FAN 1: Would you trade Nash for Ovi?
FAN 2: Trade him? I would KILL Nash for Ovi!
O. “Ooh! La la! Sasson!”
Apparently when it came to coolness, being a Ranger in the 80s was the sports equivalent of driving a talking car -- or that’s what THEY thought, anyway. Who would have guessed that a commercial utterly dedicated to hockey butt could look this bad? It was the Reagan era, but I guess the Rangers hadn’t yet hired anyone to 'Just Say No' to Phil Esposito, Anders Hedberg, Ron Duguay, Don Maloney, and Ron Greschner … so we have this.
And this. Just … wow.
Since we’re utterly humiliated already, why not add this. At least it was for a good cause:
P. "Potvin Sucks!"
Ever since Denis Potvin broke Ulf Nilsson’s ankle in what Nilson himself insists was a clean hit, way back in 1979, Rangers fans, particularly the Blue Seaters, have transformed the last three notes of the sports standard “Let’s Go Band” into their cue for “Potvin sucks!” When the MSG organist stopped playing the song to try to kill the cheer, fans simply whistled the notes instead. While some are more than ready to see the tradition die, others still listen for the whistle, and respond.
NO:
That "Potvin Sucks" chant has to go. — Rob Z (@Rob_InTheSlot) May 30, 2015
YES:
Love the Potvin Sucks chant at Yankees Stadium @Yankees can't wait for @NYRangers hockey to start #NYY #NYR — Andy Suekoff (@Andy_Suekoff) August 18, 2015
OH COME ON:
Here’s the “cheer,” such as it is:
Q. Quickie
No, not THAT kind of quickie. Come on, people.
Quickie is what current head coach Alain Vigneault calls Swedish winger Jesper Fast, who really hasn’t earned the right to be on this list. However, I’m using his nickname to a) kill off a tough letter and b) stand in for SPEED, which is something the Rangers have lots of – although not as much as we did before trading Carl Hagelin to the Ducks (sob).
Pregame interviews with other teams frequently focus on the need to shut down the Rangers’ speed, probably because of goals like this.
… and this:
Maybe now that Hags and Kreider are no longer on the same team, we’ll see a race for the puck that determines who’s the fastest, once and for all.
R. Rye, Playland, and the Ramada Inn
NY Times
Tony Gervino of the New York Times asks: “How much trouble could hockey players get into in a sleepy hamlet known mostly for IBM’s world headquarters? The answer? Plenty.”
For years before MSG built the state-of-the-art facility in Tarrytown, the Rangers practiced at Playland. (And for one of those years, they lived -- and by “lived” I mean “ran amok” -- at a Ramada Inn.) That 80s playoff drought may have been due to sharing a sheet with a bunch of local kids’ teams, including mine; our rec room (shut up, I’m old) was full of sticks and pucks handed to us by players like John Vanbiesbrouck, Tomas Sandstrom, and Pierre LaRouche. Forgive me for including a Formative Fan Moment: In 1987, they were clomping off the ice and my team was clomping on, when one of them mumbled, “Girl hockey players. Cool.” I’d give a toe to know who it was, but back then I was way too shy to look them in the eyes. So Random ’87-'88 Ranger … if by some miracle you’re reading this, thanks.
S. “Shoot the puck, Barry!”
“Shoot the puck, Barry!” came from outspoken TV commentator and Hall of Fame referee Bill “the Big Whistle” Chadwick, who grew frustrated by defenseman Barry Beck’s insistence on accumulating assists – or just futzing around – instead of putting the puck on net. Fans brought the phrase from TV to the Garden, where it became a chant, especially during the power play. (Oh, the power play. It’s under “Y.” Don’t ask.) This tribute to Chadwick came from the David Hinkley of the Daily News: “He was everything a radio school would tell you you don't want in a broadcaster. He mangled names. He tortured grammar. He rooted as hard for the Rangers as any nut in the blue seats. He was great.”
T. Tex Rickard
He turned the New York Americans, the Amerks for short, into his own Tex’s Rangers back in 1925. Conn Smythe (sound familiar?) was hired to coach the new team, but Rickard ended up paying him to leave. The Rangers had a great first season, became 20’s men about town, and earned their nickname the Broadway Blueshirts.
U. Ulf(s), Nilsson and Samuelsson
Ulf Nilsson was in the first wave of Swedish stars to make a splash in the NHL. Today, he’s probably best-known for his part in the origin story of that controversial “tribute” to Denis Potvin at letter P. (Apparently Nilsson’s blade got caught in the crappy MSG ice, leaving his leg to take the brunt of Denis Potvin’s hit, decimating his ankle.) He played only 160 games in 3 full seasons, but somehow racked up 163 points – and one of the most notorious cheers in hockey history. Here’s the hit:
Ulf Samuelsson is still on the Rangers bench, today as an assistant coach. He won the Cup twice, albeit with the Penguins (shudder), and had a great Swedish nickname, “Tuffe Uffe,” which sounds, well, not very tough (sorry Sweden). This Ulf also gives great YouTube, for all the wrong reasons. He was on the business end of this historic Tie Domi sucker punch:
He’s also the only NHL player who can claim the dubious honor of having knocked out Wayne Gretzky’s wife.
Fortunately, Gretzky was on his team at the time, so they handled it like gentlemen. Then there was that unfortunate “spying” incident with the Habs in 2014. Now help us win a Cup, Ulf, and get known for something else.
V. Vanbiesbrouck, John
Don’t let the name that sounds like a Hudson River bridge fool you; Beezer was born in the U S of A, and his 20-year career is the longest for an American-trained goalie in NHL history. He joined the Rangers in 1984 and won the Vezina in 1986. He and eventual Cup-winner Mike Richter actually shared the net for a few seasons, until expansion forced the Rangers to make a choice, and Vanbiesbrouck went to the Canucks.
Here is a gorgeous glove save (ignore the uniform):
Here is a terrible glove accident (ignore the uniform here, too, but for a different reason):
W. Worsley, Lorne “Gump”
Author Randi Druzin observed that Worsley “looked more like a cartoon character than an elite athlete,” but fortunately he played like the latter. He joined the Rangers farm team, the Verdun Cyclones, as a walk-on back in 1946, and had to quit his job as an apprentice upholsterer (!) when the team invited him to New York.
When Chuck Rayner pulled a leg muscle in 1952, Gump the rookie won the Calder Trophy in spite of having the worst GAA of any starting goalie in the league. After being briefly traded away for requesting a $500 raise, Gump was between the pipes for the Blueshirts from 1954-1963, behind a defense so bad he often faced 50 shots per game. According to Druzin, when a reporter asked Gump which team gave him the most trouble, he replied, “The New York Rangers.”
He was happy to be traded to the Habs for Jacques Plante in 1963. When he returned to the Garden in 1966-67, fans showed their appreciation by hitting him in the head with an egg so hard that he had to leave the game. (Related: Worsley wore a mask for only the last 6 of his 931-game NHL career.)
X. EriXon, Jan
Known as the Shadow for his finesse at shutting down forwards like Gretzsky and Lemieux, Erixon played left wing for the Blueshirts from 1983-93, and was a finalist for the Selke in 1988. By all accounts, Erixon was not only a valuable player but also a perfect gentleman. While the rest of the 80s Rangers were modeling jeans and mummifying each other in duct tape (see “O” and “R”), Erixon was a grownup, as befits a two-time winner of Steve McDonnell extra effort award. Here he is chatting with Al Trautwig in 2010.
Y. Yandle, Keith
To which you say, “Yandle? Really? He’s been a Ranger for, like, ten minutes!” True, but we’re going to use him as a stand-in – a synecdoche, if you will – for the Rangers power play which, while never digging its way back to the 0-36 depths of last season, continues to be unreliable at best and epically atrocious at worst. (And don’t even get me started on 5-on-3s.)
Both Yandle and Dan Boyle were brought in as anchors for a boat that seems determined not only to drift away, but also to sink, taking women, children, and perhaps even the Cup with it. To which you will respond: “But Beth! Didya notice that we got to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals last year, and Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals this year, in addition to picking up a little piece of hardware known as the PRESIDENT’S TROPHY?” To which I respond, “All true. So why do I still have to cover my eyes during our power play?”
Maybe because of this?
Just one powerplay without the other team threatening to score a shortie. That's all I want. #NYR — Adam Hester (@GCSounderFan) May 30, 2015
Or this?
Brad Richards point shot power play goal gets the #NHL #Blackhawks on the board, while #NYR fans mumble words unsuitable for family websites — Denis Gorman (@DenisGorman) June 9, 2015
Hey, remember when I said I wasn’t going to talk about 5-on-3s? I lied.
So yes, I want to hear Sam Rosen say those words as much as the next girl. Maybe 2015-2016 will be the season I can actually look.
Z. Zuccarello, Mats
Since donning a Blueshirt in 2010, Mats Zuccarello has become the heart of the Rangers for fans and teammates alike. We giggled with him as he and his bros visited the zoo, we held our breaths until Sather re-signed him this past March, we watched in horror as he skated slowly off the ice after taking teammate Ryan McDonagh's slapshot in the head, and we wept with him when his best bro (and the team’s best hair) Carl Hagelin got traded to the Ducks in June.
In spite of what sometimes seems like a pathological refusal to shoot, the Hobbit’s injury left a Chara-sized hole in the offense that hurt us badly in the 2015 playoffs. Our fingers and toes are crossed that Zucc will be back to his old tricks on and off-ice this season.
Meet the author: Beth Boyle Machlan teaches writing at NYU and rants about hockey over at The Other Half. She’s been a Rangers fan since sharing practice ice with them at Rye Playland in the late 80s. Follow her on Twitter at @bethmachlan.
Previous A to Z Guides: Anaheim | Arizona | Boston | Buffalo | Calgary | Carolina | Chicago | Colorado | Columbus | Dallas | Detroit | Edmonton | Florida | Los Angeles | Minnesota | Montreal | Nashville | New Jersey | NY Islanders
MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTSI was pleased to see the recent news about alien images appearing on a wall in Canada.
If you haven't seen the story, the upshot is that some reflected light shows up every non-overcast day on someone's house in Calgary, and the resulting image looks something like a cross between Gollum and the Reddit mascot. Thus, aliens.
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This is nonsense, unfortunately. I would love for even one of the completely wall-slappingly insane phenomena that bubble up these days to be true.
If even one funnel-shaped cloud or particularly reflective seagull ended up being an actual alien craft, if even one person's Pomeranian really did house the mind of an ancient Egyptian emperor, if even one winged hominid got run over by a meth-infused trucker and examined by reputable scientists, then I could be happy in a world that's even weirder than it initially appears to be. Tragically, though, none of them pan out in the long run.
And yet, people keep devising theories. Some, not content to come up with explanations for unexplained phenomena, instead go to great lengths to come up with bizarre takes on explained phenomena.
Exhibit One: Rods
On some videos and photos, you can see odd smudges made up of a straight line with a sort of twirly fuzz around it. What are these things? Well, one theory is that they are creatures living in the atmosphere, invisible to the naked eye but for some reason able to be caught on videotape.
This theory is wrong. While I love the idea that your basic handheld Panasonic camera has mystical-vision powers, the fact is that you can capture "rod" video of your own by pointing a camera set to a slow shutter speed at a bunch of insects. The paranormal response? Yeah, those rods are insects, but there are other rods that are visually identical to the insects, but which are actually rods!
Exhibit Two: Orbs
If rods are too interesting for you, check out orbs. Where rods take the form of moving blurs, orbs manifest themselves as roughly circular blobs. Spine-chillingly circular!
Here's how it works. You take a photo of something with your cheapie digital camera, and the picture has a translucent gray dot on it. Clearly there's no explicable way for weird little visual artifacts to end up on digital photos, so they must be the spirits of the departed. This one's just sad. It's like you want to see Bigfoot, but you hate camping, so you just classify the dust bunnies under the couch as cryptids and call it a day.
Exhibit Three: Crowd Demons
I'm being a bit unfair here, because crowd demons aren't really a well-known phenomenon among the desperately wacky crowd, but the idea is so deliciously stupid I'm highlighting it here in hopes it will catch on.
On the GhostStudy.com website, you'll find a photo that purportedly shows two demons sitting next to each other at a musical recital. The site suggests that if you look long enough you'll see a shadow ghost.
It also says it shows "a dinosaur attacking a man (however, this is most likely an illusion)."
Yeah, most likely. There is less than a 50 percent chance that the photo actually shows a demon dinosaur eating a guy's head. Another guy found a bunch of crowd demons at a Republican rally. I'm not actually seeing most of those, but maybe I just don't have the patience to play a proper game of Where's Weirdo?
As obvious as the rational explanations for all these phenomena are, I'm a bit sad. I'd enjoy living in a world filled with normally invisible creatures that only show their true, blurry forms on discount audiovisual equipment. Kind of like YouTube, only with more flying and fewer anime clips.
- - -
Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to become a Jersey Devil, a Dover Demon and a Pittsburgh Penguin.
Science vs. Religion: The Ultimate Smackdown
Underwire: Alt Text Video: Picking Apart Logical Fallacies
Iron Man vs. Various Nefarious Ferrous Adversaries
Fat Lady Sings for a Geeky Time Traveler
Underwire: Alt Text Video: Scrutinizing Superheroines“We’re the best, right? Formula 1 is the best, and we don’t need anything in it that isn’t the best…
“People going on about only 19 or 20 cars in the race… OK, so what? The size of the field doesn’t bother me at all. It is much better for us to have a smaller, better quality grid than to have a lot of makeweights. We’re in the quality business, not quantity...
“What I want to get away from is breeding people who shouldn’t be in Formula 1, which we’ve got at the moment. Why are they here? Because they thought it was easier than it is – and if they were going to die, they should have |
in perilous times; the signs are all around us. We are acutely aware of the negative influences in our society that stalk traditional families.
“We, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, must stand up to the dangers which surround us and our families” (“Constant Truths for Changing Times,” April 2005 general conference).
The kingdom of God requires valiant discipleship, said Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a General Authority Seventy. “There is no room for average or complacent disciples. Average is the enemy of excellence, and average commitment will prevent you from enduring to the end” (“Stay by the Tree,” April 2015 general conference).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (1981-2004), explained that “merely being lukewarm” in our righteous desires to follow the Savior’s plan is “yet another variation of the ‘sorrowing of the damned,’ ” (Mormon 2:13).
“Righteous desires need to be relentless,” Elder Maxwell said, “because, said President Brigham Young, ‘the men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle every day’ (in Journal of Discourses, 11:14). Therefore, true Christian soldiers are more than weekend warriors.”
The Apostle Paul was perhaps referring to this battle when he urged the Ephesians to “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).
To those desiring to be “true Christian soldiers,” Heavenly Father has provided powerful protection against the incessant onslaught of the devil. With “loins girt about with truth” and “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (vs. 13, 15), we can be prepared at any time to fight — like David battling Goliath — or flee — like Joseph of Egypt running away from Potiphar’s wife. Either way, we are ready to move and to act.
Just as modern body armor helps to defend against bullets and shrapnel, our “breastplate of righteousness” and “shield of faith” — our obedience to the commandments of God and willingness to act in His name — help to safeguard us against “the fiery darts of the wicked” (vs. 16).
With a “helmet of salvation,” we protect our minds and with a “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (vs. 14, 17), we can defend truth and righteousness. For, as the prophet Helaman teaches, the word of God “is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked” (Helaman 3:29).
Yet, even dressed for battle, we must be vigilant, ready to follow the orders of our most trusted Leader. Complacency, in effect, is a form of pride where we believe our way is best or our view is the correct one. In a devotional at Brigham Young University earlier this year, Elder Carl B. Cook, a General Authority Seventy, explained, “Pride, that sinister, grievous, subtle, disrupting, insidious, menacing, and rotten attribute of the natural man, constantly pulls us to focus on ourselves, our looks, our talents, our desires, our goals, our passions — on me, me, me. We look inward rather than outward toward others or up to God. Pride focuses on what I want instead of on what others want or on what God wants.
“The antidote for pride is humility. It is humbling ourselves and putting God’s will above our own, seeking what He wants instead of what we want and aligning our will with His.”
Elder Cook said that when he loses the Spirit or feels distant from God or from others, pride is often at the root of the problem. “I have found it helpful to ask myself, ‘Is it my pride that is causing this conflict?’ When there is tension in a relationship, I ask, ‘Is it pride?’ When I am not getting along with my leader, ‘Is it pride?’ When I am not getting along with those whom I am called to lead, ‘Is it pride?’ When I shrink from correction, ‘Is it pride?’ I find that inevitably when I ask myself the question ‘Is it pride?’ the Spirit whispers, ‘Yes, it is!’ ”
While the enticements of the devil are real, the enticements of the Holy Ghost are also very real and powerful, Elder Cook assured.
And, as a servant of the Lord, President Packer promised, “You will be protected and shielded from the attacks of the adversary if you will heed the promptings that come from the Holy Spirit.”
Rather than being complacent or lukewarm in our discipleship, let us be valiant, humble, and submissive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, that we may be able to “withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13).Time to start making your shopping list: Our holiday show vendor list is live! Thanks to the extra space in the UC Rec Center’s gymnasium, we have 30 more vendors and still more elbow room for shoppers than last year! Our 130 vendors represent a dozen states, from as far away as Georgia and New York, and a third of them are totally new to Crafty Supermarket!
You can RSVP for the show here — it’s totally free for shoppers! — and invite all your friends! Here are some of the cool kids who will be selling at Crafty Supermarket for the first time on Nov. 19:
Aromaholic of Detroit, MI
Champaign Paper of Beach City, OH
CK TC Ceramics of Cincinnati, OH
Cold Gold of Knoxville, TN
Fresh Camp of Cleveland, OH
Fieldwork Ceramics of Philadelphia, PA
Happy Grey Skies of Traverse City, MI
Heartell Press of Brooklyn, NY
Rheino Ceramics of Cincinnati, OH
Questionable Press of Lancaster, OH
Sara Sartarelli | Tessuti of Cincinnati, OH
Two of Wands of New York, NY
Are you still accepting vendors? Applications for the Crafty Supermarket holiday craft show closed Sept. 1. We get more applications for the show than we can accept, so we can’t allow any late applications out of fairness to crafters who applied before the deadline. If a spot opens up from a vendor being unable to attend the show, we select alternates from the people who applied before the deadline. If you want to apply to be in our next show, be sure to follow us here on the website, on Facebook or via our e-newsletter. We broadcast our upcoming opportunities in all those places! Information about our 2017 spring show will be posted in January.
AdvertisementsA warning for future space colonizers: Babies born in space might not ever figure out how to deal with gravity. Jellyfish babies, at least, have to deal with massive vertigo on Earth after spending their first few days in space.
NASA first started sending jellyfish to space aboard the Columbia space shuttle during the early '90s to test how space flight would affect their development. As cool as being an astronaut baby sounds, the jellies didn't develop the same gravity-sensing capabilities as their Earthly relatives.
Jellyfish tell up from down through calcium sulfate crystals that ring the bottom edge of their mushroom-like bodies. The crystals are housed in little pockets lined with hair cells, and when the jellyfish moves, the crystals roll around, signaling to the brain which way is up by stimulating those hair cells. The pockets seemed to develop normally in space, but the astro-jellies later had trouble figuring out how to swim around in normal gravity. They had abnormal pulsing and movement when returned to Earth compared to non-astronaut jellyfish.
Humans sense gravity and acceleration using otoliths, calcium crystals in the inner ear (similar to those jellyfish have) which move sensitive hair cells to tell the brain which way gravity is pulling. So if the jellyfish had trouble developing their gravity senses in space, it's likely human space babies would get major vertigo too.
Deep Sea NewsThe Penguin is the odd egg (no pun intended...okay, maybe a little) in the Batman rogue's gallery. He is closer to the mob-boss type villain, having his hand in more real-life crimes like gambling, prostitution, and drug running, avoiding the archetype of the wacky madman with a theme (though Oswald Cobblepot does love himself some birds) while maintaining the facade of legitimate businessman with aspirations to high society.
Director Tim Burton, however, went another route for his film “Batman Returns” and made the Penguin a physically deformed sewer dweller and former circus freak show act. While at first glance the change seems to have been made so to fit in Burton's frequently used storyline of the disfigured outcast who can never fit in (quote: “You're just jealous, because I'm a genuine freak and you have to wear a mask!”), this version seems to have incorporated elements of another Bat-villain: Killer Croc.
While some parts that are associated with Croc (sewer dwelling, animalistic attributes, cannibalism) came later in the character's life, he's always been a social outcast due to his deformities.
The Burton Penguin exhibits the same traits that both characters share, that of a deformed man who yearns to be part of normal society, despite clearly never being able to fit in, combining their most extreme elements into one disturbing creature that both hates and longs to be part of the above world (like some grotesque little mermaid parody made by that angsty teen you knew back in high school).The Guardian recently published a piece, UN experts denounce ‘myth’ pesticides are necessary to feed the world, where they claim that pesticides are an unethical marketing ploy by chemical companies, that has lead to disastrous consequences.
Strong claims require strong evidence. The authors of this report unfortunately do the discussion on pesticide use a disservice by relying so much on hyperbole from activist organisations rather than focusing on peer-reviewed sources.
There are valid discussions to be had about the inappropriate use of pesticides, especially in the developing world – but this type of rhetoric as displayed in the report and the Guardian piece, lacking a proper regard for evidence, does not help the situation of the farmers most in need of our help.
Let’s take a look at the report, and the perspectives of UN organisations on the topic. This report is published under the UN organisation that deals with human rights: United Nations Office of the Human Rights High Commissioner.
Very similar to the observation I once made in the case of another publicised UN report – Myth: UN Calls for Small-Scale Organic Farming – is that the Human Rights Office might not be the first UN agency to turn to, should one be seeking for an organisational statement about the usefulness of an agricultural method. There are, however, three other UN agencies which deal with questions relevant to agriculture: the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
If you look at FAO’s view on pesticides, they refer to the 1992-founded arm of the organisation, called International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), which deals with important questions on Food Safety. They do not sound at all as dismissive about the need for pesticides.
First and foremost, they highlight what a great threat pests are to food security:
A range of pests of plants pose a greater threat to food security than ever before, thanks to changes in global trade that enable the pests to move further and faster than before, and to climate change which creates favourable conditions where they did not exist before. For some pests, management options exist to bring invasions under control, possibly even eradicating the pest. For many others, there may be no way to stem the invasion which can affect food security negatively.
There is also a lot of talk about the importance of proper management and the appropriate application of pesticides at FAO, if you read the latest joint meeting of FAO and WHO meeting report on Pesticide Management, from 2015. There is little talk there that would confirm the ‘expert view’ promoted in the Guardian piece – no talk of eradicating the use of pesticides, certainly, and a lot of talk of on-going FAO management courses and guidelines and how the information can best be spread in developing countries. The absence of any goal of getting rid of pesticides, would indeed be strange, if the Guardian piece accurately reflected the ‘view of UN experts’. But the problem may be that the report mentioned by the Guardian does not come from agricultural experts of the UN. It comes from human rights experts and lawyers.
A maze of opinions in the place of evidence
The arguments of a UN-arm not related to agriculture could certainly be well-founded as well, if they relied on sound evidence – say, on peer-reviewed studies on the risk-benefit ratios of pesticides. So what are the sources in the Human Rights report?
What stands out directly is the prominence of non-peer-reviewed sources. In fact, they source many activist organisations who clearly have an agenda to fight against pesticides: Pesticide Action Network, Beyond Pesticides, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace. They also cite blog articles, books, and several pieces of popular media – ironically, coming around in a short circle, they also use The Guardian as a source. This is a very suspiciously roundabout way of making what should be an evidence-based argument. If there were good evidence to abandon pesticides altogether, then the best way to make that argument would be to clearly present the most compelling evidence – not by obstructing the question by presenting as evidence the existence of pieces written by people and activist organisations who fervently believe there to be insurmountable problems with pesticides.
This is not a scientific report. It’s writers are not experts in agriculture. They do not rely on solid scientific evidence in their conclusions. To quote the Entomologist (an insect scientist) who runs the page Relax, I’m an Entomologist:
The sources are garbage and do not reflect any sort of scientific expertise. There are some decent cherry picked peer reviewed sources, but this alone should discredit the entire report. If I were grading this paper from one of my students, I’d have them completely redo it or simply fail them.
To describe the use of some of the more reliable sources cited, lets examine the case of pesticide poisonings. The report opens by citing yearly poisoning deaths from pesticides at 200,000 per year. Looking closer at the source of that number, however, one can trace it (via a literature review, then another scientific paper from 2003) to a WHO report from 1990. In other words, the statistics are at least 17 years old. Many of the sources in that report are from the 70s and the 80s. If this is an important argument, should we not have an idea how the situation might have changed in the last decades? The report also points out that in the case of many countries, 60-75% of those cases of poisoning are intentional. They are humane tragedies brought upon by hardship, and the most extreme case of inappropriate use of a pesticide – not the result of a normal farming practice. Removing pesticides from the picture completely is unlikely to improve the tragic circumstances which might drive someone to suicide, though their choice of method might be different.
Scientific references that do not actually back up the arguments they are supposed to support
There are some references to scientific publications as well, though far fewer percentage that one would wish for. Digging deeper into those also quickly brings up problems. For one, they make the claim that pesticides do not protect from crop losses:
96. Despite their widespread use, chemical pesticides have not achieved reduction in crop losses in the last 40 years.[78]
Their reference 78 is to E.C. Oerke, Crop losses due to pests, Journal of Agricultural Science (February 2006). What the article in fact presents, is a much more nuanced argument about continued crop losses despite pesticides, asserting in the same sentence that pesticides have, however, enabled greater crop productivity, and they argue for ecologically sound ways of using pesticides. What this means, is that even the rare hand-picked peer-reviewed source in the report does not back up their simplistic views on pesticides being unnecessary:
The increased use of pesticides since 1960 obviously has not resulted in a significant decrease of crop losses; however, in many regions they have enabled farmers to increase crop productivity considerably without losing an economically non-acceptable proportion of the crop to pests. The concept of the threshold-based application of pest control measures is associated with the acceptance of crop losses and may be used successfully for an economically and ecologically sound crop production.
In fact, that same paper estimates that the potential for crop losses, if pests were given free range, varies from about 50% in wheat to more than 80% in cotton all in all, and the reduction in yields without pesticides are estimated at 26–29% for soybean, wheat and cotton, and 31, 37 and 40% for maize, rice and potatoes. They conclude:
an increase in crop productivity without adequate crop protection does not make sense, because an increase in attainable yields is often associated with an increased vulnerability to damage inflicted by pests.
The report also cites another report by International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES), which has many notable problems, excellently outlined by a Norwegian agronomist Øystein Heggdal over at Food and Farm Discussion Lab: Deconstructing How Environmental Groups Mislead on Organics.
The UN Human Rights report goes on to claim that biotech crops entrap farmers:
…genetically engineered crops may create a cycle of entrapment for farmers, with herbicide-tolerant crops eventually requiring more herbicides to fight pest resistance. Farmers using genetically engineered seed are obliged to buy the pesticides that go along with it, benefiting the pesticide industry without considering the economic burden on famers or the cost to the environment.[79] Farmers’ right to assess technologies such as genetically engineered crops and weigh these in the light of other possible alternatives has also been ignored under the assumptions of conventional economics.[80] Indeed some argue that the development of alternatives has been undermined by the emphasis on investment in genetically engineered technologies.[81]
For this argument, they cite a french activist organisation Pollinis 79; a scientific article 80 that surveyed farmers in Cuba, Guatemala, and Mexico, for which seeds they preferred to buy, concluding that farmers who didn’t know much about biotechnology were more likely to choose traditional varieties; and an apparently unrelated scientific article 81 about gene drives and biotechnology, looking at questions such as eradicating disease-spreading mosquitos with GE-mosquitos, and discussing the regulation of biotech organisms.
The arguments are concerning, especially considering that GE crops have helped reduce harsher pesticides in the developing world, where safe pesticide handling is most at question. A study on the Impact of Genetically Modified Maize on Smallholder Risk in South Africa finds lower risk for farmers using biotech crops, and International Food Policy Research Institute makes the following assessment:
Savings in terms of increased gross margins (114%), reduced pesticide costs (62–96%), beneficial human and environmental effects, and improved yields (18–29%) over conventional crops in the presence of pest pressure have been documented for small-scale African farmers growing commercial GM crops. This despite high variation among crops, time, and geographies.
The European Academies Science Advisory Council’s (ESAC), in their report summary in Planting the Future, also highlights how the technology offers significant economic and health benefits at the farm level, particularly to smallholder farmers in developing countries, not least because of the associated decreases in pesticide use.
For perspectives of farmers in the developing world, you can read about a brinjal-farmer in Bangladesh or a cotton-farmer in India, who speak about their switch to GE-brinjal and GE-cotton, and the resulting dramatic decrease in pesticide use on their farms. These trends have also been scientifically reported, here articles about these developments in China: Widespread adoption of Bt cotton and insecticide decrease promotes biocontrol services, and India: Bt cotton cuts pesticide poisoning.
Update: Other aspects of the report are also discussed well in an article by Kevin Folta, Anti-Ag U.N. Report Written by Attorneys Argues for Big Ag, where he avidly points out the contradictions in how the report argues against industrial agriculture, while illuminating the harm that occurs in small-scale farming in the developing world, including child labour, and the inappropriate use of pesticides in inexpert hands:
Over exposure, harm to the environment– these are NOT happening on large farms in the industrialized world. Misuse mostly occurs on small holder operations in the developing world.
Others have also pointed out the questionable use of the “Monsanto Tribunal” among the report’s sources – a meeting funded and organised by organic lobbyists and activists in a rented conference room in Hague, which they called a tribunal, for… more condemning media-value? You can read more about that here.
The report undermines the real discussion of correct pest(icide) management
This is very important – for there are real dangers with inappropriate use of pesticides, especially in the developing world. This is why FAO makes such a big deal about getting the information on proper pesticide management out to all farmers. Pesticides should only be used when absolutely necessary, and with adherence to proper safety protocols. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) helps take steps that reduce the need for pesticides. FAO highlights problems with small-scale farmers without knowledge and gear necessary for the safe handling of the more harmful types of pesticides, many which are largely restricted, or in the process of being phased out, among the farmers in the developed world. From a FAO news piece:
Among international organizations, including FAO, the World Health Organization and the World Bank, there is consensus that highly hazardous products [such as organophosphates] should not be available to small scale farmers who lack knowledge and the proper sprayers, protective gear and storage facilities to manage such products appropriately.
Even for the highly hazardous pesticides, they consider a ban to be the last measure, if other approaches are not sufficient in ensuring safety. If you look at the latest seminars of the FAO arm of International Plant Protection Convention, they underline the goal of scientifically sound, appropriate use of pesticides, with the aim not to increase pesticide use. If all these experts thought pesticides were in fact unnecessary, they might have aimed for cessation – or hey, at least a reduction – of use. But they don’t.
Even the sensationalist Guardian piece paradoxically prints a quote about the incredulity of the claim they broadcast in their headline. They quote a UK Crop Protection Association (perhaps hoping that since they speak for agricultural companies, people will automatically discount their words about science and the FAO?):
“The UN FAO is clear on this – without crop protection tools, farmers could lose as much as 80% of their harvests to damaging insects, weeds and plant disease.” “The plant science industry strongly agrees with the UN special rapporteurs that the right to food must extend to every global citizen, and that all citizens have a right to food that has been produced in a way that is safe for human health and for the environment,” said the spokesman. “Pesticides play a key role in ensuring we have access to a healthy, safe, affordable and reliable food supply.”
The estimate of 80% loss does sound quite large, and while locally there may well be cases where this is true when a pest problem becomes very concentrated, I don’t know if I would accept that number as the average figure (the Oerke paper has that as the uppermost loss estimate for cotton, only). Agricultural researchers do echo the sentiment about the vital part pesticides play in farming, quoting 35-40% estimated losses without the use of pesticides – as reported in an article in Phys.org, with the headline, Why we need pesticides to feed the world:
Professor Kathleen Lewis, Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at University of Hertfordshire’s Department of Human and Environmental Sciences (HES) and Research Leader for the Agriculture and Environment Research Unit (AERU), says the use of pesticides is imperative to that goal. And that their continued use is one of the only ways that farmers can ensure the wellbeing of local ecosystems and rural populations. She said: ‘Without pesticides it has been estimated that global food production could fall by as much as 35-40%, increasing the cost of food and threatening food security. However, their use does involve potential risks to human health so pesticide policies, particularly those of the developed world, advocate the sustainable use of these chemicals to minimise the risks and maximise the benefits. ‘And as well as their primary use, pesticides also deliver other benefits such as reducing the labour, fuel and machinery required for crop protection activities which have a wider, positive impact on the environment.’
Improvements in farming are important – including improvements in pesticides use
Pesticide regulation has improved by leaps and bounds in the developed world. Pesticides in use in the West today are far less harmful than those used even a few decades ago, in fact many common household chemicals are more toxic. Some of the least toxic pesticides of all time have resulted in great reduction in harm for humans and non-target organisms as well as many other environmental benefits.
Using IPM, utilizing GE-crops that reduce the use for insecticides, moving to the use of the most effective and least harmful pesticides, we can improve the health of farmers as well as that of the environment. Herbicide tolerant crops, paired with the appropriate use of herbicides, have reduced erosion and run-off, and improved soil health, because they have enabled farmers to use the environmentally friendlier methods of no-till and conservation tillage in the US (see more in the piece by USDA).
To quote Debunking Denialism, these developments are unfortunately often undermined by the very organisations this UN Human Rights report relies so heavily upon. From The Perils of Anti-Pesticide Hysteria:
Developing newer and safer pesticides, replacing older and more harmful pesticides, and deploying biotechnology to help plants resist pests should be a global agricultural priority. Yet in a cruel twist, these crucial solutions are often opposed by many anti-pesticide activists and other extreme environmentalists who push fear and misinformation about “chemicals” and genetically modified crops.
In fact, pesticides have an important role in mitigating the burden farming poses for the environment – for more on that, please read the excellent Food and Farm Discussion Lab piece, Focus on pesticides is a distraction from major eco impacts. We should help bring the whole farming world to the point of efficient use of resources, including the appropriate use of the least harmful pesticides, instead of demonising an important and very varied method in the greater toolbox of farming.
I would like to thank the contributors on forums Pesticide Myth Busters (especially Mike Lewinski) and Food and Farm Discussion Lab for the collective effort of looking critically at this report.
For more pieces on these topics, you can find my collections of articles under Farming and GMOs or The Environment. If you would like to ask a question or have a discussion in the comments below, you are very welcome, but please take note of my Commenting policy. In a nutshell:
Be respectful. Back up your claims with evidence.Heights Kroger opens Cork & Tap
The Heights Kroger, 1035 North Shepherd, has just opened a new Cork &Tap beer and wine bar. The Heights Kroger, 1035 North Shepherd, has just opened a new Cork &Tap beer and wine bar. Photo: Kroger Photo: Kroger Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Heights Kroger opens Cork & Tap 1 / 24 Back to Gallery
Attention Kroger shoppers: There's a new bar on Aisle 9. Heights Kroger, 1035 N. Shepherd, recently got a new Cork & Tap, Kroger's in-store beer and wine bar.
The bar is part of Kroger's remodel of the Heights store that started in February and is set to be completed this week.
This is the third Cork & Tap in the Houston area: Kroger has one in Cypress at 20355 Cypresswood Dr., and in Katy at 1712 Spring Green Blvd.
The Heights' Cork & Tap features 12 beer taps, and eight red wines and eight white wines on tap. There is a two glass limit per person.
The Heights store also happens to boast Kroger's largest beer and wine selection in the state. The location carries 2,000 different wines and 750 beers (a 20 percent increase in both categories before the remodel). Customers who purchase wine in the store will be allowed to open the wine to be enjoyed at the bar.
Cork & Tap at Heights Kroger operates Monday through Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from noon to 8 p.m.Finian Cunningham (born 1963) has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he is a Master’s graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. For over 20 years he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organizations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. Now a freelance journalist based in East Africa, his columns appear on RT, Sputnik, Strategic Culture Foundation and Press TV.
In the 'Land of the Free’, the Washington political establishment and its mainstream media echo chamber are moving by sleight of hand to select the Democrat and Republican presidential nominees. Emphasis here on selection, not election.
The Socialist firebrand Bernie Sanders and billionaire magnate Donald Trump have both got momentum among ordinary voters. But as the electoral dynamic gathers pace, the political and media establishment are becoming increasingly desperate to throw spanners in the wheels.
Sanders and Trump may be at different ends of the political spectrum, but they have one big thing in common. They are outside the Washington establishment and both have articulated radical policies that appeal to ordinary voters in ways that confound vested Washington interests.
On the Republican side, Trump is the clear winner so far with the popular vote, riding well ahead of his nearest rival Ted Cruz and leaving John Kasich trailing in third place in the race to become presidential nominee in the general election due in November.
Read more
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders may have a lot of catching up do on his rival Hillary Clinton’s popular vote count in the Democrat contest. However, Sanders has what the pundits call “momentum” having won seven of the last eight primary and caucus outings.
Upcoming primaries in New York next week are being billed as “pivotal”. If Trump should win that would surely give him an assailable lead, whereas if Sanders pulls off another shock victory, the momentum in his campaign might become unstoppable, sweeping him to eventual presidential nomination.
Alarmed by the rise of the two outsiders, the establishment both within the respective political parties and in the mainstream media appear to be closing the gates on Trump and Sanders.
Trump this week hit out at what he called “the rigged system” of Republican party delegates and Super PACs who together could overturn his popularity among ordinary voters. In a so-called “contested convention” due in July, the Republican party grandees and their corporate money machine could sideline Trump for another candidate, even though the latter does not carry the popular vote within the party.
The New York Times reported this week a “Barrage of Attack Ads Threaten to Undermine Trump”. The paper discloses that Republican rivals and political action committees are planning to spend millions of dollars on new attack ads to discredit the business tycoon. Already a whopping $70 million has been spent by Republican opponents on negative campaigning against Trump.
For Sanders, the establishment gatekeepers appear to be only recently moving to action stations against his possible nomination. Up to now, the Vermont Senator has been largely ignored by the mainstream media in the US. He has been given a fraction of media coverage compared with other presidential hopefuls. But as Sanders picks up momentum among ordinary voters, “far beyond what anyone anticipated,” as the Washington Post noted, it is revealing that the media attacks are now starting to come thick and fast.
In recent days, the New York Times and the Washington Post have run a slew of vituperative articles aimed at discrediting Sanders as a hopeless revolutionary. Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman and doyen columnist at the Times lambasted Sanders for “easy slogans over hard thinking” and being “utterly unrealistic”.
The Washington Post was even more caustic, running no less than two commentaries by its editorial board where in one particularly snide editorial Sanders was written off for his alleged “shocking ignorance” on financial matters. The avowedly socialist candidate has won much popular support for his plans to break up big banks, as well as advocating universal healthcare and free college education. But the Post editors, as with Krugman at the Times, performed a vicious hatchet job on his policy ideas and credentials.
Both newspapers – the two leading US print outlets – were explicit in their endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
The Washington Post editorial board wrote: “Many voters share Mr. Sanders’s disdain for high finance and his nostalgia for an economy based more on manufacturing. But such prejudices, whether sound or not, provide an insufficient basis for remaking the world’s largest economy. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has a banking-sector reform proposal designed to address the highest risks to the financial system that remain after the first round of reform.”
If Bernie Sanders wins the New York primary next week not only will he have significantly reinforced his campaign momentum, the big state will give him a major boost to his tally of party delegates.
As the Washington Times noted“the pressure is on” Clinton to win New York. While she served as a senator there for eight years before joining the Obama administration in 2009 as Secretary of State, nevertheless Sanders has the home advantage having been born in Brooklyn and with a characteristic broad New York accent to prove it.
It is no coincidence that as Clinton ramps up personal attacks on Sanders (he has also given back some), the media establishment is beginning to crank up negative coverage on her rival. Clinton with her Wall Street connections and Washington insider affiliations is evidently the US establishment’s preferred candidate on the Democrat side.
These people are making history and there is no mainstream press here #DemocracySpring — Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) April 11, 2016
The salvos fired at Sanders over the past week from the big media are a foretaste of the concerted pummeling that await him should a New York victory occur. Up to now, he has been spared because Sanders wasn’t taken seriously as a candidate. But if he transforms into serious presidential candidate espousing a socialist ticket that is enthusing masses of voters, we can be sure that the establishment will close ranks to shut out his chances. A relentlessly negative media campaign will be at the forefront.
On the Republican side, Trump is not the candidate that the gatekeepers want to see go through to a nationwide presidential contest. For various reasons, Trump is too much of a maverick and potentially divisive politician. What the Washington and media establishments fear is that his run for the presidency could be destabilizing for the country, both at home and internationally. Moreover, Trump is scathing of the establishment politics in Washington, as his latest comments about the “system being rigged” indicate.
Whatever one may think of Trump or Sanders, their persona and politics, there is one common denominator on which both should be defended as a matter of democratic principle. It should be up to the voters to decide who becomes presidential nominees for their respective parties, and who eventually will become the next president of the US. Is that not supposed to be the bedrock principle of US democracy, or any democracy for that matter?
Clearly, however, the shenanigans by the two party establishments and the mainstream media demonstrate – if ever it needed to be demonstrated – that “democracy” in the US is something that is decided for the masses by their social superiors.
Trump and Sanders, for different reasons, do not fit into the mold determined by the “gatekeepers”. As the end of the respective presidential races draws closer, we will see the gates being pushed ever harder to keep out the undesirables – and that includes the democratic choice of the masses.In yet another instance of going overboard, a man who lives in Craig, CO wants to have a law in that city that would require every head of household (with some exceptions) to own a rifle. Not just any rifle, but one that can accommodate high-capacity magazines. You know, like an AR-15 Bushmaster. Because we don’t have enough of those out there.
Craig Rummel approached the city council with the proposal because of economic reasons, he says:
“Coal, the power plant and hunting pretty well sums up what we offer here in Craig, America. For too long, the state Legislature has been hammering us, and they’re destroying our economy. Our voices are not being heard, but if we pass an ordinance, it will go viral, and then they’ll be forced to listen to us.”
Ah… well there’s the brunt of it right there: he wants publicity. Well, Craig (man and town) you’ve got it. But I don’t think it’s going to be quite the way you imagined it would be.
Craig, CO is located northwest of Denver on Highway 40, between Steamboat Springs and Dinosaur National Monument. The town boasts 10 hotels and has a population of just under 10,000. The area has great fishing and outdoor sports – including hunting – and calls itself “an outdoorsman paradise.” It also has 2 museums for the less rugged crowd. So, I can’t understand why Mr. Rummel thinks that coal and hunting are all the town has to offer. Maybe he just has his head somewhere else…
While the city council agrees with Mr. Rummel on principle most of them had enough civic-mindedness (or sense of self-preservation) to not want to use the power of their office just to make a point. As an aside, I’d like to have them talk to State Sen. John Goedde of Idaho, among others. One council member suggested that, instead of an ordinance, they set forth a resolution. Not good enough, Rummel pouted.
“We have tried the traditional routes, and we have good representation at the state in Sen. (Randy) Baumgardner and Rep. (Bob) Rankin, but the Western Slope doesn’t have the votes in Denver. We need to think outside of the box and let the rest of the country know we are not in lockstep with Denver.” (source)
Craig, the rest of the country doesn’t care. Honestly. We are so busy with our own problems that your town might just as well be on the moon. No offense meant by that, it’s nothing personal – I’m sure it’s a lovely place (looking at the satellite view, it is a beautiful area). But, in case you haven’t noticed, people are suffering all over this country. Heck, you have it |
” to drag the TPP into the sunshine.
As far as health care goes, the TPP would grant new monopoly privileges to Big Pharma that would jack up medicine prices and cut consumers’ access to life-saving medicines in the developing countries involved in the TPP. There is a proposal to allow pharmaceutical firms to challenge the pricing decisions of cost-saving drug formularies, which are used by developing countries and, increasingly, by the United States, to bargain for better prices with drug firms.
One chapter would even attack Internet freedom by imposing through the backdoor damaging aspects of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which citizen activism derailed in the U.S. Congress.
A trade justice coalition emerges (again)
The 1-percenter TPP agenda would harm most of us in the U.S. and in the other countries involved. It can only survive if left shrouded in darkness.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg. But it’s precisely the extreme nature of the TPP corporate wish list that is its greatest vulnerability—and our greatest opportunity. The 1-percenter TPP agenda would harm most of us in the United States and in the other countries involved. It can only survive if left shrouded in darkness. Citizen activists in many of the TPP countries are building an inspiring global movement implementing the “Dracula strategy” to drag the TPP into the sunshine so those who will have to live with its consequences can know what’s coming and take action.
Civil society groups representing millions of members worldwide have joined together in raising the alarm. And, given the stunning audacity of the TPP’s prospective corporate power grab, activism is reaching beyond the environmental, consumer, labor, family farm, and access to medicines groups who have been the mainstay of movements against past “trade” agreement attacks. Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, Avaaz, Consumers International, tobacco controls groups, and many other organizations have become involved.
From the United States to Australia and even to Malaysia (where any public gathering the authorities consider to be a protest is illegal and participants are subject to arrest), protests are growing. Outside each posh resort where TPP negotiators meet behind closed doors, citizens gather to chant “Flush the TPP,” “Release the Text,” and “Peoples’ Needs, Not Corporate Greed!”
At the next round of negotiations, which will be held in early December in Auckland, New Zealand, negotiators hope to finish several chapters of the deal, so they can sign the whole thing in the first quarter of 2013.
Each of us can make a difference. Given the threats that the TPP poses to a stunningly broad range of fundamental rights and public needs, this is a fight—like the Battle in Seattle in 1999—that can unite a powerful coalition of movements. And it is people power that will be victorious against the TPP corporate power grab, if you help spread the word.
Interested?A man was killed and a pregnant woman was injured in a shooting at the Summerfield Estates housing complex at 264 Plain Drive in East Hartford early Friday morning.
Police said they responded to the home at 4:12 a.m. to investigate reports of a shooting and found a 21-year-old man dead and a 23-year-old pregnant woman who was injured in the shooting. The woman was transported to Hartford Hospital, where she is being treated.
The male victim has been identified as Trevino Archer of Bloomfield. The female victim has not been publicly identified.
Late Friday morning, police said the latest information they had was that she was in critical condition. As of Friday afternoon, no information was available about her condition.
Man Killed, Pregnant Woman Injured in East Hartford Shooting
(Published Friday, June 17, 2016)
A woman and a young boy were also home at the time and were not hurt.
The management staff for the complex did not want to talk, but did say that they are working with police.
No one has been charged in the case. Police are actively investigating and ask anyone with information about the shooting to call the lead detective, Don Loehr, at 860-291-7509.Betsy DeVos during her Senate confirmation hearing (Screenshot)
The powerful chairman of the U.S. Senate committee overseeing the Department of Education sternly ordered current Secretary Betsy DeVos to back off circumventing a new federal law on education policy.
Senator Lamar Alexander sponsored the 2015 “Every Student Succeeds Act” as a bipartisan replacement for the 2001 “No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB).
A new report in Politico says DeVos “thanked” Sen. Alexander for calling to tell her department to back off circumventing the law he sponsored.
Sen. Alexander claims that DeVos aide and appointee of President Donald Trump, Jason Botel, “obviously hadn’t read the law.” Botel, the founder of a Baltimore chain of charter schools, did not require Senate confirmation for the position of acting assistant secretary.
Alexander had served as Secretary of Education for President George HW Bush after serving as the president of the University of Tennessee and governor. DeVos had no experience as an educator or in government prior to confirmation, which was historic for being the very first time a nominee was only confirmed with a tie-breaking vote from the vice president.
The dispute involved the definition of “ambitious” in evaluating state plans after Alexander included a provision explicitly barring the Education secretary from defining such goals.
With Secretary DeVos deferring to Sen. Alexander on this issue, Politico reported, “observers say he’s trying to keep her agency on a tight leash.”Here’s every reference to Toronto (that we could find) on Drake’s new album
Here’s every reference to Toronto (that we could find) on Drake’s new album
Drake climbed to the top of the CN Tower Friday, surveyed our fine metropolis free of EdgeWalk tethers and dropped a musical masterpiece on the world. We listened to Views from the 6 to give you track-by-track footnotes on the 20-song opus’ references to our city.
Keep the Family Close
“Kennedy Road taught me not to trust people like you”: The Scarborough roadway, which also got a shout-out on Drake’s 2015 hit “Energy,” is where some of his OVO crew members reside.
9
“I turn the 6 upside down, it’s a 9 now”: The 6 is Drake-speak for Toronto (duh), due to the common numeral in the city’s area codes, 416 and 647. (Yes, we know there’s a 4 in both, too.) Drake flips the city he’d die for on its ass end with this lyric. Fun note: The running time of “9” is 4:16.
Hype
“You cannot be right here next to me / Don’t you see RiRi right next to me?”: Among other collaborations, Drake and Rihanna (a.k.a. RiRi) filmed a steamy video for the latter’s single “Work” at legendary Jamaican joint The Real Jerk. And Drizzy made a cameo onstage with Rihanna just two weeks ago.
“6 cold like Alaska”: Drake uses a chilly locale that Americans are familiar with in order to properly convey the bitterness of a Toronto winter.
“Roy outta here like NASA”: Brampton’s Roy Woods, a 20-year-old OVO newbie, is building his buzz.
Weston Road Flows
“Weston Road flows, I did this shit for my nigga Renny”: A throwback to Aubrey’s younger days, growing up on the sketchier west side of town. Drake gets nostalgic for his childhood friend Renny, an early producer.
“You was ridin’ TTC metro, I had the place boomin’”: A shout-out to the Red Rocket melded with a thinly veiled nod to Metro Boomin, who was the executive producer of Drake and Future’s mixtape, What a Time to Be Alive.
“Creepin’ like Chilli without the tender, love and care”: A big TLC junkie, Drake brought the ’90s R&B group out during the 2013 OVO Fest at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. He also covered “Fan Mail” in 2010.
“Shout out to KD, we relate, we get the same attention”: When Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin “KD” Durrant showed up at OVO Fest in 2014, ambassador Drake said he should join the Raptors as a free agent. The Raps were fined $25,000 because he broke tampering rules. Bad Drizzy.
“Been flowin’ since Vince Carter was on some through-the-legs-and-hoop shit”: Search up the 2000 NBA dunk contest on YouTube and look for the guy in purple.
“Drinkin’ Hypnotiq with Glenn Lewis”: Lewis, a Toronto singer, scored a major hit with 2001’s “Don’t You Forget It.”
“Too busy face-screwin’ on waste movements”: Prior to the 6, one of T.O.’s nicknames was the Screwface Capital, so christened due to the crabs-in-the-bucket mentality among local artists.
“Big Apple had the white Hummer parked right in front of Fluid”: Man-about-town Big Apple, a.k.a. Swagg Boss, is a Toronto street mogul who has dipped in retail, clothing and media. He gave Drake advice as he was coming up. Like the Hummer, Fluid Lounge—a Richmond Street nightclub—isn’t poppin’ anymore.
“But money can’t buy happiness, Jellee talkin’ truthful”: Rexdale MC Jelleestone scored a top-40 hit in Canada with 2001’s “Money (Part 1).”
Redemption
“Ericka sued me and opened a business”: Drake’s ex-girlfriend, Ericka Lee, sued him in 2012 when he allegedly sampled her phone call in “Marvin’s Room.”
Still Here
“How did I finesse all this shit from Jane and Weston?”: The intersection of one of Drake’s childhood homes in the northwest end of the city—a.k.a. the famed bottom from which Drake started.
“Blew up and I’m in the city still”: Though Drake maintains a home in L.A., where he’s neighbours with Kanye West, he still owns property and spends plenty of time in his hometown—you know, working at Shoppers and such.
“Whole lot of 6s but I’m still like / Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah”: Yes, he reps the 6, but not the sign of the devil.
“Six-point star, Lion of the Judah”: A cryptic line from your favourite Rasta-tinged Israelite, raised in Forest Hill.
One Dance
“I need a one dance”: Despite a seven-year onslaught of smash radio singles, “One Dance” marks Drake’s first number-one song on Canadian charts, believe it or not.
Grammys
“OVO, we a gold mine”: Drake’s OVO comrades—including Toronto acts PartyNextDoor, Majid Jordan and dvsn—made appearances on the album and are all buzzed-about acts in their own right.
“Hall of fame, hall of fame / Like I’m shirt off, like I’m shirt off… Top 5 no debating”: Shirts-optional Toronto rapper Top 5 gave Drizzy a shout-out in his anthem “Hall of Fame”: “I called up Drake, let’s celebrate!”
Childs Play
“Momma is a saint, yes she raised me real good”: Sandi Graham (née Sher) is an educator who divorced Drake’s father, Dennis Graham, when the boy was five years old. She raised Drake on working-class Weston Road before moving to Forest Hill. Forever adored, Drake’s mom frequently pops up in Drake’s lyrics and Instagram feed and has been brought onstage at OVO Fest.
Pop Style
“This sound like some forty-three-oh-one shit”: A holler at 4301 Kingston Rd., a 20-storey Scarborough housing complex near Drake-affiliated artist P Reign’s hangout.
“Turn my birthday into a lifestyle”: With his career ballooning, Drizzy celebrated his 27th birthday on Oct. 24, 2013, with a hometown concert. Opener Miguel led a sold-out Air Canada Centre in a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
“Dropped out of school, now we dumb rich”: Drake fed his acting bug at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, then switched to Vaughan Road Academy, which he’s described as “a tough school.” He dropped out but earned his high school diploma via a private tutor as a 25-year-old in 2012, scoring an impressive 97 per cent on his final exam.
Summers Over Interlude
“Days in the sun, nights in the rain / Summer is over, simple and plain”: Views is modelled after T.O.’s aggressive seasonal switches. “Winter to summer and back to winter again,” Drake said in an interview. “It’s just to show you the two extreme moods that we have. We love our summers, but we make our winters work.”
Views
“I worked at Jaydees Connections whenever Jason let me”: Owner/manager Jason Hamilton let Drake take a shift at this Eglinton West streetwear store when it suited him.
“Kiddie Caribana, tryin’ not to catch a stray”: The children’s parade at Toronto’s Caribbean festival, unfortunately marred by shootings in recent summers.
“Ceesay’s, I was buying fitted every day”: Need a fresh cap? Be like Drake and hit up Ceesay’s M&M Military Sporting Goods at Dufferin and Eglinton. Twenty per cent off if you mention “Toronto Life.” (Not really.)
Hotline Bling
“Ever since I left the city you got a reputation for yourself now”: Rumour has it that Drizzy is musing over his old Toronto flame, Zineb “Nebby” Samir, an ex-girlfriend who has popped up in his lyrics a number of times.
Summer Sixteen (Bonus)
“Out front of Four Seasons lookin’ like a damn football team”: Drake and his favourite punching bag Meek Mill were both staying at the same hotel, the five-star Four Seasons in Yorkville, when Drizzy—the Joe Carter of rap—dropped “Back to Back.”
“All you boys in the New Toronto want to be me a little”: Safe bet that this is a not-so-subliminal jab at Toronto rapper Tory Lanez, who dropped a mixtape titled The New Toronto in December. Lanez has questioned Drake’s nickname for their hometown in the past but went on record saying he’s a Drake fan and would never dis him.
“I might get a key to the city and give it to Wayne”: Mayor John Tory awarded Drake a key to Toronto during NBA All-Star Weekend in February. When he gets his spare key, the Raptors ambassador plans to give one to his mentor Lil Wayne.Sopwith Triplane of No. 2 (Naval) Wing at Mudros like the one used for parts.
The Alcock Scout, a.k.a. A.1 and Sopwith Mouse, was a curious "one-off" experimental fighter biplane flown briefly during World War I. It was assembled by Flight Lieutenant John Alcock at Moudros, a Royal Naval Air Service base in the Aegean Sea. Alcock took the forward fuselage and lower wings of a Sopwith Triplane, the upper wings of a Sopwith Pup and the tailplane and elevators of a Sopwith Camel, and married them to a rear fuselage and vertical tail surface of original design (presumably by Alcock himself). It was powered by a 110 hp Clerget 9Z engine, and carried a.303 Vickers machine gun.
Affectionally referred to as the 'Sopwith Mouse' by Alcock and his fellow designers, Alcock never flew it himself, but squadron-mate FSL Norman Starbuck made a few flights in it, the first on 15 October 1917. However, it crashed in early 1918, was written off and never flew again.
Specifications (approximate) [ edit ]
Data from War Planes of the First World War: Volume One Fighters[1][nb 1]
General characteristics
Crew: 1
1 Length: 19 ft 1 in (5.82 m)
19 ft 1 in (5.82 m) Wingspan: 24 ft 3 in (7.39 m)
24 ft 3 in (7.39 m) Height: 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m)
7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) Powerplant: 1 × Clerget 9Z nine-cylinder rotary engine, 110 hp (84 kW)
Armament
1 x.303 Vickers machine gun
Notes [ edit ]
^ [1] No weight or performance details are available.
Citations [ edit ]
a b Bruce 1965, p. 8.
References [ edit ]Two brothers have been jailed for a total of almost eight years for going to a terrorist training camp in Syria, in what is being described by police as a ‘landmark case’ and the first in a long line of related terrorism cases to come to court.
Mohommod Nawaz and Hamza Nawaz from Stratford, East London were sentenced to 4.5 and three years, respectively.
The court heard that members of the brothers' family contacted police last August when the pair went missing.
They had said they were going out for a meal in nearby Walthamstow, but in fact had gone to France where they took a flight from Lyon to Turkey and crossed the border into Syria.
In one video, the men are seen at a river crossing on the Syrian border, where they are asked “Here for Jihad?” One of them replies, “Jihad, yeah.”
Once at the training camp, the men took 19 photos and videos, which were found by police. One of them is a picture of their timetable, which included a strict regime beginning at 4:30 a.m., with prayers and Islamic lessons, followed by two hours of physical training. There was also military training twice a day before bedtime, at 10:00 p.m.
Other evidence used against them included a message sent on Whatsapp by Hamza Nawaz telling his other brother Hussain where he was.
“We’ve left to come to Syria. We know everyone will be angry with what we have done but it’s something we wanted to do. I will be in touch soon,” said the message.
The men returned to the UK in September, after being away for just a few weeks. They were picked up by border guards in Dover who found the incriminating videos and photos, as well as ammunition for AK-47 rifles.
Detectives believe the men planned to go on to a more hardcore training camp. It is not clear why they returned home so soon.
"It's landmark case with many other in the pipeline for sentencing. We have two brothers from east London who have travelled to Syria and engaged in and received terrorist training while there was out there and then returned to the UK. This is a significant sentence for us," Detective Chief Superintendant Commander Terri Nicholson of the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command said, as quoted by the BBC.
One of the brothers has already been in significant trouble with the law. The Old Bailey heard that Mohommod Nawaz was jailed in 2009 for six years and banned from traveling outside the UK for blackmail, false imprisonment, kidnap, and wounding.Before India's tour of England this winter, opener Shikhar Dhawan was in the MCG nets facing throw-downs from Victorian coaches Greg Shipperd and Simon Helmot. Residents of Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs are half a chance to spot him shopping at Fountain Gate but most are probably oblivious to the fact a superstar Indian cricketer is living in their midst.
Chris Rogers is not the only adopted Victorian getting ready for the Boxing Day Test, because Dhawan – the 29-year-old batsman with the theatrical moustache, tattooed biceps and swashbuckling strokeplay – has two homes. One is in Delhi, the other in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, where he lives with his wife Aesha and their family when he is not on tour with the Indian team or playing in the Indian Premier League.
Shikhar Dhawan Credit:Getty Images
Aesha has British and Bengali heritage but was living in Australia with her two daughters when she and Dhawan were introduced on Facebook. She is a former amateur boxer whose interest in cricket has been known to extend to having him throw balls to her after play in domestic Ranji Trophy games in India. They married in 2012 and have a son, Zoravar, who turns one in January.
Dhawan, of course, is known to Australians for his startling 187 against them in Mohali during the 2013 tour from hell. His 85-ball hundred was the fastest on debut since the balls-faced category was recorded and all the more memorable for the sheer audacity of the shots he played.Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration The Hill's Morning Report — Emergency declaration to test GOP loyalty to Trump The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump escalates fight with NY Times MORE (R-Ky.) donned sunglasses on the Senate floor, striking a pose that suggests he’s not worried about the news his campaign pulled a similar product from his website.
Video captured by C-Span shows Paul meandering over to a table at the front of the Senate chamber on Wednesday afternoon, slapping on his sunglasses and fist-bumping a smiling Sen. Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidSenate confirms Trump court pick despite missing two 'blue slips' Can Lindsey Graham take the politics out of judicial battles? Bottom Line MORE (D-Nev.).
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After the minority leader reciprocates, Paul then laughs as he apparently tries to explain himself to nearby colleagues who were on the Senate floor voting on amendments to an anti-human trafficking bill.
Reid himself has sported sunglasses during in-door public appearances after a New Year's Day exercise accident at his home left him with broken bones in his face and ribs and lost vision in one eye.
Earlier on Wednesday, news emerged that Ray-Ban had asked Paul's presidential campaign to stop selling their brand-name sunglasses imprinted with the “Rand” logo for his White House campaign.
After the accident, Reid thanked Paul – who is also an ophthalmologist – for being "kind and thoughtful and considerate in visiting me, giving me encouragement and some expert advice."
The Hill has reached out to spokespeople for both lawmakers and will update this post if an explanation is provided.Associated Press
COLUMBUS
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended for one year the law license of an attorney whose emails to Jim Tressel triggered an ongoing scandal and NCAA investigation that cost the football coach his job at Ohio State University.
At issue was whether Columbus attorney Christopher Cicero violated professional rules of conduct that prohibit revealing information from meetings with a client or prospective client.
The 5-2 court decision followed the recommendation of a disciplinary board that argued Cicero wrongly discussed interviews with tattoo parlor owner Edward Rife, a potential client. However, the court overruled the board’s recommendation for a six-month suspension.
Cicero sent emails to Tressel in April 2010, warning him that players were selling memorabilia or trading them for tattoos. The email traffic sparked the scandal and ended Tressel’s Ohio State tenure.
An NCAA investigation also led to a bowl ban this year, reductions in scholarships and the loss of Ohio State’s $389,000 share of the Big Ten bowl pot a year ago. The entire 2010 season also was vacated.
Justice Judith Lanzinger said the case went to the heart of the importance of confidentiality between a prospective client and an attorney.
“Prospective clients trust that their confidences will be protected when they engage in an initial consultation with an attorney,” Lanzinger wrote. “Cicero’s almost immediate dissemination of the detailed information that Rife provided on April 15 directly violated that trust.”
Justices Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Terrence O’Donnell dissented, saying they would have imposed a six-month suspension.
“Cicero’s intentions were not for personal aggrandizement or personal gain, as found by the majority, but were to alert the coach about misconduct by his players that could affect the team,” Stratton wrote.
“His request that such information be held confidential does not support the notion that he was trying to seek fame,” she said.
Cicero’s lawyer said he was disappointed with the decision, saying he and his client had considered even a six-month suspension “a little harsh.”
“We ended up losing for a year a really, really great lawyer who practices in a difficult area — felony criminal law,” said attorney John Gonzales.
Cicero met with Rife on April 2, 2010, according to court documents, and again 13 days later to discuss whether Cicero would represent him in a federal drug trafficking case, according to a complaint against him by the Disciplinary Counsel of the Ohio Supreme Court.
Cicero, an Ohio State football player in the early 1980s, denied meeting with Rife on April 2.
He said the two did meet on April 15, 2010, with the goal of confirming that Rife’s partner, a former client of Cicero, wasn’t involved with drug dealing or memorabilia sales.
Rife’s house had been raided April 1 by federal drug investigators and Cicero wanted to know if Joseph Epling, his client and Rife’s business partner, was involved in the case."I was never that feminist girl demanding equality," the actress recently told 'Redbook'
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is taking back her recent comments about not relating feminism.
In a Redbook interview, the 29-year-old Big Bang Theory star was asked whether she considers herself a feminist.
Read more 'Big Bang Theory' Goes Lego
"Is it bad if I say no?" she replied. "It's not really something I think about. Things are different now, and I know a lot of the work that paved the way for women happened before I was around."
"I was never that feminist girl demanding equality, but maybe that's because I've never really faced inequality," she said.
She added that she enjoys cooking for husband Ryan Sweeting five nights a week because it makes her "feel like a housewife." The couple celebrated their one-year anniversary on New Year's Eve.
Read more Jamie Dornan on Not Going Full Frontal in 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' Being a Feminist
After Twitter users criticized her comments, she took to Instagram to do a bit of backpedaling.
"I'm completely blessed and grateful that strong women have paved the way for my success along with many others," she posted on Jan. 1. "I apologize if anyone was offended. Anyone that truly knows me, knows my heart and knows what I meant."
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @_RyanGajewskiI know, I know I said I’d write part 3 of the BDD post. I promise I’ll get to it.
But recently I started watching a new Netflix show that got me thinking. It’s called Castlevania. It completely appeals to the Dungeons and Dragons playing geek in me, everyone should watch it.
But what I thought was interesting was how the show aired. I was told about this show by my friend, he was complaining that as he was just getting into it, IT ENDED.
Netflix has trained us to binge our TV, we can’t wait week to week anymore. They drop whole seasons at once, they even autoplay the next episode. That’s what I thought was interesting about Castlevania. They only made 4 episodes.
Now recently Netflix has been cancelling some of their shows. So I thought that maybe only releasing 4 episodes of this was a kind of taster. I found a cool quote from the CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings on cancelling shows. He said, “I’m always pushing the content team. We have to take more risk. You have to try more crazy things. Because we should have a higher cancel rate overall.” This is amazing lean thinking, keep trying new things, fail often and learn from it.
After watching the show, I totally agreed with my friend. So I took to facebook to see what everyone else is thinking. I found this:
Loads of people demanding more of the show. Don’t believe me, give it a google. Check out the reddit page, or the rotten tomatoes reviews. Now I am not claiming to understand why there was only 4 episodes. I know that kind of animation is hard to produce and takes a lot of time. But after reading the CEO’s comments, I would like to think this is a minimum viable product of sorts. Get your users addicted to binge watching TV, then only release a few episodes. Then just wait for feedback. If nobody replies, you have only wasted the time it takes to make 4 episodes. But if people demand more, well you can start working on more.
It looks like it worked. As you can see if the screenshot above Netflix are making 8 more episodes. So what can we learn from this?
Fast feedback is the key. Are we building a big feature currently? Does it really need everything? Would it make more sense to have something simple that just shows the basic idea? It doesn’t need to look pretty (my designer friends will hate me for that). Once it shows off something new, it can be used for feedback. All the rest can be done with the customer who is interested. Maybe the cool new feature you are building is actually not going to sell, it would be great to find that out early.
Let me know what you think.
AdvertisementsAmerican actor
Taran Noah Smith (born April 8, 1984) is an American former actor widely known for his role as Marcus "Mark" Jason Taylor, the youngest son on one of the longest-running and most widely viewed sitcoms of the 1990s, Home Improvement.[1]
Personal life [ edit ]
At 18, he gained control of his $1.5 million trust fund, which he accused his parents of squandering by purchasing themselves a mansion.[2][3] His mother, Candy Bennici, stated in 2015, "Of course we didn't touch his money... It was in a trust fund. We couldn't have touched it if we wanted to. They were trying to get it when he was 17, and we were trying to protect it. Luckily the Marin courts were very good about it and didn't give it to them".[4] He later said, "I'd gotten out of the teenage phase and realized my parents weren't doing anything wrong but were trying to protect me."[4]
In 2001, Smith was quoted as saying, "I started Home Improvement when I was seven, and the show ended when I was 16. I never had the chance to decide what I wanted to do with my life. When I was 16, I knew that I didn't want to act anymore."[5] Aged 17, Smith married Heidi van Pelt on April 27, 2001. The marriage sparked much controversy due to the couple's age difference, as van Pelt was 16 years older. The couple filed for divorce on February 2, 2007.[6]
In 2005, Smith and his then wife formed a California-based non-dairy cheese manufacturer and restaurant, Playfood, specializing in vegan and organic foods.[4] In 2014, he volunteered doing disaster relief with Communitere in the Philippines.[4][7]
Smith is a vegan.[7]
Filmography [ edit ]
Self Year Title Notes 1992 1992 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards '92 1993 1994 1995 1995 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards '95 1997–1998 Figure It Out TV series 1999 Home Improvement: Backstage Pass 2002 TVography: Home Improvement – A Half Hour of Power 2005 20/20 Episode: "29 April 2005" 2005 E! True Hollywood Story Episode: "Home Improvement" 2006 Child Star Confidential Episode: "The Kid's Table" 2009
Awards [ edit ]
Nominations [ edit ]
1993, Young Artist Award, Home Improvement, Outstanding Actor Under Ten in a Television Series
, Outstanding Actor Under Ten in a Television Series 1999, Young Artist Award, Home Improvement, Best Performance in a TV Drama or Comedy Series – Leading Young Actor
Won [ edit ]Look what this old fart killed. 2017 bow season. My 55+ year old body was spent. I quartered and bagged him myself and then Colby and Stephen showed up to help pack it out. We packed it about a quarter of a mile to an old road and then put the whole thing in an old garden wagon. Stephen pulled and I pushed. Went well for a while but then the front wheels on the wagon collapsed. A little harder after that but we made it. I kill an elk every 5 or 6 years and just plain forget how big they are. An over whelming task to quarter one up by your self, but I some how manage it and am always complimented on how clean the quarters are when I take it to the butcher.
The average hunter kills an elk every 7 years. My son Michael has taken 14 years worth. He killed a nice 7 point last year on opening day (pic below) and took this really nice 5 point this year on opening day. We were walking along together when I first saw an elk walk by about 200 yards away in a fairly grown up logging area. We headed that way and saw this nice bull looking at us about 100 yards away. Michael did not have a rest and ended up taking 2 off hand shots. I don't think he touched the elk that time. The elk wheeled around and ran up the hill. 5 or 6 more shots rang out and a few minutes later 5 or 6 more. This elk came running back by us and Michael got off a fairly close shot before the elk ran into some really thick stuff. We found blood and I started marking the blood trail while Michael followed foot prints. Pretty soon a few shots rang out and after a while a few more. I started doing the math and off the top of my head, I thought Michael might be out of bullets. I had the extra box of shells with me. I left the blood trail and headed in his direction. I found him standing over this nice bull. I guess everybody in the woods had taken a shot but Michael was probably the one who hit him the most and certainly the one who finished him off. Nobody showed up to dispute that, or I might add, to help us pack him out. This elk fell about 150 yards from where Mike killed his last year. We were about 1/4 of a mile from the truck and had a fairly easy time. I was packing 50 pound legs and Michael was packing rib cages and other 100 pound pieces.
Well. I finally killed something in the digital age. I took this nice 6 pointer in the 2009 bowseason about half a mile from where my son, michael took his elk in 2008. Check out his pic below. This elk had already come in 6 times over the course of 2 days and I had shot three times. Bushes, buck fever, and whatever else had conspired against me. Well a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while and this time at about 15 steps, I didn't miss. I am lucky I was able to get my nephew, his friend and my boy to help pack it out. After doing the quartering job by myself, this 48 year old body was spent.
Here is my 19 year old son with a very nice Roosevelt elk, taken on the opening day of the 2008 season. We had hunted earlier in the day and not seen anything. Despite his plea to go home and sleep, I convinced Michael to hunt one more place. We came upon a man helping his son pack out a raghorn. He pointed in the direction that the herd had went and so we headed that way. After a while I bugled and this one or maybe another answered. We headed that way and after a while were in the middle of a bunch of elk. Michael picked this one running through the timber and dropped it with one shot. It is bigger than my first elk and I am still about as proud and happy as a dad can be. You might not be able to tell from the pics but this elk has a real stocky 6 point frame with an extra eye guard on one side and a little kicker point on the other, making this a 7x7.
This is my 14 year old son Michael and what might be the nicest three point I have ever seen. Michael took this beautiful blacktail on the second weekend of the 2003 deer season. It was about a 50 yard off hand shot with his savage 30.06 and the deer fell in its tracks. I was at least 30 years old before I killed a buck even close to this one. I was about as proud as a dad can be.
Here is my 15 year old son, a year older than the picture above, with a 4 by 5 black tail deer that he killed a week into the 2004 season. This is bigger than any deer I have ever taken. Again, I am proud of him.
Here is my 17 year old son, 2 years older than the picture above, with a monster 3 point black tail deer that he harvested second to last day of the 2006 season. Again, this is bigger than any deer I have taken. I was the one that spotted this huge deer and let Michael take the shot. He was wondering why I did that and I told him that was what dads did. He would understand one day. I am sure you dads out there understand.Jyoti and Kiran Matharoo have never cared what people think of them. Their parents, who emigrated from India and settled in North York, always instilled a strong sense of self in their daughters. By the time the sisters were attending Emery Collegiate Institute in the late 1990s, they were wearing halter tops, coloured contacts and high heels. Their classmates rolled their eyes, but the sisters didn’t care: they liked to dress up. Jyoti was always the romantic one, drawn to literature and history. Kiran, two years younger, was rational and level-headed, a chess aficionado who excelled in math and science. These were minor differences: to everyone around them, the Matharoo sisters were a package deal.
After high school, Jyoti and Kiran both enrolled in a two-year fashion arts and business program at Humber College, working part-time retail jobs to save up for clothes and a shared car. They lived at home together, attended classes together and spent much of their time planning a fashion line that they wanted to launch together. At night, they were fixtures in the club scene, nestling |
ollichon followed Cech to Stamford Bridge from Rennes and the goalkeeper is thought to prefer continuing to work with the same goalkeeping coach at his next club.
Cech had his medical at Arsenal on Friday and is expected to complete his £11m switch from Chelsea early next week, but it looks like the deal will go through without confirmation Lollichon will be next through the door.
Our favourite Arsenal kits 6 show all Our favourite Arsenal kits 1/6 1970-71 This classic number was worn by Arsenal's double winners of 1970-71. Colorsport/REX 2/6 1988-91 Worn at Anfield when Michael Thomas scored THAT goal to win George Graham's Arsenal the title back in May 1989. Getty 3/6 1996-1998 Not only did Arsenal claim the league and FA Cup double in this kit back in 1998, it was the very first of the Arsene Wenger era. Colorsport/REX 4/6 2003-2004 A golden kit for a golden team. This golden number only appeared in the 2003-04 campaign: Arsenal's invincible season. David Ashdown/The Independent/REX 5/6 2005-06 Arsenal's redcurrant kit from the 2005-06 campaign was a fitting send-off to the old Highbury stadium, as the Gunners donned the shade worn in he stadiums inaugural season. Mark Pain/REX 6/6 2014-15 Kits will live or die by the moments that unravel before them, and last season's FA Cup final certainly stands Arsenal's away kit in good stead. Their 4-0 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley was emphatic, but in it, Alexis Sanchez scored one of the competition's greatest ever goals. Getty 1/6 1970-71 This classic number was worn by Arsenal's double winners of 1970-71. Colorsport/REX 2/6 1988-91 Worn at Anfield when Michael Thomas scored THAT goal to win George Graham's Arsenal the title back in May 1989. Getty 3/6 1996-1998 Not only did Arsenal claim the league and FA Cup double in this kit back in 1998, it was the very first of the Arsene Wenger era. Colorsport/REX 4/6 2003-2004 A golden kit for a golden team. This golden number only appeared in the 2003-04 campaign: Arsenal's invincible season. David Ashdown/The Independent/REX 5/6 2005-06 Arsenal's redcurrant kit from the 2005-06 campaign was a fitting send-off to the old Highbury stadium, as the Gunners donned the shade worn in he stadiums inaugural season. Mark Pain/REX 6/6 2014-15 Kits will live or die by the moments that unravel before them, and last season's FA Cup final certainly stands Arsenal's away kit in good stead. Their 4-0 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley was emphatic, but in it, Alexis Sanchez scored one of the competition's greatest ever goals. Getty
"For now, it does not matter. No contact has been made," Lollichon told L'Equipe.
"I do not know if this has been discussed between the two clubs, but I do not think Chelsea will be favourable."FC Schalke 04 have been dealt a punishing body blow ahead of the coming campaign with new signing Coke sustaining a knee ligament injury.
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The summer arrival from FC Sevilla faces a potential six-month spell on the sidelines after suffering damage to his right knee in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Italian side FC Bologna.
"At the latest, he'll be back for the Rückrunde," sporting director Christian Heidel is reported as saying by German media. "It depends on whether or not he requires an operation."
The 29-year-old, who has penned a three-year deal in Gelsenkirchen, felt pain in his right knee following a tackle during his 45-minute appearance in the friendly encounter.
A decision on whether the Spaniard needs to go under the surgeon's knife will be made when the squad returns to Gelsenkirchen on Monday.
Schalke are due to start their Bundesliga campaign at Eintracht Frankfurt on 27 August.Grosvenor-sponsored poker player Jeff Kimber knows a thing or two about the forces at play in gaming. But where does his allegiance lie, and why?
Do you feel that luck or skill plays more of a role in poker at a professional level?
Jeff Kimber: Well, whilst you can argue that a combination of luck and skill in poker is necessary, I feel there is much more skill than luck needed. At a professional level we have accepted that there is some luck in the game, but not only does it level out over the long term, there's nothing we can do about luck anyway.
Where we can affect the outcome of the game is by being better than our opponent, using any number of skills to outplay them – picking up tells, playing our stack size perfectly, seizing on weakness, pressurising them, understanding game situations, getting our bet sizes right so value bets are paid off, but overall seeing the bluff to get us through.
Can you think of specific times when using luck or skill has really paid off – and relying on the other would have been no use?
Jeff Kimber: As a professional poker player, I try not to leave anything to luck. I’d much prefer to use my skill to ensure victory. However, in poker, you need to know that there are always opportunities to ‘get lucky.’
Luck can of course come in many forms, as well as the most obvious, such as outdrawing someone when you have a worse hand. Other lucky situations might lead you to a big hand – you might get a lucky table draw where you play with less skilled players from other tables, you may not have to face your fiercest opponents if they’re knocked out in an earlier stage. It’s really all down to chance and cannot be predicted. Sometimes though, if everybody at the table plays perfect poker, the game can come down to one big hand where neither player has messed up. In this situation, the winner of that coin flip is then definitely the luckiest.
I say the key in poker is to use that good luck to go on to win big. One of the first lessons you’ll learn in poker is this – things even themselves out. If you’re on one side of luck, you'll almost certainly be on the flip side soon enough.Throughout much of her presidential campaign, Carly Fiorina has attacked Hillary Clinton, calling on the former secretary of state to "name an accomplishment".
"Throughout this campaign, I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to name an accomplishment," Fiorina wrote in an op-ed for CNN. "She has yet to name one. Note: Flying is an activity, not an accomplishment."
While serving as a surrogate for John McCain's 2008 campaign, however, Fiorina offered high praise for Clinton.
Over the weekend, the Washington Post Ruth Marcus wrote in a column that Fiorina told her in May of 2008 that if she wasn't backing Sen. John McCain, she would have backed Clinton. A Fiorina spokeswoman said that Fiorina couldn't remember the exchange and was probably talking about who she would back in the 2008 Democratic primary if she had to choose.
The article also noted that Fiorina declared her "great admiration and respect for Hillary Clinton and her candidacy and leadership," at one gathering in 2008.
In one video uncovered by BuzzFeed News, Fiorina delivers a long and forceful praise of then-Senator Clinton for a political organization that promoted women in politics. Fiorina called Clinton "incredibly intelligent," "determined," and said she took great pride in her presidential run.
"I have such great admiration and empathy for Hillary Clinton," Fiorina says in the video. "I have great admiration for her because I know what it takes in some small measure to do what she has done. She is obviously incredibly intelligent, focused, tough, determined, empathetic of all the tens of millions of people that she was trying to represent in her quest to become the first woman president of the United States."
"And as a woman, I take great pride in the fact that Hillary Clinton ran for president. And I also watched with a lot of empathy as I saw how she was scrutinized, characterized, talked about as a woman," continued Fiorina.
"While I think woman have made great progress in so many ways I also known from personal experience that women in positions of power – particularly bold women – who are trying to drive change as Hillary Clinton must surely is…bold women, women in power are characterized, scrutinized differently than their male counterparts are."
That glowing praise is in line with a statement she made at another 2008 gathering, a press conference where she said Clinton had been subjected to sexism, albeit not by the Republican Party.
Fiorina said any woman in politics owes a debt of gratitude to Clinton.
"I have said numerous times, I disagree politically with Hillary, but I also have great admiration for Hillary Clinton," declared Fiorina. "Her run for the presidency was historic. She was a great candidate. She has helped millions of women all over this country. Women of any political party owe a debt of gratitude to Hillary Clinton and I will bet that every woman up here agrees with me."
A spokeswoman for the Fiorina campaign said, "none of this is really news,"
"And as I said in the Marcus column, if Carly was asked in 2008 to pick between the two democrats, she would have picked Mrs Clinton. She was a top surrogate for John McCain at the time--so none of this is really news," Fiorina's spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman likewise added that Fiorina "has often listed positive qualities of Mrs Clinton," linking to a Legal Insurrection article from April.Our new issue, on what a President Bernie Sanders could actually do in office, is out now. Subscribe today to receive it!
Ever since Amazon announced its plans to build its second headquarters outside Seattle in September, cities have been falling over themselves to secure the project. Touted as the urban investment opportunity of a generation, Amazon’s “Request For Proposals” is really a shakedown in broad daylight. And while it is always painful to watch someone grovel, the pain here is merely a side effect of a bigger economic malaise. Information is slowly trickling out about the 238 bids officially submitted, each story more outrageous than the last. Chicago, for example, is reportedly offering over $2 billion in tax breaks and other incentives. That’s 40 percent of the estimated $5 billion that Amazon estimates it will cost to build its second headquarters. Not to be outdone, the state of New Jersey and the city of Newark are putting up a combined $7 billion in incentives — more than the value of the initial investment and well over $100,000 for each one of the 50,000 jobs Amazon says it will create. And then there’s Stonecrest, Georgia, which has offered to split off a piece of municipal land to create the new city of Amazon, Georgia and make Jeff Bezos mayor-for-life of this corporate fiefdom. Incentives on offer range from old-fashioned tax breaks to more fanciful measures like “tax-increment financing,” where future property taxes attributed to an increase in real estate values tied to the Amazon development would return to Amazon. These promises of future benefits are often accompanied by public displays of affection: whether New York City lighting up its icons (including the Empire State Building) “Amazon orange” or the Kansas City mayor’s office hand-reviewing one thousand Amazon products. This, however, is no one-off pageant organized at the whim of a powerful corporation, but an increasingly common feature of state and local governance. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who famously called collective bargaining an “expensive entitlement,” had no problem giving away $3 billion in incentives to get Foxconn, the company that tried to stop suicides at its Chinese factories by putting up nets to catch workers leaping off its buildings, to build a plant in Wisconsin. Walker, who also thinks a $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage is a bad idea, effectively handed over $500,000 to $1 million of public money to Foxconn for every job it will create in his state. A comprehensive report published this year found that between 1990 and 2015, the average value of incentives offered by states and cities to businesses has increased three-fold. Although no longer growing as rapidly, incentives still “excessively sacrifice the long-term tax base of state and local economies” for questionable benefits. Many of the Amazon bids tout the very municipal services — like reliable transit or good local schools — that may be put on the chopping block to pay for lavish tax relief promises.
Rot of All Kinds We shouldn’t be surprised that Amazon can get away with using a few billion dollars of private investment as bait for public billions in return. Investment in the US, both private and public, is in a sorry state. Taken as a proportion of overall economic activity, businesses and governments are investing a fraction of what they did in the postwar years or even a few decades ago. The business sector does not lack for means — profits margins, while down from record highs, are no longer in the doldrums. But rather than invest in new production facilities and new technology, corporations, under pressure from shareholders, are spending big on dividends and share buybacks or letting cash lay idle. Amazon is in fact one of the few major outliers to this trend, refusing to pay dividends and aggressively using profits to fund continuous expansion. While private investment has given way to shareholders gorging themselves on profits, public investment has simply given way to rot. Last year, civilian net public investment in the United States amounted to a paltry 0.5 percent of GDP. Exaggerated worries about debt and deficits and a pervasive ideology that the private sector can do everything better leave the public sector doing the minimum, barely keeping up as things fall apart.When undrafted rookie tight end Joseph Fauria scored a touchdown in his NFL debut, he celebrated with a dance move that looked like something he cribbed from a Miley Cyrus video. For his second career touchdown, scored Sunday in Detroit’s game against the Washington Redskins, the youngster from UCLA took it back to those halcyon days of boy bands, CDs and when love between two former Mickey Mouse Club members turned pop stars seemed like it’d be everlasting.
That’s ‘N Sync’s Bye, Bye, Bye dance, in case you want to act like you didn’t know, like two USA TODAY Sports employees who feigned ignorance but were totally singing the chorus in their heads whilst doing so.
What will Fauria do on his next touchdown? Given the location of his team, maybe a Motown-inspired touchdown dance? Will he break out a One Direction move? Or would he go the obvious route and twerk (but hopefully not in a game called by Joe Buck)? Either way, it’s good for Fauria that he was in the center of the the Bye, Bye, Bye circle.
That makes him more Timberlake than Chasez.
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(GIF via Diehardsports)The continued exodus of millions of game hunting dollars out of Queensland is not likely to be stemmed, despite the latest push by the Australian Deer Association’s state branch.
The hunting of game and feral animals is not generally permitted on public land, such as state forests, in Queensland, despite its safe operation in most other states and territories.
Although the hunter education group is keen to see this reversed, feedback from the major parties is not encouraging.
ADA Queensland president Adrian Filche has been promoting the benefits of changing the rules in advance of the state election, on economic and environmental grounds.
A May 2017 report on the economic impact of recreational hunting in NSW, compiled by that state’s Game Licencing Unit, estimated the value of the industry to the state’s economy as $119 million.
It follows a 2014 Victorian government report, which found that hunting was worth $439 million.
According to Mr Filche, Queenslanders are spending $6 million a year in NSW to hunt game on public land.
“I take groups of 20 to Narrabri at Christmas time to hunt pigs and goats in the Pillaga State Forest,” he said. “A maximum of seven days hunting is allowed, and in all that time we’re using local facilities at a quiet time of the year.”
In another example, he said a New England landholder had set up a B&B on his property bordering a state forest, receiving a second industry from paying customers, as well as benefiting from a reduction in pest animals moving between the public land and his property.
“Significant tracts of public land in Queensland are full of pest animals,” Adrian said. “We’ve had conversations for 25 years with all sides of politics on this, and we believe it’s time the issue was highlighted more broadly in regional and rural Queensland.”
Political cold shoulder
When contacted, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation’s national executive secretary, Rod Miles referred to the party’s national firearms policy, which has no mention of hunting on public land.
All an LNP spokesman would say was that the opposition supported licenced sport shooters and would partner with the Sporting Shooters’ Association for certain pest management activities.
A similar response was received from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, with a spokeswoman saying both the Department of National Parks and the Department of Environment have established legal arrangements with the Sporting Shooters Association Australia to support specific pest animal control and monitoring programs on state land.
“The arrangements with SSAA ensure that marksmen comply with their obligations and participate appropriately, effectively, safely and in accordance with animal welfare guidelines,” she said. “The SSAA also has a Farmer Assist program, which introduces recreational shooters to primary producers for feral animal control.”
The introduction of hunting on state land wasn’t supported for reasons including safety of community, doubts about effectiveness of hunting to control feral animals, and animal welfare issues.
Mr Filche, who has trained 1500 people for NSW hunting purposes as an accredited trainer, said SSAA management exercises didn’t give access to public land on a wholesale basis.
”There’s the usual chant about safety but there are no statistics to back it up with from other states,” he said. “We teach people the rules around what to wear, about exclusion areas, listening to channel 40, and so on.”
He said the Northern Territory was in the process of beginning Back Country Hunting in Litchfield National Park, meaning the government there wouldn’t have to pay for helicopter management.
“The staff can do their primary business and the government gets revenue from it.”
Public versus private
The QPWS spokeswoman said their protected area plus state forests represented less than 7 per cent of Queensland, but the remaining land, approximately 45 per cent pastoral leases, and 24 per cent freehold land, could be used by recreational shooters with landholder permission.
Mr Filche said getting access was a challenge that depended on establishing a personal relationship, and people generally didn’t want to strain that relationship with too large a group.
He said being restricted to hunting only on private land wasn’t enough to keep pest animals at bay, but QPWS saw it the other way around, citing a 2016 NSW pest animal management review that said while recreational hunting could be a valuable part of a pest management program, population control was not the primary purpose of most recreational hunters.
“Shooting on its own is rarely an effective population control method,” it said.
The QPWS spokeswoman added that ABARES and the Australasian Wildlife Management Society each said shooting was ineffective in significantly reducing pest animal densities and impacts, particularly over the longer term.- Utilities
Stop a rush
Clear angles
Retake a site
etc.
Utilities include grenades and defuse kits. Grenades are the most widely used utilities in order to:Since utilities are SO important to this game, CS:GO wouldn't be categorized as semi-realistic without these grenades. However, there are situations where grenades can save you, whereas some can not.The Defuse kit is autility to win a round as a CT. Since a normal bomb plant has 40 seconds to detonate, it only takes 3 defuses to defuse a bomb without a kit. For instance, every 10 second is one defuse available. Do you get what I'm saying? So, with a kit, you havedefuses since 40/5 = 8. So with a kit, you can have up to 7 defuses, whereas without a kit, you can only have up to 3. That's what makes the Defuse Kit so important to the CT side.Grenades have their own function. Let's see what each grenade does.only make a smoke screen, or a giant cloud of smoke. This smoke can only block vision. It can be bought by bothand. Players can only buy one smoke grenade, which means 5 smoke grenades per team. Since the grenade has the ability to block off vision, it is useful to stop rushes, and make safe rotations. However, these smokes are not solid, so bullets can go through the smokes.can only blind and deafen players for a short period of time. Those who view will experience longer effects, while those who are far and view will experience short effects of the flashbang. The flashbang can stop rushes if timed correctly. There are many ways to flash, but the most effective method to flash is calleddeal damage depending on how far and close the enemy is. If the HE Grenade directly hits an enemy, it can deal vast amounts of damage, and can instantly kill the enemy. However, theabsorbs the damage of the grenade. It has a wide damage area, capable of damaging multiple enemies, but it can create attention and damage teammates.basically look like flashbangs that cause fake gun shots. It creates fake gun shots with the most expensive weapon you bought.Most importantly, since it only makes gunshots with the most expensive weapon you have, you can create a fake round type by throwing a decoy when you only have a P250 or Five-Seven. This will cause your enemies to think your team is on an eco round. The Decoy Grenade also can bait enemies to look away since it looks like a flashbang.create blockades that damage enemies/teammates when in the radius of the flame. These grenades are useful to stopping a rush, and having enemies reveal themself to get out of the flame radius. However, there are some bugs with these that can go through roofs such as flaming an area in a position in CT spawn to put a flame area on Extended A. However, Molotovs/Incendiary Grenades cancreate a flame area in the air. That is why timing your molotovs/incendiary grenades is important. The flame areas canbe created through smokes and water. They also bounce off of steep ramps and not create a flame area. However, it is unsure whether Valve will fix it or not.DETROIT, MI -- It doesn't take long to learn about Nicholas Buckinham's criminal record. It's just a few Internet searches away.
The Michigan Department of Corrections shares with the world through its publicly accessible online Offender Tracking Information System Buckingham's 2006 conviction for an Ingham County armed robbery he committed in 2005.
The MDOC recognizes Buckingham as prisoner no. 501075, a 33-year-old black man with a couple tattoos, some scars on his wrists and a brand on one arm that reads, "fire."
This record is one of the first things potential employers and landlords see if they perform a cursory check into Buckingham's background. It doesn't matter, he says, if they know he's not committed crime in a decade, created a youth group or is about a year away from obtaining a
Although his status says "discharged" in August 2014, Buckingham says he's still paying for his criminal past.
After initially being released in 2012, Buckingham said he returned to prison after being charged with marijuana possession.
"I have had the hardest time finding gainful employment," said Buckingham, who has an associate's degree and is about a year from graduating with a bachelor's degree in social work from Oakland University. "I have been turned away from numerous internships... because of the felony conviction.
"I do great on the interviews, but once it comes down to the background check they have turned me away."
Buckingham is working with Michigan United, an activist organization, and Communication Workers of America, a 700,000-member union, to petition Detroit City Council and Mayor Mike Duggan to institute a new law that could increase employment access to convicted felons.
Dubbed the Fair Chances for All campaign, the effort aims to add onto "ban-the-box" legislation passed in 2010 that removed the question about one's criminal past from city applications.
The groups are proposing to expand the law to include private employers who receive tax breaks from the city. They would be required to remove segments of their application asking about criminal history, agree not to conduct background checks until after conditional employment is offered and would not exclude applicants with misdemeanors older than three years or felonies convictions older than seven years.
Detroit 'bans the box': Council votes to remove felony question from applications for city jobs The Detroit City Council today unanimously approved an ordinance that will remove a question about felony convictions from applications for municipal jobs, a development advocates say removes a major barrier to rehabilitation.
Kimberly Buddin, a legal fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union, was among those who spoke at a rally of more than 100 outside Detroit City Hall Wednesday. She
"Nationally, 25 percent of African-American adults have a felony record," Budding said. "In Detroit, that's over 100,000 people who have felony records that potentially exclude them from getting employment or housing."
Buddin, citing the National Employment Law Project, a labor advocacy group, added that Michigan's unemployment rate among black adults is 15.8 percent, three times the state and national rates.
"We're seeing a higher recidivism rate because people are coming from prison... the majority of those people are coming to the city of Detroit," Buddin said. "But you've got all of these companies that have come in to support the revitalization and they have policies and practices where there not hiring people with criminal records."
Detroit Councilwoman Janee L. Ayers heads the government-led Returning Citizens Task Force, which aims to offer more opportunity to felons and reduce recidivism in Detroit.
She said the ACLU presented the task force proposed legislation that would be in line with the demands being made by Michigan United and Communication Workers of America. No new laws have yet been presented to City Council.
"If you're going to be operating inside of our city," Ayers said, "and you're looking to get dollars from citizens of our city, then why shouldn't we afford at least a pathway for all citizens to have the opportunity to work in our city."BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox waited for Josh Beckett to recover from his sprained right ankle before letting him get back on the mound.
And he returned to the rotation just in time.
In his first start in 11 days, Beckett pitched six solid innings to lead the Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay on Friday night, slowing the charge of the third-place Rays and extending Boston's lead in the AL wild-card race to four games. It was the second win in nine games for the Red Sox, and their first in seven tries against the Rays.
"We need him to be Beckett. We don't need him to be Beckett in name only," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Despite what's been happening, we want him to have a chance to pitch effectively. So we weren't going to pitch him unless he was ready."
The Rays trailed Boston by nine games on Sept. 3 and had a chance to catch them with a four-game sweep in Fenway. But trade-deadline pickup Mike Aviles broke a fourth-inning tie with his first homer since joining the Red Sox, and Boston assured itself of the wild-card lead at least through the end of the weekend.
"As tough as the last 10 days have been, playing in this atmosphere -- this is why they work all winter," Francona said. "This is exciting. I was as nervous as can be."
Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 30th save -- his first since Aug. 18 -- striking out Evan Longoria with a runner on second to end the game. But the best news might have been the performance of Daniel Bard, who rebounded after three straight losses to strike out three in a scoreless eighth.
"I don't know what anybody else is saying, but he's Daniel Bard. I want him pitching the eighth every game I start for the rest of my career," Beckett said. "I don't know if that's going to happen, but I'd like my chances."
James Shields (15-11) lost for just the second time since July. Longoria homered for the second straight night, and Desmond Jennings had three hits for the Rays.
Boston ace Jon Lester faces Jeff Niemann on Saturday.
Beckett (13-5) left his Sept. 5 start with a sprained ankle and skipped his next turn in the rotation. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- on Friday night, giving up seven hits, an intentional walk and a hit batter while striking out seven. He fanned John Jaso with a runner on third to end the sixth -- a called strike that got Rays manager Joe Maddon ejected.
"We're still in good position if we can get tomorrow's and Sunday's game. That still puts us in pretty good shape," Maddon said. "But it was made much more difficult tonight with the actions of the home plate umpire."
In two previous starts against Tampa Bay this season, Beckett pitched 17 scoreless innings, allowing just a pair of infield singles. But he ran into trouble early on Friday when Jennings led off the game with a bunt single and took second on Beckett's throwing error; two batters later, Longoria homered off the top of the Green Monster.
The Red Sox tied it in the bottom half on RBI singles by Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. The teams matched runs in the third before Aviles, who was acquired from the Kansas City Royals on July 30, sent one off the billboard behind the Monster Seats -- his first homer since joining the Red Sox.
"He got a pitch he could reach and he whacked it," Francona said. "I don't care who hits them right now. It was nice seeing that ball leave the ballpark."
Shields allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out four in seven innings.
Longoria also saved a run in the field when he dove to his right to snare Pedroia's liner and essentially landed on third base, doubling off Aviles to end the seventh.
Game notes
Game 3 of the four-game series is Saturday, with LHP Lester (15-7) facing RHP Niemann (10-7). It could be the only game in the series with a pitching matchup that favors Boston. Lester will be trying to atone for his last performance -- four innings pitched in a 9-1 loss to the Rays last Sunday.... Beckett, who started his career with the Marlins, earned his 1,000th strikeout with the Red Sox when he fanned Ben Zobrist in the sixth.... Maddon was ejected arguing a called third strike. Earlier, B.J. Upton argued a called third strike, and Maddon rushed out of the dugout to get between him and home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.... An odd play in the top of the eighth: Johnny Damon was hit by a pitch, but the Red Sox appealed to third base umpire Bob Davidson, who said he swung at the pitch for strike three.... The Red Sox allowed a season-high seven stolen bases, three by Damon and two by Jennings.... The Rays fanned 15 times and went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position.F or the first 18 years of my academic career, I ran into the same problem every semester. It happened at about the 13-week mark: I would share a tearful farewell with my family and begin serving my sentence in Grading Jail. In that moment, I would look back on a career of repeat offenses against efficient and timely grading of student work, and see clearly that I had no one to blame but myself. I was a hopeless recidivist.
Or so it seemed. Remarkably, the hard time I served was enough to rehabilitate me, and turn me into a productive member of grading society. And now — since we’re at that point of the semester — I’m ready to share what I’ve learned in hopes of saving others from the academic clink.
But first (and before I beat the jail metaphor any further into the ground), I ought to disclose that my own relationship with grades is an ambivalent one. I think too much emphasis is put on grades by both students and institutions, I don’t think a single grade is representative of a student’s academic ability, and I firmly reject the idea that grades reflect intelligence or potential. That said, I also realize the need to assess student work in a consistent and understandable manner. In a perfect educational world, there would be individualized assessments — formative and summative — and in-depth conferences in which professors and students could share and discuss these narratives. In our imperfect world, grades are still a feature of the academic landscape, and we owe it to students to fairly use the tools we have, no matter how flawed.
Prompt feedback may be a "best practice," but too often in the semester, we honor that injunction primarily in the breach. Thus, in a paroxysm of equal parts guilt and panic, we lock ourselves in Grading Jail — hard labor with no parole until we’ve atoned for our (procrastination) sins. The all-night grading binge is problematic, though. Are we really giving effective and thoughtful feedback to students at 3 a.m., after we’ve read 25 (or more) of their classmates’ essays? Are the standards applied to the final paper the same as the ones used to evaluate the first, so many hours and cups of coffee ago?
Here, then, are the three strategies I’ve found most helpful in the continuing quest to better manage my grading workflow and stay out of trouble.
Pre-semester calendaring. Technically, this isn’t a strategy you could plug-and-play in the middle of the term to ease your grading workload. But for me, once it became a habit, it has been invaluable.
Before classes start, as I’m drafting my syllabi, I print out calendars for every month of the term and lay them out on my desk. Using different colored markers for each section/course, I plot out the due dates for every assignment I will give throughout the semester. A cluster of different colors in a three-day span is a quick visual cue that I ought to reconsider some due dates. Is there a distinct pedagogical need to collect a stack of exam books from one course, and a pile of essays from another the next day? Or can I space out those due dates differently?
I know this sounds head-slappingly simple, but how many of us really do this sort of careful planning and comparison in advance? Judging from the litany of "I have to grade four sections of papers" lamentations on my Twitter feed, it’s a strategy that more of us should consider. Sometimes the simple steps pay off exponentially in the long run.
Rubrics — done well — are your friend. I was a rubric skeptic early in my career, but with education and experience, I’ve become a big fan of them for much of my grading. The initial impetus for me to consider rubrics was the realization that I was using essentially the same set of comments for much of my feedback across classes and assignments. How many times do I want to write "use a specific example here" or "awkward phrasing — please rework?"
My initial solution was to have a Word document with the phrases I used most often open while I graded, and then cut-and-paste the appropriate comment as needed. I ran into two problems with that strategy, though: First, I had to be grading student work electronically to use it, and second, it became patently absurd. If I was writing the same comments over and over, maybe I needed to revisit just how clear my criteria were to my students. As I wrote out explicitly my criteria for evaluating student work, I also realized that I often didn’t apply them evenly. I mean, it’s easy to be seduced by a beautifully written essay, even if it says little of substance — and especially if it comes on the heels of four stinkers in a row.
Was I being as fair as I could be? And how would I know if I was? That was where rubrics came in for me, after I did some research and consulted with colleagues.
Constructing a rubric involves a significant investment of time on the front end, but once designed, using it to assess student work cuts my grading time by more than half. I’m not writing the same basic comments over and over, because they’re on my rubric, and I can circle or highlight them there. I use the time I’ve saved to concentrate on more meaningful individual feedback. Most important, having specific criteria and clearly defined benchmarks gives me the assurance that I’m being as consistent as possible in my grading. Indeed, my assignment design has improved as a result of forcing myself to define specific learning outcomes, and how I plan to assess them.
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An additional advantage: If students have the rubric in front of them as they work, ambiguity and guesswork (as well as the anxiety those can produce) are eliminated from the process. That’s no small thing when it comes to a high-stakes assignment like a final research paper, for example. (Of course hastily written or vague rubrics don’t provide any of those benefits, and indeed may exacerbate the very problems they were intended to solve.)
A caveat: Advance distribution of a rubric shouldn’t be your only conversation with students about your expectations. A good, detailed rubric promotes transparent criteria, consistently applied. As the only reference point, though, it becomes easy for students to "write to the rubric," creating homogeneity and blandness rather than giving them the freedom to achieve learning outcomes in a creative and genuine way.
I can talk faster than I write. So can you, I imagine. In the last couple of years, speech-to-text options (Google’s Gboard mobile app, for example) have proliferated. Dictating comments into a Google Doc and using speech-to-text to transcribe them in real time is one way to provide substantial feedback on a large amount of student work without developing carpal tunnel syndrome.
However, I’ve found it even more meaningful to record my comments and then share them with individual students via an audio file they can listen to on any device. I stumbled into this method out of desperation several years ago; I was woefully behind on grading student essays and needed a way to get through |
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It was sound advice, though still easy to fall.
Mike Kuehl, a Queen Creek resident, hikes the hill with his wife nearly every day and now does it with ease.
“We mostly do the climb here and go back down,” Kuehl said. “It’s steep here, so it gives you a good little workout. It’s pretty quick and fast, and you can get back home.”
The couple liked the Goldmine Trail so much they bought annual passes. They have been hiking the hill for three years, watching its popularity grow. They have timed the round-trip walk to 45 minutes.
They particularly enjoy coming back down to fields of yellow and purple wildflowers at the base of the hill in the spring. The flowers congratulate those who’ve made it down and encourage others who are about to trek up.
“Really, just truly, I enjoy the scenery,” Kuehl said.
Endurance riding
Angie Fura lives near the Maricopa Trail’s Anthem Trailhead in the far north Valley. She rides Stella, her 5-year-old horse, on the Maricopa Trail three or four times a week. They ride between Lake Pleasant and Spur Cross Ranch, through the Anthem Trailhead, with targeted exercises.
“One day when it’s finally finished, we’ll ride around the city. But, for now, we do what we can,” Fura said.
Endurance riding is akin to a marathon for horses and their riders. They cover 50 miles in 12 hours or 100 miles in 24 hours. There is a vet check every 25 miles to ensure that horses are healthy enough to continue.
The segment near the Anthem Trailhead is ideal for Fura and her group of fellow endurance enthusiasts.
The trail is wide, keeping thorny cactuses far from horses and leaving enough room to share with hikers. All-terrain vehicles and hunting are not allowed, keeping the horses safe. The trail is relatively flat, allowing riders to see mountain bikers coming from a distance.
“The ground is not too hard, so there’s no concussion on their legs. It’s a highly desirable trail,” said Kecia Smette, who regularly rides Squeaker, her 8-year-old horse, near the Anthem Trailhead.
Squeaker got his name because he squeaks like a toy when it’s feeding time.
Smette is working to build Squeaker’s legs and core muscles and train him for endurance. After “base training,” horses can work to increase their speed and do targeted exercises to hone their skills. Riders keep in shape, as well, and yoga helps them prepare for long- distance rides.
Endurance riding is a growing sport in Phoenix. Smette estimated there are about 20 endurance riders in the Valley. They travel to different states for races, which take place about every other month.
Smette, who rides Squeaker 30 to 40 miles a week, said word is spreading about the Anthem Trailhead as an ideal spot for the growing sport.
“All of us really love our horses and being able to ride them and have trails open to us,” she said.1 World Health Organization WHO guidelines on ethical issues in public health surveillance. On June 23, 2017, WHO issued the first international ethics guidelines on public health surveillance ( appendix ),helping to fill a key gap in knowledge regarding this important practice.
2 United Nations Sustainable development goals. Surveillance constitutes the foundation of outbreak and epidemic responses, but it is important not only for infectious disease but also for understanding the global challenge of non-communicable diseases. Surveillance can help to create accountable institutions by providing information about health and its determinants and an evidentiary basis for establishing and evaluating public health policy. Surveillance will be central to the success of the Sustainable Development Goalsproposed by the UN. When the results of surveillance are shared with populations and policymakers in a timely and appropriate manner, they can serve as a tool for advocacy. Perhaps most crucially, surveillance contributes to reducing inequities; the needs of populations in which suffering occurs, particularly when this suffering is unfair, unjust, and preventable, cannot be addressed if these populations are not first made visible.
Yet surveillance has sometimes been the subject of pitched battles. Because surveillance can involve practices such as name-based reporting, it can trigger profound concerns about intrusions on privacy, discrimination, and stigmatisation, particularly in the absence of public trust that names will be secured and not inadvertently disclosed, or that aggregate data will only be released in a sensitive manner.
Just as often, however, the failure to undertake public health surveillance has generated political and ethical controversy because of concerns that “what does not get counted does not count.”
Despite the existence of landmark international guidelines on the ethics of research, including epidemiological studies, and specific ethical guidelines for surveillance of specific diseases in specific countries, there has never been a comprehensive international ethics framework governing public health surveillance that considers risk factors, environmental conditions, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, outbreak situations, and national borders.
3 World Health Organization Global network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Bioethics. WHO's International Guidelines on the Ethics of Public Health Surveillance have been developed by an international group of experts in surveillance, epidemiological research, bioethics, public health ethics, and human rights. The authors of these guidelines combine expertise in leading research institutions, representing major non-governmental organisations that either undertake surveillance or are involved with surveillance-related advocacy. Among others, experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and WHO provided vital technical support to ensure that the guidelines were reflective of the actual procedures used for and issues involved in data collection, analysis, and dissemination. The Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Bioethicsinitiated this project.
These new guidelines were motivated by a set of core ethical and policy questions, as follows: (1) what is the ethical obligation to undertake public health surveillance; (2) what are the risks of conducting disease surveillance, and how should such risks be balanced against population-level benefits; (3) when and how must relevant communities be engaged in the development of surveillance plans; (4) how should the confidentiality of surveillance data be protected; (5) what are the ethical obligations to share the results of public health surveillance with public health authorities, with public health researchers, and with communities and individuals who have contributed to surveillance systems; (6) are there circumstances when data sharing must be strictly prohibited; and (7) what institutional mechanisms should be established to ensure ethical issues are systematically addressed before data collection, use, and dissemination?
4 Hepple B The guidelines are rooted in the tradition of public health ethics, the focus of which has been on articulating and assessing the moral issues that arise in the pursuit of population health. Concepts such as the common good, equity, solidarity, reciprocity, and population wellbeing are, as a result, central to these guidelines. This is not to say that autonomy, privacy, and individual rights and liberties are not also important ethical considerations. However, the social or public values that frame these guidelines illustrate the importance of community and the traditions of good governance. Some use the language of solidarity, drawing on the communitarian tradition in public health; others, the mutual obligations of reciprocity. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, for instance, sought to define the duties and responsibilities of government with the concept of stewardship.
The new public health surveillance guidelines describe the affirmative duty to undertake surveillance but also note its limits. Countries have a duty to establish effective surveillance systems. When necessary, such efforts must be assisted by the global community, although such an obligation does not give high-income countries the freedom to ignore the priority-setting decisions of countries that require support. Surveillance can justifiably require that names or other individually identifying features be reported to public health registries to assure the accuracy and utility of surveillance systems. However, countries must also protect reported identifiable data from misuse or abuse. Surveillance serves to support policy making and advocacy, so governments have an obligation to publicise the results of surveillance activities and to act to ameliorate, to the extent feasible, the issues that are revealed by surveillance systems. Finally, it is crucial to create oversight mechanisms to assure that the ethical foundations of surveillance activities are reflected in policy and practice.
These guidelines will be applied to situations that might vary in fundamental ways, and they recognise that value trade-offs are sometimes inevitable. For instance, countries with different local traditions and priorities might strike a different balance between competing values and priorities. It is important to highlight, however, that not all trade-offs are morally acceptable. There may be local, national, or regional circumstances characterised by gross violations of human rights. For example, an occupational disease surveillance system that resulted in routine dismissal of workers affected by silicosis, black lung, or asbestosis would be unacceptable. Trade-offs under such circumstances could provide a pretext for further oppression and should be guarded against.
The WHO Guidelines for Ethics in Public Health Surveillance are offered as the basis for the development of ethical national surveillance systems. They represent a starting point for the sustained discussions that surveillance demands. But they are, most fundamentally, central to the justification of surveillance as a core activity that extends beyond outbreak contexts or infectious diseases.
We declare no competing interests. We participated in drafting these WHO guidelines. AS and AR are staff members of WHO. We, alone, are responsible for the views expressed in this Comment, which do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy, or views of WHO. We acknowledge support from: the Foundation Brocher (Switzerland), the Monash-Warwick Alliance Seed Fund Scheme (funding the project “Ethics of Public Health Security”), the Wellcome Trust, and the Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy (University of Miami, FL, USA). We thank the collaborators who coauthored the guidelines, the external reviewers, and WHO interns who supported this project.Looking for news you can trust?
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On the campaign trail and on the web, Rick Perry touts a supposedly sterling record on transparency. But the facts don’t back him up. Last week, his office settled an ethics complaint accusing his campaign of hiding the fact that it spent hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign contributions spent on party supplies for the governor’s mansion. That wasn’t an isolated incident, Politico reports:
Though other states have email retention policies sometimes calling for deletion after 30 or 45 days, Texas’s seven-day period is possibly the briefest…The policy, a holdover from former President George W. Bush’s gubernatorial administration in Texas, calls on staffers to print out emails that might be covered by the Texas Public Information Act, but there’s no check on their judgment. Perry also has refused to release a range of existing records that have been made public by both his predecessors in Texas and by governors of other states, including his daily schedule, his office’s reviews of death penalty cases—even lists of guests who stayed overnight at the governor’s mansion. Bush not only released lists of overnight guests at the governor’s mansion during his governorship, including big donors, but during his 2000 presidential campaign, he released 3,125 pages of records detailing almost his entire schedule. It included everything from meetings with lobbyists and donors, to time spent reviewing death penalty cases, to his workout breaks.
Perry has also sought to keep secret his cozy ties with big donors, as well as details of past budget negotiations. This summer, the state legislature gave him an assist by passing a bill that will delay the release of information on his security detail’s travel records until after the 2012 election.
So does Perry think he has an openness problem? “I think we give so much information already that it is boring,” he said last October. Information-overload isn’t the issue. Perry doesn’t seem to get the basic point that destroying any traceable record of his public life suggests that he has something to hide.Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in District of Columber v. Heller, the case challenging the District of Columbia’s decades-old and near-complete ban on gun ownership by city residents. At stake is interpretation of an Amendment that has received almost no judicial scrutiny in 209 years since it was enacted.
One blogger, former Washington area talk-show host Chris Core, makes this point about what we might expect:
I, for one, have wanted a Supreme Court case on this for years. Let’s have the court finally tell us which side has the correct take on what the Founders meant. Both gun control and gun owner advocates have been trying to avoid such a case for fear of losing in the Court. Until now. Finally, probably in June, when the Court hands down its decisions, we will have clarity. Or will we? I am betting we won’t. As often happens, I think the court will parse this one too finely to please either side. My thinking focuses on two of the words: “bear” and “arms”. There is a lot of wiggle room here. Does “bear” literally mean the right to carry a gun with you wherever you go, or is the fact that you can have one in your home enough? And “arms”–does that mean you can have absolutely any kind of weapon you want and can afford, or does the state have the right to say which arms are permitted and which are not? As much as I, and probably you, would love a definitive answer, I doubt we will get one. Nonetheless, this is the most interesting Supreme Court case to watch since Roe v. Wade.
Chris is right that we are unlikely to see complete resolution of the gun control issue from this case, and part of that has to do with the fact I noted above — since the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, there have only been a handful of cases that addressed it and none of them have dealt with one of the central issues in Heller.
The other reason is because Heller isn’t just a simple question of whether or not the Second Amendment protects an individual or collective right to gun ownership. To make a complex case simple, Heller really comes down to two questions:
Does the Second Amendment create an individual right to keep and bear arms, or does it merely mean that the states can maintain militias made up of members of the citizenry? Assuming that the right is an individual one, what constitutes an infringement of that right?
On the first question, I think there’s a good chance that the Court will find that the Second Amendment right is an individual one. From an historical perspective, which is really the only guide that the Justices will have, the argument that the drafters of the Bill of Rights did not intend to protect the right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms is simply absurd. Yes, it’s possible that they will reverse the Court of Appeals — and, if they do, that is essentially the end of the day and, I think, the end of individual gun rights in the United States.
The second question, though, is much more nuanced and, as SCOTUSBlog’s Wiki on the case notes, the two sides disagree significantly on the answer:
Even if the Court should opt for an individual, private right to have guns, the two main briefs divide on how to judge when such a right were violated by a gun control law. The city government backs a reasonableness standard, the gun rights challengers favor “strict scrutiny.” And, it is no surprise, applying the standards that each advances would determine the fate of the handgun ban in the District.
In previous cases, the Supreme Court has held that nearly all of the other rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights are subject to a “strict scrutiny” standard; meaning that any law that would abrogate those rights would have to pass the following test:
First, it must be justified by a compelling governmental interest. While the Courts have never brightly defined how to determine if an interest is compelling, the concept generally refers to something necessary or crucial, as opposed to something merely preferred. Examples include national security, preserving the lives of multiple individuals, and not violating explicit constitutional protections. Second, the law or policy must be narrowly tailored to achieve that goal or interest. If the government action encompasses too much (over-inclusive) or fails to address essential aspects of the compelling interest (under-inclusive), then the rule is not considered narrowly tailored. Finally, the law or policy must be the least restrictive means for achieving that interest. More accurately, there cannot be a less restrictive way to effectively achieve the compelling government interest, but the test will not fail just because there is another method that is equally the least restrictive. Some legal scholars consider this ‘least restrictive means’ requirement part of being narrowly tailored, though the Court generally evaluates it as a separate prong.
Under that standard, obviously, almost no restriction on a constitutionally protected right can pass muster.
There are lesser basis of review, though; under “rational basis review” all that the government needs to show is that there is some rational basis for the law, and, under so-called “intermediate scrutiny” where the government only needs to show that the law or regulation involves important governmental interests that are furthered by substantially related means.
The Court could decide that the regulations that impact Second Amendment rights only need to pass one of these lesser standards of review, meaning that some forms of gun control legislation would be acceptable.
Finally, it’s important to note that whatever happens in D.C. v. Heller may not have the widespread impact that some believe because the Supreme Court has never ruled that the Second Amendment applies to the states:
It is a somewhat curious fact of the history of the Second Amendment that, unlike most of the other parts of the Bill of Rights, it simply does not apply to state or local laws. Thus, the numerically much greater array of state laws on gun control — such as laws against carrying a concealed gun — are not immediately affected by the Amendment, however it is interpreted. In a process that began in the late 19th Century, the Court has “incorporated” almost all of the other guaranteed constitutional rights into the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment, thus applying them as limits on state and local government activity. But the Supreme Court has never reconsidered an 1886 decision, in Presser v. Illinois, saying that the Amendment is not binding on the states.
The most likely outcome of the Court’s decision in Heller, whatever it might be, is that it will merely be the beginning of an entirely new area of Constitutional jurisprudence. Ten years from now, Second Amendment cases may be as common in the Supreme Court as First Amendment cases once were, and that will continue until the Court hammers out a coherent Second Amendment case law.In PART I, we mentioned the case of web apps.
But I think some of you are creating Cordova apps with the Cordova toolkit or Monaca. So I’d like to explain how to make your Cordova app compatible with iPhone X.
PART II — Creating Native-like Apps with Cordova for iPhone X
In the case of Cordova app, supporting iPhone X means supporting iPhone X WebView.
So let’s see what happens if we show Cordova apps in iPhone X WebView in the same way as PART I.
Set up a Cordova app
Let’s create a Cordova app with Vue.
The versions of software which we’ll use are shown below:
[email protected]
[email protected] (Core package)
(Core package) [email protected] (Additional package for Vue)
(Additional package for Vue) [email protected]
[email protected]
Xcode 9.0
(1) For existing Cordova + Vue projects, it can be installed with NPM or Yarn:
# NPM
npm install onsenui vue-onsenui --save-dev
# Yarn
yarn add onsenui vue-onsenui -D
Some necessary files must be included in the app:
import 'onsenui/css/onsenui.css'; // Webpack CSS import
import 'onsenui/css/onsen-css-components.css'; // Webpack CSS import
import VueOnsen from 'vue-onsenui';
Vue.use(VueOnsen);
(2) Otherwise, new projects can be started right away via Vue CLI. It can optionally add Vuex and some other features:
vue init OnsenUI/vue-cordova-webpack # For Cordova apps
(3) After setting up Cordova, Vue and OnsenUI, let’s create App.vue and NotesPage.vue with the following content as same as PART I and get the tab bar pattern implemented.
App.vue
NotesPage.vue
That’s it.
How about Problem I?
In PART I, we explained Problem I — white blank areas are automatically inserted on the both side by iPhone X Safari.
So let’s check if Problem I remains or not in iPhone X WebView.
cordova platform add ios
npm run build && cordova run ios --target="iPhone-X"
Tab bar pattern in iPhone X WebView (portrait mode)
Oh, in the case of Cordova apps, it seems that the blank areas appear even in portrait mode.
Then, what happens in landscape mode?
Tab bar pattern in iPhone X WebView (landscape mode)
Blank areas appeared on the left, right and bottom side in landscape mode.
It turned out that Problem I still happens in Cordova apps. But as same as PART I, this problem can be fixed by just setting viewport-fit to cover.
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no, viewport-fit=cover">
After setting the value of viewport-fit to cover
Tip: Problem I is already fixed in WKWebView
iOS 11 has two WebViews: an old UIWebView (Cordova default, and not recommended by Apple) and a new WKWebView (recommended by Apple).
In UIWebView, because auto of the viewport-fit points to contain, we have to change it to cover. But in WKWebView, auto points to cover by default (confirmed by the author). It means that Problem I is already fixed in WKWebView and we no longer have to set viewport-fit=cover.
As WKWebView is a next-generation API, basically it works stably compared to UIWebView in several situations. If you are using Cordova, I recommend replacing UIWebView with WKWebView by using cordova-plugin-wkwebview-engine plugin. But please also keep in mind that WKWebView has some minor drawbacks.
Problem III
In the case of web apps, once Problem I is fixed, we can start working on Problem II — the notch, the rounded corners and the bottom bar can hide some part of the page contents.
But in the case of Cordova apps, even if Problem I is fixed we cannot work on Problem II right away, because there is another problem, Problem III.
Let’s see what is happening in the whole screen after Problem I is solved.
Cordova app after Problem I is solved (portrait mode)
Cordova app after Problem I is solved (landscape mode)
There are black blank areas, in the top/bottom in portrait mode, and in the left/right and bottom in landscape mode. This is what I call Problem III.
Similar to Problem I, but the principle behind the problem is different. Problem III is caused by the specification of iPhone X that all apps which don’t satisfy a particular condition are automatically shown in the safe area. The condition is explained as follows:
Enable full screen native resolution. Your app will run in Full Screen Display Mode on iPhone X if your project’s base SDK is set to iOS 11 and you have a Launch Storyboard or iPhone X launch image.
I’d like to explain the quoted part more specifically. First of all, iOS has two methods to show splash screens: (1) an old method which simply shows an image (Cordova default, not recommended by Apple) and (2) a new method which shows an image with some stretching and trimming based on a mechanism called storyboard (recommended by Apple).
In the case of (1), if the Cordova app does not contain an image which size is same as the iPhone X screen resolution (1125 x 2436 px), the app will be shown in the safe area. Adding the image with 1125 x 2436 px size fixes this problem and the app will be shown in full screen.
In the case of (2), all Cordova apps will be shown in full screen.
But in order to use (2), we have to add cordova-plugin-splashscreen plugin into the Cordova app using the following command:
cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-splashscreen
And also the images which the splash screen consists of must be defined in <platform name="ios"> of config.xml :
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@2x~iphone~anyany.png" />
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@2x~iphone~comany.png" />
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@2x~iphone~comcom.png" />
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@3x~iphone~anyany.png" />
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@3x~iphone~anycom.png" />
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@3x~iphone~comany.png" />
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@2x~ipad~anyany.png" />
<splash src="res/screen/ios/Default@2x~ipad~comany.png" />
Of course the actual image files must be added. The size of each image should basically follow the document of cordova-plugin-splashscreen, and only for devices with Super Retina screen ( @3x ) which has 3x resolution, I recommend setting the image size to 2436 x 1242 px so that it covers the longest long side of iPhone X (2436px) and the longest short side of iPhone 8 Plus (1242px). Please note that in the case of (2), apps are always shown in full screen and the size of each image only affects the behavior of the splash screen and does not affect the size of the app.
Default@2x~iphone~anyany.png (= 1334x1334 = 667x667@2x )
Default@2x~iphone~comany.png (= 750 x1334 = 375x667@2x )
Default@2x~iphone~comcom.png (= 750x750 = 375x375@2x )
Default@3x~iphone~anyany.png (= 2436 x 2436 = 812x812@3x )
Default@3x~iphone~anycom.png (= 2436 x1242 = 812x414@3x )
Default@3x~iphone~comany.png (= 1242x2436 = 414x812@3x )
(Please save the images into res/screen/ios/)First, I should probably say that I'm not a big fan of prison shows. Or cop shows. Or lawyer shows. Or courtroom drama shows of any sort. I guess that's one of the side effects of being sentenced to death for a crime I didn't commit. In 1993 I was unfortunate enough to see what the inside of the American judicial machine is truly like when I was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for three counts of capital murder. One thing I learned is that almost everything you see on television shows is complete and absolute fiction. Perry Mason is no mote realistic than Superman. So when I was first asked to watch a new show called Rectify, I was wary.
Rectify is the story of a man who was sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit, and spent 19 years on death row before getting out. Much like in my own real life case, the local politicians refuse to admit he's innocent even after DNA testing points towards someone else. In fact, there was so much about this show that mirrored my own life I began to wonder how much of my story had crept into the script.
The writer of the show, Ray McKinnon, was somewhat familiar with my case. His late wife, Lisa Blount was a friend of mine. She and I exchanged letters while I was on death row in Arkansas, and she even sang at a concert in Arkansas, along with Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, and Johnny Depp, to help raise awareness about my plight.
I heard that McKinnon also did research into the cases of other men who had been on death row and had been released or exonerated. It paid off. I can tell you from first hand experience that Rectify is a very realistic show.
The main character is a man named Daniel. When you look at his eyes, you're looking into the eyes of a man who has seen Hell. There are moments when he looks like he's about to begin screaming at any second, and never stop. The first time you see this is in episode one, when he's about to leave the prison. The guard is treating him like a human being, and it's evident this hasn't happened in an extremely long time. You see the confusion on his face as he wrestles with suddenly being treated decently by the same people who have treated him like an animal for years. He can't quite process it. I know that look well. As he's about to leave the prison, the guard helps him tie his necktie, as he can no longer remember how to do it himself.
It reminded me of my very last day in prison, as I was dressing to leave. I was putting on real clothes for the first time in nearly 20 years, as were the two other men being released -- Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley. I looked over to see one of the guards tying Jessie's tie. He was doing it gently, as if he wanted Jessie to look good on his first day of freedom. It was odd, thinking back on how I'd been beaten, starved, and treated as something sub-human by prison guards for years. Most people have nothing in their frame of reference that would allow them to understand what an impact that has on a person's psyche -- but somehow McKinnon manages to capture it.
Another thing McKinnon captures is the shock and trauma of someone just released after nearly 20 years on death row. The main character falls asleep on the ride home from the prison, and then falls asleep again as his sister drives him around to see how the town has changed. When I first walked off of death row I was so deeply in shock and traumatized that for nearly three months I couldn't watch a movie, a television show, read a book, or take a car ride without falling into a deep, dark sleep that didn't seem to refresh me much when I awakened. All I wanted to do was go out and walk the streets of New York City at all hours of the day and night. I would walk until I was so exhausted I'd stumble over my own feet like a drunk -- and I was drunk. I was drunk on the river of human energy that flowed all around me, over me, and through me. The human interaction and energy I'd been starved of for almost 20 years.
One other thing McKinnon manages to capture is the wonder a man experiences once he's returned from the land of the dead. The main character walks through a convenience store, staring at the hot dog rack like it's a minor miracle. And to him, it is. For me, it was Chinatown. I would walk up and down the streets of Chinatown staring at all the flotsam and jetsam being sold on the side walks in awe. They were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen -- colors, shapes, smells -- I couldn't get enough of it. I could stare for hours at the pigeons everyone else seemed to find revolting. Everything was amazing to me. Everything. I would lie on our balcony in the rain, staring at this beautiful beast of a city that I had fallen head over heels in love with. I would look at the skyline of Manhattan and be so overwhelmed with the monstrous beauty that I wanted to sob and kiss the filthy sidewalks. McKinnon manages to catch something of that energy.
One last thing he manages to convey is how flawed the justice system is, and how skewed our belief in it tends to be. Law enforcement and politicians in the show say that despite what DNA testing shows, the lead character would not have confessed if he weren't guilty. That greatly mirrors the sentiments I've heard in the outside world. The reality is that anyone can be so worn down that they'll eventually confess to anything, no matter how strong they believe themselves to be. And it happens all the time -- from people who are killed after confessing to practicing witchcraft, to people sentenced to lethal injection even though the crime scene bears no resemblance to the confession tortured out of them.
All in all, I'd say Rectify is a powerful and realistic show which more than holds the viewer's attention. But will I be watching it in the future? No, because it's all a rerun to me.Aether Revolt is finally here! I’m back this week finishing where I left off with my Aehter Revolt review. If you missed the first half, you can find it here. With that out of the way, lets finish the second half.
Yahenni, Undying Partisan
The first card on the list is Yahenni, Undying Partisan. Yahenni fits into a weird category, not quite aggressive enough for aggro, not quite the body you want for a midrange deck. It does play well with the Stax package and what black does in general (mostly kill things). Being easy to cast and fitting into enough black strategies makes it worth testing. My biggest problem with Yahenni is it isn’t a role player. It’s not a specific effect I want in any particular deck – with the exception of a deep tokens/sacrifice outlet theme. He’s just… fine, having these cards are fine, but generally don’t last long.
Baral’s Expertise
Easily the flashiest of the expertise, Baral’s Expertise leaves a lot to the imagination. Bouncing 3 creatures and leaving behind a Planeswalker is a hard offer to turn down. The biggest draw back to the card is (and this is by no means a complaint) being a sorcery. Cube is typically a fast paced format, making early turns pretty crucial in a lot of match-ups. Not the best against aggro, a dud against control but a dream against midrange make its matchups kinda narrow. In the right environment this card can be quite the blowout. In a non powered environment, this card could easily find a home.
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider / Ragavan
Wow what a 2 drop! Kari Zev is a super efficient 2 drop that can bring the pain real quick. Easy to cast, hard to block, and it brings in an expendable (but adorable) attacker, its hard to find something bad about the card. Looking like a Borderland Marauder on crack, few to no other 2 drops can attack as efficiently as Kari. It even blocks well in a pinch!
Aethersphere Harvester
3/5 flyer for only 3 mana seems like quite the bargain. Attacks well, blocks well, gains lifelink for a couple turns, it seems like all upside. With Kaladesh, I added Smuggler’s Copter, Skysovereign Counsul Flagship and Fleetwheel Cruiser to my cube, Copter being a great addition giving colours like green and red access to a cost efficient flyer and card filtering. Skysovereign and Cruiser however haven’t been as successful. The flaghship still manages to sneak itself into decks every now and then, while Fleetwheel Cruiser comes out of sideboards more then making main deck appearances. Aethersphere Harvester is a little more genereic, but still provides green and red a creature they wouldn’t have had before. I look forward to trying the Harvester out.
Heart of KiranMauricio Pochettino's Tottenham reign gets under way this weekend with a tricky trip to West Ham -- a side who beat Spurs three times last season.
It's that time of year again; the start of the new Premier League season. Somehow, though, the heart doesn't beat quite so quickly this year as it has done in recent years. The memories of last season still linger; 69 points and a sixth-place finish might have been respectable, but the standard and style of football and the lack of commitment in some players was not. For many longtime Spurs fans, 2013-14 brought back memories of the dog days of the late '90s.
- Premier League preview: Tottenham
- Premier League preview: West Ham
Nor is a trip to West Ham the sort of start many would have picked. Normally a team Tottenham expect to beat, West Ham did the treble over the Spurs last season. The first defeat -- a 3-0 thrashing at White Hart Lane -- marked the beginning of the end for Andre Villas-Boas; the second knocked Spurs out of the Capital One Cup; the third, an abject 2-0 defeat at Upton Park characterised by Emmanuel Adebayor and Paulinho both competing to get out of the way of a free kick. A repeat of any of these three games would be hard to take first up.
Yet there could be no better way of putting clear blue water between this season and last, a sign that this Spurs team actually means business and a chance for Mauricio Pochettino to show he has stamped his mark on the team. So far the signs are encouraging. The preseason friendlies have gone about as well as they could have done and club insiders say Pochettino has been pushing the players far harder in training than they were under Harry Redknapp, AVB or Tim Sherwood. Two, sometimes three, sessions a day have been the norm.
Pochettino's message has been clear -- he isn't content to ease himself gently into the new season. In many previous years, Tottenham seemed to have spent the first four or five games getting themselves match-fit, but this time around the Argentine manager expects every player to be ready from the moment the whistle blows at 3pm on Saturday.
The big unknown is confidence. There was a lack of belief -- both in themselves and each other -- in the Spurs team last season that will take time to restore. No matter how much the new manager tells them that things are different now, any new confidence will necessarily be fragile. True confidence only comes with time.
Herein lies Pochettino's first test. How resilient is his team? How will the players react if they go a goal down after 10 minutes? Will they become more tentative, with thoughts returning to last season? Or will they have the mental strength to come back? Pochettino doesn't know the answer. Nor do his players. Preseason counts for nothing once the competitive matches start. The tackles come in harder, the crowd gets edgier and the TV cameras are unforgiving.
All that Pochettino can do is put out his best side and hope the team play to his instructions. The question here is whether he knows his best side. Few fans do, and with another two weeks till the transfer deadline, any team he puts out could be work in progress. Some players |
before they act," note the authors of a new study on the impulsive tendency. "Highly impulsive people frequently make rash, destructive decisions."
Impulsivity has long been linked to the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is involved in learning and reward. And a new model helps to illuminate the connection between the two. The work is described in a study published online July 29 in Science.
A team of researchers led by Joshua Buckholtz, a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University, proposed that people who were more impulsive might have less active dopamine receptors in their midbrain but their brains would be more likely to fire off large quantities of the neurotransmitter when stimulated.
To verify their hypothesis, the researchers used PET scans to watch the brains of 32 healthy and psychiatrically normal test subjects ages 18 to 35 (who had no history of substance abuse) while they were taking a classic test to measure impulsivity. Before the first testing round, subjects had taken a placebo pill, but before the second, they were given an oral dose of amphetamine, which can stimulate the brain's reward pathways, mobilizing dopamine.
People who had the higher impulsivity scores had the lowest activity in the midbrain D2/D3 autoreceptors, which are in charge of receiving dopamine. But under the influence of the amphetamine, these impulsive individuals released much more dopamine than those who were less impulsive.
To see how these changes might be related to substance abuse—which has also been linked to dopamine abnormalities—the researchers polled the subjects about how much they wanted more of the amphetamine after the experiment ended.
"The people who had the highest levels of dopamine release reported subjectively stronger cravings after we gave them the drug," Buckholtz says. These findings "suggest a neurobiological link between human impulsiveness and drug abuse vulnerability," the researchers noted in their paper.
But what causes these individual differences? "Our best guess is that perhaps there's some inherited or environmentally mediated predisposition to having lower midbrain dopamine autoreceptor availability," Buckholtz says.
The evidence for genetic inheritance is strong, and another recent study, published earlier this month in Psychological Science, found people with a certain dopamine receptor type—known as DRD4—had different drinking habits than those without it. Specifically, test subjects with this variant were more likely to drink heavily if they had seen others doing the same while those without that variant kept their drinking moderate even when surrounded by heavier boozers.
The new results also suggest the potential for pharmacological interventions, Buckholtz notes. Some drugs for psychiatric conditions related to dopamine dysfunction, such as schizophrenia, work in broad strokes with "kind of a sledgehammer approach," he explains. Homing in on particular receptors and firing patterns might help develop drugs that could modulate in a "more targeted and perhaps nuanced way," he says, helping people with a broad range of dopamine-related ailments.If you have multiple ROMs that you enjoy, but don’t like the wiping and flashing and reloading that goes with changing ROMs, perhaps it’s time to look into Boot Manager. This great app supports several devices with the ability to reboot into any of 5 custom ROMs of your choice. Boot Manager has been around for a while, but a recent update to the app has given it support for the new Galaxy Nexus! If you like the thought of carrying around what essentially amounts to 5 different devices, maybe this one is for you.
Boot Manager by InIt2WinItApps is the first multi-boot application for Android. In the latest version, not only do they support the Galaxy Nexus, but also ICS ROMs in general. Now you’ll be able to test out multiple ICS ROMs for any supported device. Currently, Boot Manager supports the following devices:
Galaxy Nexus
HTC Desire
HTC Desire HD
HTC Desire S
HTC Desire Z
Htc Evo 3D
HTC Evo 4G
HTC G2(aka Vision)
HTC Incredible 1
Htc Incredible 2
Htc Incredible S
HTC Inspire4g
HTC MyTouch 4G
HTC Nexus One
Htc Sensation
HTC Thunderbolt
Motorola Droid 1
Motorola Droid 2
Motorola Droid 2 Global
Motorola Droid X
You can find Boot Manager in the Android Market. If this app seems worth your attention, you can also find an installation and setup video posted below.
http://youtu.be/bU0VJ1jmbx8]]>FISA judge: Snowden leaks triggered important debate Federal judge orders government review for declassification orders enabling hoarding of communications data
In a significant ruling Friday, federal Judge Dennis Saylor ordered that the government review for declassifications rulings that, under the auspices of the Patriot Act, enable the mass hoarding of communications data in NSA dragnets.
The ruling, in favor of plaintiffs led by the ACLU, states that the civil liberties groups had a right to seek disclosure of the FISA court's interpretations of section 215 of the Patriot Act.
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In the wake of the Guardian's unauthorized disclosure (based on Snowden's leaks) of the section 215 order that demanded Verizon hand over to the NSA the metadata of all its customers' calls, the judge ruled more such section 215 orders should be declassified. Via the Guardian:Low oil prices and the credit crunch are threatening to stall the green revolution. The value of crude has dropped from a summer high of nearly $150 a barrel to below $40, taking the wind out of the sails of turbine manufacturers and others trying to build low-carbon alternatives.
Jeremy Leggett, founder and executive chairman of Solarcentury, says: "Talk of the death of renewables is premature but clearly big solar farms and wind projects are being cancelled. Everything is suffering in the current climate but its my contention that the low oil price is a temporary thing and the growth of renewables will resume."
Michael Liebreich, chief executive of information provider New Energy Finance, says his leading index of clean-technology companies has fallen from a high of 450 points 12 months ago to 175 points, hit by a triple whammy of lower oil prices, higher costs of capital and fear of more speculative start-up businesses.
But he too is confident that the sector can bounce back. "There was no doubt that there was a certain amount of irrational exuberance over the low-carbon economy. No industry in history has kept up the kind of 40% compound growth rates being ascribed to clean tech so share prices had run up too far and it was time for a correction."
Clean-tech and renewables stocks have been struggling with more than just sentiment. Indian-based wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy, which has seen its share price plunge by 90% this year, has also been hit by malfunctions and the kind of teething problems it says is are inevitable with new types of technology.
Wind developers in the US have been cutting back in the face of tough new conditions. FPL Group, the US's largest wind-power operator, is cutting its spending this year by nearly a quarter to $5.3bn (£3.7bn) and new wind-power generation from 1,500 to 1,100 megawatts.
Confidence in the sector has also been rattled by T Boone Pickens, a veteran oil man who delighted environmentalists with a very public conversion when he promised to build the world's largest wind farm in Texas. He slammed on the brakes in November on the basis that lower oil prices had changed the economics of a scheme that would have powered 1.3m homes.
However the US wind sector has generally been faring better than the British one, thanks to tax breaks. Shell and BP have made it clear they are no longer interested in pursuing UK farms when the investment numbers stack up much better across the Atlantic.
The decision by Shell to pull out of the London Array wind farm was a particular blow to British confidence. The project has been billed as the biggest offshore scheme of its kind in the world but the oil company said the margins were too thin, leaving E.ON of Germany and Dong Energy of Denmark to go it alone.
Anton Milner, the chief executive of Q-Cells, the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells, cut earnings forecasts recently after being hit by what he described as a "flood" of cancellations from developers of solar-power projects struggling to raise finance. The US manufacturer Evergreen Solar has since delayed an $800m new factory in Asia that would have manufactured enough solar cells to power a city of 500,000 people.
But most industry figures are convinced that though the threat of global recession is slowing down the industry, the future remains bright enough, especially with a new figure taking over the White House. Liebreich says his clean-tech index has seen an "Obama bounce", rising from a low of 130 to 175 on the back of optimism about the incoming president's policies.
A raft of radical political appointments – such as Nobel physics laureate Steven Chu as energy secretary – has convinced environmentalists that Barack Obama is serious about his stated aim of hastening progress towards a low-carbon economy with a green New Deal that will reduce his country's dependence on imported oil.
A quarterly review of climate change-related business opportunities just published by analysts at HSBC says governments are increasingly active. "The engagement of governments has grown globally," they say. "Across the political spectrum there is now more recognition that climate change is a genuine long-term global issue with real growth potential."
Martin Wright, managing director of Marine Current Turbines, says no one should expect oil and gas prices to stay low. "Vladimir Putin has already said the era of cheap gas is over and no one knows when peak oil really will come about. So we can expect enormous price volatility, which all points to the need for Britain to develop an independent low-carbon alternative."State Republicans' voter suppression law hitting its target
UPDATED: Media coverage finally results in voting ID for Ruby Barber...
Brad Friedman Byon 5/21/2014, 6:03am PT
[This article now cross-published by Salon...]
Here is just one more of the hundreds of thousands of reasons that have led the U.S. Dept. of Justice to file suit against Texas Republicans' polling place Photo ID restriction law.
The same law had been previously blocked by the DoJ and again by a federal court under the federal Voting Rights Act, after the state's own data showed the law discriminated against racial minorities and others, while failing to deter actual voter fraud in the state.
But, literally minutes after SCOTUS gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act last Summer, the section which was used to strike down the law previously, Texas Republicans announced their intention to re-enact the law which, of course, they knew to be discriminatory.
As the Waco Tribune reports, 92-year old Ruby Barber has tried, but has so far failed, to obtain one of those so-called "free" Photo IDs from the Texas Dept. of Public Safety (DPS), now that one is required for her to cast her legal vote this year, as she had for decades, until now, without a problem.
Barber's story is heartbreaking and maddening but, unfortunately, probably not entirely rare. The DoJ estimated, based on the state's supplied data when the federal agency blocked the law in 2012, "the total number of registered voters [in Texas] who lack a driver's license or personal identification card issued by DPS could range from 603,892 to 795,955."
Barber's driver's license expired in 2010 and she's now having difficulty locating "her nearly century-old birth certificate that she'd need to obtain a voter ID under a new state law." As the New York Daily News reports, the details of Barber's story and her fight to try and cast her vote are simply absurd...
A frail 92-year-old woman is the latest victim of new voter identification laws sweeping across the U.S. Ruby Barber, a senior citizen in the small town of Bellmead, Texas, has been unable to vote because she can't find her nearly century-old birth certificate that she'd need to obtain a voter ID under a new state law. "I'm sure (my birth) was never reported because I was born in a farmhouse with a coal oil lamp," Barber, 92, told the Waco (Texas) Tribune. "Didn't have a doctor, just a neighbor woman come in and (delivered) me." Barber visited the state's Department of Public Safety office last week to request the newly required election identification certificate, but was declined after she didn't have a birth certificate. Under Texas's new strict voter ID law, enacted in June 2013, all voters must show one of six forms of valid photo identification - including a driver's license, a passport, a military ID or concealed gun permit - to be able to vote. Those who lack a valid photo ID, can apply for an election identification certificate (EIC) - a process that requires a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship. Barber, unfortunately, no longer has any of the documents she'd need to obtain a ballot. According to the Tribune, her driver's license expired in 2010 and her marriage license was lost in a 1992 house fire. She took her Medicare card, Social Security card and expired driver's license to state officials when she sought her EIC, but agency staff insisted she needed to provide a birth certificate. "I've voted all my life, and not to be able to vote, it just breaks my heart," Barber said of the possibility that she may not able to vote in this year's Texas gubernatorial election - expected to be a close race between Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis.
Thanks to the publicity, perhaps Barber will finally, somehow, be able to get the state-issued Photo ID she now needs to vote. Maybe. Similar publicity helped 90-year old Texan and former Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Jim Wright obtain a Photo ID for voting late last year after he also failed to obtain one initially.
The untold numbers of once-legal voters who don't receive a profile in the local papers, however, are a different story.
And, of course, the next graf of the Daily News story illustrates that Republicans are, indeed, hitting their target with their voter suppression law:
"I want to see a Democrat win," she told the Tribune. "My daddy was a Democrat to the end of his life... and he said, 'Don't none of you kids ever vote for a Republican.' And I never have."
If it's left up to Republicans, she'll never vote for anyone ever again.
It's little coincidence that TX Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott is both defending the law on behalf of the state and running for Governor this year. It's also no coincidence that he's shown himself more than happy to defraud the public when it comes to lying about the real reasons the GOP has worked so hard for so long to implement these new voting restrictions in the Lone Star State and elsewhere.
We'll hope The BRAD BLOG's legal analyst Ernie Canning is right in his belief that the TX law is likely to be nixed again in the pending federal case (There are also similar federal challenges pending in both North Carolina and Arkansas.) If the recent federal ruling which eviscerated Wisconsin's nearly-identical GOP law is any indication, perhaps Barber and all legally registered voters who wish to vote this year will get to do so in November after all. But it's going to be an ugly bunch of months between now and then.
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UPDATE: After receiving lots of media coverage and yet another ride to the Dept. of Public Safety, the state of Texas has finally found a way to allow Barber a Photo ID for voting this year. As reported by the Waco Trib...
Despite the lack of a birth certificate, the state was able to verify Barber’s citizenship by finding her birthday in a U.S. census taken in the 1940s, [Barber's son, Jimmy] Denton said. She also showed her Social Security card, two utility bills and her Medicare card.
Now, if we can just get national media coverage for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of registered voters who still don't have the requisite Photo ID now needed to vote under the TX Republicans' law. Or, as in the case with the Republican nominee for Governor in Arkansas during Tuesday's primary, perhaps we can just hire each one of those otherwise legal voters a staffer to take care of the problem...
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Please help support The BRAD BLOG's fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system --- now in our ELEVENTH YEAR! --- as available from no other media outlet in the nation...Building the Emirates Stadium was Arsenal’s way of closing the cash gap to the rich clubs – then came Roman Abramovich followed by a broadcast treasure chest that lessens the need for king-sized matchday revenues
London was bright and sunny on the final day of the season 12 years ago. Arsenal’s players performed a cancan on the pitch at Highbury as fans chanted: “We are unbeatable.” After an iffy first half, they had won 2-1 to complete a full season without defeat in the league.
In the aftermath of that glorious achievement there was giddy talk of an assault on Europe as the final frontier. Alan Hansen described them as “the most fluid, devastating team that the British Isles has seen”.
“Is this,” asked Amy Lawrence in the Observer, “as good as it gets?”
Yes. For Arsenal, yes, it was – although few seemed to think it then.
Arsenal track Dortmund’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan in bid to rebuild midfield Read more
Kevin McCarra in the Guardian was one of the few to sound a note of caution, wondering whether the move to the new stadium might damagingly curtail transfer spending.
Some seven miles to the south-west Claudio Ranieri watched his Chelsea side beat Leeds United 1-0. His fate, though, was already sealed. He spoke about saying goodbye “just in case” but, as he performed a slow, emotional lap of honour and fans chanted his name, everybody knew he was on his way.
“I am sad,” Ranieri said, “because I would have liked to have finished the job. But the foundations and spirit at this club have been laid and the gap on Arsenal is closing. My players here are strong and fighters. They can improve – without me. There could be a good future for Chelsea.”
There was.
But what no one considered then was the possibility that Ranieri might win the Premier League title before Wenger, that the next time he returned to Stamford Bridge, on the final day of the season, 12 years later, it might be to pick up the trophy. And certainly no one thought he might do it with the team who had lost at Highbury that day, a side whose relegation had been confirmed two weeks earlier: Leicester City.
The reasons for Arsenal’s stagnation are legion and have been discussed at length, from Wenger’s increasing conservatism to the supposed over-niceness of this group of players, but look at the sweep of the past 12 years and it becomes apparent there is also one huge underlying issue. That is not to say it is the only explanation or the even the most significant explanation, but in answering the question of how Arsenal got from there to here, it is the broadest in scope: Arsenal, through no real fault of their own, found themselves on the wrong side of football’s economics.
There will not be much sympathy for the club with the seventh-highest revenues in the world – and nor should there be. But that does not alter the fact Arsenal were caught out by an irony of timing. The move to the Emirates was necessary; no one can seriously dispute that. Highbury, for all its charm, was cramped – so much so that Arsenal had that two-year flirtation with playing Champions League games at Wembley because of the way Uefa advertising regulations ate into the already low capacity.
Twelve years ago a bigger stadium with all the revenue it opens up seemed the only way for a club to improve its position in the financial hierarchy. Moving to the Emirates in 2006 was supposed to be Arsenal’s way of closing the economic gap on Manchester United and the European elite. But in 2003 Roman Abramovich arrived and revolutionised the finance landscape of English football.
Abramovich was not the first sugar-daddy but he was the first with a wealth that, in the context of the time, seemed bottomless. All that careful husbandry, the plotting of a new investment, all diminished by an outside event that could not have been foreseen. It may seem normal now that foreign billionaires should buy Premier League clubs but it was not then. What Abramovich had begun, Sheikh Mansour continued.
Still, better to have the new stadium than not to have it, which is why West Ham are moving, why Chelsea and Tottenham are redeveloping, why Liverpool are expanding Anfield and why Everton would like to move.
Arsenal do benefit from it, clearly. According to the latest Deloitte report, no club in the world makes more in matchday revenue than Arsenal, albeit still less than both broadcast and commercial streams.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Arsenal moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2006. Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
And that is where the timing has been cruel. Just as Arsenal have paid off enough of the debt on the stadium to hold on to their best players and to make a transfer splurge possible – however much Wenger still seems to oppose it on principle – broadcast revenues have increased to the point where stadium revenue seems, if not irrelevant, then certainly less significant than it was.
The £5.1bn domestic television deal will ensure the club that finishes bottom of the Premier League next season picks up around £100m, with the top sides getting more than £150m. Add in £1.1bn per season in overseas rights to be divided and the £100m Arsenal make in matchday revenue is less important. It is not just the precise numbers; it is the scale. If everybody is very rich, being very, very rich is a comparatively small advantage, particularly in a world in which the A+ stars generally prefer to play in Spain.
The project that was set in motion when Arsenal decided to move to the Emirates has been hit by two economic developments that could not realistically have been foreseen. That is not to say there are not things Arsenal and Wenger could have done better but equally the background is significant in considering how Wenger’s and Ranieri’s futures were not as they seemed likely to be a dozen years ago.Police say safer cars, better road design and tougher policing have all contributed to a historic low road toll for 2013.
The toll of 254 deaths - the lowest since 1950 - could be put down to joint efforts from a number of organisations, Assistant Commissioner Dave Cliff said.
"There's no one reason this 60 year low figure has occurred - it is the result of many factors including better legislation, enhanced enforcement, safer vehicles and better road design," he said.
"It also reflects the fact that the majority of Kiwi drivers get the message about speed, alcohol and seat belts which police and our road safety partners have been relentlessly talking about in recent years."
Since the November launch of the Safer Summer campaign, which included a reduced speed tolerance of 4kmh, the lowest December road toll since 1965 was also achieved.
There were 23 fatalities in December.
But Cliff said the figures were "no great cause for celebration", with hundreds of families still affected by deaths and serious injuries from crashes in 2013.
"Because of this police and our road safety partners will continue to be 100 per cent focused on preventing as many crashes as possible in 2014," he said.
"There is no room for complacency - police want fewer crashes, fatalities and serious injuries in 2014."v0.6 Released!
It's here! This version has taken longer than expected but has also included more content than expected. Nothing is drastically different, but the game should feel more polished. This includes the Windows version working without Java! Some things are still missing (such as surrendering in battle and AI personalities), so I may release a v0.6.1 before v0.7.
In the mean time, I'm going to be learning VTerminal by Valkryst, which should allow me to make much better games than AsciiPanel. This will include tilesets, blinking text like Dwarf Fortress, and scaling support (including fullscreen!). VTerminal is also in active development, so it will improve over time, allowing me and others to give feedback, unlike AsciiPanel at this point. EverSector development may delayed for a little while, but you may see some other small projects from me!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy v0.6. Let me know what you think in the comments below, the forums, the Discord server, or the new subreddit!
ChangelogMomZette These Silent Warriors Put Family, Country First Defense contractors are loyal patriots who are frequently ridiculed — yet are always ready to serve
As the U.S. intelligence community battles yet another data breach following the recent dump of information contained in WikiLeaks Vault 7, the media and government officials are yet again in a frenzy. As it pertains to fears among the population regarding the CIA’s programs and capabilities, the existence of government programs and how or when they are used are entirely different discussions.
Furthermore, it is imperative that our silent warriors have the most robust capabilities possible to defeat the innumerable threats that exist to our safety and security today. It is not, however, acceptable for the general public, or worse yet our enemies, to know these capabilities. As such, the Vault 7 breach is an extremely significant event that will impact U.S. operations abroad and the traitors behind this horrific act must be dealt with, utilizing the full reach of the judicial system.
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However, this piece is not about the breach. It is not about how the CIA and other intelligence community members forge their path ahead following this damaging leak. This is about the comments made by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), with whom I strongly disagree.
I wept every time I got in the car and pulled away from my beautiful wife and four adorable children knowing that it could be the last time I see them.
In an article published by Time magazine, Feinstein said, “I think we really need to take a look at the contractor portion of the employee workforce, because you have to be loyal to America to work for an intelligence agency. Otherwise don’t do it.”
This is a true statement. Loyalty is most certainly imperative to work in the fields of intelligence, law enforcement and our military, and it exists beyond levels that you could ever possibly understand. Why else would individuals like myself deploy over 30 times to Iraq and Afghanistan?
Trust me, it wasn’t because of problems at home. I wept every time I got in the car and pulled away from my beautiful wife and four adorable children knowing that it could be the last time I see them.
Ability to Serve the Way We Want
I did not deploy because I was forced to. I could have taken a different position, but wanted to deploy as often as I did because it was my passion. Our national security apparatus needs people willing to deploy and take the fight to the enemy. This is one of the primary reasons individuals transition from federal jobs to contracting — it’s the ability to have more control of one’s future.
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Related: The ‘Troops’ Who Support Our Troops
The government often determines what is in the best interest of its employees and prevents, for example, staff officers from spending too much time in war zones because it could adversely affect their career track and subsequently promotion process. Personally, I can respect that; but for many, myself included, our passion and fight was in the war zones against the worst of the worst enemies. As a contractor, I was allowed to specialize in these areas vs. move on to new locations and missions every couple years, something that federal employees are required to do. While we have outstanding staff intelligence officers, it is difficult to become an expert on any issue when you are only on the ground for a limited period of time.
Life of a Contractor
Many assume that contractors only provide security or infrastructure support in mechanics, logistics, or other mission enhancement roles. This, too, is far from the truth. With most of the United States’ efforts to combat terror taking place abroad, the government has struggled to find both the expertise and volume of employees to staff the growing requirements overseas. Therefore, a large portion of the work performed abroad is completed by contractors.
This includes security operations, intelligence operations, air operations, logistical support, positions related to facility infrastructure and even kitchen staff. The point being, there is little the U.S. government does not utilize contractors for and in most all cases, particularly in war zones, the contractors previously served in similar roles as federal employees or in the military, thus providing a wealth of experience.
Related: Technology in the Military: Friend or Foe?
Now, you could argue that the individuals that remain in the United States and perform technological duties, such as those who have been involved in the breaches have a different outlook and take on patriotism. Sure, they aren’t beating the ground overseas and thus the sacrifice looks different, but I would never challenge anyone who shows up to work each day to defend our country. It just so happens that these breaches have come from those in that arena of intelligence operations.
It’s Not About the Money
Despite what many think, even those within the government, contractors do not earn nearly as much as many expect. The government, in an effort to be frugal, has drastically reduced hazard pay for almost all contractors, now offering only a 25 percent percent hazard differential rate for individuals in war zones. The differential previously ranged between 50-70 percent for contractors serving in war zones. Federal employees continue to earn 70 percent, as they should.
However, the decrease in rates for contractors did not stop at the drop in hazard differential. In most cases now, hazard pay for contractors only applies for the first 40 hours of each week, indicating that said patriots are no longer in danger after they hit that mark, a purely absurd, and likely illegal, sentiment. I say all this to demonstrate that despite the ridiculous rate reductions these warriors continue to leave their families and fight the good fight. They are rarely rewarded, frequently ridiculed, but always ready to serve.
Bottom Line
Don’t worry, Sen. Feinstein, you are not the only one who has made the mistake of attacking the credibility and patriotism of defense contractors, and you sadly won’t be the last. It is done on a consistent basis by individuals in and out of the community. But it is critical that shortsighted and narrow-minded individuals like yourself get this right now and cease the finger-pointing at broad groups of people who have red, white and blue pumping through their veins.
Yes, there are bad contractors. Yes, there are bad staff employees. Yes, we should punish those who betray the oath to protect this nation. But without experience and expertise of our contractors, who make up a great portion of our national security apparatus, we would be in dire straits.
Related: The Hidden Hurt of Military Families
I fully support government positions being the primary drivers of the strategy and mission, particularly at home where organizations are ripe with bloat. However, in order for that to occur, the government has to recruit for competence vs. diversity and then allow officers to flourish in areas that are of the greatest interest to them. This will reduce attrition, improve the capabilities of the organization, and lessen the need for contractors.
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Or — we can just trek down our current path and people like you can continue to spit in the face of those who preserve your very freedom and ability to make such foolish statements.
Drew Berquist is the founder and editor-in-chief of OpsLens. He served as a counterterrorism officer for the United States Intelligence Community, where he performed more than 30 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan to conduct intelligence operations against the Taliban, al-Qaida and more recently ISIS. Berquist speaks to audiences and has commented on national security matters on “Fox and Friends,” Lou Dobbs, Dennis Miller and a number of other shows across the country. This OpsLens article is used by permission.
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Hawaii is First State to Challenge New Travel Ban
High Speed Pursuits: Why Criminals Run from the LawIsrael SarrÃo arrived at the Rehabilitation Center of Levante from Hospital Peset in Valencia (Spain) on January 31st of 2004 with an amputation of the left arm 2 inches above the elbow.
Click on images for large size
At 14:00hrs, the microsurgery implant began. The first maneuver consisted in lavage and sterilization of the amputated arm and its connection to the brachial artery by a silicone tube in order to revascularize it.
Later we rebuilt the humerus and repaired the brachial artery, the basilic and cephalic veins, and the three nerves of the arm.
This proccess lasted 21 hours, and the reimplantation was successful. The patient went to the Intensive Care Unit during that night and the next day, he went to a normal room.
Two days later, we found a wound infection that was seriously compromising the viability of the reimplantation. We talked to the family and they told us that the day of the accident the arm fell in a drain. This contamination was the probable cause of the unfavorable progress. The situation was critical, and we said to the family that there were two different options: reamputate the arm or try to save it by taking it into a healthy zone where it would be possible to nourish it while we cleaned the infected area.
The idea of taking the arm to another anatomical location came by reading a similar case published by Michael Wood (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA) in which he attached an arm in the groin. The uniqueness of our case consisted of using the procedure to rescue the limb from an infection, called a Deferred Transitory Heterotopic Implant. This was the first such case of involving an elbow.
With the agreement of the family it was decided to transfer the arm to the groin where large blood vessels are readily accessible. In 4 hours we disassembled the reconstruction performed earlier and connected the blood vessels of the arm to those of groin by means of microsurgery.
The psychological impact on the patient was very important. As soon as he woke up, we told him that the arm was infected and we have to save it in other location on his body. After a couple of hours he realized that the arm was on his leg. He stayed that way for nine days with daily cleanings until it was verified that the stump was clean.
On February 12nd of 2004, we reimplanted the arm in its original place, rebuilding bone, arteries, veins, nerves, muscles and skin in a procedure of 6 hours.
Afterwards, the patient was doing physically and psychologically well, happy that he have not have to lose his arm.
By this time the patient could move his elbow. From the time of the surgery, the repaired nerve functionality is growing at a speed of 1 milimeter per day. In about 6 months we hope that he will be able to move his hand and fingers.
The function which we hoped to obtain from this procedure was better than those obtained with an amputation and the prosthesis. The patient will be able to grasp objects, to perform normal life functions, such as tie his shoes, all with small orthopedic aids.
The complete surgical team of the Unit of Hand and Reconstructive Surgery was involved in this operation, with Dr. Pedro Cavadas leading the team, and Dr. Navarro, Dr. Soler, Dr. Duke and Dr. Landin as assistants.First Amended Complaint for Patent Infringement Page 2
intermediaries, and maintains its principal place of business in Moira, Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
III. JURISDICTION AND VENUE
5.
This action arises under the patent laws of the United States, Title 35 of the United States Code. Thus, this Court has subject matt er jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a). 6.
This Court has specific personal jurisdiction over each Defendant pursuant to due process and the Texas Long Arm Statute because each Defendant, directly or through intermediaries, has conducted and does conduct substantial business in this forum, such substantial business including but not li mited to: (i) at least a portion of the infr ingements alleged herein; (ii) purposefully and voluntarily placing one or more infringing produc ts or services into the stream of commerce with the expectation that they will be purchased by consumers in this forum; or (iii) regularly doing or soliciting business, enga ging in othe r persistent courses of c onduct, or deriving substantial revenue from goods and services provided to individuals in Texas and in this District. 7.
Venue is proper in this Court under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391(b)-(d) and 1400(b) for the reasons set forth above. Furthermore, venue is proper because each Defendant, directly or through intermediaries, sells and offers to sell infringing products to persons in this District, as discussed below. Each of Defendants’ infringing acts in this District gives rise to proper venue.A Mighty Wurlitzer, the largest theater pipe organ in the West, sounds off in Sylmar. Vintage hot rods, among the finest in the nation, rumble into Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank. Harry Potter fans shriek through Universal Studios Hollywood, one of the oldest film sets in the world.
The sounds and sights resonate across the San Fernando Valley — an outgrowth of Los Angeles and one of the most dynamic, distinctive and debonair urban sprawls in America.
The U.S. Census Bureau, following a history by native author Kevin Roderick, has declared it “America’s suburb.” The Los Angeles Daily News hails it home to “The Good Life.”
“It’s a great place to live, work and play,” declared Kenn Phillips, president and CEO of the Valley Economic Alliance, one of the Valley’s premier nonprofit business collaboratives. “You’ve heard it talked about — and sung about — in movies, TV series and pop-rock music videos.
“It’s the world-renowned San Fernando Valley.”
The Valley, as it’s known throughout Los Angeles. Home to the hallmark 818 area code and 1.8 million residents, more than the populations of a dozen states.
Home to enough people to be the fifth largest city in the nation, outpacing Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Antonio.
And home to a third of the population of Los Angeles, plus the cities of Burbank, Calabasas, Glendale, Hidden Hills, San Fernando and unincorporated Universal City, home to the century-old Universal Studios.
The San Fernando Valley boasts its own good life in both light and sound.
Where each daily sunrise over the San Gabriel Mountains lights up a roughly 250-square-mile plain whose farm fields, orchards and celebrity ranches before World War II gave way to the swimming |
votes for Flying Spaghetti Monster, Jesse Ventura and the now infamous Lizard People. On that ballot, a voter filled in the oval for Franken, but wrote Lizard People in the write-in portion. Board members Kathleen Gearin and Eric Magnuson agreed that the ballot should not be counted, because it had two votes for U.S. Senate.
"If somebody's going to vote, and they want to make a statement of some sort," said Gearin.
"They may not get their vote counted," said Magnuson.
"They may not get their vote counted. This is an example of that. And I'm fairly certain they didn't mean it, but the rules are the rules. The statute is the statute," said Gearin.
The canvassing board said it's also set to rule first thing this morning on whether it should count duplicate ballots.
Coleman's attorneys are arguing that original and duplicate ballots have been mixed during the recount, perhaps creating a double count. Several board members, and Franken's attorney, have suggested that the canvassing board isn't the right venue for the complaint. They say Coleman may be better off using the issue to contest the outcome of the election in court.A condition precedent is an event or state of affairs that is required before something else will occur. In contract law, a condition precedent is an event which must occur, unless its non-occurrence is excused, before performance under a contract becomes due, i.e., before any contractual duty exists.[1]
In estate and trust law, it is a provision in a will or trust that prevents the vesting of a gift or bequest until something occurs or fails to occur, e.g. the attainment of a certain age or the predecease of another person. For comparison, a condition subsequent brings a duty to an end whereas a condition precedent initiates a duty.
In computing, a while loop sets the truth of a statement as a condition precedent for the execution of a given subroutine or other code segment. By contrast, a do while loop provides for the action's ongoing execution unless a given condition is determined to be false, i.e., provides for that action's execution subject to defeasance by the condition's falsity, which falsity (i.e., the truth of the condition's negation) is set as a condition subsequent.
Cases [ edit ]
Poussard v Spiers and Pond (1876) 1 QBD 410
See also [ edit ]Weeks after her husband was killed in action in Niger, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson said she is still seeking answers to two questions that haunt her: Why couldn’t President Trump remember her husband’s name during a condolence call, and why has her family not been provided with the details surrounding her husband’s death?
Making her first public comments since speaking with Trump last week, Myeshia Johnson told “Good Morning America” on Monday that Trump stumbled recalling her husband’s name and told her that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”
“If my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country, why can’t you remember his name?” she said.
Trump on Monday disputed Johnson’s account, characterizing his conversation with her as “very respectful.”
I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2017
On the program, Johnson said she has “nothing to say” to President Trump, whose condolence call pulled the grieving widow into the center of a national controversy.
“Very upset and hurt; it made me cry even worse,” Myeshia Johnson said about her conversation with the president. She added that she was angry with Trump’s tone and that she “didn’t say anything. I just listened.”
She also had questions about how her husband’s body went missing for 48 hours.
“He went from missing to killed in action,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how he got killed, where he got killed or anything.”
"[I was] very upset and hurt. It made me cry even worse." - Myeshia Johnson, widow of Sgt. La David Johnson to @GStephanopoulos pic.twitter.com/JguNqTaYa3 — Good Morning America (@GMA) October 23, 2017
On Monday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff provided more details about the deadly operation in Niger.
At the Pentagon briefing, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford outlined a timeline from Oct. 3 to Oct. 6 during which time American and Nigerien forces were caught in a surprise attack by Islamic State militants, three U.S. soldiers were killed in action, and one remained missing for two days.
“We owe the families as much information as we can find out about what happened, and we owe the American people an explanation of what their men and women were doing at this particular time,” Dunford said.
On Oct. 3, 12 members of the U.S. Special Operations Taskforce accompanied 30 Nigerien forces on a civil military reconnaissance mission from Niamey — Niger’s capital — to an area roughly 85 kilometers to the north, Dunford said. At that time, “contact with the enemy was unlikely,” Dunford said.
On the morning Oct. 4, both groups began moving back toward an operating base to the south when they came under attack by forces using small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.
After one hour of heavy fire, Dunford said the team requested support, with initial backup arriving within minutes and French jets arriving within the hour. During the firefight, three U.S. soldiers — Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39; and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29 — were killed in action and evacuated the night of Oct. 4. La David Johnson remained missing until the evening of Oct. 6, when his body was found and evacuated.
“From the time the firefight was initiated, until Sergeant Johnson’s body was recovered, French, Nigerien or U.S. forces remained in that area,” Dunford said.
His body was returned to the United States on Oct. 7. It was sent home to Florida last week. Soon after, his name became entangled in a controversy after Trump was accused of making insensitive remarks to the 25-year-old soldier’s widow.
[The private life of Sgt. La David Johnson, the slain soldier ensnared in a Trump controversy]
Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) said Trump told Myeshia Johnson on the phone that her husband “must have known what he signed up for,” an account later corroborated by Johnson’s aunt and custodial mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson.
Trump vehemently denied Wilson’s account, stating without evidence that he had proof it was “totally fabricated.” But White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly later appeared to confirm Wilson’s account. Myeshia Johnson said Monday that Wilson’s version of events was “100 percent correct.”
Johnson said several people — including her aunt and uncle, an Army official, and Wilson — heard the conversation because Trump was placed on speakerphone.
“Why would we fabricate something like that?” she said.
Photos from Saturday’s funeral in Hollywood, Fla., showed relatives sobbing and members of Johnson’s battalion, the “Bush Hog” formation, breaking down in tears.
Just before her husband was buried, Myeshia Johnson kissed his casket.
But in her interview Monday with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, she said she’s not fully convinced her husband’s remains are inside.
[Q&A: Rep. Frederica Wilson details the problems with Trump’s condolence call and the Kelly clean up]
“Why couldn’t I see my husband? Every time I asked to see my husband, they wouldn’t let me,” she said. “They won’t show me a finger, a hand. I know my husband’s body from head to toe. They won’t show me anything.
“I don’t know what’s in that box. It could be empty for all I know.”
Wilson shared the “Good Morning America” interview on Monday, noting: “Myeshia Johnson Speaks From Her Heart.”
[Everything we know about the Niger attack that left 4 U.S. soldiers dead]
Johnson was a mechanic attached to a 3rd Special Forces Group team that was partnered with Nigerien forces. They unexpectedly came under attack during a morning operation that also killed three others.
The deadly operation is now under U.S. military investigation.
To those who knew him, Johnson was a loving husband who had his wife’s name tattooed across his chest; a soldier who pushed to improve himself; a son who enjoyed talking about his family.
He was also a father who was looking forward to meeting his baby girl: Myeshia is six months pregnant. The couple also have a 2-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.
“He was very excited. He said, ‘Sergeant B, I’m having a girl!’ ” Staff Sgt. Dennis Bohler, Johnson’s close friend, told The Washington Post last week.
The slain soldier’s youngest daughter is expected to be born in January.
“I want to tell her how awesome her dad was and how a great father he was and how he died as a hero,” Myeshia Johnson said when asked what she’ll tell her youngest daughter.
The president’s tweet did not go over well with Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Myeshia Johnson buried her husband this weekend. The president called her a liar this morning. THIS NEEDS TO END NOW. — Rep. Tim Walz (@RepTimWalz) October 23, 2017
If you find yourself defending President Trump after he is attacking the widow of a fallen warrior, you might rethink that. — Rep. Tim Walz (@RepTimWalz) October 23, 2017
Myeshia Johnson is presented with the U.S. flag that was draped over her husband’s casket. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/AP)
Amy B Wang and Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.
More reading:
The tearful burial of Sgt. La David Johnson
Listen: A soldier’s widow shares her call with Trump
Donald Trump’s history of bashing four-star generalsThey are facing opposition from public-sector unions, which fear that increased pension costs to taxpayers will further feed the push to cut retirement benefits for public workers. In New York, the Legislature this year cut pensions for public workers who are hired in the future, and around the country governors and mayors are citing high pension costs as a reason for requiring workers to contribute more, or work longer, to earn retirement benefits.
In addition to lowering the projected rate of return, Mr. North has also recommended that the New York City trustees acknowledge that city workers are living longer and reporting more disabilities — changes that would cost the city an additional $2.8 billion in pension contributions this year. Mr. North has called for the city to soften the blow to the budget by pushing much of the increased pension cost into the future, by spreading the increased liability out over 22 years.
Ailing pension systems have been among the factors that have recently driven struggling cities into Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Such bankruptcies are rare, but economists warn that more are likely in the coming years. Faulty assumptions can mask problems, and municipal pension funds are often so big that if they run into a crisis their home cities cannot afford to bail them out.
The typical public pension plan assumes its investments will earn average annual returns of 8 percent over the long term, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Actual experience since 2000 has been much less, 5.7 percent over the last 10 years, according to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. (New York State announced last week that it had earned 5.96 percent last year, compared with the 7.5 percent it had projected.)
Worse, many economists say, is that states and cities have special accounting rules that have been criticized for greatly understating pension costs. Governments do not just use their investment assumptions to project future asset growth. They also use them to measure what they will owe retirees in the future in today’s dollars, something companies have not been permitted to do since 1993.
As a result, companies now use an average interest rate of 4.8 percent to calculate their pension costs in today’s dollars, according to Milliman, an actuarial firm.
In New York City, the proposed 7 percent rate faces resistance from union trustees who sit on the funds’ boards. The trustees have the power to make the change; their decision must also be approved by the State Legislature.
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“The continued risk here is that even 7 is too high,” said Edmund J. McMahon, a senior fellow at the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a research group for fiscal issues.
And Jeremy Gold, an actuary and economist who has been an outspoken critic of public pension disclosures, said, “If you’re using 7 percent in a 3 percent world, then you’re still continuing to borrow from the pension fund.”
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The city’s union leaders disagree. Harry Nespoli, the chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group for the city’s public employee unions, said that lowering the rate to 7 percent was unnecessary.
“They don’t have to turn around and lower it a whole point,” he said.
When asked if his union was more bullish on the markets than the city’s actuary, Mr. Nespoli said, “All we can do is what the actuary is doing. He’s guessing. We’re guessing.”
Vermont has lowered its rate by 2 percentage points, but for only one year. The state recently adopted an unusual new approach calling for a sharp initial reduction in its investment assumptions, followed by gradual yearly increases. Vermont has also required public workers to pay more into the pension system.
Union leaders see hidden agendas behind the rising calls for lower pension assumptions. When Rhode Island’s state treasurer, Gina M. Raimondo, persuaded her state’s pension board to lower its rate to 7.5 percent last year, from 8.25 percent, the president of a firemen’s union accused her of “cooking the books.”
Lowering the rate to 7.5 percent meant Rhode Island’s taxpayers would have to contribute an additional $300 million to the fund in the first year, and more after that. Lawmakers were convinced that the state could not afford that, and instead reduced public pension benefits, including the yearly cost-of-living adjustments that retirees now receive. State officials expect the unions to sue over the benefits cuts.
When the mayor of San Jose, Calif., Chuck Reed, warned that the city’s reliance on 7.5 percent returns was too risky, three public employees’ unions filed a complaint against him and the city with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They told the regulators that San Jose had not included such warnings in its bond prospectus, and asked the regulators to look into whether the omission amounted to securities fraud. A spokesman for the mayor said the complaint was without merit.
In Sacramento this year, Alan Milligan, the actuary for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers, recommended that the trustees lower their assumption to 7.25 percent from 7.75 percent. Last year, the trustees rejected Mr. Milligan’s previous proposal, to lower the rate to 7.5 percent.
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This time, one trustee, Dan Dunmoyer, asked the actuary if he had calculated the probability that the pension fund could even hit those targets.
Yes, Mr. Milligan said: There was a 50-50 chance of getting 7.5 percent returns, on average, over the next two decades. The odds of hitting a 7.25 percent target were a little better, he added, 54 to 46.
Mr. Dunmoyer, who represents the insurance industry on the board, sounded shocked. “To me, as a fiduciary, you want to have more than a 50 percent chance of success.”
If Calpers kept setting high targets and missing them, “the impact on the counties won’t be bigger numbers,” he said. “It will be bankruptcy.”
In the end, a majority decided it was worth the risk, and voted against Mr. Dunmoyer, lowering the rate to 7.5 percent.Here are some ways the Republican and Democratic nominating contests could unfold. Adjust the sliders to see how the outcomes can change. Each line in the charts represents one possible outcome.
Republicans
Including his win in Indiana tonight, Donald J. Trump has won 26 out of the 44 contests so far, and we estimate that he’ll end up with 1,013 delegates when the night is done.
Ted Cruz’s departure from the race leaves a bloc of voters that could go to Mr. Trump or John Kasich. It remains unclear which candidate the Cruz supporters will back, but even if these voters overwhelmingly support Mr. Kasich, it almost certainly won’t be enough to stop Mr. Trump.
Even if Donald J. Trump gets just a quarter of Ted Cruz’s votes, he will win a delegate majority before the convention.
Mr. Kasich would need to win every Cruz voter to have a chance at forcing a contested convention.
Mr. Trump can clinch the nomination by winning 224 of the remaining 445 pledged delegates available in the contests ahead. Just two states — California and New Jersey — account for 223 of these. If we include unpledged delegates who expressed support for Mr. Trump, this figure drops to 183 — about 41 percent of the remaining delegates. Use the table below to explore the most important states on Mr. Trump’s path.
Winning California and New Jersey could be enough for Mr. Trump to secure the Republican nomination.
Click buttons to change state delegate counts Include unpledged delegates who expressed support for Mr. Trump
Mr. Trump is in a very strong position to win enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination. Winning in California and New Jersey — two states where he is polling far ahead of Mr. Kasich — is most likely enough to breach the 1,237-delegate threshold.
There are several caveats that add uncertainty to these numbers. In a few states, there are delegates still to be allocated. Even delegates that have already been allocated can be reassigned.
Mr. Trump’s delegate lead
Democrats
Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally, and in states that have voted so far, Hillary Clinton has won more than half of the vote. The lack of winner-take-all states on the Democratic side makes it very difficult for Bernie Sanders to close the delegate gap.
If Hillary Clinton maintains her current level of support in the remaining races, she will earn a majority of the pledged delegates by June 7.
To have a shot at overtaking Mrs. Clinton in pledged delegates, Mr. Sanders would need a series of landslide victories in the few remaining contests, increasing his vote share to about 70 percent, on average.
Mr. Sanders is also significantly trailing Mrs. Clinton in superdelegates, the roughly 700 Democratic Party officials whose support counts toward the nomination. In past elections, superdelegates have supported the candidate who has received the most pledged delegates, and they are free to switch candidates at any time before the convention in July.
The delegate count as reported by The A.P. lags the total vote somewhat. In the chart below, we have included delegate estimates from The Green Papers, which include the unallocated delegates from states that have already voted.
Mrs. Clinton’s delegate leadWith Delirium Tremendous, their long awaited follow up to their debut record, Murder, And The Art Of The Dance, Mr. Lewis & The Funeral 5 are set to make quite the racket in 2011 like sailors come to port after a long trip at sea. Roughly formed in 2004, they've settled into the line up of Gregory Lewis as vocalist/guitarist, James Sheeran on the drums, Rob Metcalfe on guitar and percussion, Danny "Dervish" Smith on bass, Phil Howard on keyboard and percussion and Jimmy Bonura on saxophone. Together, they will take their own brand of barrel house cabaret rock to the masses with vim and vigor throughout the next year.
"(Mr.) Lewis composes with cinematic sweep, taking a confident, playful, mix-and-match approach to genre. Just try to resist a devil that plays punk rock with a dash of tango." -Austin Music Magazine
"If it's closing time, and a circus barker trapped you in the circus freak-show tent, fear not. Let Mr. Lewis & the Funeral 5 be your soundtrack to escape." -Margaret Moser, Austin Chronicle
"Mr. Lewis & the Funeral Five's polka/lounge/murder ballads stung like Molotov cocktails thrown through the window of a church." -Audra Schroeder, Austin Chronicle
Come celebrate the new Mr. Lewis album "Delirium Tremendous", out July 26th. With Moonlight Towers and Dead Swagger
Free Pizza from Gatti's and $3.50 Shiner Bottles
Afterparty at midnight inside with Automusik!
A 101X Homegrown Live Show! Brought to you by 101X and Chicken Ranch RecordsTucker Carlson has hit his stride. The man who was long ago cucked by Jon Stewart has made his way up the mountain and ascended to a higher plane of neuroplasticity. He now flows and gets it on the first and only take – a feat which many attribute to the fact that Tucker no longer suffers from the chi-restricting properties of bow-ties. His recent Reddit AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) was one of the best in a while.
With all that said, tonight’s cucking ceremony was a softball for Tucker, but it was made thoroughly enjoyable due to it’s “to catch a predator” vibe. Right off the bat, Tucker introduces the guest as a fraud – as in, he opens by calling the guy out for using a fake name. The unsuspecting shill, who goes by “Dominic Tullipso,” claims to be the director of a professional paid agitation firm called “Demand Protest,” which has been making the rounds through various news organizations with claims of 1,800 protesters on retainer at a rate of $2500/month each.
Tucker: “You have a wallet on you, like every grown man does – hold up a credit card, you can cover the number, to our camera and show us any piece of documentation with the name “Dominic Tullipso” on it. And you can’t, because that’s not your real name. “Dom”: Tucker, you’re not accusing me of being a hoax, are you? Tucker: I’m saying that your name is fake, and this company is fake, and that the claims you’ve made on your website are false
[A reeling “Dom” lazily excretes the word “ohh”]
At this point you can see that “Dom,” who’s wearing a sleeveless winter hipster vest on national TV, has never had to engage at this level. As he works hard for his participation award, Dom’s slick talking liberal snark begins to write checks his intellect can’t cash, and he starts digging himself deeper into oblivion. Tucker sees that his prey is mortally wounding itself, and simply allows this guy to unravel on live TV.
Tucker: “You are not legitimate, you are lying, we know that, you have fooled other news organizations, you did not fool us
As the interview progresses, “Dom” liberal snark is greatly diminished yet resilient, however his logical core has melted into a puddle of free-associating, stammering Jell-O. He starts pledging allegiance to Julian Assange and Peyton Manning, and stated that their group went pro-Trump about 30 minutes before the interview.
“Dom”: We actually changed our mind though, about, um, we’re actually going after the protestors at the Inauguration. Um, so, we kind of changed our minds actually, recently and that was a result, mainly, of the enormous amount of hate mail we received. So we are protesting the protestors.
See the full cucking below:
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on TwitterOne of the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters purchased by Alabama-based Defense Technology Inc (DTI) is seen in Ulan Ude, Russia in this picture taken January 3, 2011. REUTERS/Defense Technology Inc. (DTI)/Handout
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Monday it will spend $572 million to buy 30 Russian-built military helicopters that will be used by Afghan security forces.
The Mi-17 helicopters will be used by Afghanistan’s National Security Forces Special Mission Wing, which supports counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics and special operations missions.
The contract with Rosoboronexport, the Russian arms company, covers spare parts, test equipment and engineering support. The Pentagon said the work would be performed in Russia. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.
A year ago, the Defense Department purchased a dozen of the Mi-17 aircraft from Rosoboronexport for $217.7 million, as part of a larger contract originating in 2011."The Big Lebowski" is about an attitude, not a story. It's easy to miss that, because the story is so urgently pursued. It involves kidnapping, ransom money, a porno king, a reclusive millionaire, a runaway girl, the Malibu police, a woman who paints while nude and strapped to an overhead harness, and the last act of the disagreement between Vietnam veterans and Flower Power. It has more scenes about bowling than anything else.
This is a plot and dialogue that perhaps only the Coen Brothers could have devised. I'm thinking less of their clarity in "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men" than of the almost hallucinatory logic of "Raising Arizona" and "The Hudsucker Proxy." Only a steady hand in the midst of madness allows them to hold it all together--that, and the delirious richness of their visual approach.
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Anyone who cares about movies must surely have heard something about the plot. This is a movie that has inspired an annual convention and the Church of the Latter-Day Dude. Its star, Jeff Bridges, has become so identified with the starring role that when he won the 2010 Oscar for Best Actor, Twitterland mourned that his acceptance speech didn't begin with, "The Dude Abides." These words are so emblematic that they inspired a book title, The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, by Cathleen Falsani. This is a serious book, though far from a dreary theological work.
The Dude is Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed layabout whose days are spent sipping White Russians and nights are spent at the bowling alley. There is always a little pot available. He has a leonine mane of chestnut hair, a shaggy goatee, and a wardrobe of Bermuda shorts, rummage sale shirts, bathrobes and flip-flop,. He went to Woodstock and never left. He lives in what may be the last crummy run-down low-rent structure in Malibu. Trust the Dude to find it.
It is widely known that the Dude was inspired by a real man named Jeff Dowd, a freelance publicist who was instrumental in launching "Blood Simple" (1984), the first film in the Coen canon. I have long known Jeff Dowd. I can easily see how he might have inspired the Dude. He is as tall, as shaggy and sometimes as mood-altered as Jeff Lebowski, although much more motivated. He remembers names better than a politician, is crafty in his strategies, and burns with a fiery zeal on behalf of those films he consents to represent.
In the film, Jeff Lebowski tells the millionaire's daughter (Julianne Moore) that in his youth he helped draft the Port Huron Statement that founded Students for a Democratic Society, and was a member of the Seattle Seven. In real life Jeff Dowd was indeed one of the Seattle Seven, and remains so militant that at Sundance 2009 he took a punch the jaw for insisting too fervently that a critic see "Dirt," an ecological documentary Dowd believed was essential to the survival of the planet. True to his credo of nonviolence, the Dude did not punch back.
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In "The Big Lebowski," our hero has left politics far behind, and exists primarily to keep a buzz on, and bowl. He is never actually drunk in the movie, and always far from sober. His bowling partners are Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and Donny Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi). Walter, even taller than the Dude, is a proud Vietnam veteran and the strategist of the three. He and the Dude never mention politics. Donny is their meek sidekick, always a step behind the big guys. He says perhaps three complete sentences in the film, all brief, and is often interrupted by Walter telling him to shut the f--- up. He is happy to exist on the fringes of their glory.
Details of the plot need not concern us. It involves a mean-tempered millionaire in a wheelchair who is the Big Lebowski (the Dude becomes, by logic, the Little Lebowski). He broods before the fire in a vast paneled library, reminding me of no one so much as Major Amberson in "The Magnificent Ambersons." His trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid) appears to have been kidnapped. This leads indirectly to the Dude being savagely beaten by hit men who mistake him for the Big Lebowski. Well, how many Jeff Lebowskis can there be in Malibu? One of them urinates on The Dude's rug, which he valued highly ("it pulled the room together"), and the whole movie can be loosely described as being about the Dude's attempts to get payback for his rug.
The inspiration for the supporting characters can perhaps be found in the novels of Raymond Chandler. The Southern California setting, the millionaire, the kidnapped wife, the bohemian daughter, the enforcers, the cops who know the hero by name, can all be found in Chandler. The Dude is in a sense Philip Marlowe -- not in his energy or focus, but in the code he lives by. Down these mean streets walks a man who won't allow his rug to be pissed on. "That will not stand," he says, perhaps unconsciously quoting George H.W. Bush about Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. The Dude does not lie, steal or cheat. He does swear. He wants what is right. With the earliest flags of the republic, he insists, "Don't tread on me."
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The Coens have always had a remarkable visual style, tending toward overwhelming architectural detail -- long corridors, odd interior decoration, forced perspectives, lonely vistas, lurid cityscapes. Even in ostensibly realistic settings, such as the suburbs of "A Serious Man" (2009), they like to insist beyond the point of realism. Their suburb is the distillation of Suburbhood. In "The Big Lebowski," their anchor location is the bowling alley, their dominant colors what might be described as Brunswick Orange and turquoise. The alley is strangely underpopulated, its lanes vertiginous in length. There is one POV shot from within a rolling bowling ball. When Jeff hallucinates or is unconscious, he inhabits bizarre fantasy worlds.
One of their fellow bowlers is Jesus Quintana (John Turturro), a man who has converted himself into an artwork in his own honor. Another trio of supporting characters, the Nihilists, is led by Peter Stormare (who played the man feeding the body of Buscemi into the wood chipper in "Fargo"). A considerable role is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, as Brandt, the worshipful assistant to the Big Lebowski. Some of its fans have seen this movie dozens of times. I suppose they've already observed that that Hoffman and David Huddleston, who plays the Big Lebowski, bear a strong family resemblance. Someone knowing nothing about the film could be excused for suspecting that Philip Seymour Hoffman plays both characters, the older man with skillful makeup effects. A coincidence? I would not for one moment put it beyond the Coens, Ethan and Joel, to encourage this misapprehension. I suspect they cast Huddleston for the physical resemblance.
The film is all about Jeff Lebowski's equanimity in the face of vicissitudes. He is pounded, water-boarded, lied to and insulted. His rug is pissed on and his car set aflame. He is seduced by a woman who wants only his seed. He has a fortune dangled before his eyes, only to have it replaced by telephone books and used boxer shorts. To heal and keep himself whole he stirs himself another White Russian, has a toke, sits in a warm bath. Like the Buddha, he focuses on the big picture.
The film is narrated by The Stranger (Sam Elliott, never more gloriously mustached). It is he who observes at the end that the Dude Abides, and says he hears there is a little Lebowski on the way. The Dude however is denied matrimony, and indeed seems to have no women at all in his life, except by lucky chance. Does this depress him? Is he concerned about being chronically unemployed? No. If a man has a roof over his head, fresh half-and-half for his White Russians, a little weed and his bowling buddies, what more, really, does he need?
"Dude, Where's My Breakfast?" --my blog entry about the rumble at Sundance 2009:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/eber...Late 2016 saw Lil Yachty proudly wearing Nautica gear in the brand’s lookbook for Urban Outfitters. But now the “One Night” rapper and the popular maritime-inspired brand are linking up again for a special announcement — Nautica will in fact be tapping Lil Yachty for a creative designer role, according to WWD.
The move practically make sense as both share a love for seafaring themes — the brand is entrenched in this lifestyle as seen on its designs and Lil Yachty, who also goes by Lil Boat, is part of a collective called “The Sailing Team.” His lyrics often mention these ocean-inspired subjects as well.
It’s not clear what Lil Boat will be “creating” for the brand, but the direction makes sense for Nautica as they try to spread their presence with the younger market. “We are excited to be collaborating with Lil Yachty this year,” mentions Karen Murray, president of Nautica. “He is much more than just a music artist. He is a creative soul. His innate passion and affinity for the brand, fabulous taste level and the way he looks in our clothes, make him the perfect partner for the Nautica brand.”
As for the 19-year-old artist, “Nautica is like a part of me,” said Lil Yachty. “It’s for kids, sailors, grown men and cool people. The designs — the old designs, the new designs, I think it’s dope. There’s not really much out there like Nautica.”
Stay tuned as we gather more information about this announcement.Google has been dragged over the coals by the European Union’s competition watchdog, culminating in the European Commission formally charging Google with abusing the dominant position of its Android mobile phone operating system, having launched an investigation in April 2015.
Powerful firms are prohibited from engaging in anti-competitive behaviour under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, or TFEU. European law calls this an abuse of dominant position, but really it can be seen simply as bullying. The EU courts have long recognised that dominant firms have “a special responsibility not to allow [their] conduct to impair genuine undistorted competition”.
To violate EU competition law a firm must be dominant in a particular market – just having a large market share indicates dominance, but isn’t sufficient. Other factors need to be studied, such as barriers to market entry and exit, or switching costs. A market that is easy to enter despite one firm having a large share of it may still be contestable by newcomers.
The conduct of firms with dominant positions is subject to particular scrutiny for evidence of abusive conduct, such as that aimed at eliminating actual or potential competitors or exploiting consumers. If any abusive behaviour is found, the European Commission has the power to demand changes to contracts and impose fines of up to 10% of the firm’s annual turnover. In the case of Google, this would be an eye-watering US$7 billion, based on its 2015 revenues. Any such sanctions are subject to review by the EU courts.
What are the allegations?
The European Commission considers that Google is dominant in three markets: general internet search, licensable mobile operating systems as used on smartphones and tablet computers, and stores for Android apps. It considers that Google controls more than 90% of each market.
It’s important to understand that Android is essentially composed of two parts. The first is the open source operating system core, which everyone can use, alter, change, repackage and re-release as their own. The other is proprietary, which is closed source and belongs to Google, which keeps it to itself. This means that a firm manufacturing mobile phones must buy a licence from Google to use the proprietary part of Android, even though the rest of it is open source and free.
European Commission
Google, the commission argues, violated EU rules by requiring manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and its Chrome browser and obliging them to make Google Search a default search service as a condition of being granted a license for Google’s proprietary apps, particularly the Play Store app which is the key marketplace for Android-compatible apps.
Google also prevents manufacturers from selling devices running on any non-standard variations of the Android operating system (known as “forks”) – and offers financial incentives to manufacturers and mobile phone networks if they exclusively pre-install Google Search on their devices.
This behaviour has an essentially foreclosing effect – it makes it difficult for other firms to compete with Google, and reinforces Google’s dominance in general search – its most profitable business area. It may also harm consumers by denying them access to devices run on competing Android forks, thereby stifling innovation.
Is Google the new Microsoft (legally speaking)?
These are serious charges. They resemble similar anti-competitive charges brought against Microsoft 20 years ago for bundling a media player and web browser with its |
of these exclusions, then the constitution no longer applies and the use of lethal force becomes a viable option against US citizens.
It gets worse, because whereas one would expect that a "Constitutional expert" such as the president, Barack Obama would be the one tasked with interpreting if and when the Constitution no longer applies, the primer is quite explicit in handing over responsibility to "federal military commanders":
... federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbance.
So should Obama resume his vacation even as things in Missouri escalate dramatically, and be "unreachable", it may well come to pass that Obama's opinion will be irrelevant not only whether the National Guard should be unleashed in Ferguson, but whether Posse Comitatus is suddenly null and void.
The good news: the use of lethal force is not the only option the US Army would have if and when it engages with the population. US citizens may simply be herded into "temporary internment camps" for reindoctrination purposes under the supervision of PSYOP Officer (no really, they used that word), as follows from the Army's FM3-39.40 "Internment and Resettlment Operations" manual:
Internment and Resettlement (I/R) operations facilitate the ability to conduct rapid and decisive combat operations; deter, mitigate, and defeat threats to populations that may result in conflict; reverse conditions of human suffering; and build the capacity of a foreign government to effectively care for and govern its population. This includes capabilities to conduct shaping operations across the spectrum of military operations to mitigate and defeat the underlying conditions for conflict and counter the core motivations that result in support to criminal, terrorist, insurgent, and other destabilizing groups. I/R operations also include the daily incarceration of U.S. military prisoners at facilities throughout the world. An adaptive enemy will manipulate populations that are hostile to U.S. intent by instigating mass civil disobedience, directing criminal activity, masking their operations in urban and other complex terrain, maintaining an indistinguishable presence through cultural anonymity, and actively seeking the traditional sanctuary of protected areas as defined by the rules of land warfare. Such actions will facilitate the dispersal of threat forces, negate technological overmatches, and degrade targeting opportunities. Commanders will use technology and conduct police intelligence operations to influence and control populations, evacuate detainees and, conclusively, transition rehabilitative and reconciliation operations to other functional agencies. The combat identification of friend, foe, or neutral is used to differentiate combatants from noncombatants and friendly forces from threat forces.
Presenting army camps, hopefully not in a city near you:
Detainee facilities, an important planning consideration, are treated in the same basic fashion as any base camps. The same basic planning considerations are taken into account. Some detainee facilities will be subordinate to a larger base camp but they may also be at a separate location.
And:
The PSYOP officer in charge of supporting I/R operations serves as the special staff officer responsible for PSYOP. The PSYOP officer advises the military police commander on the psychological impact of military police or MI actions to prevent misunderstandings and disturbances by detainees and DCs. The supporting I/R PSYOP team has two missions that reduce the need to divert military police assets to maintain security in the I/R facility. The team— Assists the military police force in controlling detainees and DCs.
Introduces detainees or DCs to U.S. and multinational policy.
Develops PSYOP products that are designed to pacify and acclimate detainees or DCs to accept U.S. I/R facility authority and regulations.
Gains the cooperation of detainees or DCs to reduce the number of guards needed.
Identifies malcontents, trained agitators, and political leaders within the facility who may try to organize resistance or create disturbances.
Develops and executes indoctrination programs to reduce or remove antagonistic attitudes.
Identifies political activists.
Provides loudspeaker support (such as administrative announcements and facility instructions when necessary).
Helps the military police commander control detainee and DC populations during emergencies.
Plans and executes a PSYOP
In other words, if and when the time comes to "override" Posse Comitatus, random US citizens may have two options: i) end up in the US version of a Gulag or, worse, ii) be shot.Mumbai: Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd on Wednesday announced the launch of the Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1) submarine cable system.
A submarine cable system consists of telecom and internet cables on the seabed between land-based stations. These carry telecommunication and data signals across stretches of oceans.
“AAE-1, the longest 100 Gbps (gigabits per second) technology-based submarine system, will stretch over 25,000 km from Marseille, France, to Hong Kong, with 21 cable landings across Asia and Europe," Reliance Jio said in a press statement.
The statement added that the large scale project is the combined work of leading telecom service providers from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
“The new terabit capacity and 100Gbps direct connectivity to global content hubs and interconnection points ensure that Jio will continue to offer its customers the most exceptional high speed internet and digital service experience," said Mathew Oommen, president, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
“We are excited to participate in the launch and deliver the cable landing in Mumbai at the time when India’s data traffic continues its accelerated data consumption and growth."
With diversified Points of Presence in Asia (Hong Kong and Singapore) and three onward connectivity options in Europe (via France, Italy and Greece), AAE-1 will provide the requisite flexibility and diversity for telecom firms and their customers.Danish director said he is now sober and receiving treatment for dependency, but expresses concern over whether he will be able to make films in the future
Lars von Trier has revealed that he is undergoing treatment for drugs and alcohol addiction. Speaking to the newspaper Politiken, the Danish film director reported that he is now clean and attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings daily.
In his first major interview since a self-imposed vow of silence following his controversial comments expressing empathy for Adolf Hitler in 2011, the director, 58, said almost all his films had been written under the influence.
Von Trier explained he felt a daily bottle of vodka helped him enter a “parallel world” necessary for creation and that coming off both alcohol and drugs might mean he could only produce “shitty films”.
Von Trier has before spoken of previous struggles with depression. In the interview, he expresses scepticism about the potential value of any future work, as well as his capacity to produce it.
“I don’t know if I can make any more films, and that worries me,” he said. “There is no creative expression of artistic value that has ever been produced by ex-drunkards and ex-drug-addicts. Who the hell would bother with a Rolling Stones without booze or with a Jimi Hendrix without heroin?”
Von Trier emerged as a film-maker in the 1990s, where he was one of the pioneers of the “Dogme” style of realism. Breaking the Waves, starring Emily Watson, was his first major hit; he won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2000 with Dancer in the Dark, starring Björk and Catherine Deneuve. Other films include The Idiots (1998), Dogville (2003), Antichrist (2009) and Melancholia (2011).
Over the past year, Von Trier released two-part sex odyssey Nymphomaniac, the script for which he said had been written sober and taken 18 months. He said the screenplay for Dogville, meanwhile, had been completed during a 12-day drug binge.Reuters Maria Franco (R) discusses health insurance options with Violet Lucas-Barajas, 28, at an event in Los Angeles.
Young people are warming up to Obamacare, but more will need to sign up in the coming weeks to avoid a rise in insurance rates, health experts say.
Just 24% of the 2.2 million people who chose insurance plans through the state and federally run insurance exchanges by Dec. 28 were between the ages of 18 and 34, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which released demographics data on enrollees for the first time on Monday. Health pros say that’s below expectations, with one estimate from the Kaiser Family Foundation finding that about 40% of the people expected to enroll in insurance plans would be in that age group.
If more young people don’t sign up for insurance before the end of the enrollment period on March 31, consumers may face higher insurance rates next year, experts say. That’s because insurance companies would find themselves without enough younger and healthier customers to help offset the costs of covering older and sicker Americans, says Caroline Pearson, vice president of Avalere Health, a strategic advisory firm. “But it is our expectation that the age mix will improve throughout the open enrollment period.”
To be sure, it’s not clear yet how the final breakdown of the people who buy insurance will impact rates. Some insurers may have set rates with a more pessimistic outlook, expecting a smaller share of young people to sign up for coverage, while other insurers may have expected a larger share of young adults to sign up, says Pearson. With two and a half months left in the open enrollment period, the mix of people who sign up can still change. And government officials said the interest they’ve seen from young people so far has been encouraging. “We’re confident based on the results we have now that we’ll have an appropriate mix of people enrolled for coverage,” said Michael Hash, director of the HHS Office of Health Reform, during a conference call on Monday.
Not surprisingly, most of the young people who signed up did so during December, when the exchanges started working better and as the deadline approached for choosing plans that would be effective by Jan. 1. The number of 18- to 34-year-olds signing up through HealthCare.gov during December was eight times as many as in October and November; for the overall population, in contrast, sign-ups were five times what they were in the preceding months.
Also see: Why hardly anyone signed up for Obamacare
Some states are seeing more enthusiasm from the young than others. The District of Columbia, for instance, reported that 44% of its enrollees are young adults between the ages of 18 and 34, compared with 24% overall in the state and federally run exchanges. In Massachusetts, 31% of enrollees are ages 18 to 34, as are 29% of people choosing plans in Utah.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Will February at doctor be like January at gym?
Americans paying bigger share of medical bills
Are platinum Obamacare plans worth higher price?The 21-year-old Hertha Berlin defender is undeniably talented but he is coming of age on a very big stage. So that's why we asked Laura Greene to give him the On the Record treatment.
BY Laura Greene Posted
December 19, 2014
11:02 AM SHARE THIS STORY
in the German press, John Brooks is currently earning rave reviews for Hertha Berlin—not long after being demoted to the club’s reserves.
The last 18 months have been full of ups and downs for the 21-year-old. Told to “grow up” by Hertha manager Jos Luhukay, benched after getting inked with a new back tattoo, scoring that goal against Ghana in the World Cup, and playing his way back into contention as one of the Bundesliga’s best young talents, Brooks has been busy.
In this edition of, we take a look back at the central defender's tumultuous Bundesliga career and discuss what people have been saying about the Berlin native.
After joining Hertha’s youth setup in 2007, Brooks has risen through the ranks at the Olympiastadion. The towering defender reportedly turned down interest from Bayern Munich in 2011 to pen a four-year professional deal with Die Alte Dame.
The 2013-14 campaign was Brooks’ first season as an active player in the German top flight, the previous campaign having been spent in the 2. Bundesliga.
On July 26, 2013, Kicker reported from a Hertha preseason training camp that the Bundesliga newcomer had received his first call-up to the United States men’s national team.
“John Anthony Brooks faces his Bundesliga debut. The center back, who has established himself in the 2nd league as a regular force, received—as confirmed by sporting director Michael Preetz—an invitation from Jurgen Klinsmann to the USA international friendly in Sarajevo against Bosnia Herzegovina on August 14. Brooks has already completed caps for various youth levels of the United States. ‘The appointment will give him a boost and we hope that he will take the good performances he’s shown in the second division Bundesliga this season. This shows we have some very interesting young players.’”
Brooks made his Bundesliga debut on August 10 against Eintracht Frankfurt. He wasted no time in announcing his arrival in the division—scoring his side’s second goal in front of 54,000 spectators in a 6-1 home win.
John Anthony Brooks scores on his Bundesliga debut against Eintracht Frankfurt. Having a very good game too. — Cristian Nyari (@Cnyari) August 10, 2013
Just four days later Brooks made his debut for the U.S. senior team, going a full 90 in Sarajevo. Ahead of the friendly, Brooks told USSoccer.com:
“The U.S. really wanted me, so it was not a hard decision to play for the USA. I talked a lot to my family. My dad, who is from Chicago, my mom, my sister, my grandparents, my agent … all of them gave me advice. Since I decided to play for the U.S. they have been very happy, congratulating me and wishing good luck.”
Despite the U.S. defense conceding three goals—a brace from Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko and a single strike from Stuttgart’s Vedad Ibisevic, the 4-3 U.S. win marked the second impressive debut in less than a week for the then-20-year-old.
“I think John Anthony Brooks looks like he has been with us for 10 years," Jurgen Klinsmann said. "First camp, 19-years-old [sic] and he played against Dzeko. I mean, you don’t get it any bigger. We were really, really happy with his first [cap] as well.”
Back in the Bundesliga, Brooks was involved in five more ties following his debut, getting a full 90 minutes on two occasions before being forced out by injury against SC Freiburg.
“He will have to pause for about two to three weeks," club doctor Ulrich Schleicher told Hertha’s official website on September 23.
Despite playing a full 90 minutes for the U.S. in a friendly against Austria on November 19, Brooks did not make it back into the Hertha first team until December 8. He completed 90 minutes in a 2-0 win against Eintracht Braunschweig and—said to be at fault for two of the opposition’s goals in the following game—was substituted after 38 minutes against Werder Bremen.
“John needs to grow up," Hertha manager Luhukay told German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost after subbing Brooks against Bremen. "We’re in the Bundesliga, which is tough as nails. He needs to become an adult. John is on the right track. If he does not do that, I need to, as coach, lead him there. But it has to come from within himself. Because this is not the first time.”
Either forced to watch from the bench or demoted into the reserves (where he scored twice in three games), Brooks went on to play a part in only four of his side’s next 13 first-team fixtures, clocking up just 247 minutes of Bundesliga football.
Injury suffered by team captain and fellow center back Fabian Lustenberger looked like it could open up a spot in Luhukay’s plans for Brooks in the final third of the season. However, after missing training due to getting a large new back tattoo, Brooks returned to the bench and his manager’s firing line.
“I don’t have any understanding for that,” Luhukay told the Berlin media. “The tattoo could lead to an inflammation, and, naturally, that is not good.”
Berliner Morgenpost also commented on Brooks’ situation: “It may be assumed, that coach Luhukay had had enough. Annoyed by a lack of professionalism.”
Responding to the tattoo story, site user Eric P wrote on MLSsoccer.com: “Wow. The kid is immature, that's well established. But he's also exceptionally talented. There's a reason he was on Bayern Munich's radar. Now he's very young, we don't know what he'll become but he's only 20 (last time I checked). And he has been playing in the Bundesliga, one of the best leagues in the world. He gets world-class players to compete against all of the time. He's 20, he's only a kid so let him make his mistakes. He will learn.”
Israel Canchola added, “If I get a tattoo when I know I have a game in a few days, please feel free to call me a jackass.”
Days later, Brooks—tattoo and all—was back in his manager’s reckoning and completed 90 minutes against FC Augsburg on April 19th.
In the following game, against Eintracht Braunschweig on April 26, Brooks found the back of the net for the second time in the league—his opener helping Hertha to its first home win of 2014.
“I didn’t have any particular feelings that it was going to be a good day for me,” Brooks told Bundesliga.com. “It just seemed to happen that way.”
With one eye on the World Cup, Bundesliga.com assessed Brooks’ season:
“Having learned his lessons, the youngster may be one to watch as he looks to continue his maturing process during the postseason. The potential is there, but only time will tell whether Klinsmann is prepared to take a risk on the youngster, and whether Brooks can continue to deliver on his undoubted talent.”
Brooks played every minute of Hertha’s next two games, with his side finishing the season in 11th place.
The 21-year-old’s form arrived at just the right time, and on May 23 Klinsmann announced that Brooks would be travelling to Brazil as part of his final 23 for the 2014 World Cup.
Those who did not already know Brooks’ name soon did, after the defender was subbed on for Matt Besler against Ghana and scored the USA’s 86th-minute winner in Manaus.
BBC Football described the moment as, “Center back Brooks reacted with a mixture of disbelief and delight, the Germany-born 21-year-old marking his FIFA World Cup debut and fifth cap in style.”
Brooks did not feature again in subsequent games against Portugal, Germany, and Belgium. However, 44 minutes of World-Cup football was all he needed to achieve cult-hero status.
I love this! Team #USA fans from around the globe react to John Brooks' game-winning goal vs Ghana in World Cup. » http://t.co/vuNX1gA7rl” — Skip Fleshman (@SkipFleshman) June 18, 2014
The 2014-15 season kicked off with Brooks back on the Hertha bench. Three 90-minute performances (two losses and one draw) followed before he was dropped altogether for a further three games. Going from the World Cup stage to the Hertha reserves, rumors started to swirl that Hertha would release Brooks.
Noting subpar performances, @HerthaBSC coach Jos Luhukay boots John Anthony Brooks to reserves http://t.co/86GtyRE6V3 http://t.co/JDIMEINEI9 — Soccerly (@soccerly) September 29, 2014
Klinsmann downplayed the controversy ahead of the United States' October friendly against Ecuador.
“I would describe it as something typical in the early stage of your career," the coach said. "You have moments where he does something wrong at a training session, or maybe he’s not as attentive in a moment and coach wants to give you a little lesson. So he leaves you out for the next game and puts you down with the U-23 team. That's the education process that he’s going through.
“They know how much quality he brings to the table, but at his position they’re loaded with four, five guys. So they gave him a little signal to send him down to the U-23s and then bring him back after these two games and keep developing him. He will sooner or later be a regular starter.
“[Brooks needs] to not have the feeling, ‘I’m guaranteed here, I’m coming back from the World Cup, I even scored a goal so now it’s all good in my club team I’m undoubtedly a starter.’ That's not the case. Not in Europe. So that's what they are teaching him right now.”
One week later, Brooks was back in contention—used as a sub against Schalke. In the buildup to Hertha’s subsequent tie with Hamburg on October 25, Luhukay discussed Brooks’ club future with the German press:
“Patience is needed and we have that patience—we want [Brooks] to become a mainstay for our team in the near future. "John has had the chance to develop as a Bundesliga player for two years now. That's a process, and it never stops. You need to give it your all in training every day. That's how you get consistency and stability in Bundesliga games. He plays on a position where you are sometimes brutally punished when you don't have that last bit of aggressiveness. "I hope that John has again learnt from the past few weeks, and that he one day makes it big here and we no longer need to talk about him. We are all more than happy when he's in the starting lineup because we all know that he has come through our ranks, and there's nothing we want more than that.”
Someone tell Hertha to stop ruining John Anthony Brooks. Midtable clubs should always rely on such talented guys instead of benching them. — Red Rocket (@redrobbery) October 26, 2014
After getting six minutes against Hamburg, Brooks was benched against Paderborn on November 2. Since then, he has been involved in every single fixture, turning in 90-minute performances in five of the last six games.
John Anthony Brooks goes a strong full 90 for Hertha in a 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich #USMNT — Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) November 29, 2014
Hertha’s last two outings have impressed and Brooks, who helped his side defeat Borussia Dortmund on December 13, has received plenty of praise.
His performance against Die Borussen prompted the Berliner Kurier to ask, “Is this the real John Brooks?”
Luhukay told the newspaper, “John played his best game of 2014. That was the Brooks I always hoped to see. I am really happy for him. I’ve fought a lot with him but we are always honest with each other. So I’m really happy for him.”
Brooks was named in the Kicker team of the weekend and was named Man of the Match against BVB.
Should add that John Anthony Brooks had an outstanding performance against Dortmund today. Won more duels than any other player on the pitch — Cristian Nyari (@Cnyari) December 13, 2014
#USMNT @j_brooks25 named MOTM and to the Bundesliga Team of the Week after his performance in @HerthaBSC 1-0 win v. Dortmund. — U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) December 16, 2014
In Bild, Luhukay called the performance “the best game of the year” and Brooks told the newspaper, “This was the perfect game from us!”
More good news followed in Hertha’s midweek game against Eintracht Frankfurt, in which Brooks scored his first goal since the World Cup—the opener in a 4-4 draw away from home.
John Brooks is in some kind of form. Good to see him finally living up to the potential. — Usry (@RobUsry) December 17, 2014
https://vine.co/v/Ogw525rrw2ZWho knows what’s next for the unpredictable defender. On an upward trajectory, it seems there are big things—and much more—to come from John Brooks.The disappearance last week of the 11th richest man in China, Guo Guangchang, attracted attention from major international news agencies, such as the BBC, CNN, the Guardian, and the Wall Street Journal. The billionaire abruptly reappeared at a Shanghai company event yesterday without acknowledging that he had gone missing.
It was first speculated that he was detained by police for graft, as witnesses claimed they saw him dragged away by police at a Shanghai airport.
On Friday, Fosun, Guangchang’s investment firm, affirmed that Guangchang was with police, saying he was “aiding an investigation.” It is common in China for officials to first claim they are “assisting investigations” before they are officially named as suspects.
Guo appeared only briefly at the Fosun strategy meeting at the Kerry Hotel Pudong yesterday morning. People there said he didn’t address his disappearance nor the investigation, and that he left before the meeting was over.
There were no police seen at the hotel, but professional security officers kept reporters away from the ballroom. Nobody has mentioned if the security was wearing smiley stickers.
Guo’s whereabouts are once again unknown. Following his disappearing act, the share price of Fosun International Ltd dropped nearly 10% and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical fell from 12% to 3.8%, underscoring the uncertainty of the situation.
By Mary DeMay
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PrintSummary: Several centimeters of topsoil per year can form under favorable conditions, which good management can create. This article explains how.
"The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself" (Roosevelt 1937)
The future for Australia depends on the future of our soil.
The most meaningful indicator for the health of the land, and the long-term wealth of a nation, is whether soil is being formed or lost. If soil is being lost, so too is the economic and ecological foundation on which production and conservation are based.
In little over 200 years of European land-use in Australia, more than 70 percent of land has become seriously degraded (Flannery 1994). Despite our efforts to implement 'best practice' in soil conservation, the situation continues to deteriorate.
Annual soil loss figures for perennial pastures in Tablelands and Slopes regions of NSW generally range from 0.5 to 4 t/ha/yr, depending on slope, soil type, vegetative cover and rainfall (Edwards and Zierholz 2000). These figures probably underestimate the total amount of soil lost. Erosion can occur at much higher rates during intense rainfall events, particularly when groundcover is low. Areas which have been cultivated (whether for pasture establishment or cropping) are more prone to soil structural decline. Under bare fallows in the northern part of NSW, soil losses in the order of 50 to 100 t/ha/yr are common, with losses from individual rainfall events of 300-700 t/ha recorded in some situations (Edwards and Zierholz 2000).
If productive soil continues to be lost, debates about the optimum enterprise mix, pasture species, fertiliser rate, percentage of trees, or any other 'detail' over which we seem to argue endlessly, are irrelevant. They amount to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Research efforts in the soil science arena have concentrated on reducing the rate of soil loss. The concept of building new topsoil is rarely considered.
Building new topsoil
In order for new soil to form, it must be living. Life in the soil provides the structure for more life, and the formation of more soil. Building new topsoil is much like building a house (Bushby 2002). A good house is one which is comfortable for the occupants. It requires a roof, walls and airy rooms with good plumbing. Soil with poor structure cannot function effectively, even when nutrient and moisture levels are optimal (Bushby 2002).
The roof of a healthy soil is the groundcover of plants and plant litter, which buffer temperatures, improve water infiltration and slow down evaporation, so that soil remains moister for longer following rainfall. The building materials for the walls are gums and polysaccharides produced by soil microbes. These sticky substances enable soil minerals to be glued together into little lumps (aggregates) and the aggregates to be glued together into peds. When soil is well aggregated, the spaces (pores) between the aggregates form the rooms in the house. They allow the soil to breathe, as well as absorb moisture quickly when it rains. A healthy topsoil should be about half solid materials and half pore spaces (Brady 1984).
Friable, porous topsoils make it easier for plant roots to grow and for small soil invertebrates to move around. Well-structured soils retain the moisture necessary for microbial activity, nutrient cycling and vigorous plant growth and are less prone to erosion. Unfortunately, soil structure is very fragile and soil aggregates are continually being broken down (Bushby 2001). An ongoing supply of energy in the form of carbohydrates from actively growing plant roots and decomposing plant litter is required, so that soil organisms can flourish and produce adequate amounts of the sticky secretions required to maintain the 'house'.
Rates of topsoil formation
The rates of soil formation provided in the scientific literature usually refer to the weathering of parent material and the differentiation of soil profiles. These are extremely slow processes, sometimes taking thousands of years.
Topsoil formation is a separate process to rock weathering and can occur quite rapidly under appropriate conditions. In fact, soil building occurs naturally in most terrestrial habitats unless reversed by inappropriate human activities, or prevented by lack of disturbance.
To remain healthy, soil requires perennial groundcover and periodic localised disturbances in the top layer, where most biological activity takes place (Savory 1988, Soule and Piper 1992, Killham 1994, Jordon 1998, Martin 2001). The challenge for the regeneration of our soils, whether used for production or conservation, is to find ways to implement optimum levels of disturbance to restore soil building processes. The extent, frequency and timing of these disturbances need to be varied in accordance with the requirements of different plant communities and prevailing climatic and seasonal conditions.
Livestock movements based on short pulses of intense grazing followed by adequate recovery can be used as a tool to prune grass roots and feed the soil biota, trample litter, improve soil surface condition, increase biomass and improve biological diversity above and below ground (Savory 1988, Earl and Jones 1996, Jones 2000). In some situations pulse grazing is more effective when combined with 'pasture cropping', a technique in which annual grain or fodder crops are direct-drilled into perennial groundcover (Cluff and Seis 1997, Jones 1999). This one-pass operation disturbs about 10% of the soil surface, creating localised areas of improved aeration, moisture infiltration and mineralisation. The rapidly growing crop provides a readily available carbohydrate source for microbes in the rhizosphere, stimulating levels of soil biological activity.
The late P.A. Yeomans, developer of the Keyline system of land management, recognised that the sustainability of the whole farm was dependent on living, vibrant topsoil. The formation of new topsoil using Keyline principles, at rates not previously considered possible, was due to the use of a tillage implement designed to increase soil oxygen and moisture levels, combined with a rest/recovery form of grazing and pasture slashing, to prune grass roots and feed soil biota. Yeomans was able to produce 10 cm of friable black soil within three years, on what was previously bare weathered red shale on his North Richmond farm (Hill 2002).
Bennett (1939) calculated a rate of topsoil formation of just over 11 t/ha/yr for soils in which organic material was intermixed into surface layers. In situations where plant root mass is high, rates of topsoil formation of 15-20 t/ha have been indicated (Brady 1984). Healthy groundcover, high root biomass and high levels of associated microbial activity, are fundamental to the success of any technique for building new topsoil.
If the land management is appropriate, evidence of new topsoil formation can be seen within 12 months, with quite dramatic effects often observed within three years. Many people have built new topsoil in their vegetable or flower gardens. Some have started to build new topsoil on their farms. If you have not seen new soil being formed, make a point of doing so.
Ingredients for soil formation
The material which today is commonly regarded as'soil' is usually only a compacted residue of rock minerals. Healthy topsoil consists of minerals plus air, water and living things such as plant roots, microorganisms, insects and worms and the organic materials they produce. It is through the re-instatement of the missing components that new topsoil is formed.
There are six essential ingredients for soil formation.
Minerals Air Water Living things IN the soil (plants and animals) and their by-products Living things ON the soil (plants and animals) and their by-products Intermittent and patchy disturbance regimes
For soil to form, it needs to be living (4)
(4) To be living, soil needs to be covered (5)
(5) To be covered with healthy plants and decomposing plant litter, soil needs to be managed with appropriate disturbance regimes (6)
There is little information available as to how to increase the levels of air, water and organic materials in soil. For this reason, components 5 and 6 of the soil building checklist tend to be overlooked. That may explain why many people believe that new topsoil cannot be formed.
One has to wonder, how did all the topsoil get here in the first place? We know how quickly we lose it when we ignore the fundamental importance of components 5 and 6. To turn things around, we need to encourage soil building processes every day in our land management.
Rules of the Kitchen
No bare soil. Soil must always be covered with plants or plant litter.
Soil must always be with plants or plant litter. Produce organic matter. Rest groundcover from grazing, or grow green manure crops with minimum tillage.
Rest groundcover from grazing, or grow green manure crops with minimum tillage. Graze or slash the groundcover periodically. Use high stock densities for short periods to place organic matter both in and on the soil (root pruning and litter trampling). On pasture cropped land, this may include one or two in-crop graze periods. Green manure crops should be lightly incorporated, although animal impact is the preferred option.
Forland, whether for grazing, cropping, horticulture, timber, conservation or recreation.
Set the oven
Soil conditions must be such that soil organisms can flourish. High levels of biological activity are required. Think carefully about the effects of any drenches, pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers you may be using.
Cooking time
The higher the biomass and turnover of plant roots, the faster new topsoil will form. It is the energy from biological activity that drives the process.
Monitor progress
A composty smell indicates high levels of biological activity, particularly fungi. The activities of beneficial soil microbes are important for the formation of soil aggregates which give soil its structure, improve porosity and water-holding capacity.
Rising ability Like a good cake, the soil should rise well and feel light and springy under your feet. Can you easily push a screwdriver in up to the handle?
Can we measure it?
You can tell when new topsoil is forming by its composty smell, friable texture and dark colour. Measuring the amount of new soil being formed is a little different to measuring the amount being lost.
Mineral soil has a higher bulk density (is more compact) than living soil, and is far more easily eroded. Soil loss figures usually assume an average bulk density (weight per unit volume) of around 1.4 g/cm3 (Edwards and Zierholz 2000). If one millimetre of soil is eroded (about the thickness of a 5-cent coin) that represents about 14 t/ha soil loss.
When new topsoil is forming, it will have better structure and will contain more air and more pore spaces than degraded soil, so the bulk density will be less. That is, a given volume of new topsoil will weigh less than an equal volume of non-living mineral soil. The bulk density of healthy topsoil may be as low as 0.5 g/cm3. In practical terms, a one millimetre increase in the height of new soil would equate to the formation of around 5 to 10 t/ha of organically enriched topsoil.
We currently use the Universal Soil Loss equation (USLE) to estimate soil losses from various agricultural activities. We should perhaps consider developing a Universal Soil FORMATION Equation (USFE) to estimate rates of soil formation.
Conclusion
This is the greatest challenge facing modern agriculture.
Fortunately, highly effective land management techniques such as pasture cropping and pulse grazing have become available to Australian farmers over recent years.
We know we can produce new topsoil. We know we must produce new topsoil. Will we? Professor Stuart Hill (Hill 2002) makes this point abundantly clear:
"If we all postpone taking such action, it is certain that the quality of life of future generations will progressively be degraded as we continue to lose our soils, habitats and other species with which we share this amazing planet.
I can do it
I must do it
I will do it"
Acknowledgments
Dr Stan Parsons introduced me to the concept of building new topsoil, a process of fundamental significance which is rarely considered. I am also deeply indebted to Greg Martin (Martin 2001) for his clear explanation of the importance of the intermixing of organic matter in the root zone for high levels of biological activity and for showing me the small mammals responsible for the soil building processes which took place in Australia prior to European settlement. Allan Savory's profound insights into landscape processes and the development of the Holistic Decision Making Framework for land managers (Savory 1988, Savory and Butterfield 1999) have provided a means by which much of this thinking can |
ilant Warrior, a NORAD exercisey’’ (Clark, 2004, pp. 3–9) There was also an interesting article on an exercise conducted prior to 9/11 in the mainstream news on April 18, 2004. USA Today published a piece by Steven Komarow and Tom Squitieri in ‘‘Washington/Politics’’ entitled, ‘‘NORAD had drills of jets as weapons.’’ It opens: WASHINGTON – In the two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the North American Aerospace Defense Command conducted exercises simulating what the White House says was unimaginable at the time: hijacked airliners used as weapons to crash into targets and cause mass casualties. One of the imagined targets was the World Trade Center. In another exercise, jets performed a mock shoot-down over the Atlantic Ocean of a jet supposedly laden with chemical poisons headed toward a target in the United States. In a third scenario, the target was the Pentagon – but that drill was not run after Defense officials said it was unrealistic, NORAD and Defense officials say. NORAD, in a written statement, confirmed that such hijacking exercises occurred.23 Much more could be written about the great hush that clouds information about the 9/11 war games. Of course, Bush’s ‘‘secret government’’ would simply dismiss the problem by saying that military exercises are classified. Or, as some generals have indicated, in any case they probably enhanced the U.S. response to 9/11. Before the truth about the military exercises can illuminate what was really behind 9/11, a full and authentic investigation would have to break through these excuses. At least one publicly elected official has started asking such questions. Cynthia McKinney, voted back into Congress in 2004 by the people of Georgia’s 4th Congressional District, has a history of asking the hard ques- tions. The following exchange represents one of the few efforts of a con- gressperson to get people to talk about the 9/11 planned exercises. It is from a transcript of Representative Cynthia McKinney’s exchange with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Tina Jonas, on March 11th, 2005. CMK: The question was, we had four war games going on on September 11th, and the question that I tried to pose before the Secretary had to go to lunch was whether or not the activities of the four war games going on on September 11th actually impaired our ability to respond to the attacks. RM: The answer to the question is no, it did not impair our response, in fact General Eberhart who was in the command of the North American Aerospace Defense Com- mand as he testified in front of the 9/11 Commission I believe – I believe he told them that it enhanced our ability to respond, given that NORAD didn’t have the overall responsibility for responding to the attacks that day. That was an FAA responsibility.
132 FOUR ARROWS (AKA DON JACOBS) But they were two CPXs; there was one Department of Justice exercise that didn’t have anything to do with the other three; and there was an actual operation ongoing because there was some Russian bomber activity up near Alaska. So we – CMK: Let me ask you this, then: who was in charge of managing those war games? RM: The important thing to realize is that North American Aerospace Defense Com- mand was responsible. These are command post exercises; what that means is that all the battle positions that are normally not filled are indeed filled; so it was an easy transition from an exercise into a real world situation. It actually enhanced the response; otherwise, it would take somewhere between 30 minutes and a couple of hours to fill those po- sitions, those battle stations, with the right staff officers. CMK: Mr. Chairman, begging your indulgence, was September Eleventh declared a National Security Special Event day? RM: I have to look back; I do not know. Do you mean after the fact, or CMK: No. Because of the activities going on that had been scheduled at the United Nations that day. RM: I’d have to go back and check. I don’t know.24 2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WAR GAMES On September 11, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was running a drill simulating an off-course aircraft crashing into NRO headquarters in Virginia at 8:30 a.m., about the same time the real thing was occurring. The NRO is the spy satellite agency and its involvement shows how war games had moved beyond the control of individual services. This is emphasized by Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr. as quoted in a U.S. Department of Defense news article: ‘‘Before in the Defense Department, war games were essentially just done by services, and they would sprinkle in joint entities,’’ Giambastiani explained. Now, he said, fun- damentally the services are cooperating and co-hosting war games with Joint Forces Command. ‘‘I am co-hosting with the chief of a service, a joint war game which the Army and the Joint Forces Command come together to play,’’ he said. ‘‘Primarily, the majority of people in it are actually joint.’’ ‘‘We do it with the Navy, we do it with the Marine Corps, we’ve done it with the Air Force, we’re doing it with agencies such as a National Reconnaissance Office, we’ve done it with other combatant commanders,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s pretty darn significant.’’ (Sample, 2005) Associated Press journalist, John J. Lumpkin also wrote about the NRO exercise: WASHINGTON – In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence, one U.S. Intelligence Agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft
The Military Drills on 9-11 133 would crash into one of its buildings. But the cause wasn’t terrorism – it was to be a simulated accident y25 American Airlines Flight 77, the Boeing 767 that was supposedly crashed into the Pentagon, took off from Dulles at 8:10 on 9/11, 50 minutes before the exercise was to begin. Michael Ruppert’s research regarding this and other planned military exercises reveals that ‘‘possibly many aircraft were posing as hijacked air- liners.’’ He claims that on the day of 9/11 The Joint Chiefs of Staff (Richard B. Myers) and NORAD were conducting a joint, live-fly, hijack Field Training Exercise (FTX) which involved at least one (and almost certainly many more) aircraft under US control that was posing as a hijacked air- liner’’ (Ruppert, 2004). To what degree might knowledge of such exercises influenced responses and non-responses to 9/11? Besides the obvious problem of not being able to tell the difference between real and drill blips on NORAD screens, being on alert for such games generally has a disruptive effect. Col. Steve Jones, the commander of the Air National Guard’s 147th Squadron out of Houston, explains this in Code One, an official Lockhead Martin publication. The 147th provides air defense for the Gulf Coast region and for the Houston petrochemical base, but also for missions around the world. Jones was on combat alert, sitting in the cockpit of his F-16 when he first heard about the 9/11 attack (after being told to look at the television set!). In describing alert status exercises in general, he stated: People who are not used to flying alert missions may be a little tense about it y. They can be in such a hurry that they forget something that delays them. They can get bogged down by command and control functions if their units don’t have the infrastructure to support an alert mission. They can get bogged down in the notification procedures as well. (Hehs, 2002) Bogged down may be an understatement if this is what happened on 9/11. One squadron of NORAD fighter planes that was eventually scrambled was sent east over the Atlantic Ocean and was 150 miles from Washington, DC, when the third plane struck the Pentagon, farther away from the scene than when they first took off.26 Besides the general confusion, the NRO exercise also involved an emer- gency evacuation drill running in the morning of 9/11. As a result, many key people who are responsible for watching images from numerous satellites were not even at their stations when the first plane struck its target! NRO spokesman Art Haubold told United Press International (UPI), ‘‘It was just
134 FOUR ARROWS (AKA DON JACOBS) a coincidence. It was an emergency response exercise. It was just a strange coincidence.’’27 Another example was reported in the book, Air War Over America. This book, which is now already out of print and unavailable is published by the Defense Information Access Network (DIANE). For nearly 14 years, it has focused on researching and making available the very best and most im- portant documents and reports produced by various agencies of govern- ments worldwide. It explains how at the time of the first WTC crash, three F-16s were assigned to Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles from Washington. They flew an air-to-ground training mission in North Carolina, 207 miles away from their base. Not until they are half-way back does lead pilot Major Billy Hutchison receive orders to return to base (Arnold & Filson, 2004, p. 56). It seems obvious that war games on the day of 9/11 were and are a matter of significance, but so were war games prior to 9/11. For example, one of the exercises prior to 9/11 occurred on November 3, 2000. Don Abbott of Command Emergency Response Training organized a simulated crash on the Pentagon with miniature planes and a model of the Pentagon. Such exercises relating to terrorist attacks similar to those that actually happened might have conditioned military personal to expect more of the same. Con- sidering that Bush, Rice and Rumsfeld have all said that they could not have imagined planes being hijacked and crashed into buildings, it makes these exercises even more suspect. In his highly regarded book, 9/11: Synthetic Terror: Made in the U.S., Webster Tarpley (1992) discusses the significance war games may have had on 9/11. In one section he refers to an exercise called ‘‘Amalgam Virgo.’’ This exercise is a U.S.–Canadian multi-agency, bilateral air security exercise sponsored by NORAD. Now an annual event, it made its debut on the morning of 9/11. (In spite of the fact that information about the war games has been classified, the fact that 9/11 was the premier of Amalgam Virgo was announced by the U.S. Department of Defense ‘‘Armed Forces Information Services’’ a year later in announcing its ‘‘second annual’’ exercise.28 Marine Corps Major, Mike Snyder, called the day-long exercise in 2002 a great success.29) Tarpley talks about how war games can influence coups in general and then about how Amalgam Virgo specifically might have had a significant effect on the events that played out behind the 9/11 scenes: Staff exercises or command exercises are perfect for a rogue network which is forced to conduct its operations using the same communications and computer systems used by other officers who are not necessarily party to the illegal operation, coup or provocation
The Military Drills on 9-11 135 as it may be. A putschist (a person plotting or involved in a coup) officer may be working at a console next to another officer who is not in on the coup, and who might indeed oppose it if he knew about it. The putschist’s behavior is suspicious: what the hell is he doing? The loyal officer looks over and asks the putschist about it. The putschist cites a staff maneuver for which he is preparing. The loyal officer concludes that the putschist’s activities are part of an officially sanctioned drill, and his suspicions are allayed. The putschist may even explain that participation in the staff exercise requires a special security clearance which the loyal officer does not have. The conversation ends, and the putschist can go on with his treasonous work. The best working hypothesis is that Amalgam Virgo was the cover story under which the 9/11 attacks advanced through the bureaucracy. Preparations for carrying out 9/11 were conducted under the cover of being preparations for Amalgam Virgo. Most of those who took part in Amalgam Virgo could hardly have been aware of this duplicity y. Here was an exercise which included many of the elements which were put into practice on 9/11. Amalgam Virgo thus provided the witting putschists with a perfect cover for con- ducting the actual live fly components of 9/11 through a largely non-witting military bureaucracy. Under the cover of this confusion, the most palpably subversive actions could be made to appear in the harmless and even beneficial guise of a drill. (Tarpley, 2005, p. 3) 3. WHO WAS IN CHARGE AND WHY? After personally questioning many NORAD, NRO and Department of Defense sources, Michael Ruppert became convinced that Cheney was re- sponsible for the war games. ‘‘The war games will tie Cheney and Rumsfeld directly into a complete paralysis of fighter response on 9/11,’’ he stated in an article discussing a military exercise held on 9/11 called ‘‘Tripod II’’ and other exercises orchestrated by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).30 Ruppert has studied the war games issue extensively and covers it in his book, Crossing the Rubicon. Michael Kane summarizes this re- search,31 which I have condensed further below. Just as Cheney had taken control of the military after the attacks, he was also in control of the military exercises before and during them.32 1.In May 2001 Dick Cheney was placed directly in charge of managing the ‘‘seamless integration’’ of all training exercises throughout the federal government and military agencies by presidential mandate. 2.The morning of 9/11 began with multiple training exercises of war games and terror drills, which Cheney, as mandated by the president was placed in charge of managing. 3.Cheney was in charge of the war game known as Tripod 2, an exercise set up in downtown New York that set up a command and control center on 9/11 that was configured exactly like the one lost that morning in WTC 7.
136 FOUR ARROWS (AKA DON JACOBS) 4.Dick Cheney was one of the main government officials deciding that such extensive drills would take place on 9/11, in spite of (or because of) the intelligence warning that terrorists would hijack aircraft and crash them into targets during the week of September 9th, 2001. As for why the Vice-President may have wanted to use the exercises as a way to assure the success of 9/11 attacks, no one should be surprised to hear that the answer relates to oil. First, Cheney understood well the growing need for oil. In an article for the Center for Research in Globalization entitled, ‘‘Iraq and the Problem of Peak Oil,’’ F. William Engdahl states that Cheney knew about this problem in 1999: In a speech to the International Petroleum Institute in London in late 1999, Dick Cheney, then chairman of the world’s largest oil services company, Halliburton, pre- sented the picture of world oil supply and demand to industry insiders. ‘By some es- timates,’ Cheney stated, ‘there will be an average of two percent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead, along with, conservatively, a three percent natural decline in production from existing reserves.’ Cheney ended on an alarming note: ‘That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day.’ This is equivalent to more than six Saudi Arabia’s of today’s size.33 Second, the war in Iraq was about oil. President Bush’s Cabinet agreed in April 2001 that ‘‘Iraq remains a destabilizing influence to the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle East’’ and because this is an unac- ceptable risk to the U.S. ‘‘military intervention’’ is necessary.34 Third, the Iraq war has been in the works since 1996.35 Cheney even tried to sell the idea to Bill Clinton in 1998. Fourth, Cheney’s company, Halliburton, got the contract to rebuild Iraq and he knew his company would get it. Halliburton has contracts worth more billions for its work in Iraq.36 In spite of his claims to the contrary, Cheney should receive financial rewards from Halliburton even though he is no longer directly in charge of it (BBC, 2003). During the first 2 years of the war, Cheney’s 433,000 Halliburton stock options jumped to $26 million in worth.37 Fifth, Cheney needed the 9/11 attacks to rationalize the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq that would set the stage for his financial and ideo- logical ambitions and to assure that the U.S. would not lose its energy advantage as a result of the peak oil problem (Griffin, 2004). Sixth, Halliburton, headed by Dick Cheney before he became Vice Pres- ident, and its Kellogg, Brown and Root subsidiary, has a long history of corrupt money-making practices in countries like Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria. Halliburton had extensive investments
The Military Drills on 9-11 137 and contracts in Suharto’s Indonesia. Indonesia Corruption Watch named Kellogg Brown & Root (Halliburton’s engineering division) among 59 companies using collusive, corruptive and nepotistic practices in deals in- volving former President Suharto’s family. Still, the Pentagon continues to offer KBR no-bid contracts.38 4. THE ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI CONNECTION To suggest that Dick Cheney and other top officials may have intentionally pre-planned military exercises, as part of a conspiracy to use the events of 9/11 to ultimately lead to U.S. occupation of Iraq is obviously a difficult proposition to digest. Yet, if a case could be made that he and others may have also been involved in a political assassination of a U.S. Senator who stood in the way of the Iraq agenda, then this suggestion becomes more plausible. Furthermore, if he was connected to both events, then ‘‘coinci- dence theory’’ holds even less water. Zacarias Moussaoui is the only person who has been charged in the U.S. as a conspirator in the 9/11 attacks. In spite of this, no evidence linking him to the attacks has been released. None of his purported accomplices within the U.S. have been arrested. His case is entirely controlled by the Executive Branch of the government. In 2003, Bush personally asked for a hold on his trial.39 It did not plea bargain with him in order to get more information from him regarding the 9/11 conspiracy.40 In fact it has gone to great lengths to prevent him from speaking. All his testimony remains classified. He has spent much time in solitary confinement and is not allowed visitors besides family and his attorneys. The government did not allow him to call for witnesses from al-Qaeda, even though this might have resulted in dismissal of his indictment (Maargasak, 2003). Even before he was arrested, unusual ‘‘precautions’’ with regard to Moussaoui seem to have been common. For example, while he was living in London, he was observed by French intelligence making several trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan. French investigators claimed the British spy agency MI5 was alerted and requested to place Moussaoui under surveil- lance but the request appeared to have been ignored.41 When he was arrested in Minnesota just before 9/11, FBI agent Marion ‘‘Spike’’ Bowman, head of the FBI’s National Security Law Unit, denied the Minneapolis FBI’s request for a warrant to search Moussaoui’s belongings and his computer, which contained a flight simulation program obtained at
138 FOUR ARROWS (AKA DON JACOBS) a flight training school owned by Northwest Airlines. Minneapolis FBI agents applied for the August 2001 search warrant under the Foreign In- telligence Surveillance Act. Bowman’s decision prevented an adequate search of materials. One of the items in Moussaoui’s possession was a letter that could have led investigators to an important meeting relating to the 9/11 attacks. He also possessed phone numbers that could have linked him to major planners of the 9/11 attacks.42,43 Instead of being punished for giving the local agents information that was ‘‘inexcusably confused and inaccurate’’ he was given an FBI award in December 2002 for ‘‘exceptional performance’’ (Griffin, 2004, p. 122). Even after the 9/11 attacks began, the Supervisory Special Agent who was most involved in the Moussaoui matter and who, up to that point, seemed to have been consistently, almost deliberately thwarting the Minneapolis FBI agents’ efforts, was still attempting to block the search of Moussaoui’s computer. And according to the well-known letter from Coleen Rowley, the FBI was ‘‘prevented from even attempting to question Moussaoui on the day of the attacks when, in theory, he could have possessed further infor- mation about other co-conspirators.’’44 Moussaoui is a man of African ancestry who hailed from France. He possessed a Masters degree from Southbank University in the United King- dom and traveled widely. According to the Australian Government’s De- partment of Defense and its Defense Science and Technology Department, Moussaoui was a major player in the 9/11 planning. Using their advanced Computer Forensic Investigative Toolkit, this department used relational network analysis to study all of the 9/11 hijackers and found him to be connected to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the purported architect of 9/11 and to Mohamed Atta, the leader of the attacks and the presumed pilot of the first plane to crash into the Twin Towers.45 Michael Guess, also a man of African ancestry and about the same age as Moussaoui lived in St. Paul about the same time Moussaoui was there. He is the person who let Moussaoui download the flight simulation program for a Boeing 747 onto the laptop computer when he worked in part-time admin- istration at the Pan Am International Flight Academy as a second job. According to an ex-manager of the school, Guess had ‘‘inadvertently’’ placed a CD-ROM containing the 747 software at a workstation in advance of one of the Moussaoui’s training sessions, before his flight instructor ar- rived, and left him in the room alone with it (Four Arrows & Fetzer, 2004). Later Guess was laid off from the school where he had hoped to become a flight instructor. After the event, Guess had gone out of his way to tell people that he played a big role in getting Moussaoui arrested.46
The Military Drills on 9-11 139 Michael Guess was also, ‘‘coincidentally,’’ the co-pilot of the airplane that crashed on October 25, 2002, killing Senator Paul Wellstone. Some believe that he was actually flying the plane when it crashed (Four Arrows & Fetzer, 2004). Perhaps the reason he talked so openly about being a part of Mo- ussaoui’s capture (which of course he was not) was to distance him from the possibility, which in fact was never a topic of any investigation, including the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation of the Senator’s plane crash. The book, American Assassination: The Strange Death of Senator Paul Wellstone, makes a strong case for Dick Cheney and others being the source for a contract on the Senator. Wellstone’s aggressive opposition to the Iraq war and to Cheney’s leadership role in promoting it, and his successful attempts to stop Halliburton from receiving no-bid def- ense contracts offered billions of dollars worth of motive. If Cheney was responsible for 9/11 war games; if he was part of a duplicitous, pre-planned strategy for implementing 9/11 events that would serve the interests of those who desired to use them to support wars for oil and profit; and if he was willing to arrange for the assassination of a U.S. Senator to help assure that he achieved his 9/11 goals; then the silencing of Moussaoui might have an additional purpose. What if Moussaoui knows about Cheney’s involvement in the Wellstone incident? What if he and Guess worked for the same agent or agency? Perhaps there is a connection beyond our imagination, but in any case, the overlaps and interconnections are beyond coincidence and warrant further investigation! Consider that Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed his concern about Bowman’s interference with the search warrant, pointing out that Bowman and others gave testimony during a closed Judiciary Committee hearing that indicated that Moussaoui was connected to a major financier of the hijack- ing plot: ‘‘If the application for the FISA warrant had gone forward,’’ Grassley wrote, ‘‘agents would have found information in Moussaoui’s belongings that linked him both to a major financier of the hijacking plot working out of Germany, and to a Malaysian al-Qaida boss who had met with at least two other hijackers while under surveillance by intelligence officials.’’47 Making a connection between Michael Guess and Moussaoui is admittedly speculative. Moussaoui was arrested more than a year before Senator Well- stone’s plane crashed. However, there are too many similarities, overlaps and connections between the two men to allow them to stand without calling for more thorough investigations. One can only guess about possible connections Guess might have had, directly or indirectly, with Moussaoui,
140 FOUR ARROWS (AKA DON JACOBS) besides the ‘‘coincidences’’ mentioned above, we know, from 50 pages of Star Tribune interviews, that Guess had been a member of the Air National Guard, but little is known about his service; and his connection to Moussaoui was never mentioned by the NTSB in their investigation into his background. The NTSB even went so far as to suppress the name of Pan Am’s flight school where Guess had worked, had let Moussaoui download the flight simulator and from where he had recently been laid off 1 month before the tragic flight; was considered a very private person; flew regularly with Richard Conry, the pilot that Senator Wellstone often asked for; was assigned the Wellstone flight by the President of Aviation Charter after the previously scheduled copilot for the Wellstone flight did not answer his phone; and had just been laid off, he was seeking employment prior to taking the Wellstone flight. We also know from the NTSB final report that the pilot of the aircraft, Richard Conry, had a criminal record relating to financial graft.48 We know that Dick Cheney knew well in advance of Paul Wellstone’s stand against the Iraq war resolution that Wellstone would indeed oppose it. What possibilities exist? Perhaps Moussaoui and Guess and maybe even Conry did work for the same ‘‘employer.’’ Maybe Guess brought something aboard the aircraft that enhanced the mechanism for taking it down, think- ing he was merely delivering some secret documents? It is hard to imagine given some of the background information about him, but because the effort to locate his friends and family has been difficult, even a suicide mission like that of the 9/11 pilots should not be ruled out. May be Moussaoui can connect the dots. May be not. However, when we consider more informa- tion about connections between Moussaoui, the Pentagon and Cheney, we are compelled to demand more information. On August 27, 2005 article, sub-titled, ‘‘9/11 Ringleader Connected to Secret Pentagon Operation,’’ by Dr. Daniele Ganser of the Zurich Poly- technic, published by the International Relations and Security Network (ISN), identifies the role of 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers in a secret Pentagon operation. It largely refutes the official U.S. government narrative as presented by the 9/11 Commission. Recall that Atta is considered to be the ‘‘tactical leader of the 9/11 plot’’ and the suicide pilot who purportedly flew the first plane into the towers.
The Military Drills on 9-11 141 The Australian Department of Defense’s highly sophisticated research sys- tem showed numerous meetings between Atta and Moussaoui. Ganser re- veals that Atta was also connected to a top-secret operation of the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in the U.S. She says a top-secret Pentagon project code-named, ‘‘Able Danger,’’ had identified Atta as a member of an al-Qaeda cell more than a year before the attacks.49 What was the role of Atta in this operation? Did anyone in the Pentagon or higher (as in Dick Cheney) know in advance what Atta was planning? Was Atta working for someone in the administration? Who was really in charge? Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Shaffer, a 42-year-old native of Kansas City who worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Washington at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and had insights into the Pentagon’s top secret operation, urged the FBI to arrest Atta but the Pentagon’s lawyers inter- vened and ‘‘protected Atta for reasons that remain unclear.’’50 Note how similar this is to how Moussaoui has been ‘‘protected.’’ The 9/11 Commis- sion Report also fails to mention Operation Able Danger or any other U.S.- based SOCOM operations.51 Another ‘‘coincidence’’ is that, just as Moussaoui is the only person in U.S. prison for the 9/11 attacks, another French born man of Moroccan Arab descent, the same age as Moussaoui, is the only person outside the U.S. to be convicted for the 9/11 attacks. According to an Amnesty Inter- national report, his name is Mounir al-Motassadeq. A Hamburg Germany high court found the 31-year-old man guilty of being part of a terrorist cell led by Mohamed Atta.52 The U.S. has refused his defense access to a person held by U.S. authorities on suspicion of terrorist activities whose statements had been used in that trial. As a result, the German high court has declared a mistrial. In addition to all of these, the recent news that U.S. senators from both parties accused the U.S. Defense Department of obstructing an investigation into ‘‘Able Danger’’ and claims that its documents and personnel could have identified Mohamed Atta and other hijackers well before 9/11! The Pen- tagon blocked several witnesses here also from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Even Republican Senator Arlen Spector regarded the assertions as credible. Democrat Joseph Biden took it further, accusing the Pentagon of a cover-up (Jansen, 2005). How many more ‘‘coincidences’’ must we endure before we demand that they be explained? The use of six or more planned military/CIA ‘‘exercises’’ on September 11, 2001 and their repercussions are indeed ‘‘bizarre’’ but likely not coincidental.
142 FOUR ARROWS (AKA DON JACOBS) NOTES 1.As transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc. See http://wid.ap.org/transcripts/ 040617commission911_1.html. Note: The audience questions were also included in the AP’s transcription. 2.Washington, DC airspace violations not unusual CBS News, April 4, 2002 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/03/national/main/505323.shtml. 3.Order 7610.4J: Special Military Operations. Effective Date: November 3, 1998 Includes: Change 1 (Effective July 3, 2000) and Change 2 (Effective July 12, 2001), Chapter 7, ‘‘Escort of hijacked aircraft.’’ 4.John J. Lumpkin, Agency planned exercise on Sept. 11 built around a plane crashing into a building, Associated Press, August 21, 2002. http://www.boston.com/ news/packages/sept11/anniversary/wire_stories/0903_plane_exercise_htm. 5.See actual filmed interview http://www.propagandamatrix.com/multimedia/ Bush_admin_knew_planes_weapons.html. 6.Nico Haupt, The lost terror drill, 12-11-04. http://inn.globalfreepress.com/ modules/news/article.php?storyid=1073. 7.http://www.amc.army.mil/amc/pa/oct01.html. 8.http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2004/080904wargamescover. htm. September 20, 2004. 9.http://www.norad.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.news_rel_09_09_01. 10.TRIPOD II AND FEMALack of NORAD Response on 9/11. Explained by Michael C. Ruppert, June 5, 2004: 1900 PDT (FTW) – http://www.fromthewilderness. com/free/ww3/060704_tripod_fema.html. 11.Capt. Ben Frankenfield, 27th wins AF best air superiority squadron, July 1, 2003. http://www.1stfighter.org/f15s/27FSHughesTrophy2003.html. 12.Agency planned drill for plane crash last Sept. 11, Associated Press, August 22, 2002. See http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/09/149985_comment.php. 13.Adam J. Herbert, Sept. 11, minute by minute, Air Force Magazine On Line, October 2002, Vol. 87, No. 10. http://www.afa.org/magazine/Oct2004/1004 sept.asp. 14.Deborah Amos, Witness to terror: The 9-11 hearings. http://americanradio- works.publicradio.org/features/911/transcript.html. 15.Complete 9/11 timeline with references and supporting documents for a number of war games. http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline= complete_911_timeline&startpos;=650#a830globalguardian. 16.John Roberts, U.S. ‘training exercise’ in the Philippines sets stage for broader military operations, ‘‘WSWS: News & Analysis: Asia: The Philippines, March 15, 2002. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/mar2002/phil-m15.shtml. 17.War games by the U.S. Military on 9-11, Oil Empire. http://www.oilempire.us/ wargames.html#coincidence. 18.The 9-11 Commission Report Final Report of the National Commission on terrorist attacks upon the United States, Official Government Edition http:// www.gpoaccess.gov/911/ 19.Michael Kane, Analyzing the 9/11 report August 17, 2004. http://inn. globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=693.
The Military Drills on 9-11 143 20.Michael Kane, The final fraud: 9/11 Commission closes its doors to the public; Cover-up complete. http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/071204_ final_fraud.shtml. 21.Bill Hutchinson, August 30, 2002 New York Daily News. http://www. nydailynews.com/news/v-pfriendly/story/14924p-14169c.html. 22.www.oilempire.us/wargames.html. 23.Steven Komarow and Tom Squitieri, NORAD had drills of jests as weapons. USA Today, April 18, 2004. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04- 18-norad_x.htm. 24.Transcript of Representative Cynthia McKinney’s Exchange with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Tina Jonas, March 11, 2005. http:// www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/031505_mckinney_transcript.shtml. 25.John J. Lumpkin, Agency planned exercise on Sept. 11 built around a plane crashing into a building, Associated Press, August 21, 2002. http://www.boston.com/ news/packages/sept11/anniversary/wire_stories/0903_plane_exercise.htm. 26.Nicholas Levis, Senator Dayton: NORAD lied about 9/11 Sunday, August 1, 2004. http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20040731213239607. 27.Michael Kane, 9-11 war games no coincidence, Global Free Press, June 8, 2004. http://inn.globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=387. 28.Gerry Gilmore, American Forces Information Services. August 27, 2005. U.S. Department of Defense NORAD-Sponsored Exercise prepares for Worst-Case Sce- narios. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun |
using overturned parked cars. Police took cover behind riot shields but were overwhelmed by the bombardment of missiles. A BBC camera crew were chased by a masked gang brandishing pick-axe handles who took a £12,000 camera and destroyed it' (BBC News, 5 July 1981).
'The next evening [Saturday] rioting erupted on a huge scale. Barricades were built with overturned cars and a builders’ compressor; scores of petrol bombs were thrown at the police; rioters donned Ulster-style masks to avoid identification. The police could not cope. The press reported, ‘the police produced a show of force sufficient to enrage the black population, but not enough to quell the riots’.
The streets were barricaded again the next night [Sunday]. 'By then as many whites as blacks had joined the rioting' (Guardian). The rioters seized a fleet of milk floats and a concrete mixer to drive at the police lines, forcing the 800-strong force to retreat. Several buildings were burnt down, including the National Westminster Bank and the businessmen’s club, the Racquets. With the area clear of police, ‘there was an assumption that anyone who was not police would help themselves’ in the wholesale looting of shops. [Guardian] Reports told of middle aged women, white and black, queuing with shopping trolleys to loot supermarkets. Of the rioters, ‘fewer than 40% were black’. [Guardian] The deputy chief constable, Peter Wright, made it clear that ‘at the savage climax of the trouble, the rioters were mostly white.’ There were smaller, ‘imitation’ disturbances in white areas like Kirkby, Scotland Road, Walton, Woodchurch and Birkenhead.
The rioting began to die down the next night. By calling in the police from as far afield as Manchester, the authorities were able to regain control of the Toxteth area. That night the rioting tended to be in the white areas on the edge of Liverpool 8, away from the storm centre of the Saturday and Sunday night' (Chris Harman, The Summer of 1981: a Post-Riot Analysis, International Socialism, Autumn 1981)
'The real crescendo came on Sunday night when the 800 policemen were totally overwhelmed by hundreds of black and white youths and resorted to the use of CS gas, the first time it has been used against rioters on mainland Britain. The police admitted during the night that the rioting was out of control and called in reinforcements from Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester. Rioters commandeered milk floats, a stolen fire engine and a cement mixer and drove them straight into police lines. They were armed with every conceivable weapon, including lengths of scaffolding which they thrust at the riot shields like medieval knights... At one point they managed to seize a hire hose which the police had been using on them and turn it on the officers. Faced with this attack, the police had no alternative but to retreat, leaving behind them a no-go area open to a crowd of jubilant looters' (Uprising!: the police, the people and the riots in Britain's cities - Martin Kettle and Lucy Hodges, Pan Books, 1982)
According to the police, 781 policemen were injured during the rioting, and there were 1070 recorded crimes and 705 arrests. Civilian casualties included at least two seriously injured when they were hit by CS gas canisters - the projectiles fired were designed to pierce doors in siege conditions, rather than for crowd control.
See also Cook Da Books - Piggie in the Middle Eight, a song about the riots by 1980s Liverpool band.
Short Hot Summer 1981: Moss Side
The fighting in Toxteth died down on Monday, but the following day the torch (more or less literally) was passed from Liverpool to Manchester.
On that Tuesday night (7th July), or technically in the early hours of the next morning, 'after Moss Side's Nile Club closed a crowd of mainly black men spilled out on the street. A brick was thrown at a shop window and the trouble spread as other shops were attacked with petrol bombs'. Things calmed down after an hour or so, but just until the next day.
On the Wednesday, ‘Manchester and Salford were struck by severe and widespread riots... More than 1,000 youths stormed Moss Side police station, causing severe damage before being driven back… vehicles [were] overtuned, fires started and shops destroyed and looted…. Many petrol bombs were thrown… Three policemen, including an inspector injured by a bolt from a crossbow, were casualties’ (The Times, 9 July 1981).
The next night (Thursday), the police mounted a massive operation to clear the streets. That night, Manchester police were the first in Britain to deploy crash helmet-style riot headwear and to adapt the Northern Ireland tactic of using vehicles to break up crowds '54 vans swept through Moss Side charging at crowds with their back doors hanging open' (Uprising!: the police, the people and the riots in Britain's cities - Martin Kettle and Lucy Hodges, Pan Books, 1982)
The official Hytner report into the riot reported 'that many of the policeman in Moss Side in vehicles... were actively spoiling for trouble with young blacks. There was evidence of police vans toruing the area with officers leaning out of the back shouting racial insults at black youths and taunting them to come and fight'. Many people were beaten up by police, some of whom (according to the Guardian) were beating their truncheons on their vans and chanting 'Nigger, nigger, nigger - oi, oi, oi' (quoted in Kettle and Hodges).
Clashes continued for a couple more nights - after five days there had been 241 arrests (the majority white, unemployed and aged 17 to 24, though 48 were under 17). 22 police cars had been damaged.
Short Hot Summer 1981: Wood Green
On Tuesday 7th July 1981, on the same night as the first stirrings of the uprisings reached Manchester, there was also trouble in north London's Wood Green area. The local MP (Reg Race) reported to the House of Commons the next day:
'There were a large number of disturbances in my constituency last night, and 35 shops in Wood Green High Road were looted or had their windows broken. Reports in the press and by various individuals claim that 26 policemen were injured and 50 civilians arrested. Crowds of 400 to 500 youths — black, white and of Mediterranean origin—roamed around Wood Green High Road. A serious situation developed'.
(The reference to Mediterranean origin seemingly arose from the participation of Cypriot youth).
(photo from Wood Green © David Hoffman Photography, who has seemingly been photographing riots for 30 years)
The Times reported that in Wood Green 'the trouble began when a group of between 300 and 400 black youths began to gather near Turnpike Lane Underground station and marched along the High Road… The Special Patrol Group was called in. Police carrying riot shields attempted to drive the youths from the High Road. They had started fires in waste bins, and police cars were stoned…. In one men’s outfitters, a gang of black youths even took time to strip every window model of their trousers. Mr Mel Cooper, the owner commented: "They looted thousands of pounds worth of stuff, most of it trousers and shirts"' (Times, 8 July 1981).
Short Hot Summer 1981: London
Following on from Southall, Liverpool, Manchester and Wood Green, on Thursday July 9th, crowds were on the streets in various parts of London with sporadic clashes with police:
'London police quickly quelled what threatened to be a riot early yesterday evening in Woolwich, south-east London. About 200 black and Asian youths ran through the town centre smashing 15 shop windows and overturning two cars. There was some looting. The youths were outnumbered by police who quickly dispersed them. 27 arrests were made… In Lewisham, eight youths were arrested after clashes in which goods were looted from Chiesman’s department store. About 100 black youths in Deptford threw bottles at a police car.
Twenty youths were arrested in Stoke Newington after bricks and bottles were thrown at the police… Several hundred youths were moved on by police from Dalston, east London. The youths, black and white in about equal numbers, gathered in Kingsland High Street and Dalston Lane. Several hundred police patrolled the streets. Street fighting broke out last night in Fulham with minor clashes between police and youths. Seven youths were arrested, six black and one white’ (Times, 10 July 1981)
In Balham High Road 'Around 35 shops were damaged in a wave of violence which started shortly after midnight when some 200 youths roamed the streets. Worst hit was the Argos Discount Store where hundreds of pounds worth of goods were stolen' (South London Press, 14 July 1981).
Short Hot Summer 1981: Brixton
On Friday 10 July, Brixton exploded for the second time in three months following the arrest of sound system operator Lloyd Coxsone.
'Violence returned to the streets of Brixton this weekend, a few hours after Lord Scarman finished part one of his enquiry into the April riots. Large crowds clashed with police, cars were overturned and set alight, shops were attacked and looted only a short distance from Lambeth Town Hall where GLC leader Ken Livingstone was addressing an Anti Nazi League meeting. His audience had a grandstand view as officers fought looters... 31 officers were hurt hurt and there were 157 arrests, mainly for looting and assaulting police.
Trouble started at about 4 pm when police arrested a Rastafarian called Maliki in Atlantic Road. A popular disc jockey and community leader Lloyd Coxsone (32) tried to intervene but was arrested for obstruction. Within minutes youths had set up barricades across Atlantic Road... Police reinforcements were quickly on the scene but at 4:30 a Panda care in Atlantic Road was overturned and set on fire. An unmarked car which came to its aid was also overturned and fired but officers escaped unhurt.
Outside the Atlantic pub [late renamed the Dogstar in the 1990s] black leaders used a loud hailer to appeal for calm. Mr Maliki told the crowd that Mr Coxsone had been released and urged them to disperse. But some youths had already taken advantage of the confrontation to start looting shops in Atlantic Road. Rattner's the jewellers were attacked at 4.30 and a mob then ran down Electric Lane to raid Curry's the electrical goods shop...
Police formed themselves up in squads of about a dozen men with a sergeant in command. They lined up along the main road, walking under cover of riot shields towards the crowds. They were apparently trying to disperse the mob along Effra Road and Brixton Hill... By 8.30 police had cleared the centre of Brixton'.
(Source: South London Press, 14 July 1981)
Interview with Lloyd Coxsone
'As Brixton licked its wounds this week, an influential black community leader appealed to local youths to leave the shops alone. Disc jockey Lloyd Coxsone, owner of an internationally-famous sound system, said: 'I condemn the looting and shop breaking of last weekend. I know that trust between the youths and the police in this area has broken down. Bu this is not the way to solve the problems. The fighting in April was for a cause and I do feel that a lot of young policemen overstep the mark and are morally wrong. But I would never support any youth who went shopbreaking. It destroys what we are aiming for - a peaceful solution'.
Mr Coxsone (32) of Goulden House, Bullen Street, Battersea, was remanded on unconditional bail until August 24 at Camberwell on Wednesday after pleading not guilty to obstructing PC Kenneth MacKenzie in Vining Street and Atlantic Road on July 10. He admitted that he felt bitter at the way he and a colleague were arrested in Vining Street, last Friday night. The arrests led to a major confrontation in Atlantic Road which was only defused when Mr Coxsone and other black leaders addressed the crowds...
Mr Coxsone, a devout Rastafarian and father of six children also owns a record shop in Coldharbour Lane which he opened last December [Lloyd Coxsone Outernational Record Store, 395 Coldharbour Lane SW9]. A personal friend of the late Bob Marley, he came to England in 1962 to help promote Jamaican music through his sound system. He taken his music and his faith to most cities in England and Wales, and last December was engaged to play in Holland. The sound system is run by a team of about 18 young men, who share in the decision-making, and has an enormous following.
Coxsone himself is famous for his 'toasting' - a form of spoken commentary which underlines the words and music of reggae. Tall and slim, with dreadlocks down to his shoulders and a penetrating gaze, he is an impressive figure by any standards. After the April riots, Mr Coxsone and other influential members of the black community formed themselves into a 'peace committee'. The idea was to act as a channel of communication between local youths and the police. But Mr Coxsone feels it has not achieved full recognition...'
(Source: South London Press, 17 July 1981)
Short Hot Summer 1981: London
on Saturday 11 July, riots raged in Leicester, both in the city centre and in Highfields (the latter with its large Asian community). The following report comes from Socialist Worker, 18 July 1981:
'Last Friday the solicitor's office of Tony Reed-Herbert, the nazi gun-runner, was picketed by anti-racists. Highfields district of Leicester boiled over in a riot against police. This time the retaliation against oppression and deprivation overflowed to the City Centre on Saturday night.
Police could do nothing to prevent angry youth from smashing the windows of banks, posh shops and and fashion shops. In Highfields cars were overturned and set alight. By midnight the shopping centre was a scene of desolation. The main streets were empty except for police.
In Highfields, strangers were embracing each other. Blacks and whites were united and conscious of a common enemy. The local fascists must feel like they've been slapped round the face with a wet flannel. Even Goodson, the Chief Constable, was forced to admit that there had been no racial tensions leading up to the disturbance.
On Sunday the police took revenge on Highfields. They invaded dressed ready for combat with riot shields, batons and crash helmets. The community retaliated by erecting blazing barricades and throwing bricks and petrol bombs. They were defending their neighbourhood- not looting. The local residents were united against the police invasion and front doors were left open to let people in to hide and take refuge. Women and men of all ages were involved, black and white'.
[i]Image from Leicester local paper at the time. Note caption: 'A dummy lies half out of a smashed window, still fully clothed'!
Short Hot Summer 1981: Brixton Round 3
on 15 July 1981, Brixton exploded for the third time that year. Following the April uprising, and a second riot on the 10 July, police raided houses in Railton Road and sparked off more street fighting.
'Just as it looked at though there might be a lull in the violence - in fact there was one peaceful night on Tuesday 14 July — rioting returned to the streets of Brixton, after a police raid on eleven houses in Railton Road, the front-line. A total of 176 officers were used in the raid, with 391 standing by, and the police said they were acting on a tip-off from a normally reliable source that petrol bombs were being stored in the houses. Armed with warrants for bomb-making equipment and illegal drinking the police smashed into the houses. According to the inhabitants, who later showed journalists around their damaged homes, the police wantonly smashed windows, lavatories, television sets and furniture with axes and crowbars. No bombs were found, although some days later the police had the compensation of finding a crate of bottles, with evidence that they were being prepared as bombs, on nearby waste ground. Local inhabitants were furious and it was also understood that Whitelaw [the Home Secretary] was very angry with the police. The raid had led to about £5000 of damage, which was met by the police, and to another night of rioting. Afterwards five people charged with possession of cannabis and one with obstruction. The police action was seen as a revenge for the April riots by the black community, particularly because it was directed at the little pocket of houses which forms the heart of the front-line'.
(Uprising!: the police, the people and the riots in Britain's cities - Martin Kettle and Lucy Hodges, Pan Books, 1982)
'Joseph Francis (17), who was asleep when the raid occurred, said his unlocked bedroom door was axed by two policemen. He said a woman and baby in the room were thrown to the floor when the mattress was dragged from under them and furniture was ripped open.
Mr. Gladstone McKenzie arrived at his shop, the Railton Free Off Licence, to find the door and windows smashed and the back room ransacked. He said he had always had a good relationship with the police and was shocked by the extent of the damage. Some upstairs windows looked as though they had been broken from are inside as most of the glass was lying outside.
One of the houses wrecked during Wednesday's raid had just had £4,000 of Inner City Partnership money spent on it. No. 50 Railton Road is owned by Lambeth Council and leased to the Railton Youth Club...
100 youths were involved in, running fights with police in Railton-rd. on Wednesday night. Petrol bombs, stones and bottles were thrown and 10 officers were injured. The trouble started just after 11 p.m. when two cars were set alight and a barricade of corrugated iron and timber set up behind them.
But the police, drawn up in strength at the junction of Railton-rd. and Coldharbour-lane, made no move. Masked youths, one carrying a long stave, then charged the police lines, hurling missiles but were quickly driven back. A fire engine attempting to reach the burning cars was stoned. There was another scare when a convoy of eight powerful motorbikes ridden by white youths roared through the riot area.
At 11.45 police started cautiously moving up Railton-rd behind a wall of riot shields and sealing off side roads. Another large force was meanwhile approaching from the Herne Hill end. It was at about this time that the first petrol bombs were thrown. By 12.15 the barricade was being removed and police were in control of the area, though they remained on guard for some hours'.
(South London Press, 17 July 1981)
Short Hot Summer 1981: Bradford 12
As the uprisings of July 1981 died down, the focus shifted to the defence of those arrested. The most remarkable trial was that of the Bradford 12, arrested following events on the 11th July when Asian youth had taken to the streets prepared to confront the threat of a racist attack on their community. Despite admitting making petrol bombs, the defendants were acquitted by the jury who seemingly accepted the argument that they were acting in self defence.
The following analysis was written by The Race Today Collective (165 Railton Road, Brixton, London SE24) and publihsed in their 1983 pamphlet 'The Struggle of Asian Workers in Britain'.
Reflecting on the Trial of the Decade: The Bradford 12
On July 17 1981, the attention of the West Yorkshire police was drawn to two milk crates of petrol bombs which were hidden in high bushes at the back of the nurses' home in Bradford. The police removed the petrol from the bottles, replaced it with tea and set up a vigil for the manufacturers. No one turned up. Thirteen days later, 12 young Asians from the Asian community in Bradford were arrested and subsequently charged with the following:
Count 1: Making an explosive substance with intent to endanger life and property contrary to Section 3(1)(b) of the Explosive Substance Act 1881. That on the 11th day of July 1981 (the 12) unlawfully and maliciously made an explosive substance, namely 38 petrol bombs, with intent by means thereof to endanger life or cause serious injury to property or to enable other persons to do so.
Count 2: Conspiracy to make explosive substances, contrary to Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977. On the 11th day of July 1981 (the 12) conspired together to make explosive substances, namely petrol bombs, for unlawful purposes.
These charges were returned by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions upon examination of evidence provided by the West Yorkshire police. They carry a penalty of up to life imprisonment, and legal pundits forecasted prison terms of seven to ten years should the defendants be found guilty.
The 12 appeared before the local magistrates on Saturday, August 1st and were refused bail. The defendants spent the next three to four months in prison before they were granted bail on conditions which included large sureties, daily reporting to the local police, an evening curfew and a complete ban on attendance at all political meetings, later relaxed to a ban on those meetings which related directly to their cases. Giovanni Singh, Praveen Patel, Saeed Hussain, Sabir Hussain, Tariq Ali, Ahmed Mansoor, Bahram Noor Khan, Tarlochan Gata Aura, Ishaq Mohammed Kazi, Vasant Patel, Jayesh Amin and Masood Malik appeared at the Leeds Crown Court on April 26 1982. They were all represented by counsel with the exception of Tariq Ali who chose to defend himself. The trial lasted 31 days before Judge Beaumont and a jury of seven whites and five blacks. All the jurors were local Leeds residents.
The main line of defence was self-defence. Gata Aura, Singh, Patel, Hussain, Mansoor, Malik, Sabir Hussain, Khan and Vasant Patel admitted to being involved somewhere along the line. Ali, Amin and Kazi denied any involvement at all. All claimed that he was told by Gata Aura about the existence of the petrol bombs and he advised Gata Aura to destroy them. Amin's counsel cross examined on the basis that his client knew nothing about the operation and was playing cricket at the time. Kazi denied any involvement at all.
Those who accepted that they were involved advanced the line that they were legally and morally right to manufacture the petrol bombs. They had heard that racialists were on their way to attack the Bradford Asian community, and after a meeting at Amin's house, they took the decision to make and use the petrol bombs to create a wall of flame along Lumb Lane which would deter the attackers from violently set-ting upon the Asian community. They had not intended endangering life or property; they merely set out to deter.
The English Common Law upholds the right of self-defence, qualified by the fact that the force used in self-defence must not be in excess of that which is reasonable to repel the attack. The defendants claimed, therefore, that the manufacture and possible use of the petrol bombs was a perfectly legal act and necessary for the defence of the community against a racialist onslaught.
The second line of defence turned on the definition of explosives. The defendants argued, through counsel, that petrol bombs were not explosives, that on impact they did not explode. On June 16, the jurors, after deliberating for a day and a half, re-turned verdicts of not guilty. The breakdown was eleven to one.
The Mass Youth Movement and its Origins
Firstly, who are these young men and what are the forces which shaped them and their actions? The 12 defendants are all young Asians, that is to say the offspring of immigrants who arrived in Britain from India and Pakistan. They are products of the British educational system and are aged between 17 and 25 years. With the exception of Jayesh Amin, a university graduate, and Ishaq Kazi, a bank clerk, they were, at the time of their arrest, either unemployed workers or employed in working-class jobs in the city of Bradford.
Politically they were members of the United Black Youth League, (UBYL), a small organisation which, at the time of their arrest, was three to four months old. By then no statement of policy and position had been stated by the organisation, but an interpretation of their activities in campaigns indicated a radical approach to the issues of racial attacks on the Asian community and deportations of Asian workers.
What is certain is that these young men did not fall from the sky, nor are they odd balls prone to irrational behaviour. They are products of an historical movement which first made itself felt at the heart of British society in the summer of 1976.
Every new historical movement invariably emerges around a single issue and has as its objective the transcending, perhaps, the shattering of the old. In this case the issue has been and continues to be the constant and murderous stream of racial attacks against the Asian community. The old at this juncture was and is being represented by the moderate approach of the traditional Asian organisations backed by the British state. The moment? The murder of 18 year old Gurdip Singh Chaggar by a gang of racialists on the streets of Southall on June 4 1976.
Up to that moment, the Asian community throughout the United Kingdom had been complaining about racial attacks to anyone who would listen. Their experiences in this regard stretched way back to the late 1960s. Right-wing fascist organisations in some cases actually carried out the attacks and where they did not, they were able to stimulate disaffected young whites into what was popularly referred to as Paki-bashing. The Asian community made it clear, through their organisations, that the British police showed a marked reluctance in tracking down and bringing their assailants to justice. They were perfectly right. The official position, repeated in parrot-like fashion by police forces up and down the country, was that the term, 'racial attack', was a figment of the Asian imagination. These acts, claimed officialdom, were merely the expressions of vandals.
The Asian community responded to this phenomenon with an uncharacteristic moderation. Apart from scattered groups of vigilantes in East London they seemed to reply on complaints to the authorities as a way of dealing with this issue. Another factor needs to be considered. During the late sixties and throughout the seventies, the Asian community had developed a remarkable militancy on the shop floor. Theirs is a history of militant strikes in opposition both to the employers and the trade union bureaucracy. These militant activities won, for those activists in the traditional Asian organisations, recognition from the authorities. Some of them were rewarded with jobs inside the trade union bureaucracy, others became local councillors; the mosque and the temple attracted visiting Members of Parliament and other dignitaries. Add to this the vast race relations bureaucracy and the Manpower Services Commission with its equally vast and paralysing sources of state funding, and the corruption of traditional Asian organisations was complete by the time Gurdip Singh Chaggar lay dying on the pavement of a Southall street. The effect of this corruption was and continues to be the stifling of the traditions of militancy in the Asian community.
A whole generation of Asian youth had grown up by then. They, like everyone of the defendants, had been to school here. They were socially confident. They rose en masse to challenge the old ways and methods of dealing with racial attacks and to break through the solid wall of Asian organisations which maintained the status quo.
The first major expression of this new force came in the aftermath of Chaggar's murder. The terrain was Southall. It is a West London suburb in which some 30,000 Asians reside. They hail mainly from the Punjab. They work in local factories in the main and in various jobs at the Heathrow Airport. Theirs is a solid proletarian base. The children are socialised in local schools and pursue lives increasingly dominated by British circumstances. The Indian Workers Association, the Sikh Temple and the local race relations industry dominate. That particular organisational formation exists in every Asian community in Britain.
In the days following Chaggar's murder, the youth took to the streets. They organised patrols and in a sharp outburst attacked white motorists and opposed the police. When two of their number were arrested, they surrounded the local police station and secured the release of their comrades. Meanwhile, the identical process was in motion among Bengalis in the East End of London. Young Asians in other parts of the country stirred in response.
This was a massive social upheaval involving thousands of young Asians throughout Britain who were prepared to throw the caution of their parents to the wind. They distinguished themselves from all that had gone before by employing militant and violent methods to defend themselves against racial attacks. Such was the impact that the rest of British society had to take notice. No longer could the issue be clouded by the smoke screen of official jargon and police semantics. Thousands of whites responded in support. They were mainly political radicals and well-meaning liberals. The mass of the British people were not against; they were merely bewildered, waiting for a positive lead. And the first generation Asians, who got nowhere with their moderate approach, were willing to go along with the youth.
All the defendants in the trial of the Bradford 12 cut their teeth in this mass movement. It is on this general terrain that they were blooded. But there is more to it than just the general. All new historical movements must constantly contest the old if they are to ground themselves and meet the historical tasks required of them. And this movement was no exception. The old is represented by a panoply of formal Asian organisations formed during the early stages of Asian immigration. They were progressive once, but had turned into their opposites. Behind this solid wall stood the British state ready and willing to hold the line against the invading hordes of young Asians.
The British state was cautious at first, leaving matters up to the entrenched Asian formation. The traditional Asian organisations did not manage too well. They barely contained a mass revolt against the demonstration which followed Chaggar's murder. Up to the morning of the march, no one knew whether the youth would demonstrate or not. Here are a couple of comments made by a young protester: "These people [the elders] have done nothing. Some of them have got rich. The party wallahs are asking us to join them when what they should do is join us, otherwise they are finished".
Posit these comments against those expressed by traditional moderates: "These people [the youth] are not political, they have no politics. It is we who have the political experience". Those were the political lines to emerge in the cut and thrust of events surrounding the Southall murder, but they replicated themselves among the Asian community throughout the country. As it is with these contests, the manipulation began. The young Asians set up youth organisations in Southall and elsewhere. The old struck back and their ways were many. Take this as an example: In Blackburn, a northern town, a youth organisation had surfaced. The membership challenged the old on a range of issues. At the end of the day, the major figure in the youth movement was savagely brutalised by thugs organised by the old leadership. In other areas the soft option prevailed. The youth leadership was guided with much encouragement into state funded projects. The new was constantly courted with persuasive offers to sink differences and join up with the old. All manner of pressure was bought to bear.
These manoeuvrings penetrated large sections of the organised youth leadership, but the mass movement remained largely unaffected. When the front line fails it is the turn of the backline to prevail. In this case the backline was the coercive forces of the British state.
During the general election of 1979, the fascist and racist National Front put up candidates in constituencies where there were large black communities. They had no chance of winning but it would give them the right to hold public meetings in black areas. And a public meeting was carded for Southall. Young Asians gathered in their thousands to prevent the meeting taking place. The police mobilised in enormous numbers. They proceeded to attack the protesters with a savagery which no section of the society, except the Irish in Northern Ireland, had experienced in years. One person, an anti racist school teacher, Blair Peach, was bludgeoned to death by police batons. Over 300 people were arrested and the cases were heard by carefully selected magistrates throughout London who returned a disproportionate number of guilty verdicts. Only by the most vulgar, empirical violence could the British state hope to contain the Asian mass movement and its white support under the hegemony of traditional Asian organisations.
There is the time honoured conclusion, born out of centuries of social and political experience, that repression of this order only serves to strengthen the resolve of the mass movement. In a period of five years, the young Asians had transformed the balance of power in this crucial struggle. Thousands of them participated in this movement. One moment of violent excess on the part of the police would not crush it.
All 12 defendants had at one time or another been activists in that general movement. Their membership in the UBYL placed them in a special category though. By being members of that organisation, they were openly repudiating the traditional Asian formations which dominated the Bradford community. They were, therefore, consciously laying down the challenge to the state and its Asian phalanx for the hearts and minds of the Asian community.
Gata Aura and Tariq Ali were involved in the initial breakaway from the old. They, along with others, founded the Bradford Asian Youth Movement in 1977. There they mobilised for anti-fascist demonstrations and campaigned against the deportation of Asian workers. The Bradford AYM had planned the Freedom March which would begin in Bradford and take in all major immigrant conurbations in Britain. they had hoped that this tactic would lay the foundation for Asian and West Indian unity. The march did not win effective support and was cancelled.
In the cut and thrust of attempting to transcend the old, a faction within the Bradford AYM succumbed to the practice of state funding and welfare activities. Gata Aura and Ali walked out and set up the United Black Youth League through which they aimed to draw membership from the West Indian community and to travel along a radical and revolutionary path. Above all, they persisted in their efforts to take the mass youth movement, with the support of older Asian workers, beyond the reactionary confines delineated by the old guard. For the membership of the UBYL, the manufacture of petrol bombs for use in the event of a racial attack was a normal activity. For this generation of young Asians there was nothing at all extraordinary in this approach. Also, Gata Aura had emerged as a national political figure as chairman of the Anwar Ditta campaign. He pursued this activity while being a member of the UBYL. Anwar Ditta, an Asian woman, was prevented by the immigration laws from having her children join her here. The campaign was national in scope and ultimately successful. Constant reports in the press and a documentary on television brought the issue to the nation's attention. The point to be made here is that by organising campaigns of this scope, Gata Aura and his organisation were in fact making clear what the traditional Asian organisations were not doing.
The Campaign to Free the 12
As in Southall in the general election of 1979, the British state drew the line. On this occasion the Director of Public Prosecutions was the cut-ting edge. Once that office received the evidence collated by the police, two options were open to the judicial arm of the British state. The Director could take the normal course of charging the defendants simply with manufacturing petrol bombs. It would have been a low key, straight forward matter. During the summer riots, which were going on at the same time, many were so charged. He chose the ab-normal and consequently highly political course. Out came the political bludgeon disguised in judicial garb aimed at smashing that tendency in the Asian Youth Movement which sought to transcend the moderate approach.
By opting for the conspiracy charges, the DPP lay down a major challenge to the youth movement and its organisational activists. How did they fare? Here was a political opportunity, par excellence, to galvanise the thousands of young Asians into motion. They were there, alive and vibrant. They had shown their mettle over five dramatic years and all the evidence indicated they were on the move. Only weeks previous to the arrests, skinhead fascists were bussed into Southall for a pop concert at a local pub. Four members of the party abused an Asian shopkeeper and attacked Asian shop windows on the main street. The young Asians of Southall organised themselves, marched on the pub and despite police protection burnt the building down. Not only did a campaign to free the 12 have the opportunity to mobilise young Asians, the way was open to take the issue to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Thousands on the Asian continent would have responded. And finally, such a campaign would establish an organisational bridgehead which would have had the effect of eclipsing the traditional Asian organisations once and for all.
A group of activists from the Bradford AYM, in alliance with other forces in the community, formed the July 11th Committee to free the 12. The issue, which at once preoccupied the committee was the political line they would adopt for mobilisation. This, of course, would tun on the defence which those arrested would employ. Courtenay Hay, a former member of the defunct Bradford Black Collective and now Chairman of the Committee, visited Gata Aura in prison. Gata Aura tells us that he informed Hay that the line was self-defence. Hay moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. He returned to the Committee with the line that the defendants were framed. His campaign message was that: "The UBYL, because of its political activities of fighting racism, its resistance to fascism and carrying forward the anti imperialist struggle has been made a victim of political persecution by the state police".
It was obvious that he had elevated the UBYL to a position which did not accord with reality. The organisation was all of four months old, just about cutting its teeth and had made to date little impact locally or nationally. Had political activists been operating in a situation in which the British state would deliberately frame an entire organisation on conspiracy to make petrol bombs, then we were living in dire straits indeed. Nowhere in the country was such evidence available. There was ample evidence in the trial that the Special Branch tailed the UBYL waiting to pounce once a mistake was made, but the frame up line was indigestible to all but the most gullible.
The July 11th Committee went to the public for the first time on August 12 1981 at the Arcadian |
sneakily profound.
6. The Bravo: a Tale by James Fenimore Cooper
In this context a “bravo” is a professional thug, not something that one shouts at a tenor. Although this 1831 novel was largely ignored by Cooper’s fellow Americans, who much preferred his tales of adventure on the frontier, it was a big hit in Europe, where readers were receptive to its depiction of the byzantine workings of the Venetian Republic, and to its warning that ostensible democracies can be just as corrupt and unjust as any other form of government. The Bravo is particularly prescient in its recognition that a bureaucratic intelligence apparatus inevitably requires the services of heavies, operating within the realm of state power but outside the law: the bravi of Venice anticipate successors that include fascist paramilitaries, the Watergate burglars, and the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program.
7. The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Winterson’s 1987 novel drinks deeply of the magical-realist brew of its era — among its main characters, for instance, we find a bisexual web-footed gondolier’s daughter named Villanelle — but its fancies seem earned: not so much derivative of García Márquez as building on a queer fabulist tradition that originates in Woolf’s Orlando. Its engagement with Venice is also considered and complex, evoking gambling (and the city’s long historical association with it) as a means of confronting and navigating life’s ambiguities, and also using the great disappointment of Napoleon’s overthrow of the Republic as a backdrop for its characters’ smaller-scale disappointments.
8. Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
Ghosts are by definition both present and absent, visible and invisible; thus ghost stories are inevitably stories about uneasy ambiguities. The sensory experience of Venice — winding streets, fog and mist, decaying buildings, the white noise of lapping waves — makes it a perfect locale for such stories, and indeed many are set there. Du Maurier’s “long short story” from 1971 — best known as the source material for Nicholas Roeg’s great 1973 film — may be the best of the bunch, even though (or maybe because) it doesn’t have a ghost in it, or not exactly. In addition to being an achievement in sustained creepiness, it also advances the post-Thomas-Mann tradition of depicting Venice as a site of psychic unraveling and ineluctable doom.
9.Watteau in Venice by Philippe Sollers
A founder of the legendary journal Tel Quel, the spouse of poststructuralist theorist Julia Kristeva, and the subject of a critical study by Roland Barthes, Philippe Sollers is practically the living embodiment of “French theory” as it is commonly understood (or not understood, as the case may be). As you’d expect, his 1991 novel is dense, learned, essayistic, and heavily citational; it’s also witty, trashy, and surprisingly fun, not entirely dissimilar to Renata Adler’s Speedboat. The discursive tale of a philandering writer holed up in a Venetian palazzo with his American astrophysicist girlfriend while waiting to assist the sale of a stolen Watteau painting, Sollers’ novel was written at the height of art-market craziness, and uses Venice as an effective vantage point from which to consider art, commerce, and the nature of reality.
10. Suite Venitienne by Sophie Calle
I’m bending the rules a little here, but not by much. In early 1980, conceptual artist Sophie Calle met a man at a party in Paris, learned that he was about to travel to Venice, and decided to follow him, taking surreptitious photographs; Suite Venitienne is the result. The fact that the project apparently happened the way Calle said it did suggests that it’s not fiction; I’d argue that the arbitrary qualities of her decision and of the rules governing her process suggest that it is, in the same fundamental sense that children’s make-believe games are fiction. In any event, the undertaking is perfectly Venetian: an opportunity to dissolve definitions in a winding pursuit through ancient streets.
About the Author
Martin Seay is the author of The Mirror Thief. His writing has appeared in MAKE, Joyland, Gargoyle, the Believer, and the Gettysburg Review; he also maintains the blog New Strategies for Invisibility. Originally from Texas, he lives in Chicago with his spouse, the writer Kathleen Rooney.An Iranian-born Stanford University professor is the first woman to win math's highest honor, the Fields Medal.
The International Mathematics Union awarded the prize to Maryam Mirzakhani and three others at a meeting in Seoul on Wednesday.
The prize and $13,700 is awarded every four years to mathematicians 40 years old or younger. It was established in 1936.
Mirzakhani, 37, won for complex theoretical math on the symmetry of curved surfaces, including spheres and even doughnuts.
"This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians," she said in a statement released by Stanford. "I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years."
Mirzakhani was born and raised in Tehran, Iran, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She got her doctorate at Harvard University.
As a young girl, she wanted to become a writer. But by high school, she developed an affinity for solving mathematical problems.
"It is fun -- it's like solving a puzzle or connecting the dots in a detective case," she said. "I felt that this was something I could do, and I wanted to pursue this path."
The other winners are Artur Avila, a Brazilian-born professor at the Institute of Mathematics of Jussieu in Paris, Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University and Martin Hairer of the University of Warwick in England.Syracuse has a deep rooted Irish heritage and a long history of celebrating it. The Contemporary Irish Film Festival gives Syracuse natives new ways to explore their Irish background. Founder and Director, Micha Crook, says parades and cultural festivals are not the only avenues to embrace their culture.
“We do have a lot of Irish heritage in Syracuse and we’re really proud of that connection. And I think that preserving these moments in time are really important for our history in general. They can tell you a lot about a people and a place during that period of time.”
Crook says film is always relatable, giving it the power to universally bring people together.
“You always can kind of connect with the story-telling process in a film, whether it’s a drama or a comedy or sci-fi or whatever, we can connect to it. And I think it’s nice to show Ireland’s a modern place, as Syracuse is. So the same things they’re searching to understand for themselves through films are the same things that we are as people, so we can still connect that way.”
The documentary Older than Ireland is about 30 Irish centenarians who were born before Ireland became a country. The Queen of Ireland follows an Irish drag queen pushing for equality as an unlikely activist. Crook says the film festival gives directors the opportunity to cover more subjects than just embracing Irish culture.
“70-80% of our films actually have LGBTQ story lines running through them. We have them in documentaries; we have them in comedies; we have them in dramas so I think that’s really important to show that you can use art and use it to bring awareness and conversation about community organizations to bring healthier communities together.”
The Contemporary Irish Film Festival offers three featured length films and a series of short films Thursday through Saturday. For more information go to SyrIrishFilmFest.Com.
CONTEMPORARY FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULEShort Story
After the Civil War ended, my mother and I fled to the United States. New York City was the golden jewel, and we arrived there first. But finding that it reminded her too much of Madrid, we eventually settled in St. Louis.
St. Louis was an odd choice for someone like my mother. She was like an exotic bird in the quiet mid-western town known more as the birth place of Yogi Berra and Chuck Berry than for the grand palaces, old museums and long dead renaissance artists of Madrid. A newly met friend took her to see the Mississippi river. The friend gestured with a grand wave of her arm and said, “Mary, this is the largest river in the United States!” My mother looked out at the muddy, slow moving water and said, “At least it’s wider than the Manzanares.” The friend asked, without irony, if a Manzanares was a type of apple.
Maria had morphed into Mary, but not without some work. Like most Spanish speaking women in the U.S., Maria was employed as a house keeper; I should say maid. First in small hotels near downtown St. Louis, and later in the bigger houses of college professors in University City. In the evenings, she attended classes, learned English, earned a diploma and enrolled in a local community college. She was like a stranger to me then, her face unformed. I went from babysitter to babysitter and only saw her on the weekends. Although I don’t remember it, it was during this time that Chip appeared. There are photographs of us, myself, no older than one or two years old, in the park, at the Loop, in a house. There we are, at a picnic, Chip in his starched Air Force uniform, my mother in a flower dress, and me in a tiny red white and blue singlet. A picture of the perfect American family.
My mother became a teacher. She taught third grade at a primary school in University City and also gave private Spanish language lessons to the same professors and children whose homes she once cleaned, only a few years before. “Just like your father,” She let slip once. What did that mean? Chip, my father, fixed airplane engines in a giant hangar at the air field. I had never heard him utter a single word of Spanish in my life.
My own Spanish was terrible. The Spanish R’s and double L’s were like treacherous mountain roads where you could easily lose control if you went too fast. My mother tried to teach me, but I would grow frustrated when she corrected my pronunciation. Chip laughed at us, “Mary, you can’t teach him, you’ll just end up fighting,“ he said.
“Why don’t you speak Spanish,” I asked Chip.
“Well son, because I ain’t Spanish.”
“Neither am I!” I announced.
He thought for a moment, then said, “You’re at least half Spanish, and you should learn it.”
When I was fourteen, I took lessons from a man from Argentina named Alejandro. “I like him, he reminds me of your father,” my mother said. Alejandro was tall, like Chip, yes, but thin and blond, with a naturally tan complexion. He looked like he could have been a California surfer instead of a language teacher from South America and certainly bared no resemblance, that I could see, to the paunchy man sitting in front of the TV watching football in grease stained overalls. “They look nothing alike,” I said.
“Yes, you are right, what am I thinking, he‘s nothing like Chip,” she said, as we pulled out of Alejandro’s driveway in our small VW bug. She pronounced “Chip” like “Cheap.”
I found an old photograph, in my mother’s study, on her desk, late one evening. What was I doing in her study, I can’t remember. She was at the Community College where she taught a Spanish course to bored evening students looking to gather the necessary requirements for graduation. Why had she left the photograph out on top of her un-graded papers I cannot say. My only guess is that she must have wanted me to find it.
At first, I thought the man in the photograph was me, but I could not remember taking such a picture, I couldn’t have. It was black and white and very old, frayed on the edges and the image yellowing. There was the man standing on the side of a talus covered mountain, a valley with a stone bridge far below, a sliver of a river underneath, the sun directly over head. He wore a helmet and his eyes were obscured in shadow and he had on what appeared to be military fatigues. An old rifle was slung over his left shoulder and strapped on to his back was a giant rucksack with a bed roll secured on top with rope. From the edges of his helmet, strands of light colored hair were visible. He had a smooth, clean, youngish face and a cigarette hung jauntily from his lip. The man was me, mirror image, but slightly older, closer to the full bloom of manhood than I was. But otherwise, everything was there. The tall slender build, the Y shaped divot on the chin. He was smiling, we shared the same dimples on the cheeks-two on the left, one on the right. He was gaunt, he looked hungry, he looked happy.
next chapter: The Red Butterfly, Part Fourteen – Friend of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion
previous chapter: The Red Butterfly, Part Twelve – Chip
ALL CHAPTERS
more by SERGIO REMON ALVAREZDreamHon: Ladies and Gentlemen, it's a wrap! - Week 7 Recap
Is there a nicer way to end a tournament than with one of the most meaningful matches in the entire group stage? Probably not, so the Match of the Week title was pretty much a lock. The three other awards are going to the most dominating team of the group stage.
Match of the Week
DDOS 1:2 Trademark eSports VoDs of this match can be found here
compLexity Gaming
Drafter Carry Allrounder Support Support/Jungle
Bkid Haxxeren Moonmeander Franzii Chessie
Individual Awards
Individual Award recipient
MoonMeander compLexity Gaming 6/3/9 1v2, initiate, gank? I can do it all
Honorary Award
Having fun with it
compLexity Gaming saishii
Sören “Fantasy44” V. [b]Favorite Teams in HoN:[/b] [f]Malaysia[/f]Orange eSports
[f]Thailand[/f] Turtle Master
[f]Indonesia[/f] Insidious eSports [f]United States[/f] stayGreen
[f]Europe[/f] Internet Gangsters
[f]Sweden[/f] Lions eSports
It was a match for all the glory, the playoff spot and a couple more matches and dollars. BreakyCPK would say it was for all the marbles, I would call it a "Loser leaves town" kind of match. DDOS versus Trademark eSports had a couple of awesome storylines surrounding it, with former Lions teammates squaring of and the looming threat of being out of the tournament hanging above the whole match.Like those matches usually go, both teams started of very conservatively with a very slow start to game one evolving. That slow start was actually better for tdM, who had a favourable lane on their hardcarry Magebane, played by noobG, as opposed to Silhuoette, played by Reelo. Despite that better farm, the first big play came out from ZfreeK and DDOS, who got off a great ultimate from Tempest, resulting in a "Double Tap" for Fittske. Still Magebane farmed and farmed and farmed and held the top farm in GPM throughout the match. DDOS was ahead in general ressources, but the farm was spread onto four heroes. The next big engagement was actually an indication of the direction in which this match was heading. noobG and tdM forced a fight in the middle of the map and walked out with the first genocide of the match, featuring a great red powerthrow snipe by Aluna, played by fajN'. That lead to a couple of towers being pushed and a huge lead in farm for the Europeans, who walked away with the victory just one teamfight later.The second match featured a brilliant ZfreeK limiting the farm of Draconis, played by Limmp. Throughout the match ZfreeK was microing the courier to the Ancient spot of the Hellbourne team, blocking every single spawn. ZfreeK didn't even use the normal version of that, meaning he didn't just parked his courier in the jungle to block it, but he flew it over the river every single minute to keep Draconis' farm in check. That resulted in a superior farm for swindlemelonzz and Reelo, who stormed through the entire team of tdM with ease, pushing the match to the highly anticipated Ace match.That Ace match started off slow, but with a huge blunder from Fittske, who actually tried to block his own jungle against the opposing Legioneer, who used their jungle to farm. One second ZfreeK didn't pay attention to his courier micro and Limmp on Legioneer got awarded 300 gold for killing the bird. That gave Legio a solid start, that he couldn't use initially as his two first ganks failed, resulting in two kills for DDOS. So DDOS looked really solid with Draconis and Aluna doing a fairly good job in the farm department, but once again noobG's carrystyle would prove to be to much. His Corrupted Disciple steamrolled, actually steampunk'd, through every major teamfight, picking up "Double Taps" or "Hattricks" in almost every engagement. He quickly jumped over the 500 GPM mark and was just unstoppable in teamfights. After he got his Savage Mace and the Token of Life, DDOS tried one final engagement, after which they decided to concede and let tdM pass into the playoffs.This award is a complete no-brainer. compLexity Gaming has raised the bar in this group stages by getting the perfect score after seven matches. The team has not lost a single map, the team has picked up a prominent team as their partner and the team has conquered the absolute favorite status throughout this tournament. They proved to be a very capable team, capable of defeating everybody - and everybody in a dominant kind of way. Pretty much everyone has them winning this tournament, pretty much everyone considers them the best team in the world, pretty much everyone has them one step above everyone else. That, paired with the professional attitude of playing every game like you mean it, make the team so darn impressive and powerful. They are not only the team of this week, but the team of the entire group stage.MoonMeander is one of the most controversial, yet most popular people in the Heroes of Newerth scene today. Still it was a little bit quite around him after coL got Haxxeren as the shining carry player. This week it was the return of the king, the return of the dominant MoonMeander. He got first blood by doing the math, he turned around on Amun-Ra with a brilliant play, he won his suicide long lane, getting two kills. To quote Tralfamadore, he was playing out of his mind. Even later in the game he managed to contribute immensely to the teams success. He was the player who initiated after his team lost the two Doombringer, so ultimately he brought those Doombringer back to his side. He was just doing it all and doing it perfectly.Shadowblade is a powerful hero, atleast in the eyes of brized, who wanted to show his skills on him for quite some time. In Week 5 they drafted him, but ended up losing that match to GA. So this Week brized played him again and showed what he and the hero are capable of doing. First four kills in the laning phase went to brized, some of them unassisted."Being the nerd that he is", those were the words Mynuts and Tralfamadore found for the incredible play with the courier. With complete patience and awareness ZfreeK (not Fittske) microed the courier to the Ancient spots every single minute, not letting it slide even once. This guaranteed his team to keep Draconis' farm in check and ultimately lead to a good gold lead in the game.One thing I don't really like is to forfeit a meaningless match, just go out and play it, have some fun with it. That is exactly what the two North American teams saishii and compLexity did this week. After one "serious" match, both teams went into a little bit of a fun mode, picking up heroes like Hellbringer, Bombardier, Amun-Ra or Empath. Getting into "unique" strategies like double Doombringer on Haxxeren's Silhuoette, supported by Chessie on Tempest going Doombringer first. This is how it should be, entertain your fans, entertain yourself and just have some fun.A 20-year-old Austin, Texas man is accused of murdering his 18-year-old boyfriend.
Police say Bryan Canchola bludgeoned Stephen Sylvester to death during a fight at their apartment in the West Campus student neighborhood early Friday. Sylvester is in the foreground in the photo above (with Canchola in the background) from his Instagram account.
The couple had returned from the gay bars on Fourth Street around 3:30 a.m. when they went into their room and began fighting, a roommate told police.
KXAN-TV reports that the roommate heard Canchola try to hurt Sylvester’s dog. Canchola then punched Sylvester in the head and knocked him to the ground, before throwing a heavy drinking glass at him, shattering it.
The roommate took Sylvester to the hospital, but after checking in, Sylvester left unexpectedly. The roommate was unable to find him, and apparently he returned to the apartment. Canchola later called 911 to report that Sylvester was unconscious and bleeding from the back of the head.
Canchola is charged with murder and is being held on $500,000 bond.hanaq pacha, ukhu pacha and tiksi qaylla pacha (kay pacha) in his Nueva coronica i buen gobierno (1615), p. 912. The first human beings, the Wari Wiraqucha Runa (Uari Uira Cocha Runa), were said to pray to the Creator: "Fundamental, nearby god, where are you? In the upper world? In the lower world? In the fundamental, nearby world? Creator of man, molding him out of earth, maker of this world and anything." Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala mentionsandin his(1615), p. 912. The first human beings, the, were said to pray to the Creator: "Fundamental, nearby god, where are you? In the upper world? In the lower world? In the fundamental, nearby world? Creator of man, molding him out of earth, maker of this world and anything."
The pacha ( Quechua pronunciation: [pætʃæ], often translated as world) was an Incan concept for dividing the different spheres of the cosmos in Incan mythology. There were three different levels of pacha: the hana pacha, hanan pacha or hanaq pacha (Quechua, meaning "world above"), ukhu pacha ("world below"), and kay pacha ("this world").[1]The realms are not solely spatial, but were simultaneously spatial and temporal.[2] Although the universe was considered a unified system within Incan cosmology, the division between the worlds was part of the dualism prominent in Incan beliefs, known as Yanantin. This dualism found that everything which existed had both features of any feature (both hot and cold, positive and negative, dark and light, etc.).[3]
Meaning of pacha [ edit ]
Pacha is often translated as "world" in Quechua, but the concept also includes a temporal context of meaning.[2] Catherine J. Allen writes that "The Quechua word pacha may refer to the whole cosmos or to a specific moment in time, with interpretation depending on the context."[4] Allen thus chooses to translate the term as "world-moment."[4] Pachas overlap and interact in Incan cosmology presenting both a material order and a moral order.[4] Dr. Atuq Eusebio Manga Qespi, native Quechua speaker, has stated that pacha should be translated into Spanish as tiempo-espacio (spacetime).[5]
Hanan pacha [ edit ]
The upper realm that included the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, and constellations (of particular importance being the milky way) was called hanan pacha (in Quechua) or alaxpacha (in Aymara).[6][7] The hanan pacha was inhabited by both Inti, the masculine sun god, and Mama Killa, the feminine and moon goddess.[2] In addition, the Illapa, the god of thunder and lightning, also existed in the hanan pacha realm.[2] After Catholic missionary activity the hanan pacha was interpreted as akin to Heaven.[8]
Kay pacha [ edit ]
Kay pacha (in Quechua) or aka pacha (in Aymara)[6] is the perceptible world where people, animals, and plants all inhabit. Kay pacha is often impacted by the struggle between hanan pacha and ukhu pacha.[2]
Ukhu pacha [ edit ]
Ukhu pacha (alternatively urin pacha (in Quechua)), manqhapacha or manqhipacha (in Aymara)[6] is the inner world. Ukhu pacha is associated with the dead as well as with new life.[7] As the realm of new life, the realm is associated with harvesting and Pachamama, the fertility goddess.[9] As the realm associated with the dead, ukhu pacha is inhabited by the supay, a group of demons which torments the living.[9]
Human disruptions of the ukhu pacha were considered a sacred matter and ceremonies and rituals were often associated with disturbances of the surface. In Incan custom, during the time of tilling for potato crops the disturbance of the soil was met with a host of sacred rituals.[10] Similarly, rituals often brought food, drink (often alcoholic) and other comforts to cave openings for the spirits of ancestors.[9]
When the Spanish conquered the area, rituals about ukhu pacha became crucial in missionary activity and mining operations. Brown contends that the dualistic nature and rituals surrounding openings to ukhu pacha may have made it easier to initially get indigenous laborers to work in the mines.[11] However, at the same time, because mining was considered a perturbation of "subterranean life and the spirits that ruled it; they yielded to sacredness that did not belong to the familiar universe, a deeper and riskier sacredness."[11] In order to insure that the perturbation did not cause evil in the miners or the world, indigenous populations made traditional offering to the supay. However, Catholic missionaries preached that the supay were purely evil and equated them with the devil and hell and thus prohibited offerings.[11] Ritual surrounding ukhu pacha thus retained importance even after Spanish conquest.
Connections between pachas [ edit ]
Although the different worlds are distinct, there is a variety of connections between them. Caves and springs serve as connections between ukhu pacha and kay pacha. Rainbows and lightning serve as connections between hanan pacha and kay pacha.[7] In addition, human spirits after death could inhabit any of the levels. Some would remain in kay pacha until they had finished business, while others might move to the other levels.[8]
The most significant connection between the different levels was at Pachakutiq or a cataclysm. These were the instances when the different levels would all impact one another transforming the entire order of the world. These could come as a result of earthquakes or of other cataclysmic events.[2] After the successful defense of his homeland, in his coronation as the ninth Sapa Inca, Cusi Yupanqui took it as his new name because he believed in himself as a world changing event.
See also [ edit ]Peyton Manning was one of the most-searched articles on the English-language Wikipedia during and after the Super Bowl. Photo by the US Air National Guard, public domain.
On Sunday evening, the most valuable player of the Super Bowl—the US’ biggest sports event—was announced: Von Miller.
Who?
The Denver Broncos linebacker was not a household name, unlike the two quarterbacks in the game, Peyton Manning and Cam Newton. So out came viewer’s mobile phones, and up came his Wikipedia article.
In the minute after Miller was announced as MVP, his article received 41,000 clicks, or 683 a second. The position Wikipedia played in the Super Bowl was clear: second screen.
Anticipation for the game, which is the NFL’s final contest each year, was high. Before, during, and after the game, the Wikipedia article on Super Bowl 50 received tens of thousands of hits, with some hours reaching 50,000. Over one million hits were registered in the 48 hours around the game,[1] adding even more pageviews to what was already the eighth-most popular article at the end of January; the article on the Super Bowl as an institution added over 500,000 more.
We obtained this data with the help of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Analytics team, and mined it to match up viewcount spikes with events during the game.
Players
Players’ viewcounts were erratic and tended to match the flow of the game. You can click on these images for larger views; the times correspond with UTC, where 22:00 is 2pm PST and 5pm EST. Graph by Joe Sutherland, public domain.
Of the players we examined, the largest jump in pageviews for a player’s Wikipedia article came in the minute after Von Miller was named as the game’s MVP: 40,849 hits were recorded between 7:40 and 7:41 PST (11:40–41pm EST).
Overall, Miller’s game as viewed through the lenses of Wikipedia views was fascinating. Before the game, Miller rarely crested above 50 views per minute. He had one spike twelve minutes before the game, although we don’t know why—readers, please let us know if you have a solution. They soon settled back into a two-digit pattern …
… until he strip-sacked Newton in the game’s first quarter, knocking the ball out of his hands and into the arms of a waiting teammate for a Broncos score—that’s the spike you’ll see in the graph above between 0:00 and 00:15 UTC. At the time, the Panthers offense had gained a grand total of -6 yards.
Interest in Miller remained high after that, spiking several times—such as when he split a sack with teammate DeMarcus Ware at the end of the third quarter. Sustained interest took hold after Miller’s second strip-sack of Newton near the end of the game, jumped as noted when he won the MVP, and had a small bump long after the game when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert live via satellite.
Miller finished the night with five solo tackles, two forced fumbles, and two and a half of his team’s seven quarterback sacks, playing a key role in putting pressure on Cam Newton on 21 out of 48 pass plays.
Denver’s quarterback Peyton Manning came close to matching Miller’s high-water mark at and after the end of the game (7:16–29pm PST), including one minute with 38,238 hits. He did, however, blow Miller out of the water in total views during the 7pm PST hour—Manning’s article was viewed 226,099 times, driven by those 13 minutes of five-digit attention.
We also looked at the matchup between the two starring quarterbacks, where Manning clearly beat out Carolina’s Cam Newton for views—Newton won the head-to-head matchup in only two hours and only by a total of 15,000 views. Manning cleaned up during the rest of it, besting Newton by 19,000 views in one hour and a whopping 169,000 in the next, which corresponded with the end of the game.
Newton had several early game view spikes, including after his first-quarter fumble and after he was sacked just before halftime.
All that said, the longer view is more nuanced.[1] Newton beat Manning in the pre-game 24 hours by about 46,000 views, but in the endgame/post-game thrill of victory, Manning won the succeeding 24 hours by over 904,000 views.
Halftime
Thousands looked up the half-time performers as they took the stage in Santa Clara. Graph by Joe Sutherland, public domain.
The halftime performers received a good deal of attention at, unsurprisingly, halftime. Traditionally, featured artists have received quite a bump in sales from the tens to hundreds of millions of people tuning in.
Coldplay and Bruno Mars spiked at 38,149 and 32,029, respectively, in single minutes when they were singing, but no one this year approached a record number of views for a Super Bowl halftime show. Data from 2013 shows that halftime performers Madonna and the Who received nearly a million and 570,000 views (respectively) in the hours they performed—and it is almost certain that these numbers are understated, as at that time mobile phone views were not counted.
Up against these numbers, Coldplay managed only 417,516 for the day, much less in a single hour, where they received a maximum of 126,898 hits. Bruno Mars topped out at 94,347 in an hour.
That said, we have reason to question Beyoncé‘s figures: the much-anticipated appearance of the pop icon, who many news outlets thought ‘stole the show,’ did not result in anything close to a similar view count. Beyoncé’s article spiked at just 13,282 views and hit five digits in only one other minute. We don’t have a good answer for this discrepancy, as the difference is not made up by Wikipedia redirects or her choice of song; were people too entranced by the performance to look up her Wikipedia article, or did they simply already know who she was? Like Miller above, we’d love to hear readers’ theories.
In miscellanea, Lady Gaga’s sterling (albeit controversial, at least in the prop betting world) rendition of the US national anthem led to a ten-minute increase in interest in her from 3:29–39pm PST, including one minute of 22,663 hits. Michael Jackson, whose image appeared during halftime as part of a callback to past performances, had a small but notable seven-minute increase in traffic of his own.
Teams
Both teams’ pages also attracted thousands of hits over the course of the night. Graph by Joe Sutherland, public domain.
Denver and Carolina also battled it out on their own Wikipedia pages. With an average of 1,283 views per minute over both the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers Wikipedia articles, people were clearly interested in the clubs’ histories as the game went on. Carolina had the higher average, at 661 views per minute to Denver’s 621.
With halftime came a big drop in visits for both teams’ pages, presumably as viewers focused on the eclectic show. The largest spike came for Denver as Miller’s MVP award was announced; 24,580 visitors arrived at the Broncos’ article in the two minutes that followed.
We’ve put all of the minute-by-minute Wikipedia pageview data in a Google spreadsheet; play around with it and let us know what you find.
Our thanks go to the Wikimedia Foundation’s Dan Andreescu, who compiled and tabulated this data for us despite having very little advance notice. This post would not exist without his assistance.
Ed Erhart, Editorial Associate
Joe Sutherland, Communications Intern
Wikimedia Foundation
[1] Wikipedia’s day ends at 12am UTC, or 4pm PST/7pm EST. This time change came sometime in the first quarter, so the per-game day-by-day views are split between February 7 and 8. We get into more detailed data later in the post.
This post was edited after publication to correct the source of our data.Prerequisites: NOTE: This post is directed at software development specialists, not users of GreaterThanZero. Prerequisites are familiarity with C++ and at least one other object-oriented programming language.
Summary: It is my impression that a “culture of complexity” has taken root in parts of the C++ community. In this blog post, I examine the history of C++ in an attempt to understand this phenomenon.
I am a longtime user of C++, and I have been an author and speaker in the C++ community for many years. Yet, the number-crunching backend of GreaterThanZero is written in Java and not in C++. Does that mean I have joined the ranks of those who have turned their backs on C++? No it does not, and I can prove it: search for “C++ auto and decltype”, and you’ll find that the top result is an article that I wrote only a few weeks ago. The decision to implement the math backend of GreaterThanZero in Java was driven by other considerations, primarily the appeal of Google App Engine as a hosting platform. [1]
While I was writing the JavaScript and Java code for GreaterThanZero, I often found myself thinking, “Wow, this is really easy. Anybody could do this.” And then, I am ashamed to admit, I was disappointed. I was disappointed that there was no opportunity for me to prove that I was smarter than the next guy. I actually had to comfort myself with the thought that the mathematics that I was implementing was non-trivial.
Trying to impress people with the complexity of your code rather than with your software is a sign of immaturity and bad engineering. And I’ve been doing it. Needless to say, this is something that I need to work on. I am not going to blame my own weaknesses and character flaws on others. However, I think it is fair to say that the bad habit of wanting to impress others with the complexity of one’s code can develop and flourish only in a “culture of complexity,” a culture in which complex and hard-to-understand code is at least tolerated, if not admired and encouraged. While I don’t know how widespread it really is, I know from my own experience that such a culture of complexity has afflicted part of the C++ community.
I believe that if you want to fix a problem, you have to first understand its origins. Therefore, I will attempt to throw some light on the penchant for complexity that one encounters in parts of the C++ community by going back to the roots of C++ and object oriented programming.
There is a widespread consensus that the first object-oriented language was Simula 67. Earlier developments that contributed to the emergence of the OO paradigm took place in the Lisp-dominated environment at MIT |
the range of temperatures of the period under review.
It was found that the perithecia had commenced to break up and this indicated a further period of approximately three weeks after their development. These fungi could not start to grow if the shoes were being used and would not develop unless covered and in a humid atmosphere.
The rug in-situ
The general condition of the boy’s clothing was indicative of death having taken place on the day of the kidnapping. His necktie was as his mother had tied it when he left home for school. His coat was fully buttoned and the two handkerchiefs in his trouser pockets were unused and still folded as when laundered by his mother.
The fly larvae were identified as Calliphora Stygia, the Large Brown Blowfly and it was estimated the stage of development reached would require a minimum period of two weeks and that the eggs had probably been laid at least one week before.
Graeme's stomach was empty and, in view of the amount and nature of the food consumed at breakfast, this would require a minimum period of two to three hours.
Searching for Clues
The rug in which the body had been wrapped was identified as of pattern No. 0639, 3,000 of which were manufactured at the Onkaparinga Mills in South Australia, between May 1955 and January 1956. This particular rug showed evidence of considerable wear and a number of tassels were missing from the ends.
Numerous hairs were found on both sides of the rug and these fell into two main groups:
Animal hairs of reddish colour and lighter at the roots, varying in length from one to four inches. They were soft and wavy, having microscopically the characteristics of dog hairs. Certain features of the hairs indicated that they were from a Pekingese or similar type of dog. Human head hairs of three classes: Light to medium brown hairs with the appearance of having been dyed a reddish or auburn colour; the maximum length was nine inches.
Unstained brown head hairs with a maximum length of eight inches.
Light-coloured hairs. These were either blonde or grey hairs that had been subjected to treatmentwith a yellow or henna rinse.
Similar animal hairs were found adhering to the back of Graeme's pants and coat. A blonde-coloured human hair was found on the back of his coat and two similar human hairs were recovered from the scarf tied around his neck.
Crucial Evidence
Pieces of vegetable foliage were present inside the rug, some beneath the body but the majority on top near the opening of the rug. Of these pieces only one type was found not to be present or growing on the allotment where the body was recovered. This was a small stalk with leaves attached belonging to a common type of garden shrub, Chamaecyparis pisifera var. squarrosa.
Further small pieces of vegetable foliage were adhering to the back of the dead boy’s coat, the seat of his pants and to the scarf tied around his neck. The matter on the scarf was from the shrub Charnaecyparis pisifera var. Squarrosa and small fragments of a second garden shrub, Cupressus Glabra, in addition to fragments of the shrub Chamaecyparis pisifera, which were found on the back of the coat and the seat of the pants.
A close examination was made of the allotment on which the body was recovered, but neither of these two shrubs were growing there, nor could any fragments of the shrubs be found. This examination was necessary because one of the shrub types was found growing in the yard of the dwelling next door to the allotment and the other type was present in a yard three blocks away; but neither allotment carried specimens’ of both shrubs.
Scrapings of soil were taken from the back of the deceased’s coat, the seat of his trousers, the uppers and soles of his shoes and some was found caught in the knotted section of the scarf around his neck. Each of these samples showed minute fragments of a pink-coloured substance identified by chemical tests as fragments of limestock mortar.
The distribution of pink-coloured mortar on the clothing and scarf indicated that the boy had been lying on his back near and probably under a brick building when the scarf was tied around his neck.
Because of the pink colour of the mortar and the presence of fragments of garden shrubs, it was inferred that this building was probably a house.
It seemed at this stage that closely associated with the perpetrator of this crime were:
a building, probably a dwelling or high foundation about which was soil bearing a quantity of pink limestock mortar; soil of an analysis known to the investigating police, but different from that of the spot where the body was found; two shrubs, Charnaecypris pisfera var. squarrosa and Cupressus Glabra in proximity; a rug of a known make, pattern and period of manufacture, of which some 3,000 were made; a women with blonde hair, or grey hair which had been colour rinsed; a Pekinese dog; a 1955 Ford Customline sedan car, probably iridescent blue in colour; and a male with a foreign accent.
These factors were kept constantly in mind during a meticulous police house-tohouse canvass of the Seaforth area radiating from the locality where the body had been found.
As this canvass continued, it was found that although the two shrubs sought were reasonably common in the area individually, the combination of the two growing at one home was not.
Bradley Residences and Cars
The exception was a house in Clontarf, approximately three kilometres from the spot where the boy’s body had been located. Detectives visited the house on the 3rd October in their general search of the north-eastern suburbs of Sydney. It was constructed of bricks bound with pink mortar, built on a high foundation and with a garage under the front of the house. Access to the foundation could be gained from an opening in the rear wall of the garage. The search beneath the house showed that the soil was impregnated with fragments of pink mortar and immediately in front of the garage on either side of the door was a specimen of the two plants that were being sought.
The Clontarf home
Suspect’s Background
Inquiries revealed that at the time of the abduction the house had been occupied by a Hungarian named Stephen Leslie Bradley, his wife Magda, and three children. Bradley was born Istvan Baranyay in Budapest in 1926 and arrived in Australia in 1950. In 1952 he married Eva Maria Lazlo in Melbourne and lived with her until she was killed in a motor vehicle accident in 1955. There was one child of that union. In 1958 Bradley married Magda Wittman, a divorcee who had two children from her previous marriage.
So, with three children to look after Bradley had to work hard and had a number of different jobs. At one stage he was a residential proprietor and on another occasion a guest-house proprietor. He claimed that he was an engineer and a doctor of medicine in Italy. His last occupation in Australia was that of an electroplater.
Bradley’s house in Clontarf had been sold prior to the police arriving on the scene. Their main suspect had actually made arrangements for furniture removalists to be at the dwelling at 11am on the very day that Graeme disappeared. These men were tracked down and they informed police that they took away Bradley’s furniture and effects to a store in Botany.
One of the removalists said that they did not (at any time) enter the garage beneath the home because the doors had been locked tight. It was also ascertained that Bradley’s wife had left the dwelling with two of the children, in a taxi at 10am on the 7th July and had been driven to the city shipping terminal.
At this stage, it was found that a 1955 Ford Customline sedan, bearing the registration number AYO-382, had recently been sold by Bradley. The vehicle, which was iridescent blue in colour, was registered in his name at the time of the murder. It was traced to a carsales yard at Granville, a suburb some 30 kilometres from the city. On 4th October,
1960 a police examination of this vehicle revealed a hairbrush in the boot bearing a number of dog hairs which were indistinguishable from the hairs discovered on the rug and the boy’s coat and pants.
Similar hairs were found on the floor of the car, together with human hairs indistinguishable from the blonde and darker hairs found on the rug. Bradley was found to have owned a second car when living at Clontarf, a Goggomobile, registered number BZD-432. The search for this vehicle led to its recovery at the Leichhardt premises of a finance company; a scientific examination of this vehicle also resulted in the discovery of human and animal hairs with similar characteristics.
Further human and animal hairs were recovered from a Manly flat Bradley had occupied after moving from Clontarf and from a vacuum cleaner and carpet sweeper, which he sold to second-hand dealers before leaving Australia on 26th September, 1960. Hairs from all these sources showed the same corresponding characteristics.
Pieces of twine from the yard of the Clontarf house, from Bradley’s flat and from two items of furniture he had sold to second-hand dealers showed no significant differences from the twine tied around the boy’s ankles. This comparison included a consideration of the yarn structure, the weight-per-unit-length of the yarn, the type and lengths of the fibres making up the twine and the distribution of the different lengths of fibres.
The dog
A Pekinese dog was recovered from a Sydney veterinary hospital where it had been left by Bradley and this dog’s hair was found to be indistinguishable from hairs found on the rug and the victim’s clothing.
Identification of Rug
A pale-blue tassel, found between foundations under the Clontarf house, corresponded with tassels on the rug that the boy had been wrapped in. It matched in every respect but one: i.e. the number of yarns used in the making-up was different, but as the number varied from tassel to tassel on the rug this was regarded as insignificant and due to variations found normally to occur in the manufacturing process.
One significant point in this examination emerged during the comparison of the dye of the tassel found under the house and of one from the rug. Tests showed that only one dye had been used in both cases instead of the more common mixture of dyes required to obtain a particular shade.
Three different techniques were used to show the close similarity that existed; spotting with four different chemical reagents, spectrograph analysis and paper chromatograph analysis.
The fact that Bradley had owned a rug identical in appearance with the one found around the body was supported by the recovery of parts of a roll of 35mm negatives in the garden of his Manly flat. The roll had been torn up and discarded; but the pieces, apparently thrown from a window over-looking the garden, had lodged behind some shrubs where they were later found by a neighbour.
The rug in happier times
The negatives were mainly of photographs taken of Bradley, his wife and their children several years before and in a number of these a rug was clearly shown. One photograph showed the rug fully opened out so that the complete pattern could be seen.
A comparison of the rug in the photographs with the rug involved showed that the general patterns were identical and no differences existed in the ratios of the widths of the stripes. As the negatives were not in colour, a direct colour comparison could not be made, but no dissimilarities were detected in the manner in which the colours of the rug pattern were reproduced when photographed with the same type of film and under apparently similar conditions to those in which the negatives recovered at Manly were taken.
Further confirmation of Bradley’s possession of such a rug was obtained from a Melbourne resident, who was able to prove that he gave a rug of a similar type and colour to Mrs Bradley during 1955.
Bradley’s Identification
A number of photographs, including one of Bradley, was shown to the boy’s parents and also the neighbouring tenant at Bondi who had spoken to the sham private inquiry agent on or about the 14th June. All three quickly identified Bradley as the person who had called at their flat on that date. The same photographs were shown to the people who had seen the Customline in Wellington Street, Bondi, on the morning of the kidnapping and they soon picked Bradley as being the driver of that vehicle.
A search for Bradley revealed that he had left Sydney for the United Kingdom with his wife and their children on SS Himalaya on 26th September, 1960 and were en route to Colombo. As a result of a warrant issued at Sydney on 8th October, 1960 Bradley was taken from Himalaya on its arrival at Colombo two days later and was held in custody until extradited to Sydney on 18th November.
During the flight to Sydney, Bradley lost his composure completely and told the escorting police that he had in fact committed the crime. Back in Sydney, he was persuaded to write out a confession for them. In his admissions he claimed that the boy’s death had been accidental and resulted from him being placed in the boot of the Ford, which he had locked in the garage at his Clontarf home until the furniture removalists had left. He further stated that when he opened the car boot later in the afternoon, he found the boy to be dead. This tale was not accepted by the detectives and it certainly did not correspond with the boy’s injuries.
Stephen Leslie Bradley
To prove Bradley was lying, police closely examined the car boot and it was found to have approximately a 30 cubic feet capacity. In its closed position there was an air change in the boot of.55 times per hour. Tests were carried out in respect to the variation of the composition of the air content of the boot by an expert who breathed the air through a tube and facemask for a period of seven hours. Hourly readings were taken to determine the percentages of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air remaining in the boot.
The readings showed that there was an increase of carbon dioxide from 1.45% at the end of one hour to 2.6% after six hours and a decrease of oxygen concentration from 19.2% to 16.5% over the same period. Readings taken beyond six hours showed that a state of equilibrium had then been reached. It was shown that the drop in purity of the air content during the first six hours and the percentages of carbon dioxide and oxygen existing when equilibrium was reached would not cause suffocation even if the person confined in the boot carried on some activity during the period of confinement.
The expert explained that when considering the question of activity, he had made calculations at different degrees of exertion equivalent to a boy of Graeme’s size walking up flights of steps, six inches high, at the rate of 50 steps a minute for the six hours. With this degree of activity, the amount of oxygen remaining in the air in the boot would still be sufficient to prevent suffocation. Subsequent to Bradley’s return to the CIB he was placed in an identification parade comprising 16 persons of European nationality and similar in appearance and age to himself. The parade was viewed by the Thorne’s and Mrs Lord and all indicated Bradley as being the person who called at the flats on the 14th June pretending to be a private inquiry agent.
Stephen Bradley
Bradley was also identified (by witnesses) as the driver of the Customline sedan which was parked at the intersection of Francis and Wellington Streets, Bondi at 8.20am on the morning of the kidnapping.
Trial
At his trial at the Central Criminal Court, Sydney on 20th to 29th March, 1961 Bradley pleaded not guilty when arraigned on a charge of murder. He stated that the confession he had made to police on his arrival back in Sydney was dictated to him and he wrote it out because of his fear that some harm would come to his wife and family. He was found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude for life, the maximum penalty provided in NSW for murder.
The Court of Criminal Appeal unanimously dismissed Bradley’s appeal on 22nd May, 1961 and during the delivery of the Court’s judgment, Mr Justice Herron made the following comment in respect to Bradley’s allegations regarding his confession:
“I have been a judge now for over 20- years in this court and have listened constantly, all my judicial life, to attacks upon confessional statements made by persons accused of a crime and I doubt very much if I have ever met with a case in which the confession that was made here (in Bradley’s own handwriting) is more convincing of its truth. In the first place, before the confession was used by the police in any court, Bradley’s solicitor was called in to consult with the appellant at the headquarters of the CIB. This gentleman, a solicitor of probity and honour in the profession, consulted a barrister about the matter and it was only after legal consultation that the written confession by Bradley was put forward by the police in evidence. What more could be done by policemen?”
The crowd at court
Denouement
To clarify certain areas, I’ll use Bradley’s hand-written statement (spelling errors included):
I red in the newspaper that Mr. Thorne won the first prise in The Operahouse Lottery. So I desided that I would kidnap his son. I knew ther adress from the newspaper, and I have got their phone number from the telephone exchange. I went to the house to see them. I have asked for someone but cannot remember what name. Mrs. Thorne said she did not know that name and she told me to enquire in the flat upstairs.
I went upstairs and I seen the woman there. I have done this because I though that the Thornes will check up. I went out and watched the Thorne boy leaving the house and seen him for about three mornings and I have seen where he went. And one morning I have followed him to the school at Bellevue Hill. One or two mornings I have seen a womman pick him up, and take him to the school. On the day we moved from Clontarf I went out to Edward Street. I parked the car in a street I don’t know the name of the street it is off Wellington Street. I have got out from the car, and I waited on the cornor, untill the boy walked down to the car.
I have told the boy that I am to take him to the shool. He sed why, where is the lady. I sed she is sick and can not come today. Then the boy got in the car, and I drove him around for a while, and over the harbour bridge. I went to a public phone box near the spit bridge and I rang the Thornes. I talked to Mrs. Thorne and then to a man who sed he was the boys father. I have asked for £25,000 from the boys mother and father. I told them that if I don’t get the moneys I feed him to the sharks, and I have told them I ring later.
I took the boy in the car home to Clontarf and I put the car in my garage. I told the boy to get out of the car to come and see a another boy. When he got out of the car I have put a scarf over his mowth, and put him in the boot of the car, and slamed the boot. I went into my house and the Furniture Removalist came, a few minutes after. When it was nearly dark, I went to the car and found the boy was dead.
That night I tied the boy up with string and put him in my rug. I put the boy in the boot of the ford car again, and them I throw his case and toys out near Bantry Bay, and I put the boy on a vacant lotmount near the house I went to see with a Estate Agent, to buy it some time before.
Signed : S. L. Bradley
Witness: J. H. Bateman - Detective
Sergeant 2nd Class,
C.I. Branch, 19-11-1960, 10am
Conclusion
The successful result of the scientific examinations of minute traces of matter in this case, is a practical illustration of the need for the most careful handling and meticulous preservation of exhibits in the first instance, and in their subsequent examination when searching for and collecting matter which may prove of evidentiary value. The major part of these initial examinations were made by police officers attached to the Scientific Investigation Bureau, but further identifications were made by scientists employed by organisations outside the NSW Police Department.
Magda Bradley returning to Australia
Footnote
Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1961, Bradley died in gaol from a heart attack in 1968. By all accounts Bradley was detested by his fellow prisoners.
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About Shattuck Partners:
Shattuck Partners, Inc. raises funds in support of patient programs at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, a Commonwealth of Massachusetts public health hospital in Jamaica Plain. The hospital cares for a largely underserved population of our most vulnerable medically and mentally ill neighbors, caring for them in their search for recovery, healing, and hope.
About the Course
Franklin Park is often described as "the jewel" of the Emerald Necklace, and at 527 acres it is the largest of Frederick Law Olmstead's network of six parks stretching from Dorchester to Back Bay. The course begins and ends in the "picnic table area" of Franklin Park, directly across from the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, loops around Scarborough Pond, then around the William Devine Golf Course. For a more detailed course map, go to http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/1584243481/
Online registration closed; day-of-race registration allowed.
Day-of registration begins 8 am Saturday June 10th, Franklin Park Shattuck Picnic Area.Boehner told Republicans they could lose leverage as the deadline nears. | JAY WESTCOTT/POLITICO Boehner rallies GOP on debt limit
Speaker John Boehner told a closed gathering of House Republicans on Tuesday morning that he was “pissed” over being unable to reach a “ grand bargain” with President Barack Obama to make sweeping entitlement changes in return for an overhaul of the U.S. tax code.
But Boehner also accused Obama of failing to lead on the impending crisis over boosting the $14.3 trillion debt limit, according to people inside the GOP meeting.
Story Continued Below
But while Boehner was trying to rally his Republican troops Tuesday morning, he did warn them that they will quickly lose leverage in the debate as the country grows closer to the Aug. 2 debt default deadline and Wall Street and business leaders pressure them to cut a deal.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who opposed Boehner’s efforts to cut a “grand slam” deal with Obama, was just as blunt as the speaker. Cantor told rank-and-file Republicans that unless Democrats drop their insistence on tax increases as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, there may be no compromise possible with Obama and Democratic congressional leaders.
“If the Democrats continue to insist on tax increases, there is no viable path forward,” Cantor warned, according to sources.
The overwhelming sentiment from House Republicans, according to those present in the room, was that even $2 trillion in cuts over 10 years — roughly what is being discussed at the White House meetings — isn’t sufficient. Republicans want even more cuts, and they want them immediately. Moderate Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida, a 22-year veteran of the House, stood up and said $2.5 trillion wasn’t enough for a deal.
Florida Rep. Allen West emerged from the meeting to say that he didn’t want “fairy dust spending cuts” that are projected over the next decade.
Boehner said in a press conference after the meeting that the debt ceiling increase is “his problem” — referring to Obama. Boehner escalated his rhetoric against the president, saying that Obama “talks a good game, but when it comes time to actually putting these issues on the table, making decisions, he can’t quite pull the trigger.”
“Finding an agreement certainly has been elusive,” Boehner added.Crown Prince Nayef, the long-serving interior minister who led Saudi Arabia's crackdown against al-Qaeda's branch in the country and then rose to become next in line to the throne, has died. He was in his late 70s.
Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who became heir to the throne last year at the age of 78, was head of the country's interior ministry since 1975.
Nayef had traveled abroad for medical treatment and had "died outside the kingdom", Al-Ekhbariyah Television said, quoting a statement from the royal court.
Conservative policies to live on? At first glance the death of Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Saudi crown prince, seems to open a void at the top of the royal family. He is the second crown prince to die in less than a year, his predecessor, Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, died in October of an unspecified illness. Perhaps more importantly, the interior ministry is now leaderless for the first time in decades. Nayef was appointed interior minister in 1975, and held the post until his death, which was announced on Saturday. Analysts, though, say the talk of a leadership void is inflated. Nayef's death might make some royals nervous about the order of succession, with his likely successor, the 76-year-old Prince Salman, already having suffered at least one stroke. But many of his policies have key backers elsewhere in the royal family, not least of which is his son, an assistant interior minister. Read more »
He was shown on television greeting supporters in Geneva, Switzerland, three days ago.
Saturday's statement from King Abdullah said the prince would be buried after sunset prayers on Sunday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
The nature of his illness has not been made public.
Less than two weeks ago, his brother Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz was quoted as saying in a Saudi daily that the crown prince was in "good health" and that he would "soon" return to the kingdom.
Nayef was appointed crown prince after the death of his elder brother and predecessor in the role, Crown Prince Sultan.
Succession debate
Nayef's death unexpectedly reopens the question of succession in this crucial US ally and oil powerhouse for the second time in less than a year.
The 88-year-old Abdullah has now outlived two designated successors, despite ailments of his own. Now, a new crown prince must be chosen from among his brothers and half-brothers, all the sons of Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdul-Aziz.
The figure believed most likely to be tapped as the new heir is Prince Salman, the current defense minister who previously served for decades in the powerful post of governor of Riyadh, the capital.
The crown prince will be chosen by the Allegiance Council, an assembly of Abdul-Aziz's sons and some of his grandchildren.
Khaled al-Maeena, editor in chief of the Saudi Gazette told Al Jazeera that there was no cause for alarm.
"The secession in the Saudi household has always been very orderly, very organised", he said, adding that an announcement was expected after the first three days of mourning.
Salman, 76, seen as likely to continue Abdullah's cautious reforms, has long been viewed as the next most senior prince in the kingdom's succession.
Nayef, Abdullah and Salman are among the nearly 40 sons of Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdulaziz ibn Saud, who established the kingdom in 1935.
Salman was made defence minister in November and had served as Riyadh governor for five decades.hurricane Irma +
Indian-American organisations carrying out relief and rescue work +
More than 400 homes in Orlando are ready to provide shelter to those evacuating. Sriram +1703-829-6064 can be contacted. — India in Atlanta (@CGI_Atlanta) 1505054130000
Florida +
WASHINGTON: Indian-Americans in Atlanta and neighbouring areas have opened up their homes for friends, families and community members from Florida, as catastrophicmade landfall on the state's southern islands. Hurricane Irma has claimed three lives in Florida till now.Sewa International, one of the, provided shelter to more than 300 families in the homes of its volunteers and members in and around Atlanta.With other Indian-American community organisations and religious groups, a collective count took the figure to a minimum of 2,000 families.At least four temples in Atlanta region have opened up their doors for people fleeing from, residents of a large parts of which have been asked by the State government to evacuate.While the Indian Consulate in Atlanta was coordinating with various community groups and was in constant touch with community leaders and Indian passport holders, the Indian American community organisations in Atlanta launched an unprecedented relief effort for those in distress due to hurricane Irma.People line up for breakfast at a shelter in Sarasota, Florida. (AP photo)The hurricane made a landfall in lower Florida Keys just before 9 am (local time) with wind gusting 130 miles per hour.Several of the community organisations from Florida have moved their bases to Atlanta as a precautionary measure.Popular Amma Kitchen announced to serve free food to those coming from Florida like several other Hindu temples.Most of the Indian-Americans are being accommodated in individual homes. Indian-Americans who own hotels have opened up their unreserved rooms and in many cases their banquet halls have been converted into makeshift dormitories for those who left their homes in Florida to escape from the wrath of the hurricane.As per 2010 census, Florida has an Indian-American population of 120,000. The number is now believed to have increased to 160,000 with the largest of their concentration in Miami-Fort Laura Deale area followed by Tampa and Orlando area.Rain and wind sweep over empty roads as Hurricane Irma arrived into southwest Florida. (AFP photo)Tampa is another major city that comes in the path way of Irma."This is going to impact our whole State. You know, you're going to get the wind and the rain on the east coast, but right now, it's impacting the Keys. It's going to impact my home town of Naples, Florida, all of the west coast," Florida Governor Rick Scott told Fox News."What's scary is the unbelievable storm surge potentially in my own town, 15 feet of storm surge above ground level. And we are talking about that and something with the keys. People have asked what can we do, the first thing I tell them is pray, pray for everybody in Florida. They can donate to disaster, text disaster at 2022," Scott said.US President Donald Trump, who is personally reviewing the preparations and rescue and relief operations, spoke today morning."My concern right now is people - hopefully everyone has evacuated. I looked at our traffic cameras around the state this morning. People are off the roads. I just hope everybody has evacuated and gotten to safety. So, I hope everybody will pray for us," he said.Local news reports said at least one crane collapsed in Miami, as a result of the high wind speed of Irma, which was estimated to be at least 100mph.It's a worst-case scenario for Florida on the west coast," said FEMA Administrator Brock Long.Thousands of homes in Florida were reported to have power outage.For the Swedish cartoon slacker character, see Robin (TV series)
"Robin (comics)" redirects here. For the British children's magazine, see Robin (magazine)
"The Boy Wonder" redirects here. For other uses, see Boy Wonder (disambiguation)
Robin is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson, to serve as a junior counterpart to the superhero Batman. The character's first incarnation, Dick Grayson, debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940). Conceived as a way to attract young readership, Robin garnered overwhelmingly positive critical reception, doubling the sales of the Batman titles.[1] The early adventures of Robin included Star Spangled Comics #65–130 (1947–1952), which was the character's first solo feature. Robin made regular appearances in Batman related comic books and other DC Comics publications from 1940 through the early 1980s until the character set aside the Robin identity and became the independent superhero Nightwing. The team of Batman and Robin has commonly been referred to as the Caped Crusaders or Dynamic Duo.
The character's second incarnation Jason Todd first appeared in Batman #357 (1983). This Robin made regular appearances in Batman related comic books until 1988, when the character was murdered by the Joker in the storyline "A Death in the Family" (1989). Jason would later find himself alive after a reality changing incident, eventually becoming the Red Hood. The premiere Robin limited series was published in 1991 which featured the character's third incarnation Tim Drake training to earn the role of Batman's vigilante partner. Following two successful sequels, the monthly Robin ongoing series began in 1993 and ended in early 2009, which also helped his transition from sidekick to a superhero in his own right. In 2004 storylines, established DC Comics character Stephanie Brown became the fourth Robin for a short duration before the role reverted to Tim Drake. Damian Wayne succeeds Drake as Robin in the 2009 story arc "Battle for the Cowl".
Following the 2011 continuity reboot "the New 52", Tim Drake was revised as having assumed the title Red Robin, and Jason Todd, operating as the Red Hood, was slowly repairing his relationship with Batman. Dick Grayson resumed his role as Nightwing and Stephanie Brown was introduced anew under her previous moniker Spoiler in the pages of Batman Eternal (2014). The 2016 DC Rebirth continuity relaunch starts off with Damian Wayne as Robin, Tim Drake as Red Robin, Jason Todd as Red Hood, and Dick Grayson as Nightwing. Robins have also been featured throughout stories set in parallel worlds, owing to DC Comics' longstanding "Multiverse" concept. For example, in the original Earth-Two, Dick Grayson never adopted the name Nightwing, and continues operating as Robin into adulthood. In the New 52's "Earth-2" continuity, Robin is Helena Wayne, daughter of Batman and Catwoman, who was stranded on the Earth of the main continuity and takes the name Huntress.[2]
Fictional character biography
About a year after Batman's debut, Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger introduced Robin the Boy Wonder in Detective Comics #38 (1940). The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by The Adventures of Robin Hood. Robinson noted he "came up with Robin Hood because The Adventures of Robin Hood were boyhood favorites of mine. I had been given a Robin Hood book illustrated by N. C. Wyeth... and that's what I quickly sketched out when I suggested the name Robin Hood, which they seemed to like, and then showed them the costume. And if you look at it, it's Wyeth's costume, from my memory, because I didn't have the book to look at."[3] (Some later accounts of Robin's origin have stated that the name comes from the American robin bird, not from Robin Hood,[4] Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin being a notable exception. Sometimes both sources are credited, as in Len Wein's The Untold Legend of the Batman.) Although Robin is best known as Batman's sidekick, the Robins have also been members of the superhero group the Teen Titans—with the original Robin, Dick Grayson, as a founding member and the group's leader and with Tim Drake as the team leader as of 2012.
In Batman stories, the character of Robin was intended to be Batman's Watson: Bill Finger, writer for many early Batman adventures, wrote:
"Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of Douglas Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea."
The following fictional characters have assumed the Robin role at various times in the main DC Comics Universe continuity:
Dick Grayson
Batman #682 (January 2009). Art by Lee Garbett. Dick Grayson as Robin in#682 (January 2009). Art by Lee Garbett.
In the comics, Dick Grayson was an 8-year-old acrobat and the youngest of a family act called the "Flying Graysons". A gangster named Boss Zucco, loosely based on actor Edward G. Robinson's Little Caesar character, had been extorting money from the circus and killed Grayson's parents, John and Mary, by sabotaging their trapeze equipment as a warning against defiance. Batman investigated the crime and, as his alter ego billionaire Bruce Wayne, had Dick put under his custody as a legal ward. Together they investigated Zucco and collected the evidence needed to bring him to justice. From his debut appearance in 1940 through 1969, Robin was known as the Boy Wonder. Batman creates a costume for Dick, consisting of a red tunic, yellow cape, green gloves, green boots, green spandex briefs, and a utility belt. As he grew older, graduated from high school, and enrolled in Hudson University, Robin continued his career as the Teen Wonder, from 1970 into the early 1980s.
The character was rediscovered by a new generation of fans during the 1980s because of the success of The New Teen Titans, in which he left Batman's shadow entirely to assume the identity of Nightwing. He aids Batman throughout the later storyline regarding the several conflicts with Jason Todd until he makes his final return as the "Red Hood". Grayson temporarily took over as Batman (while Wayne was traveling through time), using the aid of Damian Wayne, making his newish appearance as "Robin", to defeat and imprison Todd.[5][6] With Bruce Wayne's return, Grayson went back to being Nightwing.
Jason Todd
Batman #428 (December 1988) from the storyline A Death in the Family. Art by Mike Mignola. Cover of#428 (December 1988) from the storyline. Art by Mike Mignola.
DC was initially hesitant[citation needed] to turn Grayson into Nightwing and to replace him with a new Robin. To minimize the change, they made the new Robin, Jason Peter Todd, who first appeared in Batman #357 (1983), similar to a young Grayson. Like Dick Grayson, Jason Todd was the son of circus acrobats murdered by a criminal (this time the Batman adversary Killer Croc), and then adopted by Bruce Wayne. In this incarnation, he was originally red-haired and unfailingly cheerful, and wore his circus |
positive. The Curtain Up review notes: "...unless Bat Boy The Musical gathers a cult audience, I fear it will not linger. The newspaper critics do sometimes get it wrong,...but they have been less kind to Bat Boy than the West Virginians portrayed in the musical." The subsequent sell-out 2006 Edinburgh Festival production of the revised score used in the West End received very positive reviews, with many suggesting the show suited this more'scaled-down' style.[7][8]Update: If the players leave now it won’t be because of Jimbo Fisher; he’s gone.
The week-long saga of Jimbo Fisher leaving the Florida State Seminoles program for Texas A&M has resulted in many rumors. Some are true, while some are not.
I was chasing down a rumor about a potential player boycott should Jimbo Fisher be allowed to coach the game against Louisiana Monroe, but did not find anything to substantiate it.
What I did find, however, was multiple players who stated firmly that they can no longer trust Jimbo Fisher, and that if he comes back, they intend to transfer. They spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“If he’s back, I’m out.”
This is a changed sentiment from earlier in the year, when I reported that they would plan to transfer if their position coach was retained for the 2018 season. Much of the staff should have probably been dismissed following the 2016 campaign, and the message has gone stale.
Now the sentiment has changed, and these players do not want to play for the head coach. He failed to satisfactorily address his future status in an awkward team meeting Thursday.
It is not yet settled whether Fisher will coach the game.It’s always such a lovely rosy feeling, having your time wasted, isn’t it? That’s what it’s looking like Bethesda’s Pete Hines and Arkane’s Raphael Colantonio may well have done to us in the last couple of weeks, when we were told what now appears to be rubbish about Prey 2’s development. When Nathan asked Hines directly whether Arkane had taken over development from Human Head, he replied with a definite, “No.” Seems he could have said “Yes.” They’re so easily muddled. And the emails go on to suggest that Colantonio considers the gaming sites that report on his games to be “press sneak fucks” when they stumble on the truth.
Kotaku have received emails that seem to show that Arkane has been working on Prey 2 this year, and that Human Head’s version is off the table. Which doesn’t quite tie in with what Hines told us a couple of weeks back:
“No,” he told RPS when asked if Prey 2 has moved from Human Head to Arkane’s human hands. “All of that stuff, I have no idea where it came from. The Human Head Prey 2 thing is the Human Head Prey 2 thing. Arkane is over here, and they’re doing their thing, and that’s for them to work on. We’ll be ready to talk about what they’re working on when it gets closer to release.”
If these emails are accurate, at best you can put this down to wriggly words. Technically Arkane are rebooting from scratch, not using any Human Head code, so arguably it’s not “moved”. But yeah. It’s pretty obvious what implication was being aimed for.
But then comes Raphael Colantonio, who when Nathan asked,
“So you guys and Prey 2? Definitely not happening? I already asked Pete Hines, but just to be absolutely sure.”
replied,
“No. We’ve been looking at where that rumor came from, and I really don’t know.”
That’s a pretty definitive “No” there. As it happens, someone working at Arkane appears to have written these words in an email in May:
“Austin has officially been green lit for its own project! This is super exciting of course. Doing a new IP was not a possibility because it’s adding risk to the challenge of growth, so after going back and forth with Todd, Harvey, Ricardo, we decided that Prey 2 presented an interesting opportunity if we could reboot it. Zenimax accepted our pitch which was ‘the spiritual successor to System Shock 3’ [sic].”
And who was that someone? Why, it’s Raphael Colantonio. Perhaps he recently suffered a serious bump on the head? I think I can help point him toward where that rumour came from.
Oh, and the emails suggest that Colantonio holds the gaming press in extremely high esteem. After Kotaku originally discovered the rumours that Arkane were working on Prey 2 in May, they show he issued the following email to his team:
“Now that the news is out,
We’ll be contacted left and right by press sneak fucks who will want to know more.
Please don’t answer any of their requests.
Thanks”
As Kotaku reports, these emails make it pretty damned clear that Arkane’s Austin studio has been working on Prey 2 this year. Their French studio is developing Dishonored 2, with Smith in toe, but Arkane Austin has Prey 2. And we’ve had our time and yours wasted. Sorry about that.
And it’s such a shame, too. Because Arkane are damned talented, and a spiritual successor to System Shock made by them could be something spectacular. So why cloud it in this guff and go out of your way to mislead gamers? Dishonored indeed. All Bethesda are willing to say in response to our emails about it is:
“We aren’t talking about what projects are (or are not) in development, and we don’t have any update in status on Prey 2.”
If anyone from Human Head wants to get in touch with us press sneak fucks to let us know what happened on their side, they’re very welcome to.Looking for news you can trust?
Subscribe to our free newsletters.
Capping off a year of high-profile battles over transgender rights, a landmark study out today reveals widespread patterns of harassment and assault faced by many of the estimated 1.4 million American adults who don’t identify with their birth sex.
The 2015 US Transgender Survey is the largest-ever examination of the daily lives of trans people in the United States. Researchers from the National Center for Transgender Equality asked more than 27,000 participants from all 50 states last year what it was like to navigate family life, schools, job interviews, doctor’s offices, and yes, bathrooms. That’s up from about 6,500 participants in the organization’s last survey in 2011.
Based on the survey’s findings, here’s a taste of what it’s like to be trans in America:
What it’s like to come out to parents and siblings
Of those who opened up to their family about their gender identity, 1 in 12 were kicked out of the house, and 1 in 10 ran away from home.
Those with supportive families were less likely to experience homelessness or attempt suicide.
Attend school
Twenty-four percent said they were physically attacked while they were in elementary or high school, and 13 percent were sexually assaulted because of their gender identity.
Seventeen percent dropped out because of mistreatment.
What it’s like to hold a job
Nearly 1 in 3 people said they were fired, denied a promotion, or mistreated at work over the past year because of their gender identity.
About the same proportion, 29 percent, were living in poverty—that’s twice the rate for the general US population.
Find housing
About 1 in 3 had experienced homelessness at some point in their life. Roughly 1 in 8 were homeless within the past year.
Of those who went to a shelter, 7 in 10 said they were mistreated—some got harassed, faced sexual assault, or were kicked out for being trans.
Seek health care
One-third of respondents who saw a health care provider over the past year had a negative experience—from being refused treatment to facing physical assault during their doctor’s visit.
More than half of those who sought insurance coverage for transition-related surgery over the past year were denied, while a quarter of those seeking coverage for hormone therapy were denied. Both treatments are considered life-saving for many trans people.
Or show an ID to get into an event
More than two-thirds of people said none of their IDs listed their preferred name or gender (in some places it’s hard to change identification documents). Nearly a third of those respondents who showed one of these old IDs were verbally harassed, denied benefits or a service, asked to leave, or assaulted.
What it’s like to be stopped by a cop or Call 911
More than half said they were mistreated by police, including verbally harassed, referred to as the wrong gender, assaulted, or forced to have sex with an officer to avoid arrest. Many respondents said police assumed they were sex workers.
More than half said they’d be uncomfortable asking the cops for assistance if they needed to.
Of those who were held in jail, prison, or juvie, about a quarter had been physically assaulted by staff or other inmates over the past year. Trans people were over nine times more likely to be sexually assaulted by other inmates than the general US prison and jail population.
Or need to pee when you’re out running errands
About 1 in 10 were denied access to a bathroom in the year prior to the survey—and that was before North Carolina passed its anti-transgender bathroom law. More than half of respondents had avoided bathrooms because they were worried about possible harassment or violence.
About 1 in 3 tried not to eat or drink very much so they wouldn’t need to use the bathroom. Eight percent reported having a urinary tract infection, a kidney infection, or another kidney-related problem over the past year from holding it.
Why it can be daunting to get through a normal day
Nearly half have been sexually assaulted during their lifetime. About 1 in 10 had been physically attacked over the past year.
More than half had gone through an abusive romantic relationship.
Forty percent had attempted suicide at some point—about nine times the rate in the general US population.
Especially for trans people of color
Nineteen percent of black trans women are living with HIV, compared with 1.4 percent of trans people overall and 0.3 percent of the US population.
Trans people of color face higher rates of violence—check out some of Mother Jones‘ previous coverage.
Trans people of color are much more likely than white trans people to be jobless; the unemployment rate for Middle Eastern trans people is as high as 35 percent. (For reference, the US unemployment rate is 5 percent.)
There were a few bright spots in the survey, including growing acceptance of trans people among family members, colleagues, and classmates. And many trans people are ready to fight for change at the polls. Of those who are eligible to vote, 54 percent cast a ballot in the 2014 midterm election, compared with 42 percent of the US population.
But they’ll likely face an uphill battle with the Trump administration. Some of the president-elect’s cabinet picks have campaigned in the past against LGBT rights, including Ben Carson, the nominee for secretary of housing and urban development. In July, Carson said a transgender person was similar to someone who wakes up one day after watching a movie about Afghanistan and suddenly decides she’s Afghan; the retired neurosurgeon added that he was “disturbed” that “secular progressives” were trying to make trans issues a “civil rights issue.” Trump’s pick for health secretary, Tom Price, described the Obama administration’s guidelines to protect trans people in schools and health care settings as an “absurd” overreach of federal power.
It’s not quite clear where the president-elect himself stands on all this. In May, he vowed to do away with the Obama administration guidelines—before adding that the government had a responsibility to “protect all people” and that he looked forward to learning more about the push for trans rights. In October, he said it was “ridiculous” for the Pentagon to allow trans men and women to serve openly in the military. “Despite policy improvements over the last several years,” the National Council for Transgender Equality wrote in its report about the survey, “it is clear that there is still much work ahead to ensure that transgender people can live without fear of discrimination and violence.”A chance discovery by a group of repairmen in Boston has led to the unearthing of a centuries-old time capsule, believed to have been buried there in the 1790s by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams.
The antique time capsule, which had been placed in a cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House, was discovered this week when workers who had been repairing a water leak at the building stumbled upon it, CNN reports.
Museum of Fine Arts conservator Pamela Hatchfield was promptly called in for her expertise, and on Thursday, after about seven hours of painstaking, backbreaking work, she -- with the help of several workers -- successfully extricated the almost cigar box-sized container from its burial place.
"I feel happy and relieved and excited,” Hatchfield told the Associated Press after the time capsule’s successful removal, “and really interested to see what's in this box.”
Massachusetts officials work to remove the time capsule from the cornerstone on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014.
The time capsule is believed to have first been buried at the State House in 1795 by revolutionary war hero Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, who was the governor of Massachusetts at the time. It’s thought to be one of the oldest time capsules in the United States.
According to the Boston Globe, the antique container was unearthed once before, in 1855, when emergency repairs to the foundation reportedly led to its temporary removal. However, it hasn’t seen the light of day since.
Hatchfield holds the the time capsule on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014.
As for what treasures the capsule may contain, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin told CNN the box is known to house “a Paul Revere plate, papers, and coins from the 1600s," among other artifacts. The condition of the container's contents, however, remains unknown.
Galvin said that the capsule will be X-rayed and examined by experts, and its contents will likely be revealed to the public next week.After a neck-and-neck race for a week, Everett made history by electing Cassie Franklin as its first female mayor.
"I’m truly humbled and honored to be the Mayor-elect for our city, and to be our first elected woman Mayor for a wonderful city," Franklin said in a statement. "I will work very hard to serve this community well.”
Wednesday's returns showed Franklin (44.7 percent with 7,803 votes) led challenger Judy Tuohy (43.5%, 7,605 votes) by 198 votes. In the early days following the election, Tuohy held a super slim lead, leading by only seven votes.
Tuohy called Franklin Wednesday evening to congratulate her on the victory.
Everett City Councilmember Franklin is also the CEO of Cocoon House, a non-profit that works with homeless youth.
Council President Tuohy has served on Everett City Council since 2014 and runs the Schack Art Center.
“The campaign we ran the last few days, and honestly throughout the whole campaign, has been working to get a broader demographic out to the polls. Folks who traditionally have not felt represented in our community. If they turned in their ballots I think we'll do well,” said Franklin.
“We really did think it would be close. After the primary things went back and forth. Both teams did everything they could do in the campaign. This is not a surprise,” Tuohy said.
The city’s longest-serving mayor, Ray Stephanson, announced he would not seek re-election after 14 years in office.
Homelessness and the drug epidemic took the forefront in the mayoral race, with both candidates saying they would be top priorities.
Business owner Gary Watts, who set up a live-stream of a homeless camp across the street from his business, ran as a write-in candidate. He had 11.8 percent of the vote.
Copyright 2017 KINGCLEVELAND, Ohio – Michael Giorgio, the CFO of Suarez Corporation Industries and right-hand man to the company's owner, Ben Suarez, pleaded guilty this morning to seven federal campaign financing charges.
The 26-page plea agreement presents a detailed description of an illegal scheme to funnel more than $200,000 in campaign contributions to U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci and Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel in 2011 and 2012.
In the plea document, Giorgio accuses Suarez of concocting a criminal plan to enlist Suarez company employees and their wives, plus several Suarez family members, to act as "straw donors" by writing $5,000 campaign contribution checks. The checks were written with the expectation that they would be reimbursed by Suarez's direct-marketing firm, Suarez Corporation Industries, Giorgio said.
"Giorgio had no doubt that Suarez also understood such contributions... were prohibited and that Suarez thus intended to circumvent the law," the plea agreement reads.
"Suarez told Giorgio that he was authorizing Suarez Corp. Industries to reimburse the contributors in full for the amount of money they contributed, and Giorgio understood that the contributors were not expected to repay Suarez Corp. Industries," according to the plea agreement.
Giorgio told prosecutors he enlisted the company's controller to disguise the reimbursements as legal profit-sharing compensation, and to issue separate reimbursement checks for the amount of the contributions.
Only after newspaper reports of the questionable contributions became public did Suarez order Giorgio to recharacterize the compensation checks as "advances on profit-sharing," Giorgio said.
Giorgio said Suarez told him the company lawyers were unaware of the campaign contribution schemes.
The surprise guilty pleas came two weeks prior to the day Suarez, 72, and Giorgio, 62, were scheduled to stand trial in U.S. District Court. The plea bargain reached with prosecutors requires Giorgio to testify against Suarez if the North Canton entrepreneur decides to present his case for innocence to a federal jury.
Suarez's direct-marketing firm, Suarez Corporation Industries, also is charged in the case.
The plea bargain calls for Giorgio, of Cuyahoga Falls, to receive about 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 years in prison, and to pay up to a $250,000 fine, depending on his level of cooperation with prosecutors.
U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Ann Gaughan scheduled Giorgio's sentencing for Sept. 23. He will remain free on bond until then. Defense lawyer Ralph Cascarilla asked the judge to delay the sentencing until after he has the opportunity to testify against Suarez.
Suarez, Giorgio and the company previously pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws, of making campaign contributions in the names of another, of making illegal corporate contributions, of making false statements, of conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
A company lawyer expressed dismay at the Giorgio's pleas Monday.
"The entire SCI family is saddened to learn that Michael Giorgio, as part of his guilty pleas, has acknowledged a pattern of his own dishonesty and criminal conduct," said attorney Ian Friedman.
"SCI prides itself on conducting business with integrity at all times. Mr. Giorgio's conduct has greatly disappointed all of the SCI employees and their families," Friedman said.
In pretrial documents, prosecutors said they expected Suarez and Giorgio to accuse the U.S. Attorney's office of waging a politically-motivated case against them.
Renacci of Wadsworth received $100,000 from Suarez and about 21 of his employees and their spouses. Mandel received $105,000 from Suarez and others at his company. Both are Republicans, and later returned the questionable campaign cash. Neither was charged with any crimes.
The judge previously ruled that prosecutors were permitted to present evidence at trial that Suarez asked several candidates to write to public officials on behalf of the company's business interests.
Mandel and Renacci agreed to write letters of support for Suarez about the same time they received the illegal campaign donations.
In response to the pleas, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern called on Mandel to "answer the questions of what he knew and when."
"Josh Mandel personally pushed Ben Suarez to raise $100,000 for his failed Senate campaign," Redfern said in a prepared statement. "Then, Mandel took over $100,000 in questionable donations and refused to answer questions about the legality of those donations. At Suarez's request, Mandel used the power of his office to attempt to threaten another state into dropping lawsuits against Mr. Suarez."
Suarez Corporation Industries is one of Stark County's largest employers. The company markets hundreds of diverse products such as Cubic Zirconia and other jewelry, collectible coins, and home products such as the Perfect Storm sweeper, the Joe Namath Grill, EdenPure space heaters, and Endless Youth and Life wellness products that promote a healthy and youthful lifestyle.In this June 7, 2017 photo, "Danger knows full well that Caesar is more dangerous than he," reads a sign promoting The Public Theater's production of Julius Caesar in New York's Central Park. Police say they arrested a woman during the Friday, June 16, performance, and charged her with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct for getting up on stage and disrupting the play. (AP Photo/Verena Dobnik)
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” with a Trump-like character who is assassinated had a boisterous new scene this weekend: an activist who stormed the stage, yelling, “Do you want Trump to be assassinated?”
Police said Laura Loomer was arrested Friday evening during the play presented in Central Park by the city’s Public Theater. She was arrested, charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct and released. She must appear in court at a later date to respond to the charges.
“I’m out of jail, but I’m not apologetic,” the 24-year-old conservative activist wrote on Twitter. “Thanks to everyone who is supporting me & condemning political violence.”
As she rushed to the stage, Loomer reportedly shouted, “Stop leftist violence!”
In the play, actor Gregg Henry resembles Donald Trump, with fluffy blondish hair, wearing a suit and a tie hanging below his belt. Sticking to Shakespeare’s script, he is stabbed multiple times by a group of senators including his close friend Brutus.
Several audience members tried to shush Loomer by booing. And the performance came to a brief stop.
She was not alone. Her supporters were in the audience, and one stood up and yelled, “The blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands!” — referring to the Republican congressman who was shot and critically injured earlier this week by a lone gunman on a baseball field in Virginia; four others were injured before the shooter was killed by police.
In New York, a video of the Shakespeare play incident was released almost immediately after Friday’s disruption, apparently by the protesters who posted it online for all to see.
The Public Theater reacted on Twitter, saying that while they are “champions” of the First Amendment, Friday’s interruption of the performance was “driven by social media.”
The young woman belongs to an online, right-wing group called The Rebel Media.
Delta and Bank of America have pulled their sponsorships of the Public Theater, citing the “Julius Caesar” production.
Sunday is the last performance of the play, which is part of the free Shakespeare in the Park series in the Delacorte Theater.
The production opened on May 23 in previews — a week before comedian Kathy Griffin’s staging of a bloody, decapitated Trump-like head and after Snoop Dogg’s video of him shooting a Trump-lookalike clown. But the production did not get much attention until more recently when the media highlighted the Trump-linked details.What happened Sunday night in Las Vegas was a horrible, senseless tragedy. Hundreds are hurt, at least 58 dead as of this writing, and a nation trying to figure out just what is going on.
Here’s a video of the concert as the attack begins:
Note the sound. Sure sounds like a fully-automatic weapon which is one of the most tightly controlled weapon categories in the country. A background check, permission from law enforcement, and national registration are just some of the hurdles one would have to go through to buy a weapon like this legally.
That doesn’t even touch on the massive expense of buying a legal full-auto firearm following the 1986 machine gun ban. Weapons like that run tens of thousands of dollars, which means that alone keeps them out of most folks’ hands.
But that won’t stop the anti-gun left.
Nope. Blame for the tragedy rest squarely on the shoulders of the National Rifle Association.
The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots. Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get. — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2017
Oh, sweet and fluffy Lord.
It’s a suppressor, not a silencer. For the kinds of weapons we’re looking at being used, a suppressor is less than useless. Further, if the shooter got a legal full-auto weapon, which is doubtful, it wouldn’t have been a problem for him to get a suppressor.
If he got the weapons illegally, then there was nothing stopping him from getting a suppressor illegally.
Nothing was done after Sandy Hook, Orlando and now Las Vegas. Stop kidding yourselves @NRA civilians owning machine guns is a VERY BAD IDEA. — Ollie Cookson (@OCookson) October 2, 2017
Donald, and and your NRA gun nuts share responsibility for the Las Vegas massacre. Why do civilians need military assault weapons? — yaakovdoe (@YaakovDoe) October 2, 2017
@NRA I hold you partly responsible for what happened in Las Vegas. It's time to enact real gun control laws. — Aaron Nissalke (@nissalke6) October 2, 2017
Life comes at you fast. NRA spokespuppet goes from chiding the mayor of Edmonton after a terror attack to waiting for the facts in Las Vegas pic.twitter.com/ZWUrZpdrcX — Justin Ling (@Justin_Ling) October 2, 2017
Survivors like me don't want your prayer. We want you OFF the @NRA payroll, @POTUS. We want Wayne LaPierre OUT of the @WhiteHouse! #LasVegas pic.twitter.com/y1YfKg9S8A — Rachael Joseph (@titusthemutt) October 2, 2017
The #NRA is at least indirectly responsible for #LasVegas. How else can an average Joe collect 8 guns and over 50 bullets? — Carlos Solís (@csolisr) October 2, 2017
Of course, most of us call “50 bullets” a box or two of ammo, but whatever.
The @NRA was one of the largest donors to @realDonaldTrump's campaign. They expect to get what they paid for. This admin will not do anything to prevent further violence. #LasVegas — Sophie Ellman-Golan (@EgSophie) October 2, 2017
Really, it keeps going on and on like that.
In fact, that’s only a very brief snapshot of the anti-NRA hatred being spewed. This from the same people who routinely call for calm reflection following a terrorist attack motivated by radical Islam. “Don’t blame all of Islam,” they say…but think nothing of blaming the NRA for something there’s no indication they had anything to do with.
Let me make this very clear to the leftists out there: This maniac used one of the most tightly controlled and regulated firearms in the country, one that requires every hoop imaginable to get your hands on legally, and killed dozens and wounded hundreds. Do you really think there’s anything that would have stopped this from happening? Anything at all?
Especially since there are so many questions we don’t have answers to. His brother claims he had no political affiliations, but that seems unlikely in this day and age. However, we still don’t know for sure. Maybe he was an odd duck these days and didn’t care. Who knows.
To be sure, there’s plenty of speculation going on. I’m not immune to it, though I won’t divulge my speculation publicly just now. However, speculation is just something people do to pass the time until we have actual facts, which are severely lacking at the moment.
What matters right now is to do whatever we can to help those who have been hurt by this tragedy, either by losing someone they care about, physically wounded in the assault, or legitimately traumatized by what they’ve been through. There are victims here, and they need our love and support far more than our wild theories about what has taken place in Las Vegas.
My heart and prayers go out to all the victims and their families, as do my wife’s and children’s. I know I’m not alone in this, and while this is something that should unify us in solidarity if only for a few moments, it’s a shame that it won’t.turbo.roo the two-legged chihuahua gets 3D-printed wheelchair
turbo.roo the two-legged chihuahua gets 3D-printed wheelchair
image © turbo.roo
turbo.roo was born with only his two hind legs, and upon his breeder’s realization that the dog would require more attention then he could handle, surrendered him. the chihuahua was subsequently adopted by a technician at the downtown veterinarian in indianapolis, USA, ashely looper, who set-up a small fundraising campaign for the 6-month old puppy to finance a set of bespoke wheels to assist his mobility.
front view of the 3D-printed wheelchair supporting turbo.roo’s upper body
image © turbo.roo
news of the story and initiative caught the attention of mark deadrick, president of san diego-based 3dyn who decided to do his part and designed a small cart with wheels to support turbo.roo.
a 3D-printed support is outfitted with skateboard wheels to support the miniature pup
image © turbo.roo
the custom wheel-chair was printed using a makerbot 3D printer and outfitted with skateboard wheels for easy roaming.
turbo.roo enjoying his freedom
image courtesy of the downtown vet
this heartwarming story can’t help but spark memories of buttercup, the baby duck who received a 3D-printed prosthetic leg to balance the backward left foot she was born with.
image © turbo.roo
via 3dersKyle Davis has had about enough of the interviews that come with the recruiting process, but the five-star wide receiver from the Atlanta area took a couple of minutes to tell GoVols247 how much he enjoyed his Saturday visit to Tennessee for Orange Carpet Day.
“I enjoyed it all. Everything. Every little thing about it,” Davis said after his visit. “I mean, every time I go up to a school, they roll out … well, in this case, they roll out an orange carpet. But it was great, man.
“When I walked in, it blew me away.”
The Vols invited a select group of their top targets to Knoxville for Orange Carpet Day, and Davis said that smaller group was something he “really, really” enjoyed.
“It was great to get, you know, acquainted with some of the coaches instead of having everybody else here,” he said. “It was good to have some one-on-one time. I don’t like to have everybody there at the same time, ‘cause if I’m planning on going to a school, I want to get to know the coaches better.”
“They were all really cool guys.”
Davis, the nation’s No. 46 overall prospect in the 2016 industry-generated 247Sports Composite and the nation’s No. 13 overall prospect (and No. 1 wide receiver) according to 247Sports, said the one-on-one time with Tennessee’s staff helped the Vols’ cause in his recently-reopened recruitment.
“Oh, they’re great. They stand out a lot,” Davis said. “They’re very energetic, and I like that. It fits my personality, as well.”
A full day to hang out with several Tennessee players and several of the Vols’ top commitments —Â including highly touted quarterback Jarrett Guarantano from New Jersey —Â was also big for Davis.
“Just the environment here was great, and Jarrett, that’s my guy, man,” Davis said. “Just the company and the social aspect of it were great.”
Davis said having a quarterback he knows, likes and respects in his class is important to him, and that his growing relationship with Guarantano is a good thing for the Vols.
“Actually we talked more about music and how we’re doing and stuff. We were getting to know each other a little better,” Davis said. “I’m just looking for stability in a quarterback, you know? That’s very important. It’s very important that you have somebody [at quarterback] going with you.
“It’s also important that you like the person that’s throwing it to you.”
Of course, Tennessee isn’t the only school recruiting the 6-foot-1.5, 218-pound Davis. And the Vols aren’t the only program on his list with a highly touted quarterback commitment.
The nation’s No. 1 wideout joked that he’s hearing from “a lot” of quarterback commitments from programs across the country.
“Yeah, a lot of ‘em,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not gonna say who, but yeah, there’s a lot of ‘em.”
Davis, who’s planning to make only one more visit (to South Carolina) this summer, said he’s looking forward to starting his senior year and getting to focus as much on actual football as his recruitment.
The big receiver clearly doesn’t love all the attention that comes with players of his caliber, and he said that was one of the reasons he initially committed to South Carolina before realizing that was “a mistake.”
“I mean, when I shut it down, I really shut it down,” he said. “I was just tired of everything. I was overwhelmed. Then I opened it back up, but I’m still taking it slow. I pick and choose who I’m gonna talk to.
“You know, if I still would have had it shut down, and y’all were calling me, I still would have (stayed quiet). I mean, I’m not trying to disrespect y’all, but that’s just how I was. I was fed up with it. I was like, ‘Man, this is too much.’”
Tennessee, Georgia and Auburn seem to have plenty of momentum in Davis’ recruitment, but he’s publicly insisting that every program in his top 10 list has an equal shot at this point.
“No, not at the moment,” Davis said when asked if he had a smaller group of leaders. “Like, I did a top 10 just because everybody was asking. So I was like, ‘There’s my top 10.’”
Davis said he’s “trying” to take all five official visits this fall, and he has to squeeze them in this fall since he’s planning to enroll somewhere in January.
As for whether Tennessee or any other program has nailed down a spot on that list, though, Davis is also keeping that close to the vest.
“It’s too early to know,” he said. “I’m just not sure yet.”
———————————————
For more news on Tennessee sports and recruiting, follow GoVols247 on Twitter.
Contact Wes Rucker by email at [email protected], or ON TWITTER or ON FACEBOOKThis is a fascinating talk from David Kaiser on the the history of the counter-culture’s involvement with the ‘new physics’ during the 1970s:
MIT Professor David Kaiser describes the field of physic’s bumpy transition from New Age to cutting edge. In recent years, the field of quantum information science has catapulted to the cutting edge of physics. Long before the big budgets and dedicated teams, however, the field smoldered on the scientific sidelines within the hazy, bong-filled excesses of the 1970s New Age movement. Many of the ideas that now occupy the core of quantum information science once found their home amid an anything-goes counterculture frenzy, a mishmash of spoon-bending psychics, Eastern mysticism, LSD trips, CIA spooks chasing mind-reading dreams, and comparable “Age of Aquarius” enthusiasts.
Kaiser’s book How the Hippies Saved Physics is available from Amazon US and Amazon UK, sounds like it would be a great read and touch on many areas that we discuss here at TDG.Miami-based producer/mogul/Snapchat legend DJ Khaled is a very big supporter of his Miami Heat, and a friend to many of the players on the team. His best friend, perhaps, is center Hassan Whiteside, who has made regular appearances on his critically-acclaimed Snapchat stories.
Whiteside appeared in the music video for “I Don’t Play About My Paper,” a song on Khaled’s new album, I Changed A Lot, and frequently spends time at the producer’s house.
Man Hassan Whiteside is at DJ Khaled's house hitting the hot tub and getting a massage. how can I befriend Khaled pic.twitter.com/UkMOuY3wgJ — Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) December 21, 2015
• Watch: DJ Khaled takes floor after Heat game, makes shot, gloats
As it turns out, Whiteside has benefited from DJ Khaled’s presence at Heat games:
game result points rebounds blocks Nov. 8 vs. TOR W, 96–76 20 11 6 Dec. 5 vs. CLE W, 99–84 7 9 5 Dec. 22 vs. DET L, 93–92 16 16 4 Dec. 25 vs. NO W, 94–88 OT 8 17 4 AVERAGES 12.8 13.3 4.8
• Stats: Russell Wilson should tweet less before games
As you can see, Whiteside has surpassed his season averages (12.6, 11.0 & 4.0) when Khaled stops by American Airlines Arena.
It gets even better — Whiteside has averaged 14.3 points, 12.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game in the three games he’s played after hanging out with DJ Khaled the night before.
VISIT DATE NEXT GAME POINTS REBOUNDS BLOCKS Dec. 12 Dec. 13 vs. MEM 9 11 0 Dec. 20 Dec. 22 vs. DET 16 16 4 Dec. 27 Dec. 28 vs. BKN 18 11 5 AVERAGES 14.3 12.7 3.0
Aside from that Dec. 13 game against the Grizzlies, Whiteside has been a menace after eating Chef Dee’s cooking, taking a soak in Khaled’s hot tub and embracing his lion |
, the infamous key mastermind of 9/11, was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and gave several false and misleading statements during that time. Walid bin Attash was subjected to stress positions and forced nudity. Ramzi bin al-Shibh also was subjected to stress positions and forced nudity, along with torture with electric shocks, sleep deprivation and forms of sexual violence.
J. Connell III, attorney for Ammar al-Baluchi, told Truthout that “medical records from Guantanamo Bay demonstrate that, shortly after he arrived at Guantanamo, Mr. al-Baluchi complained that he had received a head injury while he was in CIA custody.” This information was declassified and arose during the hearing.
Little is known about how Mustafa al-Hawsawi was treated, but he spent years in CIA black sites. Last September, Connell visited Camp 7, the top-secret detention facility where high-value detainees, including the alleged 9/11 plotters, are. He was the first defense attorney to do so. Connell and his defense team took pictures and notes of what they observed, but he recently told Truthout that they came back classified.
Defense lawyers argued that the court’s protective order places immense restrictions on what they and their clients can say about the details of the defendants’ interrogation by the CIA, particularly torture. The lawyers are given clearance to access classified information, while their clients are not. Details of how the men were treated under US custody in CIA black sites – including their “thoughts and experiences” of US interrogation – are classified. The government argues that, while the defendants were detained in CIA black sites, they were “exposed” to “sources and methods” of interrogation, hence, the rationale to keep that information classified. The defendants can tell their attorneys how they were treated, and the attorneys can listen. But if lawyers receive classified information pertaining to the case, they cannot share nor discuss it with their client. More importantly, the attorneys cannot share information about how their clients were treated with any outside party, including the media, a human rights organization or international court.
Ruiz explained the protective order to Truthout: “Any information that I have received from Mr. al-Hawsawi about what may or may not have happened, I cannot share with any outside or independent organization that could help us. … I am gagged and precluded from sharing, cooperating and attempting to develop information that I could later use on his behalf. That’s a really huge restriction in our ability for us to defend him.”
The consequences of discussing that information are dire. Cheryl Bormann, defense attorney for Walid bin Attash, explained to Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes” that “I would be prosecuted and imprisoned for, I believe, up to 30 years.” Similarly, former CIA analyst John Kiriakou is in prison for blowing the whistle on the Bush administration’s torture program. Kiriakou leaked classified information about a CIA operative involved in an RDI program to the press, for which he was convicted of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and sentenced to 30 months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto, Pennsylvania. He is the first person from the CIA to blow the whistle on torture and be imprisoned for a leak. Kiriakou has been sending letters about his life in prison.
However, restrictions on “leaking” information are not limited to “secrets.” The court’s protective order goes so far as to gag information about torture that is already public. Should defense attorneys read a report about how their client was treated, that information becomes classified once the lawyers handle it – and, as a result, cannot be discussed with the client. In the hearing, Bormann pointed out that the “protective order is more restrictive on us than the CIA is on José Rodriguez,” the former head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center and former deputy director of operations who wrote a book titled Hard Measures that celebrated brutal interrogations. The book, as Bormann pointed out, is laden with detailed facts about detainees’ interrogations, even as the defendants and lawyers are gagged from discussing similar information. As he promoted his book, Rodriguez lauded the efficacy and morality of the CIA’s torture program. Unlike Kiriakou, Rodriguez is not in prison and can live freely after writing a book that defended torture.
Defense lawyers argued that these restrictions conflict with the United States’ obligations under the Convention Against Torture. In the hearing, Ruiz repeatedly emphasized that the Convention Against Torture “prohibits any government from classifying information for the explicit purpose of hiding evidence of crimes” or preventing embarrassment. Victims of, or anyone who alleges, torture have the right, under international law, to petition national and international institutions, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to redress abuses they suffered. As Connell told Truthout, “A victim, or even a person who alleges torture, under international law, has to have the right to make their voices heard. Otherwise, the right against being tortured doesn’t mean anything.”
Thus, the accused, or lawyers on their behalf, can write to the IACHR or other international bodies to protest their treatment – but they can’t actually describe it. Because information relating to how the defendants were treated in CIA black sites is classified, “I’m not allowed to provide it to the IACHR or any international body,” Connell said.
Coincidentally, a few days after the commission hearing, the IACHR held a hearing relating to Guantanamo and torture. At the hearing, the IACHR demanded the United States explain the alleged abuses it committed in Guantanamo during a hearing on October 28. One of the commissioners, Rodrigo Escobar Gil, said, “The information we have indicates that there was a general and systematic violation of human rights” in Guantanamo. He said force-feeding during the hunger strike constituted “cruel and inhumane treatment.”
Also at the hearing was United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez, who provided independent expert testimony. He insisted that the US government allow IACHR and other human rights bodies to freely visit Guantanamo and meet privately with detainees (activities that are not currently allowed). In a letter to IACHR Executive Secretary Emilio Alvarez Icaza, Mendez said he considers “the practice of indefinite detention, and other conditions applied to detainees in Guantanamo such as solitary confinement, as well as the use of forced feeding, as forms of ill-treatment that in some cases can amount to torture.” He also urged the Obama administration to expedite the transfer of detainees and close the Guantanamo prison.
The defense lawyers argued the protective order’s restrictions undermine US obligations under the Convention Against Torture and effectively “silence” the defendants from speaking out about the torture they experienced. They urged the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, to either drop the death penalty or dismiss the case. Pohl, however, seemed perplexed as to what he could do. Even if the protective order were eliminated, the information in question would still be classified and the lawyers forbidden from disclosing it to outside parties. That’s because the judge does not have the authority to declassify information – that power comes from the executive branch. Defense lawyers asked the CIA to declassify information relating to their case, but the agency refused. So, the lawyers wrote a letter to President Obama, urging him to declassify details of the CIA’s torture and rendition program.
The government’s position, articulated by prosecutor Clay Trivett, is that this case is not about torture. “We’re trying these five men for the summary execution of 2,976 people,” Trivett said. He added that the defense’s problem is not with the protective order but, rather, with the “original classification authority.” While the torture may become relevant at some point in the military commission, “the defense has all of the tools necessary to present whatever those issues are to the court,” he countered. Additionally, Trivett argued that the Convention Against Torture is not self-executing and requires additional legislation to have full legal effect in the United States. The United States recognizes the convention, but if the accused want to redress their alleged torture, Trivett said, they have other venues to do so, such as US courts, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Department of Defense. There is no need to address their rights under the Convention Against Torture in this venue, Trivett asserted.
For two days, lawyers debated the binds placed on the defense by classifying the details of torture. Pohl suggested a possible “way forward.” The court could focus the protective order’s “classified information” language to that obtained during the military commission proceedings. This would remove prior independent observations and experiences of the accused from its orbit. The defense seemed interested, but the government rejected it. Trivett argued that the defendants’ observations are classified because they were exposed to sensitive “sources and methods,” hence the government’s objection to changing the “classified information” language. But all sides did agree that the president has the authority to declassify information and resolve the dispute. “If the president of the United States wants to declassify this information, he certainly can. And we would not be having this discussion,” Pohl said.
The defense lawyers are not the only ones “who object to the protective order,” as lawyer and researcher Katherine Hawkins points out. The Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment said the protective order’s restrictions violate “the public’s First Amendment right of access to those proceedings, the detainees’ right to counsel, and counsel’s First Amendment rights.” “Ongoing classification of these practices,” the Constitution Project added, “serves only to conceal evidence of wrongdoing and make its repetition more likely.” Recently, the European parliament called on the US “to stop using draconian protective orders which prevent lawyers acting for Guantanamo Bay detainees from disclosing information regarding any detail of their secret detention in Europe” in a resolution it passed.
There was no ruling on the torture motion. However, Pohl recently ordered the US government to release all correspondence with the ICRC regarding treatment of the accused in Guantanamo. Last June, defense lawyers argued for disclosing the correspondence, while the prosecution urged to keep it confidential. The correspondence provides additional information about the conditions of confinement in Guantanamo.
The “Clean Team”
Evidence obtained through torture is not allowed in the military commission. However, coerced evidence is permitted. In late 2006, FBI and military interrogators, known as the “clean team,” interrogated the five suspects to collect “virtually the same information the CIA had obtained” from them during their years in CIA black sites, according to a February 2008 Washington Post report. The goal was to collect statements that were “clean” from torture. “To ensure that the data would not be tainted by allegations of torture or illegal coercion, the FBI and military team won the suspects’ trust during the past 16 months by using time-tested rapport-building techniques,” the Post reported. The government is using these statements as evidence in the 9/11 case.
However, Bormann challenged the “clean team” statements’ validity on “60 Minutes.” “It’s like Alice going down the rabbit hole, right,” Bormann saidd. “You torture them for three years. You keep them in captivity after you stopped torturing them, in a place like Guantanamo Bay. And then you send in agents from the same government that tortured them for three years to take statements. And then, if you’re Gen. Martins, you say, ‘Well those are now clean.’ Guess what? They’re not.”
Martins told Stahl, “The people do not forfeit their chance for accountability because someone may have crossed a line or have coerced or subjected to harsh measures somebody who is in custody.” He continued, “The point that I reject, and that the law rejects, is that there can be no voluntary statements following an instance of coercion. … There can be such statements.”
Yet, in the 2008 Post report, retired Navy Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, a former judge advocate general, said, “There’s something in American jurisprudence called ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’: You can clean up the tree a little, but it’s hard to do so.” The legal metaphor “fruit of the poisonous tree” describes how evidence obtained illegally or in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights is inadmissible in court. “Once you torture someone,” Hutson said, “it is hard to un-torture them. The general public is going to be concerned about the validity of the testimony.”
In an email to Truthout, Connell added, “If a statement is truly independent of prior coercion, that statement can be used in court. The problem is that after years of secret detention, it will be difficult for the prosecution to establish that the most recent interrogation is truly independent of what came before.”
Ultimate Irony
All of this points to the ultimate irony of the Guantanamo military commissions. Persons who are not US citizens and are suspected terrorists can be tried by the United States government for war crimes and for supporting terrorism in these commissions. However, if the US government tortures those individuals, the military commission system provides a vehicle to conceal evidence of those abuses through byzantine layers of classification, even though torture is a war crime and violation of domestic law. This creates a warped system of “justice” in which one side is tried for egregious crimes, while the other covers up its own, evades accountability, and acts as the arbiter of justice. As Bormann proclaimed in the hearing, “You can’t gag somebody and then want to kill them.” But in the military commissions, that’s exactly what’s happening.His first son, Karamjit, was born two years ago in Haryana, northern India
An Indian man has become the world’s oldest father for the second time at the age of 96.
Ramjit Raghav was awarded the title two years ago when he had his first born son Karamjit aged 94.
Although he swore one was enough, the pensioner and his wife Shakuntala, 54, welcomed another son Ranjit, last month.
Scroll down for video
World's oldest: Ramjit Raghav holding his second baby Ranjit at the ripe old age of 96
Speaking at his home in the state of Haryana, 31 miles from Delhi, Ramjit said: ‘What can I do? This is all God's wish. He wanted me to have another son.’
When Shakuntala gave birth to the healthy boy earlier this month at the Government hospital in Haryana, the doctors laughed when Ramjit said he was the father.
He said: ‘They just laughed but they were very surprised.’
Ramjit, who lives with his family in a studio apartment, has high hopes for his sons.
Daddy duties: Ramjit Raghav, 96, with his wife Shankuntala, 54, and sons Karamjit, 4, and newborn Ranjit, is excited to have become a father again
He said: ‘I have been a farmer all my life. But I want them to become high ranking government workers.
‘It's good that I have another son now. Even if one of them dies, God forbid, I will have someone to carry on my family name."
Ramjit admits that as proud as he is of having two healthy sons at his age, his neighbours are more jealous of his sex drive.
Ramjit admits that as proud as he is of having two healthy sons at his age, his neighbours are more jealous of his sex drive
He said: ‘I do it three or four times a night. My neighbours are jealous and they keep asking me for my secret but all I tell them is that it is God's will.
‘I'm healthy and I enjoy sex with my wife. I think it's very important for a husband and wife to have sex regularly and when she asks I will go on all night but for the sake of my child I've put our needs aside for now.'
Father-of-two Ramjit claims that a daily diet of almonds, butter and milk kept him sexually active.
He said: ‘I care for my wife and I give her everything she needs. She is a very happy woman.'
When Ramjit met second wife Shakuntala, he had been a widower for 25 years.
The pair met 22 years ago on a rainy morning at a Muslim shrine, Ramjit asked her to come home with him and she has never left.
'She didn't have any family or friends around, and I wanted to help her,' he explains.
'I took her under my wing and taught her some yoga and we fell in love. Many of my past girlfriends had died so I had never married and then I asked Shakuntala to be my wife.'
Shakuntala believes she would have been dead by now if it was not for Ramjit's caring ways.
She said: ‘It doesn't matter how old he is, I love him and I care for him dearly even, though he shouts at me sometimes.In this sixth instalment of the GiReviews podcast, I got to chat with Tom Callos, father of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu phenom Keenan Cornelius.
Most of you likely know Tom through in ongoing dialogue regarding martial arts instruction and the recent controversy surrounding Team Lloyd Irvin. But, even if you haven’t heard of him and have no idea what I’m talking about, this is going to be a truly enjoyable listen.
In this episode, Tom and I talk about:
Our mutual love of living a simpler, happier life
Tiny houses
Advice for being a BJJ Father (his answer to this is hilarious)
Keenan’s time at Team Lloyd Irvin
The ‘Medal Chaser’ Mentality (his answer to this surprised me!)
Keenan moving to team Atos
Personal growth through Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Character Education in martial arts
Continuing to train martial arts at an older age
Listen to the Show
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If you enjoyed this podcast, please let me know by leaving a review on iTunes and sending us a shout-out on Twitter!Marvel revealed the full title for the sequel to "The Avengers" at Comic-Con on Saturday. Director Joss Whedon popped by the star-studded presentation to announce that "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" would be the name of the second superhero ensemble film.
A teaser for the movie featuring glimpses at each Avenger's character logo debuted as well, wrapping up Marvel's presentation.
Ultron, the villain in the upcoming movie, first appeared in the late '60s. The character, written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema, appears to be something of a star in the fanboy world and elicited strong reactions in Comic-Con's infamous Hall H:
So the big announcement... Avengers 2 has a title: Avengers: Age of Ultron. Guy behind me hit me as he screamed "ULTRON MOTHERFUCKER!" — Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) July 21, 2013
Ultron was revived for a short 10-comic run, fittingly titled "Age of Ultron," which as released in March. Famed comics writer Brian Michael Bendis wrote the storyline. TheWrap notes that following the more recent Ultron storyline could mean the sequel charts a much darker path than the first (because apparently ruining most of a major city isn't gloomy enough).
"Age of Ultron" is set for a May 1, 2015 debut. The Marvel panel also featured appearances by the likes of Tom Hiddleston (in character as Loki), a "Thor: The Dark World" trailer and appearances from Marvel stars like "Captain America" lead Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Zoe Saldana, Benicio del Toro, Chris Pratt and more.
More Marvel talk is available in the live blog that follows the gallery below.NEW ORLEANS — Things traditionally get started a little late down here, an inclination that runs from mealtimes to political races. But with nearly a year to go before the 2014 election, it is already open season on Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana.
“Why didn’t she do her job, protect us from Obamacare from the start?” asks a new ad from Americans for Prosperity, a political nonprofit group founded by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. And a post from a conservative blog that refers to her as “MussoLandrieu,” with a picture of her face superimposed on the body of Benito Mussolini, has been making the rounds on Twitter.
Republicans are so giddy about the prospect of winning her seat that their main problem is too many of them are trying to do so. “It’s a different world than Louisiana was six years ago,” said Bernie Pinsonat, a pollster in Baton Rouge. “We do not have Democrats who win anything in this state today.”
As Democrats look across the rest of the South, the outlook does not get much better. Ms. Landrieu, along with Senators Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Kay Hagan of North Carolina, is pretty much all that is left of Southern Democrats in the Senate."You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come,"You and your descendants must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle. If you do, you will die. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation.“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a perpetual statute for the generations to come."Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die-- it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations--Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die:a statute for ever throughout your generations:"You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations.When you or your sons enter the sacred tent, you must never drink beer or wine. If you do, you will die right there! This law will never change."You and your sons are not to enter the Tent of my presence after drinking wine or beer; if you do, you will die. This is a law to be kept by all your descendants.You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations."You and your sons with you are not to drink wine—that is, any intoxicating drink—when you enter the Tent of Meeting. That way, you won't die. This is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations."Do not drink wine or strong drink, you and your sons with you, when you enter into the Meeting Tent, so that you do not die, which is a perpetual statute throughout your generations,"Drink no wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, that you do not die: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations:"You and your sons must not drink any wine or liquor when you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a permanent law for generations to come.Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye die not; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.“Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you may not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations—Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee when ye go into the tabernacle of the testimony, lest ye die; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations;Do not drink wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations:Do not drink wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye die not: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:Ye shall not drink wine nor strong drink, thou and thy sons with thee, whensoever ye enter into the tabernacle of witness, or when ye approach the altar, so shall ye not die;a perpetual statute for your generations,You shall not drink wine nor any thing that may make drunk, thou nor thy sons, when you enter into the tabernacle of the testimony, lest you die: because it is an everlasting precept through your generations :Thou shalt not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, and thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, lest ye die -- [it is] an everlasting statute throughout your generations,Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye die not: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:"Drink no wine nor strong drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, that you don't die: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations:'Wine and strong drink thou dost not drink, thou, and thy sons with thee, in your going in unto the tent of meeting, and ye die not -- a statute age-during to your generations;WASHINGTON -- An Army major general has denied Chelsea Manning's request for clemency and upheld her 35-year sentence for leaking sensitive government documents to WikiLeaks, in a move that will kick off the appeals process in the high-profile case.
Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan's decision was announced in a Monday press release from the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. As the commanding authority for Manning's court martial, Buchanan had under military law the power to approve or reject the results of the trial judge, Col. Denise Lind.
Manning's supporters had flooded Buchanan with over 3,000 letters of support, but his move was nonetheless widely expected.
"It's no surprise that the convening authority denied this request. We anticipated it, and we're prepared to go forward with the appeal," said Nancy Hollander, Manning's recently selected appeals lawyer. "We did not expect any relief from the general. But we do believe that we will go forward with the appeal, and that was always what we intended to do."
Manning has been held in military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas since shortly after she was sentenced in August 2013 for leaking the military reports and other documents. Formerly known as Bradley, she began legal proceedings last month to formally change her first name to Chelsea. She is seeking treatment for gender dysphoria from the Army, which currently bans service by transgender persons.
Buchanan's decision closes off one avenue of potential relief for Manning. Supporters are still pushing for a presidential pardon, but are largely focusing their hopes on an appeal process that could wind through military courts all the way up to the civilian U.S. Supreme Court.There are cameras above and a bolt below to chain the student by the ankle to the floor.
The Toronto-born prisoner has been studying a curriculum devised by a team of 15 Edmonton professors and cleared by the Guantanamo camp’s commanders. It’s called “Educating Omar Khadr.”
Even though when that may be is a matter of great debate.
It is here that Canadian Omar Khadr has been reciting Shakespeare, acing physics exams and sometimes chuckling at television sitcoms — all part of a program that will integrate him back into the world beyond the wire.
Zinck talked about her experience for the first time this week, providing a glimpse into a less public side of the story that once again has Canadians talking.
The team of volunteer educators is led by Arlette Zinck, an associate English professor at King’s University College, a private college in Edmonton. She made two trips to the prison camp this spring to deliver the lessons in person.
For some less formal lessons, the 25-year-old watched Little Mosque on the Prairie, a popular Canadian TV show about a Muslim community in a fictional prairie town.
He has already read Can-lit favourites Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell and Obasan by Joy Kogawa, about the internment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II. Romeo and Juliet was a favourite to read aloud, with his 6’6” Pentagon lawyer playing the role of Juliet.
While math is Khadr’s passion — he told Zinck, “It’s like oil for my rusty brain” — she believes he has a “poetic temperament.”
She said that despite Khadr’s lack of formal education — his father uprooted him from Canada at a young age and moved to Pakistan and Afghanistan to live near Al Qaeda’s elite — she believes he is highly intelligent.
Zinck’s interest in Khadr’s education started in 2008, she said, after she was inspired by a talk given by his former lawyer Dennis Edney. Edney later arranged to bring Khadr letters from Zinck and her students, and Khadr wrote them back.
The fact that there is a formal program to educate Khadr will likely elicit a chorus of boos from right-leaning Canadian pundits, even though the work is provided voluntarily.
Asked why she continues working with a prisoner who some Canadians hope remains locked in Guantanamo forever, Zinck talks about her Christian faith and her “duty as a human being.”
“If each was treated according to his deserts, who among us would escape whipping?” she said — a twist on a quote from Hamlet.
She said she also “prays regularly” for the children and widow of Christopher Speer, the U.S. soldier killed in a 2002 firefight with Khadr.
“This is not about the needs of one to the neglect of the other,” she said. “So to the many who say, ‘How can you be concerned about Omar? Haven’t you any Christian charity for the soldier’s wife?’ I say, you misunderstand me entirely.”
Zinck, 49, was one of the few witnesses to testify at Khadr’s hearing in 2010, where he admitted to throwing a grenade that fatally wounded Speer. Her canary yellow blazer, Haligonian accent (she’s originally from Halifax) and homespun demeanour as she talked about her correspondence with Khadr made for a jarring appearance in the austere military courtroom.
At one point she spoke about putting a toonie in a penalty jar, eliciting chuckles from the Canadians and confusion from Americans who didn’t know a “toonie” is a two-dollar coin.
Khadr’s Toronto lawyer Brydie Bethell, who was at Guantanamo during Zinck’s first visit in April, recalled the teacher’s unflappable air after their first night at Camp Justice, a stretch of asphalt at the U.S. naval base covered with khaki tents and air-conditioned trailers.
“While I threw my hair back into a ponytail and grabbed my jeans, out emerged Dr. Zinck in a smart wool suit, opaque tights and sturdy pumps,” she said. “It was only about 400 million degrees in the sun, and she marched confidently out into it with her briefcase, colour-coded tabs, binders and highlighters, ignoring the gravel.”
Clinical psychologist Katherine Porterfield, who works at New York’s Bellevue Hospital and has spent hundreds of hours working with Khadr over the years, said she was amazed at Zinck’s rapport with the prisoner after just a couple visits.
“She has made a good student out of him,” Porterfield said. “I watched her do a lesson on world religion... They both talked about the depths of their faiths and how they overlapped and where they didn’t. It was so interesting.”
One evening, Zinck assigned Khadr to compare themes in Obasan, the Hunger Games trilogy and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road — and she made sure his lawyers and Porterfield did the homework, too.
When Khadr made his presentation the next day, “He was so prepared and organized and thoughtful,” Zinck said. “He is a very morally centred person and could identify that in the literature. He just kicked their butts, frankly.”
Khadr started following Zinck’s curriculum after he pleaded guilty at his 2010 trial in return for an eight-year sentence and assurances from Canada that the federal government would “favourably” consider his return after one year.
U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta signed off on Khadr’s release in April, but Ottawa has not set a timeline on his return and a small but vocal opposition is demanding that Canada refuse the transfer request.
Khadr’s lawyers broke their months of silence at a news conference Friday in Ottawa, standing alongside Senator Romeo Dallaire, in an effort to get the case back in the news and pressure Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to honour the plea deal.
But despite reports that Washington is eager to send Khadr back because his continued detention is complicating other Guantanamo cases, U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday that “we cannot and do not want to hurry that process along.”Welcome to the osu! Vintage Map Tourney 2!!
Quick Info This is a 1v1 tournament This is a osu! standard tourney It is an international tourney, so any country can register Minimum rank is 50k unless you can put a good reason in the comments. every map is from 2009 or 2010 with the exception of 6 maps every map is ar8 or lower 128 PERSON MAX
Dates Registrations today [30th may] - now - this was really popular
1st Round WEDNESDAY 21st JUNE
Every round will take place during an entire week, each new round starting on a Wednesday
If you can't make any dates, please LET ME KNOW I might be able to ref a match or get someone to ref it on my behalf on a time that more suits you.
Match Info For every pool, there are 8 nomod, 2 freemod picks and 2 forcemod For freemod, players can pick any mod, or not run one at all if they prefer For forcemod, players must pick a mod but NOT SD, NF or SO The tiebreaker is also freemod and DT can be enabled if both players agree For every match, there are 4 bans, two for each person for all rounds apart from 1 ban each on the final 1st round matches are Best of 5, then its best of 7 apart from the final its best of 9
At the start of every match, each player gets 1 warm up that has to be max 4 mins 30s and submitted to osu.ppy.sh Score v1 will be used for max vintage feel Match-ups for the first round will be randomly selected. No seeding, just purely random. If there are not enough people to fill the initial bracket, then the higher ranked people will advance to the next tier. The majority of the matches will be streamed on my twitch, link above. If one player failed, and doesn't revive by the end of the song, the other player gets the point. If both players fail by the end, then the highest score wins.
Prizes 3rd place is 6 Months of supporter 2nd place is 1 Year of supporter 1st place is 1 Year of supporter and Profile Badge!!!!
Due to the popularity of vintage tourney 1, and a lot of nagging, ITS BACK BABY vintage tourney 2 is here and bigger than ever!Things are subject to change in the next few days but this is most likely going to be the final product30th - initial postedit 1 - various spelling errors and ban erroredit 2 - 1st match date changeedit 3 - added yazzehh as reffedit 4 - added djsettle and minorman4 to tourney staffedit 5 - added starrodkirby86 to commentator!After Carrie Fisher’s death on Tuesday, her latest memoir The Princess Diarist shot to the top of Amazon’s best-selling books list, besting Zero Sugar Diet on Wednesday.
Fisher’s other memoir, 2008’s Wishful Drinking, and her debut novel Postcards from the Edge also landed in Amazon’s top 10 at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively, as of this story’s publishing.
The late actress is best remembered for her role as Leia Organa in the Star Wars franchise, but she was also an acclaimed and accomplished author and humorist. In addition to those three books, Fisher also wrote four additional novels and one other memoir. She was lauded for her comedic prose and musings on her own issues with mental health and addiction.
The Princess Diarist, her final book, came out earlier this year and features intimate diary entries from her time on the Star Wars set, telling tales of an illicit affair with costar Harrison Ford. In his review, EW’s Anthony Breznican wrote, “There’s tremendous insight into the volatile heart of a young woman, seen through the eyes of her wiser, older self still seeking her place in the universe.”
Wishful Drinking also tells stories of her whirlwind life, weaving tales about drug use and love with witty jokes like: “You know how they say that religion is the opiate of the masses? Well, I took masses of opiates religiously.”
For more on Fisher’s literary legacy, head here.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Occupy Wall Street protesters plan to gather on Port Richmond Avenue today before heading to a rally in Manhattan.
They are scheduled to rally at 2:30 p.m. in front of 479 Port Richmond Ave., near Catherine Street. The protesters eventually plan to board buses for Manhattan.
Business owners in the area are not sure what to expect but they are monitoring the situation and are prepared to shut down their stores for safety if needed, said Dennis Alestra, president of the Port Richmond Board of Trade.
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*READ MORE 'OCCUPY WALL STREET STORIES
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"I’m waiting to see if it starts to get hairy down here, and I might batten down the hatches," Ale |
new automobiles themselves, because the law prohibits Tesla's in-state representatives from doing, saying or touching anything related to selling or delivering cars.
Dealerships argue that the direct-sales ban protects Texans by ensuring that they have spots to buy cars across the state, not just in highly populated cities where manufacturers, if given the chance to sell directly, might otherwise focus.
"Factories wouldn't spend the money to put a dealership in Fort Stockton, Texas," Wolters said.
Tesla, however, calls the franchise system antiquated and a threat to its livelihood. Circumventing the dealers is more efficient, Musk argues. The small electric-car market will struggle to gain a foothold in the state's current system, he says, because dealerships are too focused on selling gasoline-powered vehicles to tout the merits of the nontraditional models.
What's more, Musk and others have questioned whether a traditional dealer could succeed in selling his car, because dealerships make much of their money on maintenance - something his highly touted models require little of.
Some dealers might accept that challenge, if Tesla let them.
Under Texas law, Tesla could tap whomever it wanted to run a franchised dealer, as long as the person wasn't directly affiliated with Tesla. The carmaker could mold that business to its liking. For instance, the company could maintain the feel of its Texas galleries, while actually selling its cars.
The dealer would pay to build the facility, buy any necessary tools and equipment and, of course, purchase vehicles and parts from Tesla.
Applying for a state franchise license is quite easy, Texas officials and industry representatives say. The application is just 12 pages long, and the state processes it within 15 days on average.
"Our dealer network community would probably tell you that the application process is actually very easy to maneuver," said Daniel Avitia, director of the motor vehicle division for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
Dealers have sparred with Tesla since 2013, when the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company kicked off its blitz to change the law, calling on customers to park their gleaming plug-in cars outside of the Texas Capitol as a show of support. That year, the company spent between $170,000 and $370,000 on nine lobbyists, according to Texas Ethics Commission filings, but was no match for the well-connected dealerships.
That session, state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, proposed legislation that would have allowed manufacturers of 100-percent electric cars to sell them directly to consumers, but the dealers rejected the idea. State Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, proposed a "middle ground approach" - a committee substitute for Rodriguez's bill that would have allowed electric car manufacturers to sell 5,000 cars a year in Texas before the existing auto franchise rules applied. A House committee advanced the substitute, which later failed to draw a chamber vote.
Tesla has added firepower this session. It's spending between $625,000 and $1.18 million on 21 lobbyists - including some particularly high-profile names, state data shows.
No lawmaker has yet filed a bill related to electric car sales, but Rodriguez says he's working on a proposal that would "allow Tesla to have some stores around the state" - similar to his previous proposal, but with minor differences he's still ironing out.
"I kind of sense this move towards more freedom to buy things you want to buy, how you want to buy them," he said. "It is a new kind of technology, and they have a business model that's very 21st century. Maybe we need to look at this thing a little differently."
And why can't Tesla first try the franchise route? "Once you go that route, you probably can't go back," Rodriguez said.
Villalba said he wants Tesla to boost its Texas sales, but won't propose legislation without some concessions for dealers.
"Until they find a way to work successfully with the dealers here in Texas, by showing some movement one direction or the other, I think it's going to be difficult," he said.
In his January interview with Smith, Musk said he might be willing - far in the future and only if it made economic sense as the company expanded - to set up a few franchised dealerships in the U.S.
"Anyone who's been a huge jerk to us," he said, need not apply.There sure are a lot of opinions out there about how and where to charge your ebike battery when on the road. There are two schools of thought out there. The respectable, considerate types will ask permission before they plug in anywhere in the hopes that people will say yes to their request (they almost always do). Delinquent types like myself tend to just do whatever they want to and see what they can get away with. This article is aimed at degenerates who prefer to ask for forgiveness rather than permission when it comes to charging their ebike batteries. There is no shortage of online ebikers who will tell you “You’re making us all look bad, don’t guerilla charge” to which I say … ‘meh’. With electricity at about 12 cents a kWh as a national average, technically yes you’re talking about theft of services, but what criminal justice system in its right mind is going to prosecute you for stealing less than 10 cents worth of electricity? That’s assuming that the American criminal justice system is in any way fair or reasonable which is a pretty stupid assumption. It’s less about what is legal and more about doing what reasonable and expected vs being rude and disrespectful of people’s boundaries.
There are a lot of different ways to deal with ebike charging. I live 17 miles from town so I usually leave chargers at home and at my son’s mother’s house who lives in town. When I ebike into town I just throw my dead battery on the charger and swap it out for a battery that I keep charged there and ride around town on my backup battery. By the time I’m done seeing customers I go back to my son’s mother’s house and swap the batteries back and ride home. Now this assumes that you have a place at your destination to charge, which if you haven’t been really nice to your Ex then you might not. It could be a friend’s house, it could be work or a customer site. Just find somewhere at your destination that you can store a charger and an extra battery. If you can’t do that there is still a lot of options.
Most people ask for permission to charge their ebike batteries, which is the better option if you’re thinking you’re going to want to charge at that spot on a regular basis. I would ask like this;
I’m wondering if it would be OK to charge my stuff here for a few minutes while a patronize your business?
Do you need to tell them that you’re charging a 1Kw ebike battery pack? Not really. If they ask you can tell them but for the most part they will just assume it is a laptop or something. I keep my chargers and my ebike batteries in a backpack and then just run the power cable to the plug and let it all charge inside of the open backpack. Leaving the backpack open will allow the batteries to cool a bit at air to flow through the charger.
Most wall outlets are rated for 15Amps at 120V AC which means they should be able to provide 1800W of power. In reality, most circuit breakers will flip if you try to pull more than about 12Amps for any length of time (about 1500W). Another problem I’ve seen is that if you pull over 12Amps of power many plugs will actually melt after a while even if the circuit breaker does not flip (yup you read that right, the outlets and adapters will melt). Something else to think about is that you have to remember there are generally other things on the same circuit as you and if the load for the whole circuit goes over 1500W the circuit breaker will probably flip. I would recommend the optimal charging rate as somewhere in the 600-700W range. I would not even think about charging over 1000W on a normal 15 Amp plug for any length of time. When you do that you are begging for problems.
A high quality charger like the Cycle Satiator will charge up to 8Amps on a 36-60v pack (about 500W) but it costs about $300 which is a lot for an ebike charger. In general, when I’m on the road I end up using 2 different 30Q Mini Cubes (6Ah each) and hook them up to two different 5 Amp cheap ass Luna chargers (at about $80 each). Although it is a pain to use two chargers it gives me redundancy in case one charger fails, it allows me to pull closer to 600W out of a single outlet and it puts less heat and strain on each outlet plug decreasing the chances of the outlet melting on me. I know the whole melting outlet thing sounds crazy, but I’ve had it happen several times already. At my wife’s house which is solar powered off-grid system we have a 1000W charger that runs off the propane powered generator that plugs into a special plug that is supposed to be able to support 20Amps and it has still melted on us twice. I’ve also had several 15Amp outlets melt in the house from running small electric 800W space heaters. These funny looking frowny face 15Amp 120V outlets that haunt my nightmares are just not designed for that much power for extended periods of time.
Another big question that you have to answer for yourself is how much power can you charge your pack with without damaging the cells. This will vary from pack to pack and BMS to BMS. Many ebike batteries ship with a 2Amp charger but can still charge at a higher rate if you want to without stressing the cells or the BMS. Make no mistake, charging ebike batteries at higher rates will lower the total number of life cycles of your batteries. 18650 cells hate heat and higher charging rates mean more heat. More heat means a shorter life, there is no way to get around it. Many of the frame packs (Dolphin, shark, killer whale, etc) have a barrel plug adapter for charging. These barrel plugs work fine a 2-3 amps but there is a good chance you could melt the plug by charging for extended periods of time with 5 amps. I’ve done it and not had a problem, but I’m not saying that it is in any way a good idea at all.
When you get a new pack the best thing to do to find out its max charging rate is to test it at different rates to see how warm it gets. If a pack or BMS is getting warm when charging then that means you need to back off or trouble will ensue. My belief is that the pack should only increase in temp less than 10 degrees above the ambient room temp when charging for a soft pack and 5 degrees above ambient room temp for a frame pack (they hold heat in much better). If your pack is getting hotter than that then you are probably charging it with too many amps. The newest Lunagizer chargers have a variable charging rate (1,2,3,4 or 5 Amps) and it is the charger that I use pretty religiously since I had a cheap Chinese charger from a generic ebay seller blow up in my living room. Luckily it was just a large capacitor that blew up, but when I took apart the Chinese charger I was horrified at what I saw. Long story short, I don’t trust cheap Chinese chargers and I have given all mine away to people that I don’t like (let their houses burn down).
Where or where to charge?
This is the million dollar question and a lot of it will depend on where you are when you batteries are dead. Best places to free charge are
Ebike Shops
Public Libraries
National Parks
College Campuses
Coffee Shops
Grocery Stores with nice sit-down dining areas
Fast food restaurants (although many outlets often have plates covering them up)
Campgrounds that you’re already staying at
Your Local Friendly Bike Shop (unless they don’t like ebikes, which some shops don’t)
Outside outlets at any Walmart store
Soda Pop \ Vending Machine outlets
Town park pavilions
Public EV spots or Residential Plug Shares on the Plug Share app located here (You may need a J1772 custom adapter for EV chargers, PITA)
Makerspaces
Most of these places will always say yes if you ask to charge your batteries. As long as you’re not melting outlets and blowing circuit breakers you’ll probably never have any problems. Other places to charge that might ask you to pay for the electricity
Gas Stations
Campgrounds that you’re not staying at
Non-fast food restaurants
I find it insane that anyone would ask you to pay several dollars for a dime or two worth of electricity. If you’re desperate enough to pay it, well then good for you, you are a better person than I am. Many campgrounds also have 30Amp plugs which you can pull much more power from much more quickly but also require an adapter cable to work with a normal 15Amp charger. I think for most ebike batteries charging from a 30 Amp plug is such an overkill I’m not even going to really discuss it here, although people have done it. The hassle of charging from a 30 amp or J1772 EV charger is not worth the small amount of time you will save, not to mention the additional stress on the BMS and cells from high Amp rate charging.
If you do want to ask then make sure you mention that you’re going to patronize the business or offer to help clean up litter or something like that. I wouldn’t offer to pay for the electricity (they don’t want your nickel anyway) and if you offer to pay then it makes it seem like you’re taking several dollars worth of juice which is simply not the case. Being friendly and courteous can go a long way, but it’s not a skill I’m particularly versed in so we’ll just move on.
Get the battery off the damn bike
For the love of all things that are good, when building an ebike that you will want to charge while on the road make sure the battery is removable. If you have an ebike with a non-removable battery that severely limits your ability to effectively Guerilla charge. There are ebikers who ride around with really long extension cords to charge their ebikes with non-removable batteries, but I would not recommend that you be one of those people. The whole idea behind ebike Guerilla charging is that you don’t want people to know that you’re charging ebike batteries to begin with. You want them to think you just have a laptop or something like that in your backpack. When you have an ebike with a power cord coming out of it then where is the mystery in that?
Is that dishonest? Are we intentionally misleading people? Probably. Do I care? Not really.
Skip the balancing cycle
Once the batteries get full charged (about 58.5v on a 52v charger or 54.3v on a 48v charger) then the BMS will start going through a balancing cycle for the cells. This process usually takes quite a long time and for Guerilla charging it is really not necessary. When the battery gets over 58v on a 52v charger or over 54v on a 48v charger I generally just unplug it and go. It’s nice to have a charger with a voltage display on it, and although my first 2 Lunagizer chargers both had the LED display burn out within 6 months of purchase, all my more recent Lunagizer chargers have not had any problems with the voltage displays. I currently have about 7 Luna chargers around the house and I can’t say enough good things about them. It’s all I ever use anymore.
AC Inverters hooked up to your car
I’ve had limited luck with using AC inverters to charge ebike batteries. The problem is that most 12V plugs on your car will only put out about 100 Watts or so. You can do this if you buy a large inverter then run thick wires through the firewall of the car and connect it directly to your battery. I have a 3500W inverter on my Sprinter RV conversion that I can charge my ebike batteries when it is running, but I used very thick 1 gauge wires to the inverter which is a total overkill for this application. The closer the inverter is to the battery the more power you’ll get, the farther away to mount it the thicker wire you need to use. Make sure to turn the inverter off when not in use or it will kill your battery with the leech load. Also be aware that cheap powerful inverters can fail catastrophically and dump power to the ground which could possibly shock you as you exit the vehicle. I’ve not had this happen but I’ve heard horror stories on the internet.
It’s not a bomb … Really officer
One of the worst places that I’ve tried to charge batteries at is the Airport. I actually had the police called on me because they thought it was a bomb. The Dept of Homeland Security goon was not particularly pleasant to deal with and he threw me out of the airport. (true story) I don’t get along well with police and I have gotten the crap beat out of me by the cops more than once (my teenage years were boring, suspicious cops made it way more exciting). When we were young we’d take off running every time we saw a cop just to see if we could get them to chase us. I stopped doing that when the cop pulled out his gun and told me to stop or he was going to shoot. That was a fun night that ended up with a $200 ticket. *sigh* At least I didn’t get shot.
I would not charge your ebikes at any public schools unless you are a student of that school. With the violence and drug problems in public schools it seems like every school I visit has more and more fencing and more adults watching everything that happens inside of the fences very, very carefully. Why risk the extra attention when there are so many other free places around to charge?
Whether you ask for permission or forgiveness is a call everyone will have to make for themselves. On one hand, you can be a good steward for the ebike world and not take advantage of other people’s ignorance or generosity. On the other hand, you can be a selfish prick who takes whatever they want whenever they want without asking permission first. I’m the latter, it would be better for everyone if you were not like me. The best way to be a good steward is to ask permission first, not to melt their outlets, throw circuit breakers or have your batteries and chargers blow up in public places.
I think the most important part of the whole process is to not leave your expensive ebike batteries charging unattended. This invites theft or charging problems, always stay within clear line of site of your ‘stuff’. Someone should really be there when the cops show up, and that someone should probably be you.
Ride on.HEX UPDATE – Ranging Far and Near
Welcome all to this week’s Friday Update. Today we celebrate our Cosmic Crown finalists, get hyped over Chronicles of Entrath: Chapter II spoilers, and more!
The Ladder Season 2 Cosmic Crown Showdown is this weekend. The best HEX players from this season have qualified for their chance at our $5,000 prize pool. Congratulations to those who made the cut and good luck! This is where the true battle begins. Will you have what it takes to walk away as a Cosmic Crown Showdown champion? Find out tomorrow!
Spoiler season for our campaign Chapter II update has officially begun! Today, Dan Clark covers some of the improvements we have planned for Chapter I. You can read all about those here. But if you haven’t been following along this week, we also have some other hot bits of campaign news. On Monday, we got our first look at some templating changes and the new campaign keywords that are coming into the game.
Ranger Class Reveal
If you want to crack the shell of this bad boy, make sure to give it a read.
This Wednesday we ventured deep into the wilderness and brought back a full-blown ranger reveal! The ranger will join us with Chapter II and introduces a whole new way to play campaign. If you’ve ever wanted to beat people down with the beasts of Entrath, this class has got you covered. Between pets and wilderness taming talents, our ranger explores some pretty crazy gameplay territory. Venture forth and check it out today.
AskHEX Answers Part 3
AskHEX answers continues in our forums. I have updated the AskHEX thread with some more cool community info! As before, we are going to keep this thread locked so that it is clean and easy to follow, but feel free to toss your comments on our team’s responses in the forums below!
HEX Quiz Results
You may recall we had a HEX quiz a while back. Well, we haven’t forgotten! Here are our resident HEXperts:
TYrantXolotl – 737 ShadowRealm – 709 shadowrill – 698 arcanyx – 696 Galliard – 684 RagnarokAgent – 681 Berkeley – 678 Almanai – 674 Audens – 671 Brynhildr – 667 artic – 656 Alleiden – 651 Knightatarms – 635 Zanecat – 634 Ramundi – 631 RoguePhysicist – 613 DraftPunk – 608 ExistedAce – 600 Aghor – 594 Etria – 583
Congratulations! We will be sending prizes out sometime next week.
That’s it for this update! Please leave any questions or comments in the forums, and don’t forget to Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, and Follow us on Twitch.
Discuss this article in our forums!Reprinted from
NEW LEFT NOTES
January 15, 1969
by permission of the author
There is a hoary myth that anarchists do not believe in organization to promote revolutionary activity. This myth was raised from its resting place by Marcuse in a L'Express interview some months ago and reiterated again by Huey Newton in his "In Defence of Self-Defence," which New Left Notes decided to reprint in the recent National Convention issue.
To argue the question of "organization" versus "non-organization" is ridiculous; this issue has never been in dispute among serious anarchists, except perhaps for those lonely "individualists" whose ideology is rooted more in an extreme variant of classical liberalism than anarchy. Yes, anarchists believe in organization - in national organization and international organization. Anarchist organization have ranged from loose, highly decentralized groups to "vanguard" movements of many thousands, like the Spanish FAI, which functioned in a highly concerted fashion.
The real question at issue is not organization versus non-organization, but rather, what kind of organization. What different kinds of anarchist organizations have in common is that they are developed organically from below, not engineered into existence from above. They are social movements, combining a creative revolutionary life-style with a creative revolutionary theory, not political parties, whose node of life is indistinguishable from the surrounding rounding bourgeois environment and whose ideology is reduced to rigid "tried-and-tested programs." They try to reflect as much as is humanly possible the liberated society they seek to achieve, not slavishly duplicate the prevailing system of hierarchy, class, and authority. They are built around intimate groups of brothers and sisters, whose ability to act in common is based on initiative, convictions freely arrived at, and deep personal involvement, not a bureaucratic apparatus, fleshed out by docile memberships and manipulated from the top by a handful of all-knowing "leaders."
I don't know who Huey is arguing with when he speaks of "anarchists" who believe all they have to do is "just express themselves individually" in order to achieve freedom. Tim Leary? Allen Ginzberg? The Beatles? Certainly not the revolutionary anarchist communists I know -- and I know a large and fairly representative number. Nor is it clear to me where Huey acquired his facts on the May-June revolt in France. The "Communist party and the other progressive parties" of the French "Left" hadn't merely "lagged behind the people," as Huey seems to believe; these "disciplined" and "centralized" organizations tried in every way to obstruct the revolution and re-direct it back into traditional parliamentary channels. Even the "disciplined," "centralized" Trotskyist FER and the Maoist groups opposed the revolutionary students as "ultra-leftists," "adventurists," and "romantics" right up to the first street fighting in May. Characteristically, most of the "disciplined," "centralized" organizations of the French "Left" either lagged outrageously behind the events of, in the case of the "Communist Party and progressive parties," shamelessly betrayed the students and workers to the system.
I find it curious that while Huey accuses the French Stalinist hacks of merely having "lagged behind the people" he holds the anarchists and Danny Cohn-Bendit responsible for the people being "forced to turn back to DeGaulle." I visited France shortly after the May-June revolt and I can substantiate with out the least difficulty how resolutely Danny Cohn Bendit, the March 22nd Movement, and the anarchists tried to develop the assembly forms and action committees into a "structural program" (indeed, it went far beyond mere "program") to replace the DeGaulle government. I could show quite clearly how they tried to get the workers to retain their hold on the factories and establish direct economic contacts with the peasants: in short, how they tried to replace the French political and economic structure by creative, viable revolutionary forms. In this, they met with continual obstruction from the "disciplined" "centralized" parties of the French "Left" including a number of Trotskyist and Maoist sects.
There is another myth that needs to be exploded -- the myth that social revolutions are made by tightly disciplined cadres, guided by a highly centralized leadership. All the great social revolutions are the work of deep-seated historic forces and contradictions to which the revolutionary and his organization contributes very little and, in most cases, completely misjudges, The revolutions themselves break out spontaneously. The "glorious party" usually lags behind these events -- and, if the uprising is successful, steps in to commandeer, manipulate, and almost invariably distort it. It is then that the revolution reaches its real period of crises: will the "glorious party" re-create another system of hierarchy, commination and power in its sacred mission to "protect the revolution," or will it be dissolved into the revolution together with the dissolution of hierarchy, domination and power as such? If a revolutionary organization is not structured to dissolve into the popular forms created by the revolution once its function as a catalyst is completed; it its own forms are not similar to the libertarian society it seeks to create, so that it can disappear into the revolutionary forms of the future -- then the organization becomes a vehicle for carrying the forms of the past into the revolution. It becomes a self perpetuating organism, a state machine that, far from "withering away", perpetuates all the archaic conditions for its own existence.
There is far more myth than reality to the claim that a tightly "centralized" and "disciplined" party promotes the success of a revolution. The Bolsheviks were split, divided, and riddled by factional strife from October, 1917 to March, 1921. Ironically, it was only after the last White armies had been expelled from Russia that Lenin managed to completely centralize and discipline his party. Far more real have been the endless betrayals engineered by the hierarchical, "disciplined," highly "centralized" parties of the "Left," such as the Social Democratic and Communist.
They followed almost inexorably from the fact that every organization (however revolutionary its rhetoric and however well-intentioned its goals) which models itself structurally on the very system it seeks to overthrow becomes assimilated and subverted by bourgeois relations. It's seeming effectiveness becomes the source of its greatest failures.
Undeniably problems arise which can be solved only by committees, by co-ordination, and by a high measure of self-discipline. To the anarchist, committees must be limited to the practical tasks that necessitate their existence, and they must disappear once their functions are completed. Co-ordination and self-discipline must be achieved voluntarily, by virtue of the high moral and intellectual caliber of the revolutionary. To seek less that this is to accept, as a "revolutionary," a mindless robot, a creature of authoritarian training, a manipulable agent whose personality and outlook are utterly alien, indeed antithetical, to any society that could be remotely regarded as free.
No serious anarchist will disagree with Huey's plea on the "necessity for wiping out the imperialist structure by organized groups." If at all possible we must work together. We must recognize too, that in the United States, the heartland of world lmperialism today, an economy and technology has been developed which could remove, almost overnight, all the problems that Marx once believed justified the need for a state. It would be a disastrous error to deal with an economy of potential abundance and cybernated production from a theoretical position which was still rooted in a technological era based on coal, crude machines, long hours of toil, and material scarcity. It is time we stop trying to learn from Mao's China and Castro's Cuba -- and see the remarkable economic reality under our very eyes for all men to enjoy once the American bourgeois colossus can be tumbled and its resources brought to the service of humanity.
Murray BookchinFarah retweeted the message to his more than 27,000 followers. Fairfax has chosen not to repeat the offensive tweet. "We all need to make a stand and get these scums off twitter"... Wests Tigers captain Robbie Farah. Credit:Getty Images The same Twitter troll sent several messages to Canberra fullback Josh Dugan yesterday. The account was shut down last night. "I was very shocked and appalled to receive this vile comment on my Twitter account last night," Farah said in a statement today. "While I'm all for banter on Twitter and people expressing their opinions, this was personal about my late mother who I am still grieving about."
"As a rugby league player, I understand people are going to have different opinions about me, my football club, or the weekend’s results, and I accept that by putting myself on Twitter. "I know I will get positive and negative messages and I need to be accountable for the way I respond to these comments. "However the Tweet I received last night clearly crossed the line and was personal abuse of the worst possible kind, not only to myself but my family. "I understand NSW Police do have some powers to take action against people who post abusive comments online and I appreciate the efforts they are making. "However I encourage the federal government to strengthen social media laws so that these cowards are made accountable for their actions and people can be protected from the kind of disgusting personal abuse that I have received."
The laws are piss weak and people should be accountable for their comments. Robbie Farah O'Farrell writes to Swan NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has written to acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan about the issue of online bullying and harassment to seek a review of Commonwealth telecommunications laws. Mr O'Farrell said to Mr Swan that any loopholes between state and federal legislation should be closed. "There are clear offences under Commonwealth legislation for harassment and bullying using telecommunications devices," Mr O'Farrell said.
"Whether it happens to a showbiz personality, whether it happens to a footballer or someone down the street, we need to send the strongest possible message that it is simply not acceptable. "It's cowardice and they need to understand that you can't make such comments without consequences." Mr O'Farrell said he took online comments about himself "with a grain of salt" but said "ordinary people shouldn't have to deal with this crap". He said anyone being bullied online should contact police. Vile tweeter should be nervous: Premier
He said earlier the person who sent the tweet to Farah should be "a bit nervous" after Twitter users identified their IP address. "I noticed that last night in a very short amount of time, others on Twitter had identified his ISP address, which is the computer from which this person had sent the message from," Mr O'Farrell told Triple M radio this morning. "So I imagine he is a bit nervous today and so he should be. "I'm going to speak to the Police Commissioner about this specific incident," Mr O'Farrell said today. "But there's a bigger issue here and that is how the states [can] work with the federal government, particularly the Communications Minister, to see what can be done."
Mr O'Farrell also tweeted that he would work with "the Feds" to stop online abuse. Replace keyboards with handcuffs: Police Minister NSW Police Minister Michael Gallacher said at a press conference in Sydney this morning that Twitter trolls should have their keyboards replaced with handcuffs. "Honestly, these clowns who hide behind their keyboards in their mothers' basements thinking that they can send offensive messages... we've got to empower police with the ability to replace their keyboards with handcuffs, grab them by the ears from mummy's basement and take them down to the local police station and make them understand the offensive matters that they continue to raise on the internet [bear] a terrible price." Mr Gallacher said NSW Police did have some powers to take action against online abusers, but there needed to be some support from the federal government in making the legislation tougher.
"I'll be updating letters today to the federal government to include the Farah matter and asking them to take those matters into consideration. "Quite simply, these clowns have to realise that it's not acceptable to be sending offensive messages over the internet. "They might think it's all fun and all the rest of it, but, you know what? They're hurtful; they could end up having very serious consequences for somebody who interprets them and goes and does something as a result of seeing one of these offensive messages. "The people who send them, they would be the first to scream if they were on the receiving end of such messages. "I just think it's morally reprehensible for people to think that they can sit there behind their keyboard and type up whatever they want, send a message out and it will all be viewed as a bit of a joke.
"It's no joke. The only joke is the person actually sending the message." Farah demands action Farah had called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to tighten social media laws after he received the message, demanding that the so-called Twitter trolls be held accountable for their actions. He also stated that he had contacted police over the matter. "We all need to make a stand and get these scums off twitter," a clearly angry Farah said on the social networking site. "The laws are piss weak and people should be accountable for their comments." He also sent a message directly to the Prime Minister. "We need @JuliaGillard to take some action and change these soft laws. people need to be accountable for their comments," he said.
Farah's grief was made public after he played a leading role for NSW in a State of Origin victory just days before his mother died. He was also forced to withdraw from the Tigers' clash with Sydney Roosters after his mother died on the day of the game. Farah's actions in highlighting the offensive tweet and taking a stand might prompt stricter laws around social media. Last month, a 17-year-old boy was arrested in England for using Twitter to tell British diver Tom Daley - whose father Rob died of cancer last year - that he had let his father down by missing out on a medal. Loading
That incident came four months after a Swansea University student was jailed for 56 days for posting racially offensive comments about the Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba, who collapsed on the pitch during an FA Cup tie in March. The act of "trolling" has been a talking point in recent weeks after TV star Charlotte Dawson was admitted to hospital after persistent harassment.Birdwatching Gone Wrong A reporter from the Mythril Eye has been approaching adventurers left and right under the guise of wanting to collect opinions for an article he will be running in the paper. It quickly becomes evident, however, that he is simply looking to recruit able-bodied men and women on behalf of the royal seneschal, who has run headfirst into some trouble with rioting crowds. Those willing to step forward and ensure that this Little Ladies' Day will not end in disaster are encouraged to stick around and listen to what the columnist has to say.
Event Items Armor Emotes Songbird Items
* The quest reward Certificate of Collaboration can be exchanged for special event items by speaking with the royal handmaiden in Ul'dah.
* Certain items available during previous iterations of the event can be obtained via the Seasonal Shop.But one of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there. —Steve Jobs (date unknown, as played at the opening of the Steve Jobs Theater, September 12, 2017)
When I read this1 the other day, my first thought was of Camino.
We were often asked by outsiders why we worked on Camino, and why we persisted in building Camino for so long after Safari, Firefox, and Chrome were launched. In the minds of many of these people, our time and talents would have been better-spent working on anything other than Camino. While we all likely had different reasons, there were many areas of commonality; primarily, and most importantly, we loved or enjoyed working on Camino. Among other reasons, I also liked that I could see that my efforts made a difference; I wasn’t some cog in a giant, faceless machine, but a valued member of a strong, small team and a part of a larger community of our users who relied on Camino for their daily browsing and livelihoods. It was a way to “give back” to the world (and the open-source community) for things that were useful and positive in my life, to show appreciation.
We were making something wonderful, and we put it out there for the world to use.
1 Part of a heretofore publicly-unheard address from Steve Jobs that was played at the opening of the Steve Jobs Theater and the Apple fall 2017 product launches. ↩︎
PermalinkProfessional athletes don’t get to the top by accident. It takes superhuman levels of time, dedication, and focus—and that includes paying attention to what they put in their bellies. In this series, GQ takes a look at what athletes in different sports eat on a daily basis to perform at their best. Here’s a look at the daily diet of professional driver Andy Lally.
Imagine you're on a road trip. Eight hours in a car, contorted like a pretzel. |
security, including metal detectors or millimeter wave scanners, so it would probably not work to enter an airport without a real boarding pass. Its real utility lies simply in accessing elite areas within an airport, not in attacking one or getting onto a plane.
WIRED reached out to both the TSA and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for comment, and both said any such boarding pass security flaw would be the airlines' issue. "A forged BCBP will not entitle the person carrying it with any right to travel, nor will it create any confusion with an airline’s system where the official information is stored," cautioned the IATA. A spokeperson for the airline industry group Airlines for America wrote to WIRED in a statement that "airlines are constantly looking at new and emerging technologies designed to enhance the customer experience, while ensuring well-defined security measures and best practices are in place."
In the European airports where Jaroszewski has tried his technique, he says he's never even used his fake QR codes to access a lounge he didn't already have the right to access, or to buy duty free goods when he wasn't traveling internationally; he warns those two actions would likely be illegal. Even so, he's successfully tested his fake QR codes repeatedly with only a few failures. And he admits he once even used his program to create a QR code for a friend who didn't share his elite airline status when they had a 7-hour layover in Istanbul, so that both of them could hang out in Turkish Airlines’ swanky lounge. “I just said, I’ll send you the QR code,” Jaroszewski says carefully. “If you want to use it, you use it.”
Jaroszewski isn't publicly releasing his boarding pass QR code spoofing software. He says he'd rather avoid the FBI raid and investigation that followed Chris Soghoian's release of a similar tool 10 years ago. But he argues it would be "very easy" for motivated hackers to recreate the app, which he says consisted of about 500 lines of javascript. For a hacker willing to do a little coding—and illegal trespassing—it may offer a chance to score a small, subversive win against the global frequent-flying elite.Purported historical confederation
This famous scene from the north wall of Medinet Habu is often used to illustrate the Egyptian campaign against the Sea Peoples in what has come to be known as the Battle of the Delta. Whilst accompanying hieroglyphs do not name Egypt's enemies, describing them simply as being from "northern countries", early scholars noted the similarities between the hairstyles and accessories worn by the combatants and other reliefs in which such groups are named.
The Sea Peoples are a purported seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).[1][2] Following the creation of the concept in the nineteenth century, it became one of the most famous chapters of Egyptian history, given its connection with, in the words of Wilhelm Max Müller: "the most important questions of ethnography and the primitive history of classic nations." Their origins uncertain, the various Sea Peoples have been proposed to have originated from places that include western Asia Minor, the Aegean, the Mediterranean islands, and Southern Europe.[5] Although the archaeological inscriptions do not include reference to a migration,[2] the Sea Peoples are conjectured to have sailed around the eastern Mediterranean and invaded Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Canaan, Cyprus, and Egypt toward the end of the Bronze Age.[6]
French Egyptologist Emmanuel de Rougé first used the term peuples de la mer (literally "peoples of the sea") in 1855 in a description of reliefs on the Second Pylon at Medinet Habu documenting Year 8 of Ramesses III.[8] Gaston Maspero, de Rougé's successor at the Collège de France, subsequently popularized the term "Sea Peoples"—and an associated migration-theory—in the late 19th century.[9] Since the early 1990s, the theory has been brought into question by a number of scholars.[1][2][10][11]
The Sea Peoples remain unidentified in the eyes of most modern scholars, and hypotheses regarding the origin of the various groups are the source of much speculation.[12][13] Existing theories variously propose equating them with several Aegean tribes, raiders from Central Europe, scattered soldiers who turned to piracy or who had become refugees, and links with natural disasters such as earthquakes or climatic shifts.[2][14]
History of the concept [ edit ]
left), and an illustration of the prisoners depicted at the base of the Fortified East Gate (right), were first provided by [15] Although Champollion did not label them, decades later the hieroglyphs labelled 4 to 8 (left) were translated as Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh, and the hieroglyphs next to prisoners 4 and 6 (right) translated as Sherden and Teresh.[16] A partial description of the hieroglyphic text at Medinet Habu on the right tower of Second Pylon (), and an illustration of the prisoners depicted at the base of the Fortified East Gate (), were first provided by Jean-François Champollion following his 1828–29 travels to Egypt and published posthumously.Although Champollion did not label them, decades later the hieroglyphs labelled 4 to 8 (left) were translated as Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh, and the hieroglyphs next to prisoners 4 and 6 (right) translated as Sherden and Teresh.
The concept of the Sea Peoples was first described by Emmanuel de Rougé in 1855, then curator of the Louvre, in his work Note on Some Hieroglyphic Texts Recently Published by Mr. Greene, describing the battles of Ramesses III described on the Second Pylon at Medinet Habu, and based upon recent photographs of the temple by John Beasley Greene.[19][20] De Rougé noted that "in the crests of the conquered peoples the Sherden and the Teresh bear the designation of the 'peuples de la mer'", in a reference to the prisoners depicted at the base of the Fortified East Gate.[8] In 1867, de Rougé published his Excerpts of a dissertation on the attacks directed against Egypt by the peoples of the Mediterranean in the 14th century BCE, which focused primarily on the battles of Ramesses II and Merneptah, and which proposed translations for many of the geographic names included in the hieroglyphic inscriptions. De Rougé later became chair of Egyptology at the Collège de France, and was succeeded by Gaston Maspero. Maspero built upon de Rougé's work, and published The Struggle of the Nations, in which he described the theory of the seaborne migrations in detail in 1895–96 for a wider audience,[9] at a time when the idea of population migrations would have felt familiar to the general population.
The theory was taken up by other scholars such as Eduard Meyer, and became the generally accepted theory amongst Egyptologists and orientalists.[9] Since the early 1990s, however, the theory has been brought into question by a number of scholars.[1][2][10][11]
The historical narrative stems primarily from seven Ancient Egyptian sources, and although in these inscriptions the designation "of the sea" does not appear in relation to all of these peoples,[1][11] the term "Sea Peoples" is commonly used to refer to the following nine peoples, in alphabetical order:[27]
Primary documentary records [ edit ]
The Medinet Habu inscriptions from which the Sea Peoples concept was first described remain the primary source and "the basis of virtually all significant discussions of them".
Three separate narratives from Egyptian records refer to more than one of the nine peoples, found in a total of six sources. The seventh and most recent source referring to more than one of the nine peoples is a list (Onomasticon) of 610 entities, rather than a narrative. These sources are summarized in the table below.
Ramesses II narrative [ edit ]
A carved relief from the Kadesh inscriptions showing Shasu spies being beaten by Egyptians
Possible records of sea peoples generally or in particular date to two campaigns of Ramesses II, a pharaoh of the militant 19th Dynasty: operations in or near the delta in Year 2 of his reign and the major confrontation with the Hittite Empire and allies at the Battle of Kadesh in his Year 5. The years of this long-lived pharaoh's reign are not known exactly, but they must have comprised nearly all of the first half of the 13th century BCE.[56]
In his Second Year, an attack of the Sherden, or Shardana, on the Nile Delta was repulsed and defeated by Ramesses, who captured some of the pirates. The event is recorded on Tanis Stele II.[57] An inscription by Ramesses II on the stela from Tanis which recorded the Sherden raiders' raid and subsequent capture speaks of the continuous threat they posed to Egypt's Mediterranean coasts:
the unruly Sherden whom no one had ever known how to combat, they came boldly sailing in their warships from the midst of the sea, none being able to withstand them.[58]
The Sherden prisoners were subsequently incorporated into the Egyptian army for service on the Hittite frontier by Ramesses, and were involved as Egyptian soldiers in the Battle of Kadesh. Another stele usually cited in conjunction with this one is the "Aswan Stele" (there were other stelae at Aswan), which mentions the king's operations to defeat a number of peoples including those of the "Great Green (the Egyptian name for the Mediterranean)". It is plausible to assume that the Tanis and Aswan Stelae refer to the same event, in which case they reinforce each other.[citation needed]
The Battle of Kadesh was the outcome of a campaign against the Hittites and allies in the Levant in the pharaoh's Year 5. The imminent collision of the Egyptian and Hittite empires became obvious to both, and they both prepared campaigns against the strategic midpoint of Kadesh for the next year. Ramesses divided his Egyptian forces, which were then ambushed piecemeal by the Hittite army and nearly defeated. However, some Egyptian forces made it through to Kadesh, and the arrival of the last of the Egyptians provided enough military cover to allow the pharaoh to escape and his army to withdraw in defeat; leaving Kadesh in Hittite hands.[59]
At home, Ramesses had his scribes formulate an official description, which has been called "the Bulletin" because it was widely published by inscription. Ten copies survive today on the temples at Abydos, Karnak, Luxor and Abu Simbel, with reliefs depicting the battle. The "Poem of Pentaur", describing the battle survived also.[60]
The poem relates that the previously captured Sherden were not only working for the Pharaoh, but were also formulating a plan of battle for him; i.e. it was their idea to divide Egyptian forces into four columns. There is no evidence of any collaboration with the Hittites or malicious intent on their part, and if Ramesses considered it, he never left any record of that consideration.[citation needed]
The poem lists the peoples which went to Kadesh as allies of the Hittites. Amongst them are some of the sea peoples spoken of in the Egyptian inscriptions previously mentioned, and many of the peoples who would later take part in the great migrations of the 12th century BCE (see Appendix A to the Battle of Kadesh).[citation needed]
Merneptah narrative [ edit ]
"the foreign-peoples of the sea" (n3 ḫ3s.wt n<.t> p3 ym)
in line 52 of the Great Karnak Inscription[41]
in hieroglyphs
Athribis stele (showing all 19 lines and 14 lines on each face. The reference to "foreigners of the sea" is on line 13 out of 19) Great Karnak Inscription (lines 1-20 out of 79; the reference to "foreign countries of the sea" is on line 52)
The major event of the reign of the Pharaoh Merneptah (1213 BCE – 1203 BCE),[61] 4th king of the 19th Dynasty, was his battle against a confederacy termed "the Nine Bows" at Perire in the western delta in the 5th and 6th years of his reign. Depredations of this confederacy had been so severe that the region was "forsaken as pasturage for cattle, it was left waste from the time of the ancestors".[62]
The pharaoh's action against them is attested in a single narrative found in three sources. The most detailed source describing the battle is the Great Karnak Inscription, and two shorter versions of the same narrative are found in the "Athribis Stele" and the "Cairo Column".[63] The "Cairo column" is a section of a granite column now in the Cairo Museum, which was first published by Maspero in 1881 with just two readable sentences – the first confirming the date of Year 5 and the second stating: "The wretched [chief] of Libya has invaded with ——, being men and women, Shekelesh (S'-k-rw-s) ——".[64] The "Athribis stela" is a granite stela found in Athribis and inscribed on both sides, which, like the Cairo column was first published by Maspero, two years later in 1883.[66] The Merneptah Stele from Thebes describes the reign of peace resulting from the victory, but does not include any reference to the Sea Peoples.[67]
The Nine Bows were acting under the leadership of the king of Libya and an associated near-concurrent revolt in Canaan involving Gaza, Ashkelon, Yenoam and the people of Israel. Exactly which peoples were consistently in the Nine Bows is not clear, but present at the battle were the Libyans, some neighboring Meshwesh, and possibly a separate revolt in the following year involving peoples from the eastern Mediterranean, including the Kheta (or Hittites), or Syrians, and (in the Israel Stele) for the first time in history, the Israelites. In addition to them, the first lines of the Karnak inscription include some sea peoples,[68] which must have arrived in the Western Delta or from Cyrene by ship:
[Beginning of the victory that his majesty achieved in the land of Libya] -i, Ekwesh, Teresh, Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Northerners coming from all lands.
Later in the inscription Merneptah receives news of the attack:
... the third season, saying: "The wretched, fallen chief of Libya, Meryey, son of Ded, has fallen upon the country of Tehenu with his bowmen – Sherden, Shekelesh, Ekwesh, Lukka, Teresh, Taking the best of every warrior and every man of war of his country. He has brought his wife and his children – leaders of the camp, and he has reached the western boundary in the fields of Perire"
"His majesty was enraged at their report, like a lion", assembled his court and gave a rousing speech. Later, he dreamed he saw Ptah handing him a sword and saying, "Take thou (it) and banish thou the fearful heart from thee." When the bowmen went forth, says the inscription, "Amun was with them as a shield." After six hours, the surviving Nine Bows threw down their weapons, abandoned their baggage and dependents, and ran for their lives. Merneptah states that he defeated the invasion, killing 6,000 soldiers and taking 9,000 prisoners. To be sure of the numbers, among other things, he took the penises of all uncircumcised enemy dead and the hands of all the circumcised, from which history learns that the Ekwesh were circumcised, a fact causing some to doubt they were Greek.[69]
Ramesses III narrative [ edit ]
"Now the northern countries, which were in their isles, were quivering in their bodies. They penetrated the channels of the Nile mouths. Their nostrils have ceased (to function, so that) their desire is [to] breathe the breath. His majesty is gone forth like a whirlwind against them, fighting on the battle field like a runner. The dread of him and the terror of him have entered in their bodies; (they are) capsized and overwhelmed in their places. Their hearts are taken away; their soul is flown away. Their weapons are scattered in the sea. His arrow pierces him whom he has wished among them, while the fugitive is become one fallen into the water. His majesty is like an en- raged lion, attacking his assailant with his pawns; plundering on his right hand and powerful on his left hand, like Set[h] destroying the serpent 'Evil of Character'. It is Amon-Re who has overthrown for him the lands and has crushed for him every land un- der his feet; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands: Usermare-Meriamon."[70] Medinet Habu northeast outside wall, showing wide view and a close up sketch of the right hand side relief. Behind the king (out of scene) is a chariot, above which the text describes a battle in Year 8 as follows:"Now the northern countries, which were in their isles, were quivering in their bodies. They penetrated the channels of the Nile mouths. Their nostrils have ceased (to function, so that) their desire is [to] breathe the breath. His majesty is gone forth like a whirlwind against them, fighting on the battle field like a runner. The dread of him and the terror of him have entered in their bodies; (they are) capsized and overwhelmed in their places. Their hearts are taken away; their soul is flown away. Their weapons are scattered in the sea. His arrow pierces him whom he has wished among them, while the fugitive is become one fallen into the water. His majesty is like an en- raged lion, attacking his assailant with his pawns; plundering on his right hand and powerful on his left hand, like Set[h] destroying the serpent 'Evil of Character'. It is Amon-Re who has overthrown for him the lands and has crushed for him every land un- der his feet; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands: Usermare-Meriamon."
Ramesses III, the second king of the Egyptian 20th Dynasty, who reigned for most of the first half of the 12th century BCE, was forced to deal with a later wave of invasions of the Sea Peoples—the best-recorded of these in his eighth year. This was recorded in two long inscriptions from his Medinet Habu mortuary temple, which are physically separate and somewhat different from one another.
The fact that several civilizations collapsed around 1175 BCE, has led to the suggestion that the Sea Peoples may have been involved in the end of the Hittite, Mycenaean and Mitanni kingdoms. The American Hittitologist Gary Beckman writes, on page 23 of Akkadica 120 (2000):[72]
A terminus ante quem for the destruction of the Hittite empire has been recognised in an inscription carved at Medinet Habu in Egypt in the eighth year of Ramesses III (1175 BCE). This text narrates a contemporary great movement of peoples in the eastern Mediterranean, as a result of which "the lands were removed and scattered to the fray. No land could stand before their arms, from Hatti, Kode, Carchemish, Arzawa, Alashiya on being cut off. [ie: cut down]"
Ramesses' comments about the scale of the Sea Peoples' onslaught in the eastern Mediterranean are confirmed by the destruction of the states of Hatti, Ugarit, Ashkelon and Hazor around this time. As the Hittitologist Trevor Bryce observes:[73]
It should be stressed that the invasions were not merely military operations, but involved the movements of large populations, by land and sea, seeking new lands to settle.
This situation is confirmed by the Medinet Habu temple reliefs of Ramesses III which show that:[73]
the Peleset and Tjekker warriors who fought in the land battle [against Ramesses III] are accompanied in the reliefs by women and children loaded in ox-carts.
Medinet Habu Second Pylon, showing wide view and a close up sketch of the left hand side relief in which Amon, with Mut behind him, extends a sword to Rameses III who is leading three lines of prisoners. The text before the King includes the following: "Thou puttest great terror of me in the hearts of their chiefs; the fear and dread of me before them; that I may carry off their warriors (phrr), bound in my grasp, to lead them to thy ka, O my august father, – – – – –. Come, to [take] them, being: Peleset (Pw-r'-s'-t), Denyen (D'-y-n-yw-n'), Shekelesh (S'-k-rw-s). Thy strength it was which was before me, overthrowing their seed, – thy might, O lord of gods."[74] On the right hand side of the Pylon is the "Great Inscription on the Second Pylon", which includes the following text: "The foreign countries made a conspiracy in their islands, All at once the lands were removed and scattered in the fray. No land could stand before their arms: from Hatti, Qode, Carchemish, Arzawa and Alashiya on, being cut off [i.e. destroyed] at one time. A camp was set up in Amurru. They desolated its people, and its land was like that which has never come into being. They were coming forward toward Egypt, while the flame was prepared before them. Their confederation was the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh, lands united. They laid their hands upon the land as far as the circuit of the earth, their hearts confident and trusting: 'Our plans will succeed!'"[75]
The inscriptions of Ramesses III at his Medinet Habu mortuary temple in Thebes record three victorious campaigns against the Sea Peoples considered bona fide, in Years 5, 8 and 12, as well as three considered spurious, against the Nubians and Libyans in Year 5 and the Libyans with Asiatics in Year 11. During Year 8 some Hittites were operating with the Sea Peoples.[76]
The inner west wall of the second court describes the invasion of Year 5. Only the Peleset and Tjeker are mentioned, but the list is lost in a lacuna. The attack was two-pronged, one by sea and one by land; that is, the Sea Peoples divided their forces. Ramsesses was waiting in the Nile mouths and trapped the enemy fleet there. The land forces were defeated separately.
The Sea Peoples did not learn any lessons from this defeat, as they repeated their mistake in Year 8 with a similar result. The campaign is recorded more extensively on the inner northwest panel of the first court. It is possible, but not generally believed, that the dates are only those of the inscriptions and both refer to the same campaign.
In Ramesses' Year 8, the Nine Bows appear again as a "conspiracy in their isles". This time, they are revealed unquestionably as Sea Peoples: the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh, which are classified as "foreign countries" in the inscription. They camped in Amor and sent a fleet to the Nile.
The pharaoh was once more waiting for them. He had built a fleet especially for the occasion, hid it in the Nile mouths and posted coast watchers. The enemy fleet was ambushed there, their ships overturned, and the men dragged up on shore and executed ad hoc.
The land army was also routed within Egyptian controlled territory. Additional information is given in the relief on the outer side of the east wall. This land battle occurred in the vicinity of Djahy against "the northern countries". When it was over, several chiefs were captive: of Hatti, Amor and Shasu among the "land peoples" and the Tjeker, "Sherden of the sea", "Teresh of the sea" and Peleset or Philistines (in whose name some have seen the ancient Greek name for sea people; Pelasgians).
The campaign of Year 12 is attested by the Südstele found on the south side of the temple. It mentions the Tjeker, Peleset, Denyen, Weshesh and Shekelesh.
Papyrus Harris I of the period, found behind the temple, suggests a wider campaign against the Sea Peoples but does not mention the date. In it, the persona of Ramses III says, "I slew the Denyen (D'-yn-yw-n) in their isles" and "burned" the Tjeker and Peleset, implying a maritime raid of his own. He also captured some Sherden and Weshesh "of the sea" and settled them in Egypt.[77] As he is called the "Ruler of Nine Bows" in the relief of the east side, these events probably happened in Year 8; i.e. the Pharaoh would have used the victorious fleet for some punitive expeditions elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
The Rhetorical Stela to Ramesses III, Chapel C, Deir el-Medina records a similar narrative.[78]
Onomasticon of Amenope [ edit ]
The Onomasticon of Amenope, or Amenemipit (amen-em-apt), gives a slight credence to the idea that the Ramesside kings settled the Sea Peoples in Canaan. Dated to about 1100 BCE, at the end of the 21st dynasty (which had numerous short-reigned pharaohs), this document simply lists names. After six place names, four of which were in Philistia, the scribe lists the Sherden (Line 268), the Tjeker (Line 269) and the Peleset (Line 270), who might be presumed to occupy those cities.[79] The Story of Wenamun on a papyrus of the same cache also places the Tjeker in Dor at that time. The fact that the Biblical maritime Tribe of Dan was initially located between the Philistines and the Tjekker, has prompted some to suggest that they may originally have been Denyen. Sherden seem to have been settled around Megiddo and in the Jordan Valley, and Weshwesh (Biblical Asher) may have been settled further north.[citation needed]
Other documentary records [ edit ]
Egyptian single-name sources [ edit ]
Other Egyptian sources refer to one of the individual groups without reference to any of the other groups.
The Amarna letters, around the mid-14th century BCE, include four relating to the Sea Peoples:
EA 151 refers to the Denyen, in a passing reference to the death of their king;
EA 38 refers to the Lukka, who are being accused of attacking the Egyptians in conjunction with the Alashiyans (Cypriotes), with the latter having stated that the Lukka were seizing their villages.
EA 81, EA 122 and EA 133 refer to the Sherden. The letters at one point refer to a Sherden man as an apparent renegade mercenary,[80] and at another point to three Sherden who are slain by an Egyptian overseer.[81]
Padiiset's Statue refers to the Peleset, the Cairo Column[82] refers to the Shekelesh, the Story of Wenamun refers to the Tjekker, and 13 further Egyptian sources refer to the Sherden.[83]
Canaanite references [ edit ]
The earliest ethnic group[84] later considered among the Sea Peoples is believed to be attested in Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Byblos obelisk found in the Obelisk Temple at Byblos by Maurice Dunand.[85][86] The inscription mentions kwkwn son of rwqq- (or kukun son of luqq), transliterated as Kukunnis, son of Lukka, "the Lycian".[87] The date is given variously as 2000 or 1700 BCE.
Some Sea Peoples appear in four of the Ugaritic texts, the last three of which seem to foreshadow the destruction of the city around 1180 BCE. The letters are therefore dated to the early 12th century. The last king of Ugarit was Ammurapi ( c. 1191–1182 BCE), who, throughout this correspondence, is quite a young man.
RS 34.129, the earliest letter, found on the south side of the city, from "the Great King", presumably Suppiluliuma II of the Hittites, to the prefect of the city. He says that he ordered the king of Ugarit to send him Ibnadushu for questioning, but the king was too immature to respond. He therefore wants the prefect to send the man, whom he promises to return. What this language implies about the relationship of the Hittite empire to Ugarit is a matter for interpretation. Ibnadushu had been kidnapped by and had resided among a people of Shikala, probably the Shekelesh, "who lived on ships". The letter is generally interpreted as an interest in military intelligence by the king. [88]
RS L 1, RS 20.238 and RS 20.18, are a set from the Rap'anu Archive between a slightly older Ammurapi, now handling his own affairs, and Eshuwara, the grand supervisor of Alasiya. Evidently, Ammurapi had informed Eshuwara, that an enemy fleet of 20 ships had been spotted at sea. Eshuwara wrote back and inquired about the location of Ammurapi's own forces. Eshuwara also noted that he would like to know where the enemy fleet of 20 ships are now located.[89] Unfortunately for both Ugarit and Alasiya, neither kingdom was able to fend off the Sea People's onslaught, and both were ultimately destroyed. A letter by Amurapi (RS 18.147) to the king of Alasiya—which was in fact a response to an appeal for assistance by the latter—has been found by archaeologists. In it, Ammurapi describes the desperate plight facing Ugarit.[a] Ammurapi, in turn, appealed for aid from the viceroy of Carchemish, which actually survived the Sea People's onslaught; King Kuzi-Teshub I, who was the son of Talmi-Teshub—a direct contemporary of the last ruling Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II—is attested in power there,[91] running a mini-empire which stretched from "Southeast Asia Minor, North Syria... [to] the west bend of the Euphrates"[92] from c. 1175 BCE to 990 BCE. Its viceroy could only offer some words of advice for Ammurapi.[b]
Hypotheses about identity [ edit ]
A number of hypotheses concerning the identities and motives of the Sea Peoples described in the records have been formulated. They are not necessarily alternative or contradictory hypotheses about the sea peoples; any or all might be mainly or partly true.
Regional migration historical context [ edit ]
The Linear B Tablets of Pylos in the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean demonstrate increased slave raiding and the spread of mercenaries and migratory peoples and their subsequent resettlement. Despite this, the actual identity of the Sea Peoples has remained enigmatic and modern scholars have only the scattered records of ancient civilizations and archaeological analysis to inform them. Evidence shows that the identities and motives of these peoples were known to the Egyptians. In fact, many had sought employment with the Egyptians or were in a diplomatic relationship for a few centuries before the Late Bronze Age Collapse. For example, select groups, or members of groups, of the Sea People, such as the Sherden or Shardana, were used as mercenaries by Egyptian Pharaohs such as Ramesses II.
Prior to the 3rd Intermediate Period of Egypt from the (15th century BCE), names of Semitic-speaking, cattle-raising pastoral nomads of the Levant appear, replacing previous Egyptian concern with the Hurrianised 'prw ('Apiru or Habiru). These were called the š3sw (Shasu), meaning "those who move on foot". e.g. the Shasu of Yhw.[94] Nancy Sandars uses the analogous name "land peoples". Contemporary Assyrian records refer to them as Ahhlamu or Wanderers.[95] They were not part of the Egyptian list of Sea Peoples, and were later referred to as Aramaeans.
Some people, such as the Lukka, were included in both categories of land and sea people.
Philistine hypothesis [ edit ]
The archaeological evidence from the southern coastal plain of ancient Palestine, termed Philistia in the Hebrew Bible, indicates a disruption[96] of the Canaanite culture that existed during the Late Bronze Age and its replacement (with some integration) by a culture with a possibly foreign (mainly Aegean) origin. This includes distinct pottery, which at first belongs to the Mycenaean IIIC tradition (albeit of local manufacture) and gradually transforms into a uniquely Philistine pottery. Mazar says:[97]
... in Philistia, the producers of Mycenaean IIIC pottery must be identified as the Philistines. The logical conclusion, therefore, is that the Philistines were a group of Mycenaean Greeks who immigrated to the east... Within several decades... a new bichrome style, known as the "Philistine", appeared in Philistia...
Sandars, however, does not take this point of view, but says:[98]
... it would be less misleading to call this 'Philistine pottery' 'Sea Peoples' pottery or 'foreign' pottery, without commitment to any particular group.
Artifacts of the Philistine culture are found at numerous sites, in particular in the excavations of the five main cities of the Philistines: the Pentapolis of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. Some scholars (e.g. S. Sherratt, Drews, etc.) have challenged the theory that the Philistine culture is an immigrant culture, claiming instead that they are an in situ development of the Canaanite culture, but others argue for the immigrant hypothesis; for example, T. Dothan and Barako.
Trude and Moshe Dothan, suggests that the later Philistine settlements in the Levant were unoccupied for nearly 30 years between their destruction and resettlement by the Philistines, whose Helladic IIICb pottery also shows Egyptian influences.
Minoan hypothesis [ edit ]
Two of the peoples who settled in the Levant had traditions that may connect them to Crete: the Tjeker and the Peleset. The Tjeker may have left Crete to settle in Anatolia, and left there to settle Dor.[100] According to the Old Testament,[101] the Israelite God brought the Philistines out of Caphtor. The mainstream of Biblical and classical scholarship accepts Caphtor to refer to Crete, but there are alternative minority theories.[102] Crete at the time was populated by peoples speaking many languages, among which were Mycenaean Greek and Eteocretan, the descendant of the language of the Minoans. It is possible, but by no means certain, that these two peoples spoke Eteocretan.
Recent examinations of the eruption of the Santorini volcano estimate its occurrence at between 1660 and 1613 BCE, centuries before the first appearances of the Sea Peoples in Egypt. The eruption is thus unlikely to be connected to the Sea Peoples.[103]
Greek migrational hypothesis [ edit ]
The identifications of Denyen with the Greek Danaans and Ekwesh with the Greek Achaeans are long-standing issues in Bronze Age scholarship, whether Greek, Hittite or Biblical, especially as they lived "in the isles". The Greek identification of the Ekwesh is considered especially problematic as this group was clearly described as circumcised by the Egyptians, and according to Manuel Robbins: "Hardly anyone thinks that the Greeks of the Bronze Age were circumcised..."[69] Michael Wood described the hypothetical role of the Greeks (who have already been proposed as the identity of the Philistines above):[104]
... were the sea peoples... in part actually composed of Mycenaean Greeks – rootless migrants, warrior bands and condottieri on the move...? Certainly there seem to be suggestive parallels between the war gear and helmets of the Greeks... and those of the Sea Peoples...
Wood would also include the Sherden and Shekelesh, pointing out that "there were migrations of Greek-speaking peoples to the same place [Sardinia and Sicily] at this time." He is careful to point out that the Greeks would have been only one element among many that comprised the sea peoples. Furthermore, the proportion of Greeks must have been relatively small. His major hypothesis[104] is that the Trojan War was fought against Troy VI and Troy VIIa, the candidate of Carl Blegen, and that Troy was sacked by those now identified as Greek Sea Peoples. He suggests that Odysseus' assumed identity as a wandering Cretan coming home from the Trojan War, who fights in Egypt and serves there after being captured,[105] "remembers" the campaign of Year 8 of Ramses III, described above. He points out also that places destroyed on Cyprus at the time (such as Kition) were rebuilt by a new Greek-speaking population.
Trojan hypothesis [ edit ]
The possibility that the Teresh were connected on the one hand with the Tyrrhenians,[106] believed to be an Etruscan-related culture, and on the other with Taruisa, a Hittite name possibly referring to Troy,[107] had been considered by the ancient Romans.[verification needed] The Roman poet Virgil refers to this belief when he depicts Aeneas |
Fuel Research (CFR) Committee was established in 1920 to oversee joint investigative programs and solutions. Apart from representatives of the two industries, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) also played an instrumental role, with the U.S. Bureau of Standards being chosen as an impartial research organization to carry out many of the studies. Initially, all the programs were related to volatility and fuel consumption, ease of starting, crankcase oil dilution and acceleration.[30]
Leaded gasoline controversy, 1924–1925 [ edit ]
With the increased use of thermally cracked gasolines came an increased concern regarding its effects on abnormal combustion, and this led to research for antiknock additives. In the late 1910s, researchers such as A.H. Gibson, Harry Ricardo, Thomas Midgley Jr. and Thomas Boyd began to investigate abnormal combustion. Beginning in 1916, Charles F. Kettering began investigating additives based on two paths, the "high percentage" solution (where large quantities of ethanol were added) and the "low percentage" solution (where only 2–4 grams per gallon were needed). The "low percentage" solution ultimately led to the discovery of tetraethyllead (TEL) in December 1921, a product of the research of Midgley and Boyd. This innovation started a cycle of improvements in fuel efficiency that coincided with the large-scale development of oil refining to provide more products in the boiling range of gasoline. Ethanol could not be patented but TEL could, so Kettering secured a patent for TEL and began promoting it instead of other options.
The dangers of compounds containing lead were well-established by then and Kettering was directly warned by Robert Wilson of MIT, Reid Hunt of Harvard, Yandell Henderson of Yale, and Charles Kraus of the University of Potsdam in Germany about its use. Kraus had worked on tetraethyllead for many years and called it "a creeping and malicious poison" that had killed a member of his dissertation committee.[31][32] On 27 October 1924, newspaper articles around the nation told of the workers at the Standard Oil refinery near Elizabeth, New Jersey who were producing TEL and were suffering from lead poisoning. By 30 October, the death toll had reached five.[32] In November, the New Jersey Labor Commission closed the Bayway refinery and a grand jury investigation was started which had resulted in no charges by February 1925. Leaded gasoline sales were banned in New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey. General Motors, DuPont, and Standard Oil, who were partners in Ethyl Corporation, the company created to produce TEL, began to argue that there were no alternatives to leaded gasoline that would maintain fuel efficiency and still prevent engine knocking. After flawed studies determined that TEL-treated gasoline was not a public health issue, the controversy subsided.[32]
United States, 1930–1941 [ edit ]
In the five-year period prior to 1929, a great amount of experimentation was conducted on different testing methods for determining fuel resistance to abnormal combustion. It appeared engine knocking was dependent on a wide variety of parameters including compression, cylinder temperature, air-cooled or water-cooled engines, chamber shapes, intake temperatures, lean or rich mixtures and others. This led to a confusing variety of test engines that gave conflicting results, and no standard rating scale existed. By 1929, it was recognized by most aviation gasoline manufacturers and users that some kind of antiknock rating must be included in government specifications. In 1929, the octane rating scale was adopted, and in 1930 the first octane specification for aviation fuels was established. In the same year, the U.S. Army Air Force specified fuels rated at 87 octane for its aircraft as a result of studies it conducted.[33]
During this period, research showed that hydrocarbon structure was extremely important to the antiknocking properties of fuel. Straight-chain paraffins in the boiling range of gasoline had low antiknock qualities while ring-shaped molecules such as aromatic hydrocarbons (an example is benzene) had higher resistance to knocking.[34] This development led to the search for processes that would produce more of these compounds from crude oils than achieved under straight distillation or thermal cracking. Research by the major refiners into conversion processes yielded isomerization, dehydration, and alkylation that could change the cheap and abundant butane into isooctane, which became an important component in aviation fuel blending. To further complicate the situation, as engine performance increased, the altitude that aircraft could reach also increased, which resulted in concerns about the fuel freezing. The average temperature decrease is 3.6 °F (2.0 °C) per 1,000-foot (300-metre) increase in altitude, and at 40,000 feet (12 km), the temperature can approach −70 °F (−57 °C). Additives like benzene, with a freezing point of 42 °F (6 °C), would freeze in the gasoline and plug fuel lines. Substitute aromatics such as toluene, xylene and cumene combined with limited benzene solved the problem.[35]
By 1935, there were seven different aviation grades based on octane rating, two Army grades, four Navy grades and three commercial grades including the introduction of 100-octane aviation gasoline. By 1937 the Army established 100-octane as the standard fuel for combat aircraft and to add to the confusion, the government now recognized 14 different grades, in addition to 11 others in foreign countries. With some companies required to stock 14 grades of aviation fuel, none of which could be interchanged, the effect on the refiners was negative. The refining industry could not concentrate on large capacity conversion processes for so many different grades and a solution had to be found. By 1941, principally through the efforts of the Cooperative Fuel Research Committee, the number of grades for aviation fuels was reduced to three: 73, 91 and 100 octane.[36]
In 1937, Eugene Houdry developed the Houdry process of catalytic cracking, which produced a high-octane base stock of gasoline which was superior to the thermally cracked product since it did not contain the high concentration of olefins.[18] In 1940, there were only 14 Houdry units in operation in the U.S.; by 1943, this had increased to 77, either of the Houdry process or of the Thermofor Catalytic or Fluid Catalyst type.[37]
The search for fuels with octane ratings above 100 led to the extension of the scale by comparing power output. A fuel designated grade 130 would produce 130 percent as much power in an engine as it would running on pure iso-octane. During WW II, fuels above 100-octane were given two ratings, a lean and rich mixture and these would be called 'performance numbers' (PN). 100-octane aviation gasoline would be referred to as 130/100 grade.[38]
World War II [ edit ]
Germany [ edit ]
Oil and its byproducts, especially high-octane aviation gasoline, would prove to be a driving concern for how Germany conducted the war. As a result of the lessons of World War I, Germany had stockpiled oil and gasoline for its blitzkrieg offensive and had annexed Austria, adding 18,000 barrels per day of oil production, but this was not sufficient to sustain the planned conquest of Europe. Because captured supplies and oil fields would be necessary to fuel the campaign, the German high command created a special squad of oil-field experts drawn from the ranks of domestic oil industries. They were sent in to put out oil-field fires and get production going again as soon as possible. But capturing oil fields remained an obstacle throughout the war. During the Invasion of Poland, German estimates of gasoline consumption turned out to be vastly underestimated. Heinz Guderian and his Panzer divisions consumed nearly 1,000 U.S. gallons (3,800 L) of gasoline per mile on the drive to Vienna. When they were engaged in combat across open country, gasoline consumption almost doubled. On the second day of battle, a unit of the XIX Corps was forced to halt when it ran out of gasoline.[39] One of the major objectives of the Polish invasion was their oil fields but the Soviets invaded and captured 70 percent of the Polish production before the Germans could reach it. Through the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940), Stalin agreed in vague terms to supply Germany with additional oil equal to that produced by now Soviet-occupied Polish oil fields at Drohobych and Boryslav in exchange for hard coal and steel tubing.
Even after the Nazis conquered the vast territories of Europe, this did not help the gasoline shortage. This area had never been self-sufficient in oil before the war. In 1938, the area that would become Nazi-occupied would produce 575,000 barrels per day. In 1940, total production under German control amounted to only 234,550 barrels—a shortfall of 59 percent.[40] By the spring of 1941 and the depletion of German gasoline reserves, Hitler saw the invasion of Russia to seize the Polish oil fields and the Russian oil in the Caucasus as the solution to the German gasoline shortage. As early as July 1941, following the 22 June start of Operation Barbarossa, certain Luftwaffe squadrons were forced to curtail ground support missions due to shortages of aviation gasoline. On 9 October, the German quartermaster general estimated that army vehicles were 24,000 barrels short of gasoline requirements.[41]
Virtually all of Germany's aviation gasoline came from synthetic oil plants that hydrogenated coals and coal tars. These processes had been developed during the 1930s as an effort to achieve fuel independence. There were two grades of aviation gasoline produced in volume in Germany, the B-4 or blue grade and the C-3 or green grade, which accounted for about two-thirds of all production. B-4 was equivalent to 89-octane and the C-3 was roughly equal to the U.S. 100-octane, though lean mixture was rated around 95-octane and was poorer than the U.S. Maximum output achieved in 1943 reached 52,200 barrels a day before the Allies decided to target the synthetic fuel plants. Through captured enemy aircraft and analysis of the gasoline found in them, both the Allies and the Axis powers were aware of the quality of the aviation gasoline being produced and this prompted an octane race to achieve the advantage in aircraft performance. Later in the war the C-3 grade was improved to where it was equivalent to the U.S. 150 grade (rich mixture rating).[42]
Japan [ edit ]
Japan, like Germany, had almost no domestic oil supply and by the late 1930s produced only 7% of its own oil while importing the rest – 80% from the United States. As Japanese aggression grew in China (USS Panay incident) and news reached the American public of Japanese bombing of civilian centers, especially the bombing of Chungking, public opinion began to support a U.S. embargo. A Gallup poll in June 1939 found that 72 percent of the American public supported an embargo on war materials to Japan. This increased tensions between the U.S. and Japan led to the U.S. placing restrictions on exports and in July 1940 the U.S. issued a proclamation that banned the export of 87 octane or higher aviation gasoline to Japan. This ban did not hinder the Japanese as their aircraft could operate with fuels below 87 octane and if needed they could add TEL to increase the octane. As it turned out, Japan bought 550 percent more sub-87 octane aviation gasoline in the five months after the July 1940 ban on higher octane sales.[43] The possibility of a complete ban of gasoline from America created friction in the Japanese government as to what action to take to secure more supplies from the Dutch East Indies and demanded greater oil exports from the exiled Dutch government after the Battle of the Netherlands. This action prompted the U.S. to move its Pacific fleet from Southern California to Pearl Harbor to help stiffen British resolve to stay in Indochina. With the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in September 1940 came great concerns about the possible Japanese invasion of the Dutch Indies to secure their oil. After the U.S. banned all exports of steel and iron scrap, the next day Japan signed the Tripartite Pact and this led Washington to fear that a complete U.S. oil embargo would prompt the Japanese to invade the Dutch East Indies. On 16 June 1941 Harold Ickes, who was appointed Petroleum Coordinator for National Defense, stopped a shipment of oil from Philadelphia to Japan in light of the oil shortage on the East coast due to increased exports to Allies. He also telegrammed all oil suppliers on the East coast not to ship any oil to Japan without his permission. President Roosevelt countermanded Ickes' orders telling Ickes that the "... I simply have not got enough Navy to go around and every little episode in the Pacific means fewer ships in the Atlantic". [44] On 25 July 1941 the U.S. froze all Japanese financial assets and licenses would be required for each use of the frozen funds including oil purchases that could produce aviation gasoline. On 28 July 1941 Japan invaded southern Indochina.
The debate inside the Japanese government as to its oil and gasoline situation was leading to invasion of the Dutch East Indies but this would mean war with the U.S. whose Pacific fleet was a threat to their flank. This situation led to the decision to attack the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor before proceeding with the Dutch East Indies invasion. On 7 December 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the next day the Netherlands declared war on Japan which initiated the Dutch East Indies campaign. But the Japanese missed a golden opportunity at Pearl Harbor. "All of the oil for the fleet was in surface tanks at the time of Pearl Harbor," Admiral Chester Nimitz, who became Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, was later to say. "We had about 4 1/2 million barrels of oil out there and all of it was vulnerable to.50 caliber bullets. Had the Japanese destroyed the oil," he added, "it would have prolonged the war another two years."[45]
United States [ edit ]
Early in 1944, William Boyd, president of the American Petroleum Institute and chairman of the Petroleum Industry War Council said: "The Allies may have floated to victory on a wave of oil in World War I, but in this infinitely greater World War II, we are flying to victory on the wings of petroleum". In December, 1941 the United States had 385,000 oil wells producing 1.4 billion barrels of oil a year and 100-octane aviation gasoline capacity was at 40,000 barrels a day. By 1944 the U.S. was producing over 1.5 billion barrels a year (67 percent of world production) and the petroleum industry had built 122 new plants for the production of 100-octane aviation gasoline and capacity was over 400,000 barrels a day – an increase of more than ten-fold. It was estimated that the U.S. was producing enough 100-octane aviation gasoline to permit the dropping of 20,000 tons of bombs on the enemy every day of the year. The record of gasoline consumption by the Army prior to June, 1943 was uncoordinated as each supply service of the Army purchased its own petroleum products and no centralized system of control nor records existed. On 1 June 1943 the Army created the Fuels and Lubricants Division of the Quartermaster Corps and from their records they tabulated that the Army (excluding fuels and lubricants for aircraft) purchased over 2.4 billion gallons of gasoline for delivery to overseas theaters between 1 June 1943 through August, 1945. That figure does not include gasoline used by the Army inside the United States.[46] Motor fuel production had declined from 701,000,000 barrels in 1941 down to 608,000,000 barrels in 1943.[47] World War II marked the first time in U.S. history that gasoline was rationed and the government imposed price controls to prevent inflation. Gasoline consumption per automobile declined from 755 gallons per year in 1941 down to 540 gallons in 1943 with the goal of preserving rubber for tires since the Japanese had cut the U.S. off from over 90 percent of its rubber supply which had come from the Dutch East Indies and the U.S. synthetic rubber industry was in its infancy. Average gasoline prices went from an all-time record low of $0.1275 per gallon ($0.1841 with taxes) in 1940 to $0.1448 per gallon ($0.2050 with taxes) in 1945.[48]
Even with the world's largest aviation gasoline production, the U.S. military still found that more was needed. Throughout the duration of the war, aviation gasoline supply was always behind requirements and this impacted training and operations. The reason for this shortage developed before the war even began. The free market did not support the expense of producing 100-octane aviation fuel in large volume, especially during the Great Depression. Iso-octane in the early development stage cost $30 a gallon and even by 1934 it was still $2 a gallon compared to $0.18 for motor gasoline when the Army decided to experiment with 100-octane for its combat aircraft. Though only 3 percent of U.S. combat aircraft in 1935 could take full advantage of the higher octane due to low compression ratios, the Army saw the need for increasing performance warranted the expense and purchased 100,000 gallons. By 1937 the Army established 100-octane as the standard fuel for combat aircraft and by 1939 production was only 20,000 barrels a day. In effect, the U.S. military was the only market for 100-octane aviation gasoline and as war broke out in Europe this created a supply problem that persisted throughout the duration.[49][50]
With the war in Europe in 1939 a reality, all predictions of 100-octane consumption were outrunning all possible production. Neither the Army nor the Navy could contract more than six months in advance for fuel and they could not supply the funds for plant expansion. Without a long term guaranteed market the petroleum industry would not risk its capital to expand production for a product that only the government would buy. The solution to the expansion of storage, transportation, finances and production was the creation of the Defense Supplies Corporation on 19 September 1940. The Defense Supplies Corporation would buy, transport and store all aviation gasoline for the Army and Navy at cost plus a carrying fee.[51]
When the Allied breakout after D-Day found their armies stretching their supply lines to a dangerous point, the make-shift solution was the Red Ball Express. But even this soon was inadequate. The trucks in the convoys had to drive longer distances as the armies advanced and they were consuming a greater percentage of the same gasoline they were trying to deliver. In 1944, General George Patton's Third Army finally stalled just short of the German border after running out of gasoline. The general was so upset at the arrival of a truckload of rations instead of gasoline he was reported to have shouted: "Hell, they send us food, when they know we can fight without food but not without oil."[52] The solution had to wait for the repairing of the railroad lines and bridges so that the more efficient trains could replace the gasoline consuming truck convoys.
United States, 1946 to present [ edit ]
In the 1950s oil refineries started to focus on high octane fuels, and then detergents were added to gasoline to clean the jets in carburetors. The 1970s witnessed greater attention to the environmental consequences of burning gasoline. These considerations led to the phasing out of TEL and its replacement by other antiknock compounds. Subsequently, low-sulfur gasoline was introduced, in part to preserve the catalysts in modern exhaust systems.[53]
Chemical analysis and production [ edit ]
Some of the main components of gasoline: isooctane butane, 3- ethyltoluene, and the octane enhancer MTBE
Gasoline is produced in oil refineries. Roughly 19 U.S. gallons (72 L) of gasoline is derived from a 42-U.S.-gallon (160 L) barrel of crude oil.[54] Material separated from crude oil via distillation, called virgin or straight-run gasoline, does not meet specifications for modern engines (particularly the octane rating; see below), but can be pooled to the gasoline blend.
The bulk of a typical gasoline consists of a homogeneous mixture of small, relatively lightweight hydrocarbons with between 4 and 12 carbon atoms per molecule (commonly referred to as C4–C12).[53] It is a mixture of paraffins (alkanes), olefins (alkenes) and cycloalkanes (naphthenes). The usage of the terms paraffin and olefin in place of the standard chemical nomenclature alkane and alkene, respectively, is particular to the oil industry. The actual ratio of molecules in any gasoline depends upon:
the oil refinery that makes the gasoline, as not all refineries have the same set of processing units;
the crude oil feed used by the refinery;
the grade of gasoline (in particular, the octane rating).
The various refinery streams blended to make gasoline have different characteristics. Some important streams include:
straight-run gasoline, commonly referred to as naphtha, which is distilled directly from crude oil. Once the leading source of fuel, its low octane rating required lead additives. It is low in aromatics (depending on the grade of the crude oil stream) and contains some cycloalkanes (naphthenes) and no olefins (alkenes). Between 0 and 20 percent of this stream is pooled into the finished gasoline, because the supply of this fraction is insufficient [ clarification needed ] and its RON is too low. [ citation needed ] The chemical properties (namely RON and Reid vapor pressure) of the straight-run gasoline can be improved through reforming and isomerisation. However, before feeding those units, the naphtha needs to be split into light and heavy naphtha. Straight-run gasoline can be also used as a feedstock into steam-crackers to produce olefins.
, commonly referred to as, which is distilled directly from crude oil. Once the leading source of fuel, its low octane rating required lead additives. It is low in aromatics (depending on the grade of the crude oil stream) and contains some cycloalkanes (naphthenes) and no olefins (alkenes). Between 0 and 20 percent of this stream is pooled into the finished gasoline, because the supply of this fraction is insufficient and its RON is too low. The chemical properties (namely RON and Reid vapor pressure) of the straight-run gasoline can be improved through reforming and isomerisation. However, before feeding those units, the naphtha needs to be split into light and heavy naphtha. Straight-run gasoline can be also used as a feedstock into steam-crackers to produce olefins. reformate, produced in a catalytic reformer, has a high octane rating with high aromatic content and relatively low olefin content. Most of the benzene, toluene and xylene (the so-called BTX hydrocarbons) are more valuable as chemical feedstocks and are thus removed to some extent.
, produced in a catalytic reformer, has a high octane rating with high aromatic content and relatively low olefin content. Most of the benzene, toluene and xylene (the so-called BTX hydrocarbons) are more valuable as chemical feedstocks and are thus removed to some extent. catalytic cracked gasoline, or catalytic cracked naphtha, produced with a catalytic cracker, has a moderate octane rating, high olefin content and moderate aromatic content.
, or catalytic cracked naphtha, produced with a catalytic cracker, has a moderate octane rating, high olefin content and moderate aromatic content. hydrocrackate (heavy, mid and light), produced with a hydrocracker, has a medium to low octane rating and moderate aromatic levels.
(heavy, mid and light), produced with a hydrocracker, has a medium to low octane rating and moderate aromatic levels. alkylate is produced in an alkylation unit, using isobutane and olefins as feedstocks. Finished alkylate contains no aromatics or olefins and has a high MON.
is produced in an alkylation unit, using isobutane and olefins as feedstocks. Finished alkylate contains no aromatics or olefins and has a high MON. isomerate is obtained by isomerizing low-octane straight-run gasoline into iso-paraffins (non-chain alkanes, such as isooctane). Isomerate has a medium RON and MON, but no aromatics or olefins.
is obtained by isomerizing low-octane straight-run gasoline into iso-paraffins (non-chain alkanes, such as isooctane). Isomerate has a medium RON and MON, but no aromatics or olefins. butane is usually blended in the gasoline pool, although the quantity of this stream is limited by the RVP specification.
The terms above are the jargon used in the oil industry and terminology varies.
Currently, many countries set limits on gasoline aromatics in general, benzene in particular, and olefin (alkene) content. Such regulations have led to an increasing preference for high-octane pure paraffin (alkane) components, such as alkylate, and are forcing refineries to add processing units to reduce benzene content. In the European Union, the benzene limit is set at 1% volume for all grades of automotive gasoline.
Gasoline can also contain other organic compounds, such as organic ethers (deliberately added), plus small levels of contaminants, in particular organosulfur compounds (which is usually removed at the refinery).
Physical properties [ edit ]
Density [ edit ]
The density of gasoline generally is 5.91 lb/US gal (0.708 kg/L; 7.10 lb/imp gal; 0.0256 lb/cu in), with higher densities having a greater volume of aromatics.[55] Finished marketable gasoline is traded (in Europe) with a standard reference of 0.755 kg/L (6.30 lb/US gal), and its price is escalated or de-escalated according to its actual density. Because of its low density, gasoline floats on water, and so water cannot generally be used to extinguish a gasoline fire unless applied in a fine mist.
Stability [ edit ]
Quality gasoline should be stable for six months if stored properly, but as gasoline is a mixture rather than a single compound, it will break down slowly over time due to the separation of the components. Gasoline stored for a year will most likely be able to be burned in an internal combustion engine without too much trouble but the effects of long-term storage will become more noticeable with each passing month until a time comes when the gasoline should be diluted with ever-increasing amounts of freshly made fuel so that the older gasoline may be used up. If left undiluted, improper operation will occur and this may include engine damage from misfiring or the lack of proper action of the fuel within a fuel injection system and from an onboard computer attempting to compensate (if applicable to the vehicle). Gasoline should ideally be stored in an airtight container (to prevent oxidation or water vapor mixing in with the gas) that can withstand the vapor pressure of the gasoline without venting (to prevent the loss of the more volatile fractions) at a stable cool temperature (to reduce the excess pressure from liquid expansion and to reduce the rate of any decomposition reactions). When gasoline is not stored correctly, gums and solids may result, which can corrode system components and accumulate on wetted surfaces, resulting in a condition called "stale fuel". Gasoline containing ethanol is especially subject to absorbing atmospheric moisture, then forming gums, solids or two phases (a hydrocarbon phase floating on top of a water-alcohol phase).
The presence of these degradation products in the fuel tank or fuel lines plus a carburetor or fuel injection components makes it harder to start the engine or causes reduced engine performance. On resumption of regular engine use, the buildup may or may not be eventually cleaned out by the flow of fresh gasoline. The addition of a fuel stabilizer to gasoline can extend the life of fuel that is not or cannot be stored properly, though removal of all fuel from a fuel system is the only real solution to the problem of long-term storage of an engine or a machine or vehicle. Typical fuel stabilizers are proprietary mixtures containing mineral spirits, isopropyl alcohol, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene or other additives. Fuel stabilizers are commonly used for small engines, such as lawnmower and tractor engines, especially when their use is sporadic or seasonal (little to no use for one or more seasons of the year). Users have been advised to keep gasoline containers more than half full and properly capped to reduce air exposure, to avoid storage at high temperatures, to run an engine for ten minutes to circulate the stabilizer through all components prior to storage, and to run the engine at intervals to purge stale fuel from the carburetor.[53]
Gasoline stability requirements are set by the standard ASTM D4814. This standard describes the various characteristics and requirements of automotive fuels for use over a wide range of operating conditions in ground vehicles equipped with spark-ignition engines.
Energy content [ edit ]
A gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine obtains energy from the combustion of gasoline's various hydrocarbons with oxygen from the ambient air, yielding carbon dioxide and water as exhaust. The combustion of octane, a representative species, performs the chemical reaction:
2 C 8 H 18 + 25 O 2 ⟶ 16 CO 2 + 18 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {2 C8H18 + 25 O2 -> 16 CO2 + 18 H2O}}}
Gasoline contains about 46.7 MJ/kg (127 MJ/US gal; 35.3 kWh/US gal; 13.0 kWh/kg; 120,405 BTU/US gal), quoting the lower heating value.[56] Gasoline blends differ, and therefore actual energy content varies according to the season and producer by up to 1.75% more or less than the average.[57] On average, about 74 L (19.5 US gal; 16.3 imp gal) of gasoline are available from a barrel of crude oil (about 46% by volume), varying with the quality of the crude and the grade of the gasoline. The remainder are products ranging from tar to naphtha.[58]
A high-octane-rated fuel, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has an overall lower power output at the typical 10:1 compression ratio of an engine design optimized for gasoline fuel. An engine tuned for LPG fuel via higher compression ratios (typically 12:1) improves the power output. This is because higher-octane fuels allow for a higher compression ratio without knocking, resulting in a higher cylinder temperature, which improves efficiency. Also, increased mechanical efficiency is created by a higher compression ratio through the concomitant higher expansion ratio on the power stroke, which is by far the greater effect. The higher expansion ratio extracts more work from the high-pressure gas created by the combustion process. An Atkinson cycle engine uses the timing of the valve events to produce the benefits of a high expansion ratio without the disadvantages, chiefly detonation, of a high compression ratio. A high expansion ratio is also one of the two key reasons for the efficiency of diesel engines, along with the elimination of pumping losses due to throttling of the intake air flow.
The lower energy content of LPG by liquid volume in comparison to gasoline is due mainly to its lower density. This lower density is a property of the lower molecular weight of propane (LPG's chief component) compared to gasoline's blend of various hydrocarbon compounds with heavier molecular weights than propane. Conversely, LPG's energy content by weight is higher than gasoline's due to a higher hydrogen-to-carbon ratio.
Molecular weights of the representative octane combustion are C 8 H 18 114, O 2 32, CO 2 44, H 2 O 18; therefore 1 kg of fuel reacts with 3.51 kg of oxygen to produce 3.09 kg of carbon dioxide and 1.42 kg of water.
Octane rating [ edit ]
Spark-ignition engines are designed to burn gasoline in a controlled process called deflagration. However, the unburned mixture may autoignite by pressure and heat alone, rather than igniting from the spark plug at exactly the right time, causing a rapid pressure rise which can damage the engine. This is often referred to as engine knocking or end-gas knock. Knocking can be reduced by increasing the gasoline's resistance to autoignition, which is expressed by its octane rating.
Octane rating is measured relative to a mixture of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (an isomer of octane) and n-heptane. There are different conventions for expressing octane ratings, so the same physical fuel may have several different octane ratings based on the measure used. One of the best known is the research octane number (RON).
The octane rating of typical commercially available gasoline varies by country. In Finland, Sweden and Norway, 95 RON is the standard for regular unleaded gasoline and 98 RON is also available as a more expensive option.
In the United Kingdom, ordinary regular unleaded gasoline is sold at 95 RON (commonly available), premium unleaded gasoline is always 97 RON, and super-unleaded is usually 97–98 RON.[citation needed] However, both Shell and BP produce fuel at 102 RON for cars with high-performance engines, and in 2006 the supermarket chain Tesco began to sell super-unleaded gasoline rated at 99 RON.
In the United States, octane ratings in unleaded fuels vary between 85[59] and 87 AKI (91–92 RON) for regular, 89–90 AKI (94–95 RON) for mid-grade (equivalent to European regular), up to 90–94 AKI (95–99 RON) for premium (European premium).
91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 Scandanavia regular premium UK regular premium super high-performance USA regular mid-grade premium
As South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg, is located on the Highveld at 1,753 metres (5,751 ft) above sea level, the Automobile Association of South Africa recommends 95-octane gasoline at low altitude and 93-octane for use in Johannesburg because "The higher the altitude the lower the air pressure, and the lower the need for a high octane fuel as there is no real performance gain".[60]
Octane rating became important as the military sought higher output for aircraft engines in the late 1930s and the 1940s. A higher octane rating allows a higher compression ratio or supercharger boost, and thus higher temperatures and pressures, which translate to higher power output. Some scientists[who?] even predicted that a nation with a good supply of high-octane gasoline would have the advantage in air power. In 1943, the Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engine produced 1,320 horsepower (984 kW) using 100 RON fuel from a modest 27-liter displacement. By the time of Operation Overlord, both the RAF and USAAF were conducting some operations in Europe using 150 RON fuel (100/150 avgas), obtained by adding 2.5% aniline to 100-octane avgas.[61] By this time the Rolls-Royce Merlin 66 was developing 2,000 hp using this fuel.
Additives [ edit ]
Antiknock additives [ edit ]
A plastic container for storing gasoline used in Germany
Almost all countries in the world have phased out automotive leaded fuel. In 2011, six countries[62] were still using leaded gasoline: Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea, Algeria, Iraq and Yemen. It was expected that by the end of 2013 those countries, too, would ban leaded gasoline,[63] but this target was not met. Algeria replaced leaded with unleaded automotive fuel only in 2015.[citation needed] Different additives have replaced the lead compounds. The most popular additives include aromatic hydrocarbons, ethers and alcohol (usually ethanol or methanol). For technical reasons, the use of leaded additives is still permitted worldwide for the formulation of some grades of aviation gasoline such as 100LL, because the required octane rating would be technically infeasible to reach without the use of leaded additives.
A gas can
Tetraethyllead [ edit ]
Gasoline, when used in high-compression internal combustion engines, tends to autoignite or "detonate" causing damaging engine knocking (also called "pinging" or "pinking"). To address this problem, tetraethyllead (TEL) was widely adopted as an additive for gasoline in the 1920s. With the discovery of the seriousness of the extent of environmental and health damage caused by lead compounds, however, and the incompatibility of lead with catalytic converters, leaded gasoline was phased out in the United States beginning in 1973. By 1995, leaded fuel accounted for only 0.6 percent of total gasoline sales and under 2000 short tons (1814 t) of lead per year. From 1 January 1996, the U.S. Clean Air Act banned the sale of leaded fuel for use in on-road vehicles in the U.S. The use of TEL also necessitated other additives, such as dibromoethane.
European countries began replacing lead-containing additives by the end of the 1980s, and by the end of the 1990s, leaded gasoline was banned within the entire European Union. Reduction in the average lead content of human blood is believed to be a major cause for falling violent crime rates around the world, including in the United States[64] and South Africa.[65] A statistically significant correlation has been found between the usage rate of leaded gasoline and violent crime: taking into account a 22-year time lag, the violent crime curve virtually tracks the lead exposure curve.[66][67]
Lead replacement petrol (gasoline) [ edit ]
Lead replacement petrol (LRP) was developed for vehicles designed to run on leaded fuels and incompatible with unleaded fuels. Rather than tetraethyllead it contains other metals such as potassium compounds or methylcyclop |
remaking of higher education is qualitatively different than what we've seen with recorded music and newspapers. There's a political context to the transformation. Higher education is in crisis because costs are rising at the same time that public funding support is falling. That decline in public support is no accident. Conservatives don't like big government and they don't like taxes, and increasingly, they don't even like the entire way that the humanities are taught in the United States.
It's absolutely no accident that in Texas, Florida and Wisconsin, three of the most conservative governors in the country are leading the push to incorporate MOOCs in university curricula. And it seems well worth asking whether the apostles of disruption who have been warning academics that everything is about to change have paid enough attention to how the intersection of politics and MOOCs is affecting the speed and intensity of that change. Imagine if Napster had had the backing of the Heritage Foundation and House Republicans? It's hard enough to survive chaotic disruption when it is a pure consequence of technological change. But when technological change suits the purposes of enemies looking to put a knife in your back, it's almost impossible.
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Call them the three horsemen of the MOOC apocalypse. Florida's Rick Scott, Texas' Rick Perry and Wisconsin's Scott Walker all see themselves as education reformers, and they are all seeking ways to lower the cost of college education while at the same time cutting state funding support. Their holy grail: the so-called 10K degree -- a university education completed for just 10 grand.
Inside Higher Education's Kevin Kiley lumped the three governors together in an illuminating story last November:
The three governors have much in common when it comes to their approach to higher education, such as mandating low-cost options like the $10,000 degree; holding down tuition prices, particularly at flagship institutions; tying funding to degree completion, particularly in fields deemed to be in “high demand”; paying faculty on the basis of performance, including how they fare on student evaluations; and likely asking the institutions to do it all with less state money... All three have made calls for reducing the cost of producing a degree through online courses and competency-based assessment.
MOOCs fit nicely into the 10K-or-bust model. The more courses that the University of Texas can offer students at rock-bottom-cost, the less the state, in theory, has to subsidize, a fact that led Perry to applaud the University of Texas' decision last fall to join edX, the nonprofit MOOC founded by Harvard and M.I.T.
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In Wisconsin, Walker has proposed a "flexible degree" program that incorporates MOOC-like online educational elements. In Florida, the state university system's Board of Governors is considering, with Scott's encouragement, whether to establish an online-only university, allow each existing college to do its own online thing, or put together some kind of collaborative approach.
At the same time, in all three states, the governors have made it painfully clear that they have no intention of increasing funding support for higher education. Quite the opposite! The University of Wisconsin system has been targeted for cuts of over $250 million under Walker. Scott approved a $300 million cut to Florida's public universities last April. Perry approved massive budget cuts at all levels of public education in Texas in 2011, including a 9 percent across-the-board cut to the University of Texas system.
Budget cuts for higher education are not, of course, limited to states with Republican governors. In California, Gov. Jerry Brown has been quite vocal about his belief that MOOCs will play an important role in supplementing a congenitally underfunded public education system. But in Texas, Florida and Wisconsin, the push to cut costs is accompanied by undisguised scorn for the whole enterprise of higher education, insofar as it pertains to anything more than equipping people with marketable skills. That mission of the humanities to help us think more critically, to deepen our knowledge of the world? Forget about it.
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In 2011, Scott told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that he didn't think it it was in the "vital interest" of the state to have "more anthropologists." Last November, a task force established by Scott went so far as to recommend higher tuitions for humanities majors. In Texas, one of the biggest conservative backers of educational reform, former oilman Jeff Sandefer, a huge supporter of online education who is closely connected to Perry, savaged the humanities sector as a place where "most of the rewards in the profession go to writing narrowly focused academic research articles that few read, the vast majority of which would never, and I want to stress never, be supported by the market."
Sandefer may well be right about what the market will support. But do we want our great publicly funded universities to operate only with an eye toward market demands?
The answer to that question, from conservative higher ed reformers, is obviously yes. They'd rather see taxpayer money spent only on educational curricula that will target the subset of academia referred to as STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Not uncoincidentally, the MOOC educational model is probably better fitted for STEM-focused education than it is for the humanities.
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I spoke on Wednesday with Daphne Koller, one of the founders of Coursera, the Stanford spinoff that is one of the big players in the for-profit MOOC world. She vigorously disputed the notion that the MOOC model was less appropriate for humanities education than for the hard sciences. Koller believes that with the right grading "rubric" students can grade each other's papers even on issues of critical reasoning and grammar, thus solving seemingly daunting logistics problems. That seems debatable. It's certainly reasonable to say that we are at the very beginning of learning what will work and what won't, but it's also safe to say that most of the professors in the social sciences that I talked to about MOOCs in the last couple of weeks would disagree with her.
And that's where it gets tricky, and potentially tragic. If neither MOOCs nor state legislatures support the classic model of a humanities education, what happens to the anthropology and history students of the future? The scenario is ugly: University systems faced with declining public funding support are increasingly forced to turn to MOOCs, to the benefit of hard sciences and vocational training. Meanwhile, the humanities sector gets hung out to dry, unable to take advantage of new technology to the fullest extent while forced to make do with less funding.
And that, of course, is exactly what many conservatives want. For many conservatives, the humanities departments of public universities are bastions of the "tenured left" busily brainwashing the young people of America into godless socialist postmodernism. They'd much rather for-profit corporations were in charge of the educational agenda than the current academic elite.
With or without the help of people like Rick Perry and Rick Scott, online education will become a more and more important part of how we educate ourselves, at all levels, all over the world. But this particular disruptive transformation has a conservative wind at its back, and that's something to watch, and perhaps even resist.Originally Posted by grottomatic (Source) Originally Posted by
I don't think we should change the values. The history of ship testing in beta is that FD are usually introducing a pretty balanced ship and then we, the testers, ask for things that end up ruining it. On the other hand beta testers have uncovered a few faults in the basic design that fixed terrible errors in design. A few examples:
The vulture- whining that it was overpriced. Now it is obvious that it is overpowered in pve for its price of about 5 million. Beta testers however immediately recognized that the canopy was too fragile and this was fixed.
The DBS- marked as useless in beta. Now a much used ship that has inaugurated a whole new play style. This lead to the introduction of the DBE of course, which probably is useless when compared to the asp.
This also applies to the courier which has emerged as a fun combat ship in its own right. This ship was changed a bit for heat based on testing, much to the credit of testers.
Having tested the new federal ships I see people's points but I think people will find a way to maximize these ships within coriolis or edshipyard and they will turn out to fit in well. Just my 2 cents.A WOMAN has suffered severe burning to her anus after being struck by lightning which hit her in the mouth and passed right through her body.
Natasha Timarovic, 27, was cleaning her teeth at in her home in the Croatian city of Zadar when lightning struck the building.
She said: "I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building.
"I don't remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had travelled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body.
"It was incredibly painful, I felt it pass through my torso and then I don't remember much at all." Doctors at the city hospital where she was treated for burns to the mouth and rear said: "The accident is bizarre but not impossible."
She was wearing rubber bathroom shoes at the time and so instead of earthing through her feet it appears the electricity shot out of her backside," a medic told local newspaper, 24 Sata.
"It appears to have earthed through the damp shower curtain that she was touching as she bent over to put her mouth under the tap. If she had not been wearing the shoes she would probably have been killed by the blast."
24 Sata said the young woman had been released from hospital after being kept in overnight and was expected to make a full recovery.So with lots of people in the Pokemon Go community addressing their frustrations that there needs to be a way for people to socialise more in Pokemon Go, I had an idea. I thought, why not have a standalone social app where players can connect, chat, join location based groups and co-ordinate play.So I got to work on designing Pokemon Go Social. I thought it would be a good idea to have this as a standalone app so it wouldn't add more bugs to the game app. I also thought of a few features that would be useful to players such as a contacts list, groups, messaging and player profiles.Anyway, I'll let the infographic do all of the talking.I hope you enjoy this idea and feedback would be appreciated on both Reddit posts below. ThanksPokemon Go Reddit Post: www.reddit.com/r/pokemongo/com… The Silph Road Reddit Post: www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/…Pilots, air carriers and other Alaska aviation stakeholders are working with federal agencies to design a plan for airspace security when President Barack Obama visits Alaska next week that will restrict flying at times during the busy fall hunting season, but won't shut it down, officials said Monday.
The general framework likely will include security checkpoints for small planes, their pilots and passengers at select spots, including Lake Hood, Merrill Field, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and perhaps others, said John Parrott, manager of the Anchorage airport.
Pilots operating at small strips or from smaller lakes will face more down time than those at bigger areas where security checks can be done, he said.
That was some of his takeaway after a two-hour meeting Monday at the Anchorage International Airport, where the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration gathered with commercial, military and private Alaska aviation interests.
The session was "a combined effort of TSA and FAA to give as much warning to the aviation community" as possible about flight restrictions, said Kerry B. Long, FAA Alaska region administrator.
Specifics are still being worked out but should be announced mid-week in a notice to airmen.
Disruptions are not expected for commercial passenger and cargo flights out of Anchorage International. But other flights could be impacted as officials try to balance protection of the president with aviation needs, said Parrott, who also oversees Lake Hood, the biggest and busiest float plane base in the world.
Small planes may be grounded for stretches, but FAA's Long said there would be "substantial periods of time where whatever restrictions are in place will be lifted" during the stay of the "VIP," which is how the FAA refers to the president in its announcements about flight restrictions.
Stress levels are high for small flying services that don't yet know when or for how long they will be restricted during one of their busiest times -- the start of moose and duck hunting seasons. Floatplane operators in particular have been anxious, but officials said Monday there won't be a complete shutdown, despite the wording of an earlier announcement.
The comprehensive security plan will be "designed to minimize disruption," said Bob Kierstead, Secret Service special agent in charge of the Seattle field office, which oversees the Anchorage Secret Service office.
Still, an FAA advisory released Friday warned that temporary flight restrictions may be significant during Obama's visit. The announcement included a list of prohibited activities that were typical elsewhere, a list that included floatplane flights. Pilots who violate the rules could face deadly force, the FAA said.
"The flight plane advisory specifically lists seaplanes on the same list of nuisances to aviation that are strictly forbidden," Mike Laughlin, owner of Regal Air, a flight service based at Lake Hood, said before Monday's meeting. "Which is just absurd in the state of Alaska."
The president will land in Air Force One at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Aug.31, travel to Seward on Sept. 1, then fly to both Dillingham and Kotzebue on Sept. 2 before leaving Alaska.
Obama's visit is timed around the State Department's Arctic global leadership conference in Anchorage next week.
In Southcentral Alaska, waterfowl season opens Sept. 1 and moose season opens on varying days depending on the area, starting Tuesday and up to Sept. 1.
"The timing couldn't be worse," said John Ellison, owner of Ellison Air flight seeing tours on Lake Spenard, part of the Lake Hood Seaplane Base, as he hurried to tie up his floatplane and welcome some clients waiting to take a tour Monday evening. The president is arriving at "the very busiest time on the lake," he said.
He said he was anxious, but needed more specifics. Details on how long airspace will be restricted in various locations have not yet been released.
Private pilot Paul Worrell said that he was concerned about the flight restrictions, as he was supposed to go sheep hunting at the end of the month. "I've gotta leave Anchorage somehow," Worrell said.
Air carriers have been told that the security restrictions may be similar to those that governed flight around Martha's Vineyard, Dale said. President Obama and his family just wrapped up a 16-day vacation there. They left Sunday on Marine One, the presidential helicopter.
Flights related to the president, air ambulance traffic and scheduled commercial passenger and cargo flights were allowed on Martha's Vineyard, under FAA flight restrictions.
But other aircraft within a 10-mile radius around Martha's Vineyard had to be screened at nearby "gateway airports" or the Martha's Vineyard airport, under the temporary flight restrictions. Screenings were available daily from 6 a.m. to 7:59 p.m. Operators had to register for screening at least 24 hours in advance of their departure time.
"Gateway screening will include ID verification and vetting of all pilots, crew and passengers, screening of persons and baggage, and inspection of the aircraft," the rules for Martha's Vineyard said.
Seaplanes -- the term used by the FAA -- were grounded there.
In Alaska, some small plane owners may want to reposition their aircraft before the restrictions kick in, Parrott said. Lake Campbell floatplane pilots, for instance, will be under different restrictions than those at Lake Hood.
"The backyard airstrip folks, if they want to fly during that time period, they probably need to relocate to Merrill or Lake Hood before these go into effect," he said.Prepare to Reclaim Your Homeworld!
An ancient evil threatens the fate of the entire galaxy, and only you can stop it. Join us, along with players around the world, and take part in the unveiling of all-new content for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, including:
World premiere of the Legacy of the Void cinematic and launch date reveal
Legacy of the Void A preview of what’s to come in Legacy of the Void from StarCraft II’s senior developers.
Legacy of the Void The thrilling conclusion to the StarCraft II WCS Season 3 Finals live from Poland
Hosted by William “Chobra” Cho, the stream will take place on September 13 at 10:00am PDT on the official StarCraft Twitch channel and finish with the epic conclusion of the WCS Season 3 finals.
Or come on out and watch it all unfold on the big screen with StarCraft II developers and friends at the Blizzard Barcraft in downtown L.A.! Join us for food, goodies, and fun—the first drink’s on us! Doors open at 6:00 A.M.
Get in on the action at:
The Theatre at Ace Hotel
929 South Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Feel free to click on the RSVP button and join our Facebook event to let us know if you plan to attend in person! We hope to see you there!
Our life for Aiur,
The StarCraft II team
*Doors open at 6 a.m. PDT if you want to catch all of the exciting WCS semi-final matches leading into the finals. Space is limited, so be sure to arrive early. Celebrate the reveal with Blizzard, and stay to watch all the excitement of the WCS Season 3 finals unfold, live from Poland!
**Please note: StarCraft II is rated T for Teen; some content on display at the event may not be suitable for children ages of 12 or younger. Anyone 12 years of age or under must be accompanied by an adult.Beloved for her bravery and endless search for the truth, Leah will never be forgotten by the heroes of Sanctuary. And although she may have been lost to the sinister forces of the Burning Hells, her spirit lives on through the remarkable creations of this community.
For this Artisan Showcase, we take a closer look at one such piece with Taiwanese community manager Broodlisk, who recently sat down with fan artist Ming-yi Sheh ("Sheh") to talk about his Diablo III-themed digital painting, "Leah the Diablo." Here's the translated interview:
Q. We've very happy to see such a high quality piece of Diablo artwork featuring a female Diablo. Before we continue, could introduce yourself to community?
My name's Sheh and I dropped out of Life Sciences at National Taiwan Normal University. I am now studying Multimedia and Animation at National Taiwan University of Arts. I am super honored to be introduced by Blizzard! My hobbies are, naturally, drawing and fantasy literature.
Q. How much art experience do you have?
About 3 years. I used to go online to check out tutorials and the drawings by top artists. I ended up neglecting my studies, so I had no choice but to study animation instead (laugh). It's mainly out of personal interest. The university doesn't really expect much and, as an arts university, you have a lot of freedom. You can choose whatever path you like as long as you take responsibility for your own future.
Q. What was your inspiration for this drawing of a female Diablo?
I played Diablo II as a child, so I've always looked forward to Diablo III. As Leah was the main character in all of the official videos released, and she was such a looker, I couldn't wait to see what role she played in the game. When Diablo III finally came out, a group of us graduate students bought it and played it all through the night. When Leah became Diablo, I nearly broke down. Going from babe one second to monster the next? That was just too much. I eventually decided to try and set things right. She should at least keep her beautiful face.
Q: What did you feel was the trickiest part of this drawing?
I think it was the hands. The hands are always the most difficult part to draw. It might be different for other people, but I think I have trouble with hands because, when I look in the mirror, I don't usually look at my hands. Your hands are also reversed from your own point of view. As well, I am a guy, so the hands in this drawing… feel a bit masculine. I could only use my hands for reference, after all. The face, as well as the horns and spines on the back, was a lot easier by comparison.
Q. You have experience with drawing settings, characters and monsters. Are you planning to go into game art in the future?
If I get the chance, definitely. I hope to work overseas in the future and I've always loved to draw. My technique is not good enough yet so I will probably look for jobs in 3D, which is my specialty. I will continue to hone my drawing skills, however. I've been a fan of Blizzard since childhood. There is not much chance of me finding a job in the US at the moment, but I will try my luck and send in my resume eventually.
Q. Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Finally, is there anything that you would like to say to Diablo III players or people learning how to draw?
I still have plenty of room for improvement but I hope people will like my drawing. I appreciate this opportunity from Blizzard as well as Broodlisk for taking the time to give me an interview. Thanks.
To see more of Peter Sheh's atwork, make sure to check out his CGHub portfolio and personal website.
Are you working on any Blizzard fan creations? Make sure to tell us all about them over in our Community Creations forum!“I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion,” Donald Trump said in Rhode Island yesterday at a campaign event, referring to his campaign opponent John Kasich and his eating habits.
“This guy takes a pancake and he’s shoving it in his mouth. It is disgusting,” he continued. “Do you want that for your president? I don’t think so, I don’t think so. Honestly it’s disgusting.”
Trump was referring to Kasich’s on camera interview Monday morning while he was eating pancakes in a Philadelphia diner.
The presidential trail is peppered with visits to restaurants, diners, cafes, and bars, but Kasich has a reputation for diving into campaign food with gusto.
Campaigning in the Bronx, Kasich ate two plates of spaghetti bolognese, a sandwich with mozzarella, pickles, salami, provolone, and hot peppers before ordering a dish pasta fagioli. Later that afternoon he ate pizza live on camera to prove that he didn’t always eat it with a fork.
Is John Kasich a disgusting eater? Watch the video below and decide for yourself:Israeli soldiers pictured near the separation wall in Qalqiliya. (MaanImages/file)
QALQILIYA (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot and injured a young Palestinian man near the northern West Bank village of Azzun Itma on Monday, Israel’s army said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that Israeli forces saw several Palestinians attempting to cross a fence in the northern West Bank, and, “once they identified the infiltrators, they operated in order to prevent them from crossing the fence by firing in their direction.”
Israeli news site Ynet said that the man was moderately wounded in the shooting.
Israeli forces have killed at least 18 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2013.
The Palestinian city of Qalqiliya is nearly completely surrounded by the Israeli separation wall, while checkpoints cut it off from most of the West Bank.
In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled that the separation wall was illegal and “tantamount to annexation.”
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.David Wentworth
The show's latest edition just ended, but we've already got updates on the Seattle roomies
This season of Real World featured a whole lot of bad blood -- and during tonight's brand-new episode, the largest cast in the series' storied history said goodbye to this raw and real experience.
MTV News recently caught up with most of the roommates to hear how their lives have changed since leaving Seattle, what their current status with their frenemies from the past is and what advice they would give to anyone who might want to "stop being polite" in the not-so-distant future. Take a look at their honest answers below, and share your favorite memories from this season in the comments!
How has your life changed since leaving Real World?
Jenn: Peter and I moved in together, and we have an adorable puppy! Life is great together, and I couldn't be happier that we stayed together. The casting producers called it: They said in my final casting interview that I would probably be the one to fall in love on the show, and now look at me!
Mike: Things have been a crazy roller coaster ride between the press events, social media exposure, recent breakup and random people asking me to take pictures with them at the worst times possible (morning after a wild night when I look like I’ve been hit by a truck, to name one instance). Everything else has been pretty low-key, although my definition of low-key is chaos to the average person. The main thing I have been working on is a fitness supplement and clothing line which will be released in the next few weeks called URBAN supplements.
Anika: My life has significantly changed since leaving Real World. I gained a larger social media following and, of course, I'm randomly getting recognized from the show when I am out. I have made some new friendships as well.
Will: Not too much has changed, but I will say the ladies are sliding in my DMs more.
Peter: Life has changed so much since Real World! Between getting recognized by random people and social media, it's just life-changing.
Jordan: My life hasn't changed too much other than just being recognized and having people take pictures with me, which is fun!
Anna: I somehow managed to become even more laid back and easygoing. I wasn't an insecure person before the show, but now I actually find myself embracing my flaws that set me apart from others. I also appreciate the people I choose to have in my life a lot more.
Robbie: Life hasn't changed much since Real World. Still the same guy chasing the same dreams!
Theo: Now sometimes when I go to the bathroom, someone will see me go in the stall and they will say, "Man, aren't you Theo? I hate that you got kicked off, man."
Where are you currently living, and what's your occupation?
Robbie: I still live at home with my family. If your mom cooked like mine, would you leave? Don't think so! I still work the same job at Hurricane Productions as lead entertainer.
Mike: I am still living in Manhattan, and I’m currently working as a bartender.
Peter: I currently live in Hoboken; I am bartending and going to different agencies for acting/modeling.
Jordan: I am still in downtown Chicago; I am modeling and still working as a hairstylist. And now with this platform, more things to come!
Jenn: I'm still in Hoboken, and I'm a hairdresser.
Anika: I just moved from New York to Los Angeles. I work for myself and am building my lifestyle website, AskAnika.com.
Anna: I am still living with my dog in our little apartment in beautiful Orlando. I am loving my new job working for a wine and spirits distributor as their Orlando representative.
Will: I am still in Philadelphia working two jobs but plan on moving soon.
Theo: I'm back in Kankakee for now, and I have been modeling.
What is your current relationship with your bad blood?
Jordan: Orlana and I are back to being best friends. I love that girl, and I'm happy to have her back in my life. We currently talk every few days, and I see her when I'm in Ann Arbor.
Mike: My relationship with Peter has definitely improved back to how things were before everything went down. The show helped us resolve the issue, and I’m still in the process of paying him back.
Peter: I'm on good terms with Mike. We have the same publicist, so we go to a lot of similar events.
Jenn: Rob and I don't speak. We're both in relationships and haven't communicated since leaving Real World. I felt like he attacked me and threw me under the bus when we recorded the aftershows, and I feel like his "friendship" with me during the show was fake and for the camera.
Robbie: After the show, we went our separate ways. She got her closure and moved on.
Anika: I'm cordial with Will, but there is no friendship there. We have only spoken once since the show, and that was for business reasons. I wish him well in all his endeavors.
Will: There's no relationship between my badblood and me -- after the show, we just went our separate ways.
Anna: My bad blood is also my family, so I have to see her on holidays (whether I like it or not). We're currently taking time apart to focus on ourselves (aka we broke up again).
Theo: There isn't one.
Who do you keep in touch with from your season?
Anna: Our house was basically a family -- the girls were all sisters, and we treated the guys like our brothers. I love them all -- some more than others when I'm living with them, though. I will be lifelong friends with most of the cast. For the guys on my season, I keep in touch with Will, Kass and Mike. I became pretty dependent on Will's fashion advice, so I'm constantly snapping him for outfit approvals. As for the girls of my season, I talk to Kim, Tyara, Anika and Jordan pretty regularly. Whenever we speak to each other, it's like picking up where we left off in the Real World house.
Jordan: I mostly just keep in touch with Orlana, Theo, Anika and Tya.
Mike: I have brief conversations with Katrina, Anna, Jenn, Peter, Anika, Jordan and Theo. Not as much as I would like -- things have just been so crazy. I’ve been wrapped up in other things.
Anika: I'm still very close with Jordan. I have seen her the most since the show has ended. I speak to Lana often. I stay in touch with Theo, Tya, Katrina, Anna, Peter, Mike and Jennifer. I wish I talked to Kim more. I don't really keep in touch with Robbie, Will or Kass. All in all, I have love for everyone and wish everyone well.
Theo: I speak with Jordan and Anika.
Will: I stayed in contact with almost everyone on the show, but our conversations are more on social media. The only person I haven't stayed in contact with is, well, you know who that person is.
Peter: I honestly don't keep in contact with anyone besides Jenn and Mike.
Jenn: I talk to Lana a lot! We are trying to plan a date to visit each other. I talk to Tyara once in a while too. Anika as well! I also see Mike from time to time with Peter when we go to the city.
Robbie: I try to keep in touch with most of my roommates, but life is crazy for all of us right now.
What do you miss most about the Real World?
Jordan: Probably just having constant fun and things to do with 13 other people. My daily schedule there was far from normal, but it was fun to be around everyone. I miss that!
Mike: I miss the crazy nights when everyone would be having a good time. No drama, tears or fights.
Peter: I honestly miss just being in that environment. Between the cameras and different people, it was just a life-changing experience all around. I would love to do something like this again!
Jenn: I miss Seattle the most and some of the roommates. Living with people day-in and day-out for two months straight, it's hard not to miss everyone once it's over. The experience was amazing, and I didn't want it to end.
Anika: I miss the amount of time I was able to spend with all of my roommates and having a break from responsibility. It's so hard to stay close now that everyone is back in the real world...literally.
Will: I miss my roommates, going out to different places every day, the producers, and of course the beautiful Seattle ladies.
Theo: Realizing every day that I am waking up in the Real World house.
Anna: What I miss the most would have to be just getting to live my life with Katrina. Living in that house made me feel like a kid again.
Robbie: I miss the unpredictability.
What is a favorite memory you shared with your roommates?
Mike: Playing that game where we picked dares out of the hat. I don’t think I've ever laughed that hard.
Anika: My favorite memory is when we went to Ocean Shores. The whole cast was still there, everyone was getting along (for the most part) and we were right smack in the middle of the experience.
Jordan: The trip to Ocean Shores was my favorite time in the house -- no drama, and I got to spend some real quality time with my roommates in a new place! Flying kites was like my favorite day!
Anna: I remember at the Tia Lou boat party, we were all dancing together and having a great time. Alcohol is flowing, Robbie is DJing, and it was just a moment we were all getting along. Kim, Katrina and I pulled out the purge masks and put them on. I think it was the only time I've ever seen Matt [a producer] smile. We continued to dance with them on, taking turns wearing them, while freaking out the people at the party.
Robbie: My favorite memory was DJing Tia Lou's every weekend.
Jenn: There were so many memories, I don't think I can choose one specific time. Between bonding time in the house, Peter's surprise party when we all came together to make it a special birthday for him, the indoor trampoline place, dates with Peter -- the entire time was one amazing memory.
Theo: The last day I had in the house before I left, the OGs had a heart-to-heart in the confessional. I will remember that forever.
Peter: My favorite memory was when we went to Mount Rainier and saw that beautiful view!
Will: Paintball gun shooting -- that was an epic day, even if it did hurt like hell.
What advice would you give to a future Real World cast member?
Mike: Be yourself and stay open-minded. Meeting people from around the world and getting to know them, their beliefs, struggles and life outside of Real World gives you a perspective on who they truly are. It's really such a beautiful thing meeting strangers in the beginning who become potential lifelong friends down the line.
Peter: Have an open mind and try to understand where people are coming from. It's an awesome experience -- make the best of it.
Anika: My advice would be to live in the moment. I spent so much time trying to figure out what was next and what I was going to do after that I didn't fully get to enjoy the experience of actually being there.
Robbie: When you're living the experience, just stop for a moment and take it all in. Before you know it, you will be home, and all you will have are the memories.
Jenn: Don't go on the show if you're in a relationship or "dating" someone like I was. I'm not a horrible person, so it hurt to see I was portrayed as a cheater when I'm not one. Do not let mean people push your buttons and cause you to get out of character. I acted in ways I never have, and I'm mad at myself that I let people get under my skin and cause me to snap. Lastly, just have fun. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so make the best of it!
Jordan: Be genuine and open to learning about yourself. You won't realize it until you are done, but if you are open to it, you can learn and grow a lot. So give everything a chance.
Theo: Stay true to yourself, don't allow someone to get in your head and just have fun. Not many have experienced this or will get to.
Will: Be yourself, try not to kill one another, and watch what you say and do.
Anna: Tell your story or someone else will.
Use one word to summarize your Real World experience.
Jenn: Empowering. I learned so much about myself and grew as a person in those two months. I had ups and I had downs, but I walked out of there with my head held high loving myself and loving Peter. I'm so thankful I was able to be a part of this cast, and I'm even more thankful I left the house a stronger person than I've ever been.
Robbie: #maserobbieetakeover
Anika: Epic.
Anna: Dream.
Will: Astonishing.
Mike: Debauchery.
Peter: Yolo.
Jordan: Growth.
Theo: Ha.JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On August 14, a Jacksonville family will celebrate one year since their loved one underwent a successful kidney transplant. Justin Griner credits his 9 year old son, Sammy with saving his life. At 11 months old while attempting to eat sand at Ponte Vedra Beach his mother, Laney snapped a photo that turned him into an internet sensation. His photo became the ‘Success Kid’ meme.
"I feel like he actually really embodies that title that he just kind of happened to get," said Laney Griner.
Little Sammy used his meme’s popularity to help save his father’s life. In 2015 Sammy's dad, Justin who suffered from chronic kidney disease got a call he had been waiting on for years, a kidney was finally ready for him. The transplant was covered but the prescription drugs he needed were not.
"If you don't have the money and you can't get your medications they won't give you a transplant,” said Justin Griner. “Because your body will reject the kidney without the medications."
The family set up a gofundme account using the ‘Success Kid’ meme's popularity and raised a whopping $100,000.
"Now I have to buy him everything he wants because I owe it to him," said Griner with a smile. “He'll always have that over me- well dad remember I did save your life.”
"It's a game changer to see my dad alive and his kidneys back to normal,” said Sammy. “He's doing great and stuff."
August 14th will make one year since Justin Griner's kidney transplant. Laney Griner's advice to other parents is to let them explore different interests and encourage them to simply be themselves. |
a yadda?
Consider the fact that the total number of spec-fictional editors and publishers are self-styled progressives and liberals — by a gargantuan, wide margin — and it’s a head-scratcher. These are the people who go out of their way to broadcast to the universe that they are on The Right Side of History. They will spare no expense supporting the monthly flavor of Disenfranchised Artist. They are extremely proud to be left-wing, and they will haughtily declare their allegiance to progressive economic and political ideas.
And this is the body of people who are scheming — intentionally, or unintentionally — to keep the Other (note the caps) out of SF/F?
This is a field given over almost entirely to the progressive “side” of the ideological landscape. Thus when progressives attack the field for margnializing or excluding X, Y, or Z demographics, it’s a bit like watching a man pick up a hammer and smash his own thumb — because the thumb had it coming. In calling out the field (over and over and over) for failing to be sufficiently supportive and inclusive, progressives are essentially indicting themselves in a self-conspiracy — of the left hand working against the other left hand.
So, the latest rumbles about The Problem™ are another example of the ouroboros eating its own tail. And with each successive bite, the entire thing shrinks just that much more. Until the whole point of SF/F — to have fun! — seems to be overshadowed by a nasty process of the field collectively and eternally attacking itself, for this or that failure; according to whichever flavor of Oppression Theory is popular this year.
And we’ve not even touched the fact that short fiction — the subsector of spec-fictional prose specifically cited in The Verge’s link — is a micro-economy, compared to novels. I should know. I do much of my work in short SF/F prose. It is the nichest of niche markets. A somewhat zombiefied relic of the Pulp Era, when almost all spec-fictional prose was being done in serial format, for the pre-television magazines of the time.
I mean, seriously, put your politics aside for a minute, and check it out:
● Of the total number of children in the english-language world, how many of them read prose for entertainment?
● Of the total number of pre-teen and teen readers in the english-language world, how many of them will fall in love with SF/F as a preferred genre?
● Of the total number of children who read SF/F, how many of them grow up to decide to try their hand at writing, editing, or publishing?
● Of the total number of people who try their hand at SF/F writing, editing, or publishing, how many of them will actually put in the years to be any good at it?
● Of the total number of people who are any good at SF/F writing, editing, or publishing, how many of them will focus on a microscopic slice of the marketing landscape, in the form of short fiction?
● And of the total number of people who are proficient pros in SF/F short fiction, how many of those are from what might be deemed marginalized or disenfranchised demographics?
● And of the total number of people who are not marginalized, but who are proficient pros in SF/F short fiction, how many of them are actually engaged in discrimination against their fellows? Either consciously, or unconsciously?
Especially when (as noted at the start) nobody is required to wear his/her/their demographics on his/her/their sleeve. This is not like a screen test, nor a panel audition. The editor is not casting based on appearance. The editor is (usually) working from a standpoint of taste, combined with knowing what the audience (for his/her/their magazine or venue) wants, along with perhaps a bit of angling at the critics and the awards mavens.
And angling at the critics and awards mavens favors marginalized demographics! Does anyone seriously suspect the people behind Lightspeed or Asimov’s or Clarkesworld or TOR.COM have a problem with the disenfranchised? Of any type or description? What universe did you warp in from?
The SF/F short-fic editors in this universe — with their fingers on the pulse of the awards — know that featuring authors/stories from disenfranchised groups, is a huge plus. Among the cognoscenti. They all drink from the same ideological trough. It’s “sexy” for a publication to hang a sign on the demographically challenged. In fact, markets like TOR.COM will pay top dollar for stories from non-W authors, spread across the whole of the alphabet. And TOR.COM will loudly beam this news to the publishing world at large, “We’re TOR.COM, and we’re progressive; just look at our menagerie of other-than-W authors we publish!”
So, I have a tough time believing that the supposed dearth of other-than-W authors publishing in the short fic markets, is a matter of prejudice.
But I’m just an evil conservative. I keep banging my pot about fun and merit. I don’t have a patreon. I think stories should earn the consumer’s time and money. I don’t believe the purpose of storytelling in SF/F is to “confront” the audience, nor make the reader squirm. That’s a nouveau-lit academic sentiment that’s migrated over to the field since the advent of the New Wave — when Sense-O-Wonder began to collapse inside a Schwarzschild Radius of social critique and victim narratives, all competing against themselves.
Is it any wonder that Science Fiction — in prose form — continues to fight a rear-guard action against marketplace irrelevancy?
Fixating endlessly on The Problem™ is, to my mind, very much like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It doesn’t matter what tune you make the orchestra play, the ship’s still going down. Having struck the iceberg of Social Justice zealotry, people seem to want to rip the hole open even wider. Then they have the nerve to act shocked when there aren’t enough life boats.
AdvertisementsMore than 175,000 UK-registered companies have used directors giving addresses in offshore jurisdictions, the Guardian has established. This raises fresh concerns about the scale of Britain's involvement in offshore secrecy arrangements.
Data obtained from the corporate information service Duedil reveals 177,020 companies have listed directors in jurisdictions such as the Channel Islands, British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Dubai and the Seychelles.
More than 60,000 of those companies are listed as currently active on Companies House, the official register of UK businesses.
Having directors in offshore jurisdictions does not indicate a company is doing anything illegal, or that a director is necessarily a sham.
British expats who retain directorships of their business would feature in this data, as do "personal services companies" based in the Isle of Man, which help self-employed people incorporate themselves as a limited company.
However, the figures do reveal the huge scale of company registration relative to some of the islands' tiny populations: 47,161 companies have listed directors from the Isle of Man – representing one British company for every 1.8 residents of the island.
The figure is even more stark for the secrecy haven of the British Virgin Islands, where there is one director listed for every 1.3 residents of the islands, for a total of 17,959 UK businesses, past and present.
On the tiny Channel Island of Sark, there have been 24 current and former UK company directors for every resident of the island.
Many of the key figures involved in the "Sark Lark", as it was known, emigrated when the island's controversial practices came under scrutiny a decade ago. Most of those companies are now defunct, with only around 209 active directorships.
A Guardian/ICIJ investigation, published last November, documented the activities of more than two dozen "sham directors" – Britons each listed as directors of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of companies registered across the world, allowing the real people behind them to stay in the shadows.
These sham directors held directorships not only in offshore companies but also in more than 8,900 British-registered companies – meaning UK authorities were left in the dark as to who was really in charge of supposedly British businesses.
These new findings suggest the numbers of such less-than-genuine directors on British company registers may be much greater than the 28 so far identified.
The Offshore Secrets investigation identified groups of nominee directors working out of territories scattered across the world. Atlas Corporate Services operated from Dubai and the Seychelles with six sham directors purportedly controlling more than 5,400 international companies.
Another pair of British expats, Sarah and Edward Petre-Mears, appeared to have a global empire of more than 2,250 directorships between them – run, initially, from their home in Sark, and then from a collection of addresses on the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis.
Writing in the Guardian in the wake of the initial findings, and before the latest figures came to light, the business secretary, Vince Cable, warned against the practice of using sham directors based in offshore territories. "[We] must identify and stop the minority who sail too close to the wind in order to protect the UK's reputation as a trusted place to do business," he said. "Becoming a company director carries with it legal responsibilities which, if breached, can result in disqualification, fines and prison.
"Some people think that putting up a straw man as a director makes them immune from the consequences. This is not the case: if you are acting as a director, you are liable."ctvtoronto.ca
Some TTC employees called for a work-to-rule campaign in response to sustained criticism from the public and their boss, but it's unclear if the protest got much traction.
Customers told CTV Toronto such a move would simply slow things down and didn't support any job action.
The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113, didn't sanction the protest by employees, who got a dressing-down from TTC general manager Gary Webster on Saturday.
"We are in the customer service business, but some of the behaviour our customers have encountered recently would suggest otherwise," Webster wrote in a message to his 12,000 staff.
"As employees, you -- and you alone -- are accountable for your actions. The culture of complacency and malaise that has seeped into our organization will end."
There have been photos posted of collector booth operators either sleeping or watching DVDs on the job, and a video emerged last week of a driver leaving his bus sit for seven minutes while he went for a coffee and to use a washroom. That operator has been suspended.
The union plans to hold a news conference on Tuesday to speak about customer and labour relations. But on the weekend, a Facebook group sprung up to give voice to operators' frustrations -- Toronto Transit Operators Against Public Harassment.
One must request to join the group. It contains photos of bad passenger behaviour, showing mounds of litter left behind and people sitting with their feet up on seats, among other things.
There were some public postings on another Facebook group: Employees of the TTC.
One person who identified themselves as an operator wrote on Saturday: "I have my Blackberry by my side and it's ready to start video taping my unruly and non paying passenger on my bus. Then I'll upload to Youtube (sic) and then send them to all the papers and all newsgroups to show the world what we hard working TTC employees have to deal with everyday.
"The cellphone journalism door swings both ways."
When he criticized a member of the public for engaging in "TTC bashing," that person responded: "So you can bash riders just because you're an employee? Very mature. 'Two sides to every coin' right? It's sad that so many people experience the same disrespectful treatment. I understand theres (sic) many shitty riders who try to scam the system, but how about not taking it out on nice decent riders who are just looking for a little help on their way."
With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin DelaneyToday I just saw the new Robin Hood movie directed by Ridley Scott. I was SURPRISED. Not just because I liked it better than I thought I would. Not because it was political, but because the message was so different from what you expect of the man who steals from the rich to give to the poor. And mostly that the message was so eloquently SPOT ON.
I never judge a movie’s quality by what it’s trying to say. I judge it by how well it says it. Avatar was an amazing movie, expressed itself powerfully, even though its message was juvenile. Not only did Robin Hood have an excellent message, but it brought it out in dramatic form so expertly.
This movie was about taxes. Yes, taxes. And it drives home the point of what taxes mean in the backstory. Showing how in 12th Century England people of the country are breaking their backs to support themselves in harsh times, only to see what they’ve produced and earned ripped from their hands by rulers demanding that everyone pay their fair share. Their fare share for the rulers’ endless wars and other endless expensive spending projects. Eventually it gets to be too much and the people organize together in mass for a tax revolt. Hmm… Tea Party?
I’m google-ing online now and finding many critics are very upset that this is not the classic steal from the rich to give to the poor Robin Hood. There’s no other such socialist undertones that imply rising higher than others is inherently wrong. No, instead there’s a demand on the King that a charter be drafted to limit his powers so that he cannot spend or tax without the consent of the governed. Robin Hood shouts to the crowd “What we ask for is Liberty. Liberty by Law!”, and makes the case to the King that a land of free people will create a stronger more prosperous England, as well as create citizens more loyal than any King enjoys.
[Check out the Trailer Below]
Yup, the movie’s message is a nearly explicit rallying cry for the Tea Party movement. And feels like an attack on both Bush and Obama. I couldn’t agree more with the libertarian points it makes viscerally. That yes, we do happen to use the government services we are taxed for, but to assume that any ruler can and should make better spending decisions with your income than you, it’s not only presumptuous, it is villainous. It’s theft, it’s brutal and it’s hurting your life. And for what? For inferior services operated by unaccountable self righteous “princely” bureaucrats.
Of course this is not just a political story. It’s a cool movie otherwise; intelligent and engaging. The backstory of injustice affects all the subplots and drives the theme of finding strength and courage and rising up to face challenges head on. The motto repeated throughout the movie is “Rise and Rise Again, Until Lambs become Lions”. This is an epic action film, brutal and bloody, and in line with Braveheart. The acting was great, Cate Blanchett was phenomenal, Russel Crowe was powerful, the production was engaging, and Ridley Scott continues to be incapable of directing anything less than excellent. It probably should have been titled “Robin Hood Begins” because it’s a prequel that leaves off where the classic tale begins. The story was a little hard to follow at the beginning, but it all makes sense in short time. At over 2 1/2 hours, you are hereby warned not to get a large drink.
Honestly, I had no desire to see Robin Hood, I never gave a damn about the classic story. A friend asked me to join him today and gave me only 15 minutes notice. I’m glad I didn’t turn him down.
I have no doubt that Ridley Scott and the writer Brian Helgeland would deny any connection with the Tea Party, and I’m sure this movie has nothing directly to do with that movement. Still, it explicitly and strongly supports the same ideals that the Tea Party stands for, so I can safely say, if you want to understand what the Tea Party is actually about, this movie serves as an excellent introduction.
Check out the Trailer:UPDATE: I have created a module to make the process more streamlined. The post has a link.
Office 365 (O365) Groups have existed for a while now and have began to reach a level of maturity that supports broader usage. In addition, many newer features in O365 depend on O365 Groups.
What are Office 365 Groups
O365 Groups are a Service-only capability that is very reminiscent of the Site Mailbox integration that was found in Exchange and SharePoint. Each Group has an Exchange mailbox and a SharePoint document library along with Group members and owners. In many ways, an O365 Group behaves like a distribution list. What O365 Groups are is what I would call a Secondary-service in O365; beyond Secondary-services, there are also Tertiary-services. So, what does this mean? Well, the Primary-services are the “flagship” products in O365: Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business. O365 Groups are a Secondary-service because they rest on the foundation of the Primary-services of Exchange and SharePoint. OneDrive for Business is also a Secondary-service as it is dependent upon SharePoint. Tertiary-services are emerging that are dependent upon Secondary-services and Primary-services, namely Microsoft Teams that rest upon O365 Groups and Skype for Business, and Planner that also uses O365 Groups:
So, O365 Groups are very important and should be well understood in order to properly implement the dependent services.
Initial Challenges
Like many new capabilities in the Microsoft Cloud, O365 Groups are enabled by default. From Microsoft’s perspective, this can help with adoption of these new capabilities and is quite necessary when you begin considering their desire to increase adoption of not only O365 Groups, but its dependent services, as well. However, having Groups enabled by default creates many challenges. First and foremost, Groups can just be created by end-users without the need to consider how they should be used within the organization. Also, since Groups have an Exchange mailbox, they have an email address. The other challenge is that Groups are Service-only and do not have an associated object in on-premises Active Directory, even when using directory synchronization, by default. This means that on-premises mailboxes, devices, and applications cannot send to O365 Groups.
Benefits
Beyond the collaborative offerings that O365 Groups creates, there are other benefits to Groups. One significant challenge when implementing O365, specifically in deployments with directory synchronization, is that distribution group owners cannot manage membership from within Outlook/OWA, as they might be accustomed from on-premises Exchange. The reason for this is that group membership changes must happen in on-premises Active Directory when using directory synchronization and Outlook does not make changes to on-premises Active Directory from Exchange Online, it attempts to update the Exchange Online Directory Service (ExODS) that is fed from Azure AD. One reaction might be to eliminate directory synchronization or to make cloud-only distribution groups. Eliminating directory synchronization is not a good practice in most situations because of the advantages that it offers, and in many situations is simply not possible. Creating cloud-only distribution groups could be prudent, but it doesn’t have an on-premises counterpart, unless one is manually created, which is possible, but is administratively burdensome.
Other options for managing distribution groups is to use other tools for group owners to manage them, including delegated permissions with Active Directory Users and Computers (difficult and uneasy at best), RBAC permissions for group membership in Exchange Admin Center on-premises (not bad, but requires implementation and training), Microsoft Identity Manager Service (very heavy implementation), or a 3rd party product (numerous considerations and challenges).
O365 Groups address some of these challenges out of the box. Since they are Service-only (at least to start), they are created as cloud-only entities that can be managed by owners from Outlook, just as they are accustomed. This creates a very low barrier to entry for end-users.
So, this leaves us with remaining challenges:
Restricting access to group creation Groups create email addresses that could collide with future email addresses Groups do not have an on-premises counterpart
Restricting the Creation of Office 365 Groups
Preventing the creation of new O365 Groups is a prudent tactic to pursue until the proper framework is implemented to effectively manage the groups.
In addition, there are limitation to the creation of O365 Groups:
A user can create up to 250 O365 Groups, except for administrators who can create an unlimited number [1] By default, only a total of 500,000 O365 Groups can be created, but a ticket can be submitted to increase the limit in the tenant [1]
NOTE: The Get-AzureADDirectorySetting cmdlet is only available in the AzureADPreview module and not the GA AzureAD module, at the time of this writing. In order to follow these instructions, the AzureADPreview module will be required. This module cannot co-exist with the GA AzureAD module and must be uninstalled to accommodate the installation of the preview module.
Create a security group to control who may create O365 Groups (I prefer an on-premises security group that gets synchronized up) and add pilot members Allow Azure AD Connect to synchronize the group (can be forced with Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta ) Sign into Azure AD PowerShell (with the AzureADPreview module) and set the group:
$GrpId = (Get-AzureADGroup -SearchString "Group Display Name").ObjectId $Template = Get-AzureADDirectorySettingTemplate | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -eq ‘Group.Unified’}
$Setting = $Template.CreateDirectorySetting()
New-AzureADDirectorySetting -DirectorySetting $Setting
$Setting = Get-AzureADDirectorySetting -Id (Get-AzureADDirectorySetting | Where -Property DisplayName -Value "Group.Unified" -EQ).Id
$Setting['EnableGroupCreation'] = $False
$Setting['GroupCreationAllowedGroupId'] = $GrpId
Set-AzureADDirectorySetting -Id (Get-AzureADDirectorySetting | Where -Property DisplayName -Value "Group.Unified" -EQ).id -DirectorySetting $Setting Verify success with: (Get-AzureADDirectorySetting).Values
Further control with the Azure AD module [1].
UPDATE: In my new post, Controlling Office 365 Groups Creation, I have created a module that provides a single command to do all of the work above.
Create an Office 365 Groups Domain
To avoid potential collisions and issues with O365 Groups being created, dedicated domains can be created for O365 Groups. Commonly, this can be established with a subdomain, like “groups.domain.com”. This offers a great solution to a fundamental structure in O365 and Azure AD; if Identity Federation is used, this is done on a per-domain basis, so cloud-only security principal cannot be created with a federated domain. By having another domain, this limitation is bypassed. Other intuitive options could be shortened versions, like “g.domain.com” or “grps.domain.com”.
How Can Office 365 Groups Create Collisions?
When operating with hybrid co-existence, most mail recipients in Exchange Online (mailboxes, groups, mail users, and contacts) are managed on-premises. This is great because it allows you to continue using many of your processes and management tools and still facilitates the operation of email address policies that aren’t available in Exchange Online; and more importantly, it keeps a unified identity solution which is better for administrators and users, alike. This is where the issue arises. Your email address policies create standard addresses for mail recipients, like [email protected]. This is done automatically and Exchange keeps track of things so that you only create unique addresses. Creating an O365 Group also prevents you from creating a duplicate address in the cloud, but it isn’t synchronized back on-premises, by default. Since any user can create an O365 Group, by default, users could do things like create a group named in the format of a user or a group that may come in the future and on-premises Exchange is completely unaware of this group, so it wouldn’t prevent an email address policy from using the same address. When directory synchronization runs, it will encounter an error.
Creating a group domain [2] has numerous steps:
Add the group domain in O365 Admin Center Add the group domain as an accepted domain in on-premises Exchange (as internal relay, not as authoritative) Create a DNS MX record for the domain (e.g. @ MX groups-domain-com.mail.protection.outlook.com ) Create an Autodiscover DNS CNAME record (e.g. groups CNAME autodiscover.outlook.com ) Add the group domain to the Send Connector created by the Hybrid Configuration Wizard. In Exchange Online PowerShell, create a new email address policy to assign the groups domain to O365 Groups (e.g. New-EmailAddressPolicy -Name Groups
-IncludeUnifiedGroupRecipients -EnabledEmailAddressTemplates "SMTP:@groups.domain.com" -Priority 1 )
Email Address Policies in Exchange Online?
Don’t get too excited here, the Email Address Policies in Exchange Online are only available for O365 Groups. This provides support for using different domains (i.e. domain1.com and domain2.com) and assigning the domain based on other criteria (e.g. Department -eq "Domain1" )
This solves one management challenge of creating O365 Groups. However, it does not create an on-premises counterpart, yet.
Enable Group Writeback in Azure AD Connect
Azure AD Connect (AAD Connect) has a growing number of “writeback” options. Normally, synchronization flows from on-premises Active Directory to Azure AD, but writeback capabilities allow bi-directional synchronization in some cases, or just synchronizing from Azure AD to on-premises Active Directory, in the case of Group writeback. One key consideration is where you would like these groups to be written in your on-premises Active Directory. Since Azure AD is a flat directory without organizational units, it must be explicitly defined. My recommendation would be to dedicate an OU for these groups.
Enabling writeback [3] has numerous steps:
Execute the AAD Connect wizard and select “Customize synchronization options” Follow the steps through to the “Optional features” page and select “Group writeback”. On the “Writeback” page, choose the OU where you want groups to be written. Follow the steps through to the end of the wizard and have it configure the settings. Find the “AAD_” or “MSOL_” WBAccaccount that AAD Connect will use to write to Active Directory In the Exchange Management Shell, run the following commands: $WBAcct = "AAD_e3uajshg452fvgh"
$GroupsOU = "OU=Groups,DC=domain,DC=local"
Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect\AdPrep\AdSyncPrep.psm1"
Initialize-ADSyncGroupWriteBack -ADConnectAccount $WBAcct
-GroupWriteBackContainerDN $GroupsOU
Creating New Groups
Creating new groups through the Exchange Admin Center in Exchange Online will let you select any domain name for new O365 Groups. However, using the New-UnifiedGroup command without specifying the domain name allows the Email Address Policy to assign the domain.
This same experience is found in Outlook and will prevent users from selecting just any domain.
Converting Distribution Groups to Office 365 Groups
Microsoft has a process for “upgrading” distribution groups to O365 Groups [4], but there are numerous limitations for groups that cannot be upgraded:
On-premises managed distribution groups Nested distribution groups Groups with recipient types besides UserMailbox, SharedMailbox, TeamMailbox, and MailUser Distribution groups with more than 10 owners Distribution groups without any owner Distribution groups with invalid characters Dynamic distribution groups Room lists
While potentially useful, it is rather limited because of the restrictions. Please see “Update distribution lists to Office 365 Groups in Outlook” [4] for more information.
Azure Active Directory Naming Policies
A new feature on the roadmap is Naming Policies for Azure AD. These will require Azure AD Premium licensing and will allow you to establish standards to the creation of names for O365 Groups, such as – –.
[1] : https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Control-who-can-create-Office-365-Groups-4c46c8cb-17d0-44b5-9776-005fced8e618 “Control who can create Office 365 Groups”
[3] : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt668829(v=exchg.150).aspx#Anchor_1 “Enable Group writeback in Azure AD Connect”
[4] : https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Upgrade-distribution-lists-to-Office-365-Groups-in-Outlook-787d7a75-e201-46f3-a242-f698162ff09f “Upgrade distribution lists to Office 365 Groups in Outlook”
AdvertisementsThe incident that happened around 7:30 pm in the evening is being seen as a major security and safety breach.
A serious accident was averted this evening when an aircraft with 49 passengers onboard collided with wild boars, went off the runway and then came to a stop. The incident happened when the SpiceJet flight from Mumbai to Jabalpur was landing.Though the plane - a Bombardier Q400 - is reported to have suffered damage in the collision, all the passengers are safe. Three animals were killed."All passengers have been safely evacuated and no one has sustained any injury," Airline officials told NDTV.At 7:30 pm, when the commander of the aircraft Amartya Basu touched down at Jabalpur he was forced to apply hard brakes after spotting wild boars on the runway. As he tried to manoeuvre the aircraft towards safety, the plane went slightly out of control and skidded off the runway."This could have been a tragic accident had it not been for the quick thinking of the pilot," an airline source told NDTV. Captain Basu has more than 10,000 hours of flying experience, of which 2,000 hours were on Q 400 type of aircraft.The incident raises serious questions on the safety of runway operations at the Jabalpur airport. As per civil aviation rules, a runway should be completely free from any kind of obstruction at the time of landing or take off.So far, neither the airline nor the Airports Authority of India has issued an official statement.Introduction
Veteran Mauricio Moto now uses a hearing aid for his left ear after returning from war. Kay Miller/News21
Marine Corps reservist Mauricio Mota served in five combat zones between 1987 and 2008, the last one in Iraq, where he slept next to what he described as “deafening” field generators and rode in loud helicopters. In training he fired an even louder weapon, a “bunker buster.”
Toward the end of his Iraq tour, the now-retired staff sergeant said he realized his hearing had gone bad. “I found myself telling others, ‘Wear some ear protection so you don’t go deaf like me,’” he said.
Among post-9/11 veterans, 414,000 have come home with hearing loss and tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. The most-widespread injury for veterans has been hearing loss and other auditory complications, according to interviews and benefits data. Hearing maladies cost more than $1.4 billion in veterans disability payments annually, according to fiscal year 2010 data from the Hearing Center of Excellence, a part of the Department of Defense. At least $216 million was spent that same year for hearing aids and related devices, according to an advisory committee report to the VA.
Paying an average of $348.15 each, the VA buys one in five hearing aids sold annually in the U.S., according to that 2010 spending report, the last year that data was available.
While much of the public concern about injuries suffered by post-9/11 troops has focused on missing limbs, traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, Scott C. Forbes, immediate past-president of the Association of Veterans Administration Audiologists, said “Actually, I think the signature injury is an auditory injury.”
Hearing injuries are the most commonly documented trauma, said Forbes, a Marine veteran who has a doctorate in audiology and served during the Gulf War/Somalia conflicts. He has been a VA audiologist for 13 years. The most common disability among all veterans is hearing related, according to a January 2011 Government Accountability Office report.
Despite being such a prevalent condition, hearing problems don’t get much attention, because “in general, very few people die because of hearing loss,” said Theresa Schulz, a retired Air Force audiologist who now works in a similar capacity for Honeywell Safety Products.
Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Mich., chairman of the Subcommittee on Health of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a telephone interview that 25 to 30 percent of VA disability claims involved hearing. Among them, “almost 99 percent” eventually are approved, he said. Benishek, who is a physician, has proposed that every service member gets a full audiology examination at discharge. His bills have been sent to the Congressional Budget Office to determine their impact on federal spending.
Mota took occasional hearing tests, but always managed to pass, he said. He didn’t recall hearing protection being issued, but said, “I think it was always around somewhere.”
Shortly after his discharge, Mota was with his family at a mall when he stopped at a hearing professional’s office to get tested. Immediately, he was fitted with his first two hearing aids.
“I walked out of that office and the world just opened up,” he said, “and the first sound I remember hearing was actually the ‘click click’ of a woman’s high heels.”
Last year at a Marine Corps ball, he noticed that many of his buddies seemed to have trouble hearing, too.
“I would say provocative things to someone to see how they’d respond,” said Mota, who works now as a charge nurse in a Gallup, N.M., hospital operating room, “and I could tell by the answer if they’d actually heard what I said.”
Charles Peworski has recieved more than 20 military and civilian awards, including the Marine Corps “Combat V” award for heroism and bravery. He served with the U.S. Marine Corps, sufering injuries while deployed and now deals with hearing loss. Kay Miller/News21
Master Sgt. Charles Peworski’s last hearing test was in 2004 despite the fact that he knows his hearing is a problem. When he and his fellow reservists gather to celebrate the Marine Corps anniversary, they joke about their hearing, or rather, the lack of it.
“We laugh about it. Out of the 10 guys in my unit, when we get together we say, ‘You know I can’t hear … talk to my good ear,” he said.
If there is a good ear.
One of his Marine buddies wears hearing aids in both ears; necessary, he said, because of noise exposure over his career.
Peworski was exposed to several factors that cause hearing impairment for military personnel: loud noises from trucks and helicopters, as well as machine-gun bursts and artillery fire.
In October 2008, Congress mandated a Pentagon-based office that would determine ways to prevent, diagnose, mitigate, treat, rehabilitate and research hearing loss and auditory issues for active-duty service members and veterans.
Experts say too few returning veterans, like most people, don’t seek medical attention for their hearing loss when they first notice it. They just live with it.
“We know that it is usually seven years between the time someone notes a problem with their hearing and the time they actually seek medical attention for it,” said Nancy Macklin, director of events and marketing for the Hearing Loss Association of America.
Prolonged excessive noise damages hearing, according to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), a division of the National Institutes of Health. Loud noises destroy the ear’s special cells, called “hair cells.” The ear cannot grow new hair cells.
Hair cells are one aspect of how hearing works; they help translate sound into a signal the brain interprets, or “hears.”
Loud noises also damage the auditory nerve, another hearing component that helps translate sound waves into signals the brain understands.
Hearing also can be damaged significantly by a single impulse sound — gunfire, for example.
Normal conversation is considered to be “safe” at a sound level of 60 decibels, according to the NIDCD.
On flight decks, noise levels are around 130 decibels and helicopter noise is around 100 decibels, according to military noise assessment. A soldier near an M60 machine gun is exposed to 150 decibels and within 50 feet of an exploding grenade, 160 decibels.
Blast pressure also damages hearing. Eardrums can rupture at pressure as low as 5 pounds per square inch, a fraction of what it takes to damage internal organs. Explosives used in Iraq and Afghanistan create pressure that exceeds 60 psi, according to VA audiology research. The pressure that damages lungs and intestines is 56-76 psi.
Another feature of blast injury/hearing impairment is that it likely will show up later, often as part of blast-induced traumatic brain injury.
Brett Buchanan, an Army veteran, is a claims agent for Allsup, a Belleville, Ill.-based national disability representation company that helps veterans through their medical appeals.
“Hearing loss and tinnitus are classic examples of medical issues that veterans may or may not be aware they have,” he said. “Earlier is better, and that applies to medical treatment and filing the claim for compensation.”
If veterans wait seven years, Buchanan said, their time discharged might be longer than the time they served on active duty. Upon discharge, veterans should get a baseline audiology examination, he said.
“Ultimately when the VA adjudicator looks at your claim and sees that you entered at this hearing threshold and left at this hearing threshold, and that every year after discharge your hearing has gotten progressively worse even though you were working in an office environment, it just lends credibility to your case that the hearing loss you experience today is due to that noise exposure in service,” Buchanan said.
Post-9/11 veteran Mark Brogan uses a CapTel phone, which allows him to read a transcription of a conversation while someone is talking to him, because of his hearing loss. Brogan lost most of his hearing when a suicide bomber detonated behind him during a mission in Iraq in 2006. Anthony Cave/News21
The CapTel phone transcribes what the person on the phone is saying, allowing a hearing-impaired user to see and read the phone conversation. Mark Brogan had his right temporal lobe removed because of the damage he suffered as a result of the suicide bomb. Anthony Cave/News21
Retired Army Capt. Mark A. Brogan was severely wounded in Iraq when a suicide bomb attack blew away part of his skull. Beyond his surviving that 2006 blast, Brogan said he is amazed by how much his hearing-assistive devices improved his life.
Brogan uses a device called CapTel lets him hear and read a transcription of telephone conversations as he listens to them.
“I |
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"I want to put America first," he said.
Watch Kasich's remarks below:Deadly protests are ongoing throughout Venezuela. Protesters began demonstrations in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Following the death of President Hugo Chávez, Venezuela faced a severe socioeconomic crisis during the presidency of his successor, Nicolás Maduro, as a result of Chávez’s policies and Maduro’s continuation of socialism.
Due to the country’s high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods attributed to economic policies such as strict price controls, civil insurrection in Venezuela culminated in the 2014–17 protests.
Biologists say hungry Venezuelans are even killing flamingos for food.
The Miami Herald reported: Biology student Luis Sibira stumbled across the first set of gory remains last November: eight pink flamingos, their breasts and torsos sliced out, leaving their heads, spindly legs and vivid feathers scattered across the marshy ground at Las Peonias Lagoon in western Venezuela.
Flamingo hunting is both illegal and unusual at the lagoon, less than 200 miles from the Colombian border. Sibera, who had been studying the pink birds that nest there for years, had never seen anything remotely like that before.
Since then, though, he’s seen at least 20 similar cases, most recently in January, when he found several carcasses hidden under shrubs, with a shotgun shell nearby.
In the latest horror, a man was set on fire during a riot. About 100 people surrounded the protester, doused him in gasoline and set him ablaze in Plaza Altamira in east Caracas.
WARNING: Videos are disturbing:
[READ NEXT: In a hungry Venezuela, buying too much food can get you arrested]
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commentsRecent articles by enato Ramos and Alexandre Samis,
This author has not submitted any other articles. Recent Articles about Brazil/Guyana/Suriname/FGuiana History of anarchism
O que é Anarquismo? by Coordenação Anarquista Brasileira (CAB) Vida e Obra de Bakunin by Felipe Corrêa The Brazilian Anarchist Uprising of 1918 by Rebel Worker Domingos Passos the Brazilian Bakunin brazil/guyana/suriname/fguiana | history of anarchism | opinion / analysis Thursday December 03, 2015 06:01 Thursday December 03, 2015 06:01 by enato Ramos and Alexandre Samis, by enato Ramos and Alexandre Samis, Republished in "Zabalaza: A Journal of Southern African Revolutionary Anarchism" no.14 in the Black Stars of Anarchism series
I woke at 5.00 am. Passos, who had been up and about for hours, was sitting on his bed reading Determinism and Responsibility by Hamon. I grabbed a towel and went downstairs to wash my face. When I came back from the yard, after drying off, I saw two individuals. It was a moment or two before I realised who they were. With revolvers drawn they spoke to me and asked me harshly: Wheres Domingos Passos?Anticipating another of the attacks that our comrade had been through so often before, I was keen to cover for him and said that he was not around. I told them: Theres no Domingos Passos living here!
This brief extract from a 16 March 1923 declaration by the workman Orlando Simoneck, carried in the newspaper A Patria, clearly reflects a few features of the situation sampled by the black youngster, carpenter by trade, anarchist and active member of the Civil Construction Workers Union (UOCC): by 1923 Comrade Passos had become a special target for the Rio police as well as one of the best loved and respected worker militants in the (then) Federal District. Another feature of this comrade, rightly identified by Simoneck, was his relentless self-educational drive, his thirst for learning and culture, which found him spending his mornings poring over books in the little collection belonging to Florentino de Carvalho who lived in the same house in the Rua Barão in São Félix, only a couple of paces from the union local.
We do not know the precise year of Passoss birth (it was probably towards the end of the 19th century), but, from the books of Edgar Rodrigues, we know that he was born in Rio de Janeiro state. We find his first appearance in social struggles of the time as a UOCC delegate at the 3rd Brazilian Workers Congress (1920) at which he was elected as travel secretary for the Brazilian Workers Confederation (COB). Passos had been selected for that post because he stood out in the ranks of the organised proletariat on account of his intellect and oratorical gifts which he had honed in the day to day struggles of his trade. In 1920 Passos worked with the Rio de Janeiro Workers Federation (FORJ) which had a daily newspaper in A Voz do Povo. Under the Epitácio Pessoa government, there was a severe crackdown with countless anarchist militants being jailed, tortured and murdered, trades unions shut down and labour newspapers pulped. In October 1920, the police dispersed a workers parade down the Avenida Rio Branco with gunfire and, not content with that, stormed the UOCC headquarters, wounding 5 workers and rounding up a further 30.
The labour movement was reeling from the onslaught and went into a decline from 1921 on. The yellow unions expanded rapidly and came to contest hegemony in several trades with the revolutionary unions. Among anarchists, the high hopes vested in the Russian revolution were evaporating as news percolated through of the Bolsheviks repressiveness.
On 16 March 1922, nine days ahead of the launching of the Communist Party of Brazil, the UOCC carried a document entitled Refuting the False Claims of the Communist Group and declaring its repudiation of the state communists, the Bolshevists. It was assuredly written by Domingos Passos. Throughout the 1920s, Civil Construction workers were the steeliest and least compromising opponents of the Bolshevist doctrine. They were the very embodiment of critical awareness and in a number of regards took their toll of the communist cadres.
In July 1922, in the wake of the failure of the revolt by the lieutenants from the Copacabana Fort, the repression slapped a ban on the UOCC paper O Trabalho, to which Passos was a regular contributor. A new anarchist bastion in the press was under the charge of another UOCC militant, Marques da Costa, editor of the Labour Section with the newspaper A Patria.
In 1923, with the police crackdown hot on his heels, Domingos Passos stepped down from the UOCC Executive Commission and turned his attention to propaganda and union organising, travelling twice to Paraná to assist the local organisations. Like the intellectuals José Oiticica, Carlos Dias and Fabio Luz, Passos was frequently invited to give talks at union locals. He was also actively involved with workers festivals, acting in plays, giving poetry-readings and talks on social themes. Such events certainly accounted for some of the few moments of pleasure that Passos enjoyed during his life as a labourer and political activist.
During the first half of 1923 he was one of the driving forces behind the relaunching of the Rio de Janeiro Workers Federation (FORJ), the rival FTRJ organisation having been set up under communist control. When the FORJ resurfaced on 19 August 1923, Passos was elected on to its Federal Committee. Refloated by 6 unions (civil construction, the shoemakers, the coopers, the ships carpenters, the gastronomics and the Marechal Hermes General Trades Union) by mid-1924 the FORJ had recruited a further 5 significant trades: foundry-workers, brickworkers, ironworkers, steelworkers and stone-workers. In spite of state repression and underhanded communist tricks, revolutionary syndicalism grew in strength under the auspices of the FORJ which was at that time working on the organisation of an inter-union conference in Rio and planning the 4th Brazilian Workers Congress. In July 1924, all of this organisation effort was wiped out by the crackdown following a junior officers revolt, in São Paulo this time. Union locals were attacked and shut down, and hundreds of anarchists were jailed. Domingos Passos was one of the first to be arrested and after 20 days of suffering at Police Headquarters he was held in the prison ship Campos in Guanabara Bay. The months that he served on board were characterised by severe privation and restrictions. With other anarchists and hundreds of outlaws, he was to be moved to the Green Hell of Oiapoque, the Siberia of the Tropics, where ill-treatment and disease claimed over a thousand lives. Passos managed to escape to Saint-Georges in French Guyana. Meanwhile, fever drove him to seek medical treatment in Cayenne where he received a warm welcome from a Creole who helped him regain his strength. From Guyana he moved on to Belém where he remained for a time as a guest of the organised proletariat in the city.
Domingos Passos was one of those who returned to the Federal District after the state of siege enforced by the Artur Bernardes government for nearly four full years (1922-1926). On reaching Rio de Janeiro at the start of 1927, he returned to union activity, but he was dogged by the after-effects of malaria. That year he moved to São Paulo, where he helped reorganise the local Workers Federation (FOSP). He took part in the 4th Rio Grande do Sul Workers Congress held in Porto Alegre. He was to the fore in the organising of several pro-Sacco and Vanzetti meetings and rallies organised by the FOSP and its affiliates. In August he was jailed in the feared Cambuci Bastille where he spent three months, subject to all manner of ill-treatment.
According to Pedro Catallo, his cell-mate, Passos left prison with his body covered in ulcers and half-naked and was sent to the jungles of Sengés in the still untamed interior of São Paulo state, to die. A short while later he managed to write to some comrades, asking for money, which he received through a go-between. So ended the career of a man who had been one of the most influential and respected of the anarchist and revolutionary syndicalist activists of his day. Nothing more was ever heard of him, aside from the occasional, unconfirmed rumour. Not for nothing was Domingos Passos known to his contemporaries as the Brazilian Bakunin. Few were as committed as he was to his ideals and suffered so much as a result. He put his all into the fight to emancipate men and women. He spent nearly a decade in prison and in tropical jungle conditions. Passos became a great beacon for libertarian and social activists in his day and in our own!
Translated by: Paul Sharkey Related Link: https://www.facebook.com/zabalazanews/
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English Italiano Deutsch This page can be viewed inGood morrow and glad tidings my fair fellow Chip-citizens! This month, I’m pleased as punch to bring you a review of Mr. Alex Wimmer’s upcoming release via The Waveform Generators, “An interesting Life”! Additionally, thanks to modern technology, I had the distinct pleasure of getting a few minutes of face time with MrWimmer to learn a little bit about the album.
“An Interesting Life” is the product of a year’s sweat and toil on the part of the artist. While he encountered ups; he encountered downs, and he defeated all comers that sought to get in his path.
Was it worth it? In my opinion, yes. Hands down, yes. The way MrWimmer’s meshed his voice with a jazz fueled fusion of chips, synths, and other instruments glows with that venerable lounge singer style. So much so that after I finished my first listen, I honestly wanted to queue up some Sinatra.
Now, vocals typically imply that these tunes have lyrics. If you chose to engage in that little bit of applied logic, you’d be correct. I inquired with MrWimmer as to whether there was a narrative to the album. He responded that there was, and that it was preconceived. When asked about it, he responded: “I creatively refuse to answer the question.”
Out of respect for that response, this review will focus solely on the musical aspects of the album. The lyrics are left to you, the discerning listener, as a personal experience to enjoy for yourself.
Golden opens slowly and almost eerily. Mysterious enough to really capture my attention before the drums ushered in a more rapidly progressing track with a layering of instrumentation that requires multiple listens to truly appreciate. Then, just a bit shockingly, the track dropped away to a simple chip solo, returning to the mystery before fading out.
TWG023| An Interesting Life by MrWimmer
Your Way is the track that is my ‘must listen’ of the entire album. Its tempestuousness highlights just what MrWimmer’s musical talent is capable of. The track breaks apart sections that are almost hopeful and dreamy with jarring bursts of electric guitar and distorted vocals, all tied together by a bright set of arps.
TWG023| An Interesting Life by MrWimmer
My Only presents the listener between a variety of musical themes, and somehow manages to pull all of them together into a skillfully crafted listening experience. Given the tumultuous emotional content of the track, it is difficult to separate it from its lyrics, so I encourage the reader to take the time to appreciate the work MrWimmer has done here.
TWG023| An Interesting Life by MrWimmer
How Long stands out for its percussion and bass. The kicks and snares at the outset? Great. The triangle wave hiding in the track, occasionally peeking out to say hello? Heart warming. But the wood block and maracas that become audible towards the end cinch it all together. Bloody brilliant work.
TWG023| An Interesting Life by MrWimmer
Study is an exercise in the extended exploration of blending a wide variety of sounds and styles. While a backbone of chippy arps stretches the length of the song, the haunting synth and guitar work are what’s really showcased here. The first couple of listens, it is really worth focusing on them and hearing what they can be made to do in that regard. Afterward, listen again, because there is a plethora of ornamentation that is worth learning to pick out and appreciate.
TWG023| An Interesting Life by MrWimmer
An Interesting Life is an interesting close to the album. With its slowed tempo and melancholy chord composition, it seemed to be a definitive end to the album. Underneath that though, in the punchy percussion, ethereal musical flow, and the closing high notes, one could justify believing the story of the narrative begins anew as much as it ends here.
TWG023| An Interesting Life by MrWimmer
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In the aftermath of the listening experience, I had asked MrWimmer about where he wanted to take his exploration of the jazz style. He told me that he started dabbling with jazz in the final few tracks of his last album, and he’s wanted to explore the style for quite awhile.
Now that he’s explored “more complex, weird and exciting” takes on the subject in this album, he has every intention to keep following this path. Make more music, make it better, more complex, more nuanced, and follow it all the way down the rabbit hole.
He made all of this happen with two copies of LSDJ, a few other instruments, and a literal pile of synths.
MrWimmer’s preferred approach is to lay the framework for a track using a single LSDJ unit (or other tracker), and then build upon that, adding in new layers of instrumentation until it is complete. With the exception of “My Only”, the lyrics were the final layer to be added. “My Only” also had the distinction of being completed just 20 minutes before the album’s final send off.
Those few other instruments? Predominantly they were comprised of Alex on keyboards, and his buddy Shawn Savoie on guitars. Shawn is an incredibly talented friend, as he also served as the recording engineer for this album. Due to Mr. Savoie’s phenomenal stockpile of luck, he found himself with unfettered access to a home studio for a week. He was so kind as to invite Alex to join him, and they utilized the time to put the album together.
This is an album definitely worth checking out. Grab it from them Waveform Generators, and It’ll probably spice up your life, expand your appreciation for the vastness that is the ChipRealm, and maybe even leave a warm feeling in your heart. When you’re done?
Get out there, spread the love, and make some chip!
VF
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MrWimmer
Bandcamp | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud
The Waveform Generators
Blogspot | Bandcamp | Facebook | NTWRK
TWG023| An Interesting Life by MrWimmer
Dig this article? Then consider supporting us on Patreon!Awkward facts that erode the 'benign humanitarian' self-image of the West are routinely side-lined or buried by the corporate media. Consider, for example, the severe impact of sanctions imposed on Syria by the United States and the European Union.
An internal United Nations assessment, revealed on September 28 by Rania Khalek in The Intercept, makes clear that the sanctions are punishing ordinary Syrians and preventing vital aid, including medical supplies, from reaching those in dire need. Access has been denied for blood safety equipment, medicines, medical devices, food, fuel, water pumps and spare parts for power plants, amongst other items.
Khalek notes that the internal assessment, which was prepared for the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, describes:
'the U.S. and EU measures as "some of the most complicated and far-reaching sanctions regimes ever imposed." Detailing a complex system of "unpredictable and time-consuming" financial restrictions and licensing requirements, the report finds that U.S. sanctions are exceptionally harsh "regarding provision of humanitarian aid."'
US sanctions on Syrian banks have made the transfer of funds into Syria 'nearly impossible'. This has had a two-fold effect:
1. Aid groups have been unable to pay local staff and suppliers which has delayed or prevented aid from reaching those in need. 2. An unofficial and unregulated financial network has proliferated, making it easier for ISIS and al Qaeda to divert funds undetected.
Khalek also reports that a leaked email from 'a key UN official' blamed US and EU sanctions for contributing to food shortages and weakened health care. In particular:
'sanctions had contributed to a doubling in fuel prices in 18 months and a 40 percent drop in wheat production since 2010, causing the price of wheat flour to soar by 300 percent and rice by 650 percent.'
The UN official cited sanctions as a 'principal factor' in the erosion of Syria's health care system. Khalek adds:
'Medicine-producing factories that haven't been completely destroyed by the fighting have been forced to close because of sanctions-related restrictions on raw materials and foreign currency'.
The US first imposed sanctions on Syria in 1979, after designating its government 'a State Sponsor of Terrorism'. Over time, further sanctions were added with more extreme restrictions imposed in 2011 after it was claimed the Syrian government had initiated violence against peaceful protesters (a claim that has been contested). In 2013, sanctions were eased, but only in areas that opposed President Assad. As Khalek notes:
'Around the same time, the CIA began directly shipping weapons to armed insurgents at a colossal cost of nearly $1 billion a year, effectively adding fuel to the conflict while U.S. sanctions obstructed emergency assistance to civilians caught in the crossfire.'
When Khalek challenged the US State Department about the devastating impact of sanctions on war-torn Syria, where 13 million people are dependent on humanitarian assessment, she was fed a statement 'which recycled talking points that justified sanctions against Iraq in [the] 1990s':
'U.S. sanctions against [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad], his backers, and the regime deprive these actors of resources that could be used to further the bloody campaign Assad continues to wage against his own people'.
The same specious propaganda arguments were used by the West, notably the United States and Britain, to 'justify' barbaric sanctions against Iraq from 1990 to 2003, following the first Gulf War. Leading politicians and officials in the West claimed that the sanctions were aimed at punishing and containing Saddam. But the victims were the Iraqi people themselves. In 1999, the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that the mortality rate for children under five in Iraq had doubled. In all, half a million young Iraqi children died as a result. Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, infamously declared that 'the price is worth it'.
Given the terrible consequences in Iraq under the crippling UN embargo, the United States government is no doubt perfectly aware of the impact of sanctions on the Syrian people. Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, observes:
'Sanctions have a terrible effect on the people more than the regime and Washington knows this from Iraq. But there's pressure in Washington to do something and sanctions look like you're doing something.'
Hans von Sponeck, who resigned from his post as the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Baghdad in 2000, accused Washington and London of 'knowingly maintaining conditions of misery' in Iraq under sanctions. (Hans von Sponeck, 'A Different Kind of War: The UN Sanctions Regime in Iraq', Berghahn, 2006, p. 27). We are not supposed to believe that 'our' governments would do such a heinous thing. And, indeed, von Sponeck's book was essentially ignored by the western media. It has never been reviewed by any major UK newspaper, and has literally been mentioned only once (by Robert Fisk in the Independent).
As well as the current punitive sanctions on Syria, Khalek also notes that:
'in cities controlled by ISIS, the U.S. has employed some of the same tactics it condemns. For example, U.S.-backed ground forces laid siege to Manbij, a city in northern Syria not far from Aleppo that is home to tens of thousands of civilians. U.S. airstrikes pounded the city over the summer, killing up to 125 civilians in a single attack. The U.S. also used airstrikes to drive ISIS out of Kobane, Ramadi, and Fallujah, leaving behind flattened neighborhoods. In Fallujah, residents resorted to eating soup made from grass and 140 people reportedly died from lack of food and medicine during the siege.'
An honest media would report all this with headline coverage and include much critical analysis in editorials and opinion pieces. They would also ask searching questions of the British Prime Minister and other leading politicians. Needless to say, this has not happened. Indeed, our searches have revealed just one newspaper article covering the report's assessment that US and EU sanctions are contributing to the terrible suffering of the Syrian people. Patrick Cockburn reported in the Independent:
'the US and EU sanctions are imposing an economic siege on Syria as a whole which may be killing more Syrians than die of illness and malnutrition in the sieges which EU and US leaders have described as war crimes. Over half the country's public hospitals have been damaged or destroyed.'
We found nothing on the BBC News website.
Even when the Guardian trumpeted an 'exclusive' on September 30 (two days after Rania Khalek's piece in The Intercept) that more than 80% of UN aid convoys in Syria had been blocked or delayed, there was nothing about the crippling effect on aid by US and EU sanctions. There was a single passing mention to these sanctions, but only in the context of heaping blame on the official enemy Assad:
'the UN has awarded contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to individuals closely associated with Assad, including businesspeople whose companies are under US and EU sanctions.'
We asked Nick Hopkins, the author of the Guardian article, to explain why his 'exclusive' had ignored criticism of US and EU sanctions (here and here). He did not respond. Hopkins, a former BBC journalist, had also remained silent when we challenged him in 2011 about a propaganda piece on Iran. Likewise, he ignored us in 2013 when we challenged him to justify misinforming Guardian readers that merely 'tens of thousands' had died in Iraq following the 2003 invasion by US-led forces.
These are just a tiny sample of the myriad examples that reveal the Guardian's role as a liberal gatekeeper of acceptable views in the'mainstream'. Bear this in mind the next time you see an online Guardian advert pleading:
'Producing in-depth, thoughtful, well-reported journalism is difficult and expensive – but supporting us isn't. If you value the Guardian's international coverage, please help to fund our journalism by becoming a supporter.'
Support journalism that regularly buries Western crimes? Smears Jeremy Corbyn and the public movement behind him? And promotes a 'liberal' view of climate-wrecking capitalism? No thanks.
DC
Update: October 10, 2016
A sentence has been changed to indicate that the claim the Syrian government initiated deadly violence against peaceful protesters is contested.The Canadian media has highlighted Prime Minister Harper’s one on one meeting with Ukraine’s president Poroshenko in Kiev (June 5, 2015). The official story which has been fed to Canadians is that Ottawa is providing “non-lethal aid” as well support to the country’s civilian police force:
“We supply a range of non-lethal military equipment,” Harper said… While disappointed about this, Poroshenko praised Canada for supporting Ukraine since “the first hours” of his presidency and said the military aid it had provided to his country, such as medical kits and mobile hospitals, “addressed an acute problem. (National Post, June 6, 2015, emphasis added) Harper also announced that Canada would be sending 10 police officers to Ukraine to help reform the country’s security sector in a partnership with the United States. Harper announced the $5 million project during a visit in which he watched training exercises by police cadets. … (CP News 24, June 6, 2015, emphasis added)
This story contradicts earlier reports and government statements.
The gist of Harper’s flash visit to Kiev prior to the G7 Summit was to reaffirm Canada’s commitment to the dispatch of “military instructors” in support of Ukraine’s National Guard, which is controlled by the two Neo-Nazi parties, Svoboda and Right Sector.
In April, Washington confirmed that it would send in a US contingent of instructors “of 290 specialists which will be working with the National Guard. Britain has dispatched 75 military personnel responsible for training “in command procedures and tactical intelligence”. (Los Angeles Times, April 20, 2015). Ironically, the Harper government quite candidly acknowledged that there were Neo-Nazi elements within the National Guard, and that provisions were being envisaged to prevent Canadian military instructors from training Neo-Nazis: The Canadian government is confident that troops from Petawawa won’t end up instructing Neo Nazis and far right extremists when they begin their training mission in Ukraine this summer, but a former diplomat is warning it will be difficult to weed out such extremists as their militia units are now being integrated into Ukraine’s regular forces. Some members of Ukraine’s most effective fighting units [Azov batallion] have openly acknowledged they are Nazi sympathizers or have expressed anti-Semitic or extreme right wing views. (Ottawa Citizen, April 18, 2015, emphasis added) The solution proposed by Canada’s Defence Minister Kenney is contradictory to say the least: Ottawa will support the National Guard as a means to avoiding the training of Neo-Nazis. Canada’s military instructors will be dispatched and allocated to the National Guard: “We’re not going to be in the business of training ad hoc militias… We will only be training units of the Ukrainian National Guard and army recognized by the government of Ukraine.” (Ibid, emphasis added) What is Ukraine’s National Guard The National Guard which is now supported by Canada has been responsible for countless atrocities in the Donbass region.
The wear Nazi insignia on their uniforms.
Below is the Nazi emblem of the National Guard [Національна гвардія України] which is defined as Reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The National Guard is part of the so-called “Internal Troops of Ukraine.” The emblem is a stylized swastika (see below). The main battalion of the National Guard under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs involved in the Donbass region is The Azov Battalion (Батальйон Азов). This battalion is supported by the Western military alliance including Canada. The Azov Battalion -which displays the Nazi SS emblem– (below left) is described by the Kiev regime as “a volunteer battalion of territorial defense”. It’s a National Guard battalion under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Officially based in Berdyank on the Sea of Azov, it was formed by the regime to fight the opposition insurgency in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. It is supported by the US and NATO. These militia bearing the Nazi SS emblem supported by the US and Canada are casually referred to as “Freedom fighters”. Scroll down for Selected Images of the Azov Battalion “Freedom Fighters” Imagine what would happen if Canada’s RCMP or the US National Guard were to display swastika-like symbols. Media Disinformation Unknown to both Americans and Canadians, the West is channeling financial support, weapons and training to a Neo-Nazi entity. Both Washington and Ottawa have sent in military instructors. Nobody knows about it because the use of the words “Neo-Nazi” and “Fascist” in relation to Ukraine is a taboo. The have been excluded from the lexicon of investigative reporting. In media reports they have been replaced by “Ultra-conservative”, “Extreme Right” and “Nationalist”.
Ukraine’s National Guard –which is supported by Canada– glorifies Adolph Hitler and Stepan Bandera, Ukraine’s World War II Nazi leader and collaborator of the Third Reich.
People holding UPA (horizontal red and black) and Svoboda (3 yellow fingers on blue) flags march through Kyiv to the honor of the Nazi ally, Bandera. See http://revolution-news.com/ukrainian-euromaidan-putin-just-another-fascist-political-coup/
It is worth noting that Ukrainian Jews were the target of the Third Reich’s Einsatzgruppen (Task Groups or Deployment Groups) which were supported by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators led by Stepan Bandera. These “task forces” were paramilitary death squads deployed in occupied territories.
Talking about Neo-Nazis in Ukraine, who are part of the coalition government, is a taboo. It is not newsworthy. Yet, the Neo-Nazis play a central role in the country’s security apparatus.
Surely Canadians should be made aware of the fact that their government is sending military instructors to train Neo-Nazi recruits.
In contrast to the scanty news which is fed to Canadians, the Ukrainian media’s coverage of Harper’s visit to Kiev has nonetheless acknowledged Canada’s support for the country’s National Guard:Reading Sex Criminals #1 is like discovering sex for the first time - it's new and different but mind-blowingly great and you know you'll be back for more. Meet Suzie and Jon, our heroes and sex criminals. When they orgasm they can slow time to a crawl and move about in it unaffected at normal speed. But calling them criminals makes you think of them as bad guys and they're anything but. Suzie is all about trying to save her local library from BankCorp who have foreclosed on the property and will be closing it shortly. Her mission is to save as many books as she can while Jon is a secretary. By the end of the first issue they discover they both have the same superpower of slowing down time after sex and decide to put it to good use and start robbing the rich in the sexiest way possible! That's the setup of the series but the first issue is all about establishing character and tone which writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky do beautifully through narrator Suzie. Grown up Suzie talks to us directly as she shows us her troubled past where a random shooting kills her father and the debilitating effect it had on her mother who never recovered, and how young teen Suzie realised her magical ability after discovering the joys of masturbation for the first time. Climaxing for the first time is a pretty surreal experience but for Suzie its extra strange when she realises the tap water has slowed exponentially and pretty bright lights fill the air. The experience leads Suzie to some funny scenes as she tries to find out whether everyone goes through the same thing she does and underlines something most kids today don't appreciate - how back in the late 90s (and of course earlier) finding very specific information like sex facts when you're a kid, was a tough gig. These days, google, bang, you've got it - especially when it comes to sex - but for someone relying on libraries and without access to the internet, it was a tricky process. Luckily for us Suzie has to approach a more experienced girl at school for answers which culminates in a brilliant scene in a cubicle with some amazingly drawn sexual positions and names. Brimping - it's worth getting this comic just to find out what that's all about. And while this comic features a lot of talk about sex, the sex itself is tastefully presented, playful even and always unabashed, and never feels cheap or exploitative.Speaking of the art, Chip Zdarsky is a terrific artist, full stop. Every single panel is gorgeous from the opening scene that feels psychedelic, funny and thrilling all at the same time and sets the tone of the comic instantly, to the scene where Suzie and Jon meet for the first time. This scene in particular is genius - the first panel shows Suzie's feet float off the ground as she follows Jon about the room who's quoting Nabokov's Lolita, everyone else in the party darkened in comparison to their brightly coloured selves, before ending in a panel where the two look at each other and smile. Then the following page shows the two sat on a couch as the rest of the room, furniture and guests, break apart and float away leaving the two of them on the couch drifting in endless white space. It's the perfect representation of falling in love I've seen in comics in a long while. Those pages are the standout for me but every single page, bar none, is full of beautiful art and this has to be noted, and has to be intentional, but Suzie and Jon look exactly like Matt and Kelly Sue, which is very cute. Fraction's script is everything that his fans have come to expect from him - witty and funny, clever and inspired, knowing but guileless, the comic effortlessly introduces two characters you feel you've known for years, throws in a high concept plot, and mixes in moments of comedy, tragedy and mystery, and it all hangs together perfectly. If you're reading Fraction's other titles you'll know this already but the man's work right now isn't just the best he's ever written but is among the best writing in comics to be found anywhere, and Sex Criminals is right up there with Hawkeye, Fantastic Four and Satellite Sam. If you're not reading Image these days - guys, do yourselves a solid and pick up some of their titles, starting with Sex Criminals. This comic is original and charming containing an adorable cast, virtuoso writing and stunning art - simply put, the beginning of a masterpiece. Sex Criminals #1: take it home with you today - it's love at first sight! Published by Image Comics, Sex Criminals #1 by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky is out nowGetty Images
As Black Monday approaches, plenty of people are saying plenty of things about potential vacancies. In response to our item from Friday regarding the future of Dolphins G.M. Dennis Hickey, a league source with knowledge of the dynamics in the Miami front office told PFT that Hickey is “definitely out.”
The source also said that director of college scouting Chris Grier will be elevated into the G.M. position.
It’s unclear whether the promotion of Grier would occur quickly or after a formal search process. Because Grier is a minority candidate, he can be elevated into the job without further interviews under the Rooney Rule.
The Friday report was softened a bit by a source who said that discussions will continue over the next few days, and that nothing had been finalized. Still, if the move wasn’t looming, there would be nothing to discuss into early next week. And there would be no urgency to end the discussions within the next few days.© The Associated Press New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slides into a 1956 Chevrolet during a trip to Havana earlier this year. Governors and other state officials are traveling to Cuba to forge business ties with the island nation.
The U.S. trade embargo on Cuba remains in place, but the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations has spurred a steady stream of state and local officials to visit the island nation in search of economic opportunity.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York was the first state chief executive, in April, to visit Cuba after President Obama announced plans to ease relations with Cuba. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, a Democrat, went in June and Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas went in September. A group of Iowa legislators and businessmen plan to go in December. Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia hosted José Cabañas, Cuba’s ambassador to the U.S., in September as well.
Though states may be eager for the end of the embargo, it’s not clear when Washington will lift the 50-year-old policy and allow free trade between the two nations. In the meantime, there are limits on what products American businesses can ship to Cuba, mainly just food and medicine, and how Cubans can pay for them.
Cuba’s Communist government also insists on having control over most of the business transacted on the island. That tight grip, along with Cuba’s infrastructure problems, will create problems for U.S. businesses even after the embargo is lifted.
Critics say |
badly injured.
A psychiatric expert testified that Svetoslav suffered a serious head injury in the crash and had reduced culpability as a result of the alcohol and drug abuse. The expert also claimed Svetoslav had an IQ of 63, classifying him as intellectually impaired and unable to control his emotions.(Photo property of ESPN...if you couldn't figure that one out on your own)
For the most part, Echo Boomers have grown out of the typical definition of the term “role model.” The word simply does not apply to us in the way that it use to. We no longer look to actors, athletes, and astronauts to set a precedent for us - we look to them to set the bar.
As high schoolers are hitting the pool, they aren’t looking to be like Phelps - they’re looking to be better. They aren’t looking at his bong; they’re looking at the pounds of Beijing gold hanging from his neck - and they want it. They are looking at his $100M in endorsements and thinking to themselves that they too want to be paid to prance around in a Speedo and eat PowerBars.
I don’t think of Phelps any less for smoking - it's not my place to judge. In fact, it almost makes the fact that he won 14 golds just that more impressive, considering how much smoking anything affects your lungs. The only possible way for it to have helped him, is if it aided in his insane, 12,000 calorie/day intake in order to have enough energy to burn in the pool.
The whole situation reminds me of a quote from Robin Williams:
“The poor Canadian snowboarder, in the 1998 Olympics, they took away his medal because he tested positive for marijuana, which is kinda redundant number one, number two, they said that marijuana was a "performance-enhancing drug.” [buzzer sound] Marijuana enhances many things, colors, flavors, sensations, but you are certainly not f****** empowered. When you're stoned, you're lucky if you can find your own god**** feet. The only way it's a performance-enhancing drug is if there's a big f****** Hershey bar at the end of the run.”
The whole thing comes down to Phelps setting the bar in business and life. He set out to be the best, and he is. He is the top in his sport and commands one of the most lucrative endorsement contracts in the world. Gen-Y will not look at him and think “stoner,” they’ll think of his accomplishments - and then try and be better.
I’m curious to hear other people’s opinions on the subject!
-Josh GrothWhen I was 17 and a high school drop-out I went to work for a bank. My mom was ecstatic, I had a job, in spite of my failure to ‘get an education’. Never mind that the job that I got was mailroom gofer. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being a mail runner for a bank. And run I did. So fast that people complained about it because I made them look lazy :)
What I really wanted was to run my own company, but without the required background knowledge that would have been a huge risk, and as my mom told me, at least now I had a job.
So I worked my shifts and at night did my best to grok this thing called computing better than I did up and until that point. Burning the midnight oil, studying 6809 and 6502 assembler (using Lance Leventhals books), digital logic and Schaums Outline series on boolean algebra and any other subject that might be remotely related to computing in any shape or form. Even if I didn’t understand all that I read when I read it enough of it stuck to be able to read back later when I needed it. All the money I made that didn’t go into the rent of my 1 room apartment and food went in to computing hardware and books. No world wide web back then to get information from. And computer gear was expensive back then! A 160K floppy drive? That’s 900 bucks please! Aka 4 months of savings.
My first ‘freelance’ job I got by accident. I was walking home one night in Amsterdam and two guys were lugging an Apple II from a car in to a house. Being of a curious nature I asked what they were doing (it looked rather suspicious!) and they said ‘building an eye tracker’. “What’s that?” I asked. “Come along and see”. Stuff like that happens in Amsterdam in the middle of the night.
Up a couple of flights of (very narrow) stairs in to a room full of gear, lights, mirrors at weird angles, cameras and so on.
An eye tracker is a device that allows you to see on a screen what a person is looking at, a cleverly rigged monitor/camera/light/mirror combination reflects a dot of light from the eye of the observer of the screen on to a camera via a mirror. Only one problem, it didn’t work.
They were using a plug-in board to the Apple with a flash digitizer in it to sample the video signal, and they were having a hell of a time getting the interrupts from the board on the horizontal scanline processed fast enough to make it work.
I looked at their code for a bit, saw that it was hopelessly inefficient and hand-assembled a much faster version using a look-up table and a bit mask instead of a bunch of math to figure out where in memory to dump the data from the converter.
They rolled off their chairs, they’d never ever seen anybody do assembly without an assembler before, and so I got my first gig.
Of course, I was still employed at the time, and this ‘job’ only got me a (very) little bit of money but I realized that maybe I was going to be good enough to make a living while not being employed.
I started working harder. The next thing I did was to apply for jobs for the programming department of the bank. Now, technically this was a no-go. Not having any of the required pre-requisites for the job I got turned down again and again and again. But since these were ‘internal’ applications they had to consider them, there was a directive that any internal application had to be looked at to make sure that no talent already in-house would be wasted. After 18 months of me beating down the doors of the HR department every time they posted an IT job I got an offer to become a systems administrator.
Not a programmer yet, but a huge step up from running mail, a room with 4 other guys lording it over the pile of output that was generated every day for the ‘corporate accounts’ division of the bank. Basically the job consisted of checking half a mile of output each day to make sure that it was all good and signing off on it that it was inspected. Sick days were not appreciated. Meanwhile I got a bit more money, so my 5” CRT that I’d liberated from an old studio camera was replaced by a 12”, I got a pair of drives and kept on learning.
And still applied for jobs. Now what? You’ve got an IT job… but I want to program.
Another 9 months and I got a call. I should report the next day in the “Coengebouw”, a building in the west part of Amsterdam where the IT department was housed. Meet with a guy that ran the programming department. About a job I’d applied to.
I think I was there 3 hours early, no nails left because I’d bitten them all off at night.
The guy that met me was gruff and to the point. I know who you are, I’ve seen you apply for every programming job in the last 2 1⁄ 2 years. You have no qualifications whatsoever why do you want this job so badly? So I explained that I’d been programming for years on my ‘micros’ but would really like to do that professionally not just as a hobby. He said: “Ok, I’m going to send you on this course, it’s a 20,000 guilder expense on my side. If you let me down, you’re out and I never ever want to see you again, if you pass the examination at the end you’ve got a job as a junior programmer”.
I could have hugged the guy.
Off to “Volmac” I went, I finished their 3 months course in about 6 weeks and was suspected of cheating because I got their trick questions that ‘nobody ever got’ right. Oh well.
So, finally, I was a programmer. But still not running my own company but that could wait. For another year or so I worked really hard to learn the ins-and-outs of COBOL on the Sperry Univac and a weird system called Mapper which only named variables from v1 to v23 iirc.
The bank got bought by Chase Manhattan, and we switched to IBM. I did a little bit of work on that. And every now and then found another side job. One day my boss (the guy that interviewed me) came to me and we had a talk. He basically pointed out to me that I was wasting my time writing print programs in Cobol. (I’d written a full screen editor in my spare time and was using it to edit my code, it was lightyears ahead of the system editor and he’d seen it in action). There was this new thing coming out called a PC, how about he ordered one and I’d get to learn how to program that? So it happened, I got a brandnew PC-XT complete with harddrive (10M!) and an enormous pile of books to go with it. I learned 8086 assembler and spent some time on other languages. Another talk. You should found your own company, and I’ll give you a couple of hints. Do it!
And I did. And landed my first contract that first year and made more money than I had made in my life up and until that point.
When I announced that I was going ‘solo’ my mom freaked out. I was 22 at the time and making roughly twice what she was making and she could not for one second understand that this was a responsible thing to do.
Without the moral support of my boss and my former boss I would have never believed that I could do it. So, I’m not your boss. But if you are in any way talented or dedicated and you have half a head for business, take if from me. You can do it. If a high school drop-out with nothing but a typing diploma could do it, so can you. Now go do it.
– dedicated to Piet Tacx, Fred Fluitsma and Eddy de Leeuw, thank you both very much for my early career and everything that followed from it.Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Pretty Alana McLaughlin looks like any other young woman - but less than five years ago she was a macho-male soldier in the US Special Forces.
Alana - who was born a boy called Ryan - was a stacked figure of rippling muscle, spending her days engaged in lethal armed combat.
Unknown to her fellow soldiers, Alana, 32, had always felt female, and had joined the Special Forces to either 'become a man' or to be killed.
Now Alana, from Portland, Oregon, has finally found the courage to live as a female, and after full gender reassignment surgery, she is hoping to find love as a woman.
Alana said: "I joined the military initially because I felt like it was my only option to either force myself into manhood somehow or die.
(Image: Barcroft Media)
(Image: Barcroft Media)
"I wanted very much to be actively engaged in combat so I would have the opportunity to get myself killed. I view it very much as passive suicide.
"I fought, shot, lifted weights, I grew beards and I rode a Harley and it didn't change anything. I would still cry myself to sleep at night."
Alana served in Afghanistan as a shooter and a medic in the A Team Delta as a way to escape her problems.
She knew from a young age that she identified as female and while dealing with gender dysphoria she was also a victim of sexual abuse.
Alana said: "As a child, I prayed every night. I prayed that god would either change my body and make me a girl or change my mind so that I wouldn't want to be.
(Image: Barcroft Media)
(Image: Barcroft Media)
"And neither of those prayers were answered. I lost my faith".
Alana's conservative parents have found it difficult to accept her as a woman.
She explained: "I told my parents that I was gay and I felt like I was a girl and I wanted to be a girl.
"When I first told my parents this, my dad didn't talk to me for like a week or two weeks.
"They just would not accept me as their daughter and I'll only ever be their son. I was a massive disappointment.
"They really seem to be fixated on this idea that I was trans because I was raped. Sexual abuse does not change your sexuality, it doesn't change your gender."
Alana has encountered other hostile reactions to her decision to live as a woman and her first attempt at transitioning after she left the army in 2010 ended in a bloody act of self-destruction when she decided to cut off her own breasts with a scalpel.
Alana said: "I'd been on hormones but I felt hopeless.
"All the messages I was receiving were that I could never be legitimate - that I could never be a real woman.
(Image: Barcroft Media)
(Image: Barcroft Media)
"I felt like I would never be taken seriously and I would only ever be a joke.
"You can only hear so much negativity before you start internalising it and I started to feel like I had to be a man.
"I'd been on hormones long enough that I had some breast development and I didn't want to be a man with boobs so I took a scalpel and removed the breast tissue myself.
"I went into the bathroom and I had my surgical kit there and I performed surgery. "As an A Team Delta, my surgical skills were up to the task and I did pretty clean work.
"But it was a pretty self-destructive thing to do - and very stupid."
Alana began her transition again in earnest in 2012, having a range of surgeries including a breast augmentation, facial feminisation surgery and sex reassignment surgery.
She explained: "I wouldn't say just your physical form."
Alana says that the surgery to appear more feminine is less about vanity and more about fitting in with societies norms.
(Image: Barcroft Media)
(Image: Barcroft Media)
Alana said: "The surgery makes it less likely people will realise you are trans and gives you more safety. I want to survive."
Alana has now made a group of firm friends who accept her as a transgender woman.
And now she hopes to find someone special to share in her new life.
Alana said: "I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to settle down with someone - it's important for me to find love.
She added: "I finally feel like I'm a real personthat I felt like I was in the wrong body as much as I was in the wrong role. Gender boils down to a lot more thannow and I don't have to pretend anymore."Service set identifiers, or SSIDs, are essentially the network names that people give to their wireless networks. It turns out many Americans–and people across the world–are turning to SSIDs as a unique way to express their political sentiments. Much in the same way a yard sign pronounces to the world your political proclivities, so too can the naming of your SSID.
Researchers at Open Signal Maps used their database of 75 million geolocated routers to map Obama sentiment on a global scale. While this data is by no means representative, and clearly not everyone names their wireless networks according to their politics, it did reveal some interesting findings:
According to this eccentric measure of sentiment Obama is much more popular outside of the US than within. Why is this? It may be that Obama is genuinely more popular in the rest of the world but maybe it is because outside of the US people are less likely to express negative sentiments towards politicians in this manner…. The hardest part of this analysis was assigning sentiment values. It was immediately clear that even state of the art natural language software would be unable to parse “ObamaDaClown”, “ObamaPrezNaaaaw” or “Obamarama” let alone determine whether these reflect negative or positive sentiments. So we put the routers into Excel and went through them by hand. Even then there were some riddles, does “Obama_is_a_socialist” reflect negative sentiment? To many Europeans it would not, but in a US context (and this was a US router, indeed one of several with similar messages) we judged it a criticism.
To give it a test, I zoomed in on my part of the country. It seems like they got it pretty right, “Obama08,” “ObamaMama,” and “ILoVeObAma!!” were designated as pro.
“OBAMA SUCKS,” “Obama Bin Biden,” and “Obama_is_a_huge_clown,” and my personal favorite, “OMG-ObamaMustGO-Wake UP People!” as anti…
And “ObamaLlama,” “Obamaniqua,” and “AIR_FORCE_ONE_OBAMA_EDITION” as not sure.
If nothing else, this is inspiring me to get more creative with my own SSID “yard sign.” Look up your own neighborhood on the map here.
Any good ones out there among you?Flawless beauty is a blessing but not all the time.
Natalie Dzenkiv, a famous Ukrainian singer, was stopped at the Turkish airport for a reason that shocked many.
The officials at the passport control stopped and detained her because they thought she looked 'too young' as compared to what was written on her passport.
They couldn't digest that the damsel was actually 41. The officials thought she might be in her 20s and might be using someone else's passport for her identity.
But, the officials were proven wrong when they realised she is actually a well-known Ukrainian celebrity. Her fans recognised her at the airport and asked for pictures and autographs, which solved her identity crisis.
A post shared by Lama (@nataliadzenkiv) on Apr 19, 2017 at 11:13am PDT
Natalie told Lad Bible, "When I found out the reason for my arrest, I even started laughing as it was the age in my passport."
A post shared by Lama (@nataliadzenkiv) on Dec 12, 2016 at 2:07pm PST
She added, "I am already used to compliments about the way I look, but I couldn't have imagined that it might be a reason for detaining me."
Well, we guess this is what we use "damsel in distress" for.Eighties America Through the Eyes of KGB Deep Cover Agents: The Americans
Joe Weisberg, creator of the TV series “The Americans,” (Wednesdays, 10 PM on the FX Network – current and previous seasons available on Amazon and iTunes Store) worked at one time for the CIA. He became interested in the subject of living abroad, serving government, and raising a family – all while doing covert intelligence work. How do those who work for their government in such a way explain to their families what they are doing? What strains does this subterfuge place on marital relations, child rearing and friendships? That’s the subject of this TV series, except that the expats are Russian, not American. The story follows two protagonists, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, a married couple in their 30s, in suburban Washington, DC, in the 1980s. They are both Americans in disguise, deep cover Soviet KGB officers, recruited, married and transported to the United States with false identities, back in the 1960s. Their nonofficial cover includes a travel agency they run in their hometown of Alexandria, VA. Weisberg has said that as we follow Philip and Elizabeth, sometimes with sympathy and sometimes with condemnation, “… there’s a breakdown of the barriers between us and them. Finding [oneself] rooting for the enemy is a fundamental part of the experience. What is the enemy? What does it even mean to be the enemy?”
The Jennings’ mission is to subvert the US government by stealing secrets, a mission that often requires deadly force. Managed locally by Directorate S handlers who report to The Center in Moscow, and who communicate with the Chief of the KGB station at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., the couple are directed to identify real Americans as potential witting or unwitting agents, run those agents and dispose of them as necessary when they are no longer needed. The recruited agents cannot know the “Jennings” identity of Philip and Elizabeth, who hide a vast array of disguises in the basement (wigs, eye glasses, mustaches, and so forth), don them for several hours while on a covert assignment with their agents, then take off the disguises and return home to fix dinner and help the kids with their homework. Because of the need to take counter surveillance measures, and things in general, of course, never going smoothly, these covert outings can be time-consuming. Offering plausible-sounding excuses to the kids for their long absences becomes more difficult. So far in the series, the couple has managed to keep their real identities a secret from their next-door neighbor and beer-drinking friend Stan, a counterintelligence agent at FBI headquarters in Washington. Stan is tasked with busting up the KGB’s operations. He’s figured out that there’s a young couple somewhere in the area stealing secrets and committing murder. With the enemy next door, Philip and Elizabeth have little margin for error. All of this intelligence work requires that the couple maintain their “Jennings” cover by keeping up appearances as an authentic upper middle class American family with unassailable knowledge of everything American, including body language, idiomatic phrases, sense of humor and a nuanced understanding of American politics and culture. They handle this flawlessly, down to the tiniest detail. When Philip plops himself down on the TV couch next to his daughter, he says to her, “Scooch.” One wonders how he learned this slang, but he did. The deception of being American is complete. When the KGB took the Jenningses out of the Soviet Union, they took the Soviet Union out of the Jenningses, at least superficially. But beneath their American disguise, the couple is loyal to the USSR and committed to its cause. Thus we have Americans, portrayed sympathetically, who are undermining US policy for a totalitarian adversary. Creator Joe Weisberg explained why he chose the last decade of the Cold War. He thought those years, with all the “yelling about the evil empire,” as he described US foreign policy, might make for an interesting time, and indeed it is. The TV series is replete with depictions of an America that seems to have been jolted suddenly out of the predictability of a balance of power era and into a new, destabilizing, and militaristic strategy, upsetting the Cold War applecart and forcing the Soviet Union to defend itself against an ominous, reckless and unpredictable threat: Ronald Reagan. Philip and Elizabeth follow closely news reports as the Reagan Doctrine takes shape with the Strategic Defense Initiative, the Nuclear Freeze movement and events in Nicaragua, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. But the doctrine of rolling back Soviet aggression is nowhere to be found. If there is a time in this TV series, now in its fourth season, when the Soviets are the aggressors, I’ve missed it. In every aspect of the Cold War, the fast-thinking KGB is just barely managing to contain the adventurist US and its acceleration of the nuclear arms race, support for oppressive regimes, and undermining of national liberation movements. The heating up of the Cold War is seen through the eyes of Philip and Elizabeth, who, like many in the left wing of the Democratic Party at that time, feel frightened by Reagan’s threatening behavior, and also through the eyes of the Washington KGB residency and the FBI Counterintelligence office. The Soviets are gracious, polite, articulate, thoughtful, prudent, philosophical, and sexually liberated. Though the officers in the “rezidentura” are far from home, they are bonded together in America by familial and party ties in Russia. The KGB offices are decorated in rich tones of dark wood paneling, bookcases, artwork, fine upholstered furniture and the ever-present silver tea service. In contrast to this rich cultural European heritage, the FBI office is decorated, if that is the right word, with an official photograph of president Reagan, staring down at the agents in their cramped, gray cubicles. Next-door neighbor Stan is one of these agents, doing his best despite marital problems, intimacy issues, a tendency to be tongue-tied at critical moments, and a trigger-happy finger. So there’s a clear dichotomy that’s set up between Russia and America in their respective offices. One is rooted in a love of high culture and the meaning of life, the other is – well, American. One produces sophisticated patriots able to serve heroically deep behind enemy lines, the other is represented by struggling, lonely souls – competent at their jobs but frustrated by life. The Jenningses live in this lonely American world, as they are not permitted to have contact with their compatriots in the KGB residence. Their world is one of latchkey kids hooked on video games, cookie cutter housing villages, marriages on the rocks, rock ‘n roll churches and EST meetings. The only lures that America holds for Philip and Elizabeth are certain types of food, and fast cars. The concepts of freedom of speech or free enterprise, which were totally absent in their upbringing, has not, as least not yet in the series, dawned on them. The couple appears to bear no scars from culture shock. Nor do they appear to have an ear for Kremlin propaganda. Philip and Elizabeth take orders from much older handlers who are veterans of the Battle of Stalingrad. The handlers use the defense of Stalingrad as an all-purpose moral justification for everything KGB. Claudia, one of the handlers, murders a CIA agent in Washington. As the CIA agent lies conscious on the floor and bleeding to death, she shows him a photograph of her mentor, a KGB general, whom the CIA assassinated in Moscow. Explaining the justification for her revenge, she tells him, We met in Stalingrad in 1942. He was ragged skin and bones, same as we all were. First time I saw him he was standing over two dead Nazis. Philip and Elizabeth accept at face value their KGB handler’s explanation for why they must steal samples of deadly biological weapons from the Americans: There are certain very powerful weapons – biological – we’re not allowed to make them … we’ve signed treaties, but we think the Americans are making them, so we make them, too … If they target our nuke capacity in a 1st strike, our people back home will have nothing to defend themselves with but these weapons. I’ve been there, when we couldn’t defend ourselves … you know what happened. Whatever the 1980s Cold War issue, it seems that Stalingrad justifies any conflict and makes the US responsible for resolving that conflict to the satisfaction of the Soviets. One would think that this sophisticated young Russian couple would know how to discount illogical righteousness, since they grew up under communism and probably heard this self-serving Soviet argument a thousand times. The brutal operational methods of the KGB are on full display, no more so than when a sympathetic file clerk in the Washington residence is executed in a prison basement in Russia. Nina Sergeevna is a beautiful and compellingly intelligent double agent, coerced by FBI agent Stan into spying. The series would not be complete without her, as her efforts to protect herself, aided by agents on both the US and Soviet sides, slowly crumble. The manner of her execution, including the way the KGB officer who reads her death sentence steps quickly out of the way to avoid being splattered with her blood, is horrifying to watch. The TV series, now well into its fourth season, is focusing more and more on Paige Jennings, the teenaged daughter. She attends the Reed Street Church for its spiritual values, social get-togethers, guitar playing and leftist political activities. Her parents are not particularly impressed with the ideological values Paige is developing, choosing to focus instead on their revulsion toward Christianity, and this revulsion brings out in the parents vicious, withering attacks on Paige. One might optimistically hope that these raw confrontations plant the seed of self-reflection in the parents, and mark the beginning of a true Americanization. Both Philip and Elizabeth learn about the severe emotional hazards of running agents, the required level of involvement in their agents’ lives being almost equal to that of a best friend or spouse, and Philip actually marries one of his agents – wedding ceremony and all. One of the most riveting aspects of this dramatic series is the grinding and gut-wrenching betrayal that shows on Philip’s face as he leads his agents into danger. The emotionally stronger Elizabeth soldiers on in her cases. But she seems to be hitting a wall in the most recent episodes as she breaks up one family by day and nurtures and protects her real family at night. Among the political issues the Church takes up are the Nuclear Freeze and El Salvador. In reality, the political left in America is, at this time, promoting both of these issues in churches and college campuses. The Nuclear Freeze is aimed at freezing the status quo of Soviet military superiority in Europe. The “Stop US Intervention in El Salvador” campaign is aimed at allowing the spread of communism and Liberation Theology in Central America. Philip and Elizabeth are surprisingly uninterested in these issues, even though the campaigns are central to their organization. Perhaps it’s because they’re busy stealing secrets, maintaining various covers and agents, holding a marriage together, raising children and worrying about the future of their family. Maybe the church will help them in the end. The Reed Street Church and Pastor Tim play a big role in Paige's character development. When Paige is baptized, Pastor Tim says, "This is no empty ritual." He goes on to explain to the congregation that the baptism is a celebration of political activism, including participation in the Nuclear Freeze movement. There is a cut-away reaction shot of Paige's parents after the baptism. Philip looks unimpressed, but Elizabeth beams and smiles. It may be the Jenningses are finding a home.by allingeneral » Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:05:27
Congratulations, MSNBC, you have now set a new journalistic LOW,
showing that you really have the art of propaganda down pat.
At a recent Arizona town hall meeting with President Obama, there was
one person carrying a rifle. It was a black gun-owner with an AR-15
on his shoulder standing with other gun owners outside the town hall
building.
The media almost melted down, as is their tendency when it comes to
lawfully carried guns.
In their story, MSNBC shows only carefully cropped video of that black
gun-owner so that you could not tell his skin color, but only see his
gun. They then switch to video of a white gun-owner being interviewed
by a reporter. While there is plenty of video to be found of the
black gun owner talking to reporters elsewhere, MSNBC does not use any
of it.
Why did MSNBC crop that video?
Because the topic was about how gun-carrying protesters at the town
hall meetings are RACISTS!!!
You see, the rifle was eye-catching, but having a black man carrying
it simply wouldn't do for MSNBC's purposes, so they fixed that little
problem.
Anyway, I literally jumped out of my chair when I saw this video. I
don't suggest watching it while eating or drinking:Lego is officially launching a series of tiny, plastic female scientists this August, including an astronomer, paleontologist and a chemist. The idea was submitted by Dr Ellen Kooijman, a geochemist in Stockholm, who recognised a gender gap in the toy set. For a toy company with an unhappy history when it comes to gender issues, the move has been hailed as a stereotype-busting breakthrough.
It comes after Lego notched up a record-breaking year, overtaking Mattel to become the largest toymaker in the world. The Danish company announced sales of £2.8bn and profits of £900m last year, up ten per cent on 2012, The Guardian reports – and that was before the Lego movie became a popular and critical success.
The record figures cap a decade-long recovery from a crisis that threatened the very survival of the family-owned company at the turn of the millennium. So what has led to Lego's change in fortunes? We take a look through some milestones from the company's history.
1. Firm foundations
In 1932 carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen starts a business in his home town of Billund, Denmark. Initially the company manufactures wooden toys as well as stepladders, ironing boards and stools. In 1934 it adopts the name Lego formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" ("play well").
2. One word: Plastics
Between 1946 and 1949 the company shifts its focus away from wooden toys towards plastic after investing in a plastic injection-moulding machine. In 1949 the company produces its first "Automatic Binding Bricks" a forerunner to contemporary Lego blocks.
3. Brick by brick
By 1953 plastic toys account for half of Lego's sales, and the company launches it first toy set with the name "Lego bricks". The familiar colour blocks can be constructed into many different configurations. In 1958 the company patents its "stud and tube" coupling system that allows the blocks to click together.
4. Rules of engagement
In very Danish fashion, Lego manager Godfred Kirk Chritsiansen - son of company founder Kirk - codifies the toy's primary qualities in 1963:
Unlimited play potential
For girls and for boys
Fun for every age
Year-round play
Healthy, quiet play
Long hours of play
Development, imagination, creativity
The more LEGO, the greater the value
Extra sets available
Quality in every detail
5. A new theme
Throughout the 1960s Lego experiences a period of massive growth. In 1968, 18 million Lego sets are sold worldwide, and the company opens its first theme park, Legoland, next to the original toy factory. The park attracts a reported 625,000 visitors in its first season.
6. Go figure
In 1978 Lego launches its first "minifigures" - the characters that have come to dominate the toy today. They have movable arms and legs and come in three different themes: town, space and castle. The company also begins producing its advanced Technic Lego line and Duplo, larger blocks for young children.
7. Top ten
By 1990 Lego is one of the top ten toys in the world. In the same year, one million people visit its theme park in Denmark.
8. Making connections
Lego experiences a downturn in the early 2000s and after laying off 1,000 employees it refocuses on its core products. Tie-ins with other franchises also help turn around the company’s fortunes. Lego figures have been created for a large number of movies and popular culture characters including Avatar, Batman, Ben 10, Bob the Builder, Cars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Prince of Persia, Spider-Man, SpongeBob SquarePants, Star Wars, Super Heroes, Thomas the Tank Engine, Toy Story, and The Hobbit.
9. Computer love
Lego has been creating its own video games since the late 90s, and its greatest successes have come from tie-ins with film franchises, including Star Wars, Harry Potter and Batman.
10. Small toy, big screen
The Lego Movie has been an enormous box office success - it is the highest grossing film of 2014 so far and a sequel is planned with a release date of 2017. The enormous success of the movie is already being credited as driving Lego's recent profit growth, the BBC reports.It appears techno-wastrel HP has been shamed not a jot by our previous report on its profligate packing practices - another sorry tale of conspicuous cardboard consumption has reached El Reg today.
"I wanted to share the attached picture of a package we received a while ago from HP," says Reg reader Mike Cresswell.
"As you can see, it had been shipped on a wooden pallet, no doubt to support the immense weight involved. We tore back the black plastic so that the awesome size of the package on the pallet could be seen.
"When we finally finished taking pictures and falling around laughing we found the package contained one vanilla flavour PS2 mouse. We could only think that it was a much fatter mouse when it was shipped but had lost a lot of weight due to the amount of time it took to arrive."
Can you top that? Send us your preposterous packaging pics. The most spectacular example of flagrant cardboard-overload wins 5000 rolls of packing tape. ®Men with smaller testes are more likely to make a good parent and take greater interest in child care like changing nappies, feeding and bathing, according to a new study conducted by anthropologists at Emory University. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the results of the study on Sept. 9.
The study found that lower levels of testosterone are linked to greater paternal involvement, whereas higher levels might lead to separation and polygamy.
"Our data suggest that the biology of human males reflects a trade-off between mating and parenting effort," said Emory anthropologist James Rilling, whose lab conducted the research.
Anthropologists conducted the study to test an evolutionary hypothesis that states that people and animals are either built to mate or make a good parent. The findings support this theory that human beings have a restricted amount of energy for reproductive activities - so they either allocate their energy into producing children or into raising them.
"If you invest more energy in parenting you have less available for mating and vice versa,'' said Rilling. "Other people have looked at testosterone and parental behavior but as far as we know we are the first to look at testes size and parental behavior and we think we are getting at something different. "We are suggesting that men with larger testes are more built for a mating effort strategy and as a consequence are less built for investing in children.''
The anthropologists arrived at the conclusion after studying 70 American men, aged 21-55, who belonged to various ethnic backgrounds - five Asian, 15 African-American and the rest of them were Caucasian. All of them had a child aged one to two and were living with their biological mothers. Most of them were married.
Researchers used functional MRI scans to analyze brain activity as they viewed photos of their own and stranger's children with happy, sad and neutral expressions. In order to find out about their participation |
because you were meant to do this for a living. You should do this, I’m telling you.’”
The two men acted together again after Long Day’s Journey, including in the 1989 drama Dad, but by the time they reunited on Glengarry, Spacey was landing roles in movies and television shows. In the early ’90s, he won a Tony for Lost In Yonkers, and he starred in Fall From Grace, a rather cheesy TV biopic of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, alongside Bernadette Peters, who got top billing as Tammy Faye.
Spacey’s career was on the rise, but he didn’t have the cachet or profile of his fellow Glengarry actors. In a 1997 interview with Venice, Spacey credited Pacino for getting him into the film. (“He’d seen me in this play in New York,” Spacey told the magazine.) During production, the actor felt intimidated by his costars. “[I]t was funny how we all started to take on the characteristics of our parts during the filming,” Spacey told Venice. “I was thinking that I had no right to be there, that I was a stooge, that I was going to be found out at any moment, definitely going to be fired because, you know, there were all these fuckin’ guys—Pacino, Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin—and I’m the guy they all hate! And let me tell you, it’s really convincing when actors of that caliber call you a pussy.”
In Glengarry, Williamson runs the office, an arbitrary position that grants him control of the vaunted Glengarry leads, but commands zero respect from the salesmen. In the parlance of the film’s macho, misogynistic, homophobic characters, Williamson is (to quote Pacino’s Roma) a “cunt” and a “fairy,” with Roma at one point informing him, “I don’t care whose nephew you are, who you know, whose dick you’re suckin’ on.” Nobody at Premier would dispute Roma’s derisive assessment. Although these salesmen are flailing, desperate, and drowning, they’re somewhat ennobled by their ruthless kill-or-be-killed worldview. It’s easier to respect those insufferable bastards than a suit-and-tie type like Williamson, who’s merely there, as he puts it in bland corporate-speak, “to marshal my sales force.” Some of Premier’s salesmen will get canned at the end of the month, but Williamson is still the ultimate putz.
The spark of what would become “Kevin Spacey” was evident in the actor’s earlier work. In his 1992 episode of L.A. Law, which aired about nine months before Glengarry opened in theaters, he plays an eccentric millionaire. How eccentric is he? This eccentric:
In that mercifully brief scene, he recalls the haughty egocentric he’s portrayed in everything from Superman Returns to Horrible Bosses. And in Fall From Grace, he shows off his enthusiasm for mimicry—he often pulls out his Jack Lemmon or Johnny Carson impression on chat shows—rendering Bakker as a Southern scammer whose accent makes him sound almost like Bill Clinton, another of Spacey’s go-to favorites. His Bakker is the sort of peacock-proud performance that isn’t far removed from House Of Cards’ Frank Underwood. In addition, he’d played Clarence Darrow in the 1991 TV movie Darrow, and one of the bad guys in 1989’s misbegotten Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder vehicle See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Even early on, Spacey didn’t disappear into roles—he made his characters stand out.
But for Glengarry, he did the exact opposite. Williamson is first seen being brusque to Levene (Lemmon) and Dave Moss in the restroom before the big meeting with Blake (Baldwin), who gives them a dressing-down. From the outset, director James Foley, working from Mamet’s adapted script, encourages viewers not to think about Williamson: He’s the dull heavy, lacking the verbal crackle Blake brings to his “Always Be Closing” speech. The character’s principal function in Blake’s scene is to silently take the coveted Glengarry leads from Blake and lock them away. Williamson is little more than a glorified hall monitor, a punching bag upon which the salesmen can unload and project their frustrations about their terrible leads and cold streaks.
Spacey doesn’t so much disappear into the role as he negates the character, snuffing out every drop of charisma he possesses. It’s evident in his first major scene, when Levene tries to cajole two Glengarry leads out of him. Williamson knows he has the upper hand on this poor wretch, but he never possesses the theatrical flair Spacey wielded in later roles. Listening to Levene beg, Williamson mostly listens, letting Levene’s twitchy anxiety twist in the wind. Even though Williamson has all the power in the scene, he doesn’t feel like the central character: Levene’s hyperactive flustering takes center stage.
But there’s a deeper strategy behind this deceptively low-key performance. Mamet’s work often deals in misdirection, convincing audiences to look one way for the con when it’s actually happening right behind them. This technique has been most apparent in his puzzle movies, House Of Games and The Spanish Prisoner, but one of his deftest switcheroos occurs in Glengarry, although it’s not his usual type of double-cross. And it involves Williamson.
Like the play, the film revolves around a central mystery: Who broke into the office overnight to steal the Glengarry leads? When everyone arrives at Premier the next morning, Williamson is beleaguered and irritable functionary, dealing with both the cops and the never-seen Mitch and Murray. As in the Blake scene, Williamson seems like a peripheral figure. His most-quoted dialogue—the “Will you go to lunch?” mini-soliloquy—occurs during this day-after sequence, but as opposed to his costars, who devour their Mamet morsels like hungry wolves, Spacey sounds exhausted as well as exasperated. It’s the only memorable speech in the movie that isn’t cathartic or chest-beatingly triumphant.
But within Glengarry’s study of power dynamics among alpha males, Mamet hides Williamson in plain sight. Everybody else in the film flaunts his masculinity through big talk and endless profanity. When Roma eviscerates Williamson for screwing up his sale with Lingk— “You never open your mouth ’til you know what the shot is. You fucking child.”—Mamet tellingly gives Williamson no comeback. The character seems defeated and dejected. Which is when Levene decides to lay into the hapless S.O.B., slitting his own throat by advising Williamson that if he’s going to make something up in front of a prospective buyer, it had better help, not hurt.
Spacey’s understated reaction to Levene’s comment is the most unheralded great moment in a film otherwise punctuated by blustery, aggressively actorly flourishes. He’s visibly thinking, putting it all together. Finally, he speaks: “How do you know I made it up?” Right there, the “Kevin Spacey” the world has come to know emerges in full bloom on the big screen. His expression is filled with contempt, arrogance, and the serene assurance that comes with knowing he’s got his prey trapped. It’s the same look from his serial-killer role in Seven, Lex Luthor in Superman Returns, Jack Abramoff in Casino Jack, all the way up to Frank Underwood. At the time of Glengarry’s release, Williamson’s realization that Levene was behind the break-in was a delicious twist—but watching the movie now, it’s as if Spacey finally drops the charade and assumes the mantle of the star he was destined to be.
The rest of the scene is a slow-motion nightmare for Levene, as Williamson lets his enemy crumble into pieces. (Knowing the relationship between the two actors, there’s a sense of the mentor handing the baton to his admiring pupil.) As in their earlier scene, Levene talks and Williamson just listens. Then at last, Williamson has his moment, and Spacey relishes it. He’s calm and cruel as he tells Levene his clients are insane, and his big sale is worthless. He chews his gum for a few seconds, that noticeable Spacey swagger now on display. When he inserts his dagger, it goes in nice and slow: “They just like… talking… to salesmen.” Williamson ends his interaction a bit later with a “Fuck you,” but by then the obscenity is redundant: He has finally gotten his revenge—both on Levene and all those who have disrespected him. And now Kevin Spacey is the Kevin Spacey we know.
Spacey hasn’t stopped working since Glengarry, with plenty of impressive credits dotting his résumé. He continued to play ostensible losers. In The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, which both won him Oscars, he portrays guys who blend into the background, signaling their harmlessness with their unassuming demeanors. And then, as with Williamson, the switch happens.
But as Spacey has become a bigger star, inevitably, he’s lost that ability to surprise viewers with characters whose meekness gives way to a lethal darker side. With rare exceptions—Margin Call comes to mind—Spacey really doesn’t vanish into roles anymore. A born showman, he favors characters who are brash, loud, big: They never stop loving themselves, even if the audience is meant to loathe them.
In that same Venice interview, he’s asked about his reputation as a chameleon, a description that doesn’t fit Spacey almost 20 years later:
You look at guys like Fonda, Stewart, and Tracy, they had this incredible range, despite the fact […] that Jimmy Stewart was Jimmy Stewart,” he replied. “I always have had the feeling that, probably because this was the way I was raised from my first beginnings as an actor, I’d read a play and say “God this is an incredible play! This part, this character is so amazing! I would love to be that person! This is a person I’m not. I wish I had that degree of courage, that degree of intelligence, I wish I was that complex!”
Despite a career full of highlights, he’s always playing Kevin Spacey now. That’s no knock on Spacey; so many stars drift toward, or are chiefly considered for, certain types of roles the longer they work. This partly explains his recent preference for the theater and television—they offer more opportunities to stretch.
Which is why Glengarry Glen Ross remains a fascinating film in his canon, catching him at a moment in his career that’s now impossible to reclaim. If the movie were made today, he’d play one of the bigger roles. With him in the Williamson role, it’d be immediately obvious that this dull office manager wasn’t as colorless as he appears, ruining the surprise. But part of the 1992 film’s power is that it unknowingly cast the perfect person for one of the story’s smaller but crucial characters. For many viewers unfamiliar with Spacey at the time, his performance was a revelation. It also turned out to be a sign of things to come.
This wraps our Movie Of The Week revisiting with Glengarry Glen Ross. Don’t miss Tasha’s Keynote on how the film ignores conventional wisdom about filmmaking, and Genevieve and Scott’s Forum on the film’s jazzy score, its jazzy and quotable language, and the question of which is weak, the leads or the salesmen. Next week, we’ll be back with a look at Two-Lane Blacktop, Monte Hellman’s 1971 look at two men drag racing cross-country. It’s Easy Rider With Anger Issues, more or less. We hope you’ll join us.T-Mobile is the latest US carrier to ask the FCC for a millimeter wave radio test license as it anticipates being able to use 28GHz and 39GHz frequencies when it actually deploys 5G service.
"We have spectrum holdings in the 28GHz and 39GHz bands, which look like they will be made available for 5G use by the FCC," a T-Mobile spokesperson tells Light Reading. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records indicate that T-Mobile US Inc. likely acquired the millimeter wave (mmWave) licenses through the acquisition of MetroPCS. (See MetroPCS/T-Mobile Wedding Is On.)
Now, as spotted by Fierce Wireless, T-Mobile has applied for a test license for 28GHz and 38GHz indoor and outdoor testing of early 5G gear. The operator has previously said that it expects to start tests in the second half of 2016. (See T-Mobile to Test 5G With Nokia, Ericsson.)
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) applied for a similar license earlier this year. Light Reading understands that Ma Bell is still waiting for that test license to be granted. (See AT&T Wants to Start 5G Tests in Austin.)
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light ReadingLeave some for the rest of us!
Hey, you can only buy 15 of these.
Just The Bacon, Please!
Cuteness will get you nowhere. Efficiency, on the other hand...
Greetings, fast food executives. I'm glad you could take the time to gather here at The Good Ol' Times Farm and Bio-Engineering Improvement Facility. I, Dr. Randolph FitzMatterson, am very excited to unveil our newest breakthrough - Baconly!
Yes, the blob sitting before you is actually a living, breathing organism. You see, we took an average swine, and made... let's call them "modifications" or better yet, "enhancements." Basically, we built a "pig" that has no head, legs, back, bone structure, tail, or anything aside from the bacon-rich under-region! That's right, Baconly is the most efficient bacon-producing pig yet! And cheap too! All the bacon to lay upon your double-cheeseburgers at half the price!
You could even use it as a "going green" thing, because you are wasting less pig than ever before!
Wear this shirt: when you're tending to the pigs. It lets them know what areas they need to work on.
Don't wear this shirt: to the tofu ranch.
This shirt tells the world: "I like the meat that everyone else likes!"
We call this color: not red meat.
Back to topWhen the Revolution Came for Amy Cuddy As a young social psychologist, she played by the rules and won big: an influential study, a viral TED talk, a prestigious job at Harvard. Then, suddenly, the rules changed. BY SUSAN DOMINUSOCT. 18, 2017
I’ve written a lot over the years about the Replication Crisis in the social sciences as academics attempt to emulate Malcolm Gladwell’s success on the corporate conference circuit. The New York Times Magazine offers a long sympathetic article about the Power Posing lady at Harvard who has made a lot of money off her claim to have scientifically proven that certain powerful postures will help you get jobs and sales:Blogger Andrew Gelman gets cast in the article as the unsympathetic hardass who hurts the feelings of Dr. Cuddy. (Here’s Gelman responding.)
At the end of the article, Dr. Cuddy is getting out of the social science racket and more into writing motivational books and speaking. That’s kind of like how Malcolm Gladwell responded to the barrage of criticism that built up from 2005 onward. That seems reasonable. Some people have a real gift for telling people what they want to hear and they deserve to get paid for it.
Why is psychology at the center of the storm? As Greg Cochran has pointed out, most social sciences have the same problems as psychology. The psychologists, though, tend to have enough conscience to feel guilty about it.
As I’ve often mentioned before, I was in the marketing research business, which uses the same methodologies as the social sciences … but doesn’t claim to be discovering eternal laws of nature.
In fact, marketing researchers don’t really want their results to be endlessly replicable because that would be bad for business, as I discovered to my financial disadvantage.
I worked in the 1980s for the best real world test marketing laboratory ever constructed. It was wildly popular in the first half of the 1980s as brand managers in the consumer packaged goods industry went wild testing their fondest hope: that doubling their television advertising budget on current ads would increase sales of well-known brands. It would have been great for our long term success if this question proved not to replicate: if, say, half the time it worked and half the time it failed and the only way you could tell ahead of time was to conduct an expensive test with us.
Unfortunately, this question proved pretty replicable: unless you had some new news to convey to consumers that really was valuable for them to learn, doubling your ad budget would barely move the sales needle. (I recommended that clients test with us cutting their ad budgets, but few were interested: you don’t move up in brand management management by voluntarily giving up ad budget to your colleagues; you move up by outcompeting your fellow brand managers within the firm for ad budget.)
By 1986, Procter & Gamble had decided that increased advertising for same old brands very seldom worked, so it cut testing with us sharply, and the rest soon followed. Our business went way down: not because it had failed scientifically, but because it had proven too scientific
Another rule of thumb within the marketing research business was that researchers often talked subjects into agreeing answer surveys with whatever they wanted to hear, so it was better to track what they spent their money upon.
And some marketers are more persuasive than others.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was a careful student of the interplay of posture, self-confidence, and success. Donald Trump has kept using the posture drilled into him at military school. I wouldn’t be surprised if overachievers tend to have better posture than underachievers: that seems like a hypothesis that could be studied. (Of course, that wouldn’t answer the question of which way causality flows, but it would be a start.)
More generally, how exactly are we supposed to test motivational techniques that are premised on subjects believing that they work? If you pay $100 to attend a motivational workshop at which a very confident-sounding Arnold Schwarzenegger teaches the packed audience the posture that helped him intimidate Lou Ferrigno at a cocktail party before the start of a 1970s bodybuilding competition and assures you that it will work for you too in your next job interview, can we really replicate that experience in a psychology laboratory by having a neutral-sounding grad student read instructions from an index card?
After all, Schwarzenegger is living proof that power posing can lead you on a career to being governor of a state whose name you can’t even pronounce.
Similarly, we did a test in the early 1980s on Jello Pudding Pop commercials featuring Bill Cosby. I don’t remember the exact results, but let’s say they were positive. Would you expect Bill Cosby commercial for Jello Pudding Pops to replicate in 2017?
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I’m a recently single mother of two young girls and I am currently pregnant, living in San Diego, and working 50 hours a week. My husband Greg and I would have been married for 5 years in April if we were still together.
5 weeks ago, right before the end of the year, I told Greg that we were expecting our third child. We weren’t trying for one, but it happened anyway. Greg was very unhappy when I told him, he actually blamed me for getting pregnant, nevermind that he was the one who pushed for unprotected sex all the time.
Greg got so angry that at one point, I thought he was going to start throwing things. He drove off the morning of the 30th and I had no idea when he was going to be coming back. I called into work to let them know that I was using a personal day, called my mom to let her know I wasn’t going to be bringing the kids over that day, then I broke down and cried.
The kids and I watched Disney movies all day, I kept it together the best that I could for my children, but even at 4 and 3, they knew something was wrong. The next several days were terrible. Greg had texted me to let me know that he was alright but that he just needed time alone to think about things. This wasn’t the first time Greg did this, but it never lasted so long.
I tried to get some sense of normalcy back the next Monday by going to work and dropping the kids off at my mom’s house. After getting back home at around 6, I went to the bathroom and noticed none of Greg’s things were in there. Looking in the closet, I found 2 suitcases missing along with most of Greg’s clothing. Frantically, I called Greg but only got his voicemail. I had no idea what to do, I was lost, and that ended up costing me.
That night Greg texted me and told me that he would be home in 3 days, he just needed a little more personal space and that we could talk about our options with my pregnancy. At least I knew when he would be back, but I found out quickly that wasn’t the case at all. The next day I took money out of an ATM only to discover on the receipt that there was only about $800 in the account, when there should have been closer to $4000.
[sociallocker] Checking my online statements, I had discovered, to my horror, that only $1000 remained out of about $25000 in our savings account, and that the missing checking account money had been used over the past week on hotels, food, ATM withdrawals, and a plane ticket. That’s when it hit me, I looked in the safe, my husband’s Belgian passport was gone.
He was leaving the country, leaving me alone, with our children, and hardly any money. I cried again, this time I knew he wasn’t coming back. Two more days passed and the feeling was confirmed. I finally got the strength to call my mom and tell her about everything that had happened. She was supportive and told me I needed to get in touch with a lawyer immediately.
The lawyer said that he could start divorce proceedings, but they would take a minimum of 90 days to start going anywhere, and even longer if I had no idea where Greg was. I knew he had gone back to Belgium, but I didn’t know where. Worse yet, if he was in Belgium, I wouldn’t be able to get any alimony or child support from him since the United States doesn’t have a child support agreement with Belgium.
Two weeks ago I received an email from Greg, basically saying that he was sorry but he was leaving me because I got pregnant. He couldn’t handle the pressure of 2 children, let alone 3. He then went on to say that he needed the money to start his life over again fresh, to give his love to our daughters, and that he wouldn’t be “bothering” me anymore and that I should let him live his own life.
2 kids, a baby on the way, an upside down mortgage, a car loan, a job that doesn’t come close to paying for everything, and I should let him live his own life?
My mother has told me I was welcome to move in with her, I am so grateful for my mom, who has always been there when I needed her most through my life. She is even helping to pay for some of the legal fees that I am going to have to deal with.
My husband is a bad person, I can see that clearly now. I wish I had seen it sooner, but I will learn from my mistakes. I know I have a long road ahead with my pregnancy, divorce proceedings, and trying to get rid of my house, but I’m going to keep my chin up and do whatever I need to do to get through this, not just for me, but for my daughters, and my baby. [/sociallocker]
Get more information on what women should do if they are faced with a similar situation.
ShareFeatured Image Credit: Sharon Claytor/Virginia Living Museum
By Alice Morris
Visitors to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport, Virginia were treated to a hilarious show recently when an albino catfish came across a child’s pacifier.
Melissa Reeves and her one-and-a-half-year-old son Jude were enjoying their time in the museum’s ‘Cypress Swamp’ exhibit when Jude suddenly tossed his pacifier into the aquarium tank.
“The part of the museum we were in had two levels,” said Sharon Claytor, a friend of Reeves who witnessed the mishap. “Jude just threw his pacifier over the edge and it fell right in the fish tank. We hurried down to the bottom part because we were worried that fish or one of the other animals might get it and choke on it or something.”
When Reeves got to the bottom level of the tank though, she discovered that someone else had found the pacifier first: the museum’s albino catfish.
“It was just like a baby walking around with it,” said Claytor. “The pacifier part was in its mouth; it was turned the right way and everything. It was perfect. It actually looked like it was sucking on it. It would fall out of its mouth and the fish would – if you’ll excuse the pun – flounder around a bit trying to pick it back up.”
Museum staff members were quickly alerted to the situation and were able to successfully scoop the pacifier out of the tank when the catfish finally dropped it.
Reeves and Claytor both remarked on how kind and understanding the staff were.
“They all thought it was hilarious and told us not to worry,” said Claytor. “Things fall into the fish tank all the time. They said the reason the fish picked up this one is there might have been food particles or something on it that the fish liked.”
After the humorous ordeal, Reeves and Jude left the museum with the pacifier in tow.
The museum’s albino catfish was born in a hatchery, but because of its low likelihood of survival in the wild, the Virginia Living Museum took it in to serve an “animal ambassador”
“The albino catfish is an example of the types of animals we have here,” said Judy Triska, a museum marketing director. “You would not know it, but many are orphaned, injured, or non-releasable and in that way, we are not like a typical zoo.”
The Virginia Living Museum opened in 1966 as a center to teach about Virginia’s natural heritage and wildlife. Learn more about the museum here.As I was watching Elder M. Russell Ballard’s talk “To Whom Shall We Go?”, October 201 general conference talk, I liked the talk, but I knew it would be controversial. Here, I share how I heard the talk.
Elder Ballard is keenly aware of the difficult historical issues that are causing many people to doubt their faith. Issues illustrated in my response to Jeremy Runnels CES Letter. He gave an excellent talk to CES Instructors earlier this year, where he chastised them for dismissing legitimate questions by bearing their testimony and telling students to ignore their issues. He told them to drop out-of-date apologetics and get familiar with what faithful LDS scholars are saying currently. I believe he was talking about good LDS scholars like Richard Bushman, Patrick Mason, Grant Hardy, and Adam Miller.
I believe his talk was attempting to following the same logic these scholars are carving out. Which is to acknowledge there are difficulties to history, but to look at the fruits of living the gospel and make a decision to stay or leave the church based on that.
First, he shares a personal experience that describes what matters the most to him about the church.
I was deeply moved while reading these words and found myself praying in that sacred place that I could ever be one with my family and with my heavenly father and with his son. our precious relationships with families friends the Lord and his restored church are among the things that matter most in life. because these relationships are so important they should be cherished protected and nurtured.
It’s the relationships. With family, with fellow saints, and with God.
He then goes on to illustrate the real challenges many LDS members are facing. His quotes with my interpretations:
Some disciples struggle to understand a specific church policy or teaching.
The November 2015 policy sucks. We know that’s a challenge for many.
Others find concerns in our history.
Multiple First Vision Accounts, Book of Mormon translation, Book of Abraham, we understand these are valid concerns for many, that are tough to understand without a nuanced view of prophets, scripture, and church history.
Or in the imperfections of some members of leaders past and present.
Joseph Smith polygamy was not perfect. Neither are the First Presidency or the Quorum of 12 today. We know we make mistakes.
Still others find it difficult to live a religion that requires so much. Finally, some have become weary in well doing.
The church sometimes overemphasizes works and excellence. Though this enables achievement and success for many, it is easy to get tripped up in the middle of it with too high of expectations for oneself and feel overwhelmed.
It’s tough for the church to apologize for mistakes. I think church leaders are worried it would cause too many people to lose faith. I think their strategy is to move forward slowly making the past right. But I feel Elder Ballard’s love and compassion here. I think this is a true acknowledgement that these are valid issues that normal, good people get tripped up over.
There may be some doctrine, some policy, some bit of history that puts you at odds with your faith. You may feel left that the only way to resolve that inner turmoil right now is to walk no more with the saints. If you live as long as I have you come to know that things have a way of resolving themselves. An inspired insight or revelation may shed new light and insight on an issue. Remember, the restoration is not an event but it continues to unfold.
He is admitting he doesn’t have a perfect answer for some of these historical issues. But he’s asking for a little patience to see if things look different with a different perspective after some time.
If any one of you is faltering in your faith, I ask you the same question that Peter asked “to whom shall you go?” If you choose to become inactive or to leave the restored Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, where would you go? What would you do? The decision to walk no more with the church members and the Lord’s chosen leaders will have a long-term impact that cannot always be seen right now.
This right here is the part that tweaked some people. The way I took this is that he’s assuming a certain foundation. He’s assuming that the issue with history or the issue with a policy is a troubling aspect of an overall relationship with the church that brings joy and fulfillment. He’s asking where else could you find all these other good things?
the doctrine of Christ contained in the book of Mormon
what you have felt here
belief in personal, loving Heavenly Parents who teach us how to return to their eternal presence
teaching of a Savior who is your best friend and who suffered not only for your sins but who also “suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind so that his bowels may be filled with mercy according to the flesh that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities”
the plan of salvation gives mortal life meaning and purpose and direction
a detailed, inspired church organization, a structure through which you are supported by men and women who are deeply committed to serving the Lord by serving you and your family
people who live by prescribed set of values and standards that you should and want to pass along your children and grandchildren
It’s not all perfect, but a lot of it is pretty good. Where can you find all this? Can you suspend judgment on the difficult issues? And stay with us a little longer. Spend some months or some years deciding whether the historical issues are bad enough to invalidate the good of all the rest of this? I feel a loving invitation.
He then counsels leaders and those who don’t struggle with faith issues to love and not to judge those who do.
My heartfelt plea is that we will encourage, accept, understand and love those who are struggling with their faith. We must never neglect any of our brothers and sisters. We are all at different places on the path, and we need to minister to one another accordingly.
He finishes with the familiar metaphor of the good old Ship Zion. He sees it as a full of members at varying stages of faith. But all with a common goal to follow God and find the answers together over time. Though the seas are stormy, the Savior is at the helm. Like his disciples that worried he wouldn’t wake up in time to calm the sea, we fret and worry. But on his time schedule, he will command the wind to be still, and we will find peace.Speeding in a black BMW, a 23-year-old man, entered a busy intersection six seconds after the light turned red, dodged a truck and struck a cyclist crossing the road. The cyclist, 23-year-old Adrian Dudzicki, was a promising squash star on his way to practice in November 2013. He died immediately at the Sheppard Ave and Kodiak Cres. intersection.
Elite squash player Adrian Dudzicki was biking to the National Squash Centre when he was struck and killed by a car. ( SUBMITTED IMAGE )
Aleksey Aleksev was found guilty of criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death. But in an unusual step, he was also found guilty of manslaughter. In his ruling, Superior Court Justice Gary Trotter said the Crown argued at the start of the trial that this case should be considered manslaughter because the evidence will show it is more serious than a criminal negligence case. “In the future you may be seeing more and more of these cases as manslaughters, as opposed to just driving offences,” Trotter quoted the Crown John Rinaldi as saying.
Article Continued Below
However, Trotter said he did not see why both a criminal negligence charge and a manslaughter charge were necessary, since they both essentially amount to the same thing. Both charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. Since the law does not allow multiple convictions for the same act, Trotter will need to determine which charge Aleksev will be convicted of and sentenced on. That will be determined at the sentencing hearing scheduled for June. Aleksev testified during the trial that he reached down to adjust the heat or the radio as he approached the intersection. “The combination of speed and distraction created a real hazard,” Trotter found. “Without braking, Mr. Aleksev drove around the truck and into the intersection, completely blind to what or who was on the other side. It could have been anybody – an elderly pedestrian, a group of school children, members of the Armed Forces going to work or a parent pushing a stroller. It was Mr. Dudzicki on his bike.” In finding him guilty of manslaughter, Trotter found Aleksev showed a “wanton and reckless disregard for the safety and lives of others.”
Lawyers have said there is a trend towards harsher sentences for impaired driving cases, as highlighted in the Marco Muzzo case. However, a manslaughter conviction in this case may be unlikely to lead to a longer sentence than a criminal negligence causing death conviction.
Article Continued Below
In a recent case heard at the same courthouse, where a driver struck a man with his car leading to his death, a jury found the driver guilty of both manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. The judge chose to sentence the driver on the criminal negligence charge, since there were no similar cases with a manslaughter conviction. The sentence would have been the same either way, she said. The only difference is that there might be a slight stigma associated with the term, says defence lawyer Boris Bytensky, who was not involved in either case. “I don’t know that in the big picture it is going make a difference.”The Obama administration will on Monday roll out a plan to cut earth-warming pollution from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, setting in motion one of the most significant actions to address global warming in US history.
A new rule, which is expected to be final next year, will set the first national limits on carbon dioxide, the chief gas linked to global warming from US power plants.
"The purpose of this rule is to really close the loophole on carbon pollution, reduce emissions as we've done with lead, arsenic and mercury and improve the health of the American people and unleash a new economic opportunity," said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has drafted a plan that informed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal.
The regulation is a centrepiece of President Barack Obama's plans to reduce the pollution linked to global warming, a step that the administration hopes will get other countries to act when negotiations on a new international treaty resume next year.
Despite concluding in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, a finding that triggered their regulation under the 1970 Clean Air Act, it has taken years for the administration to take on America's fleet of power plants.
Political and legal risks
Power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the US, accounting for about a third of the annual emissions making the US the second largest contributor to global warming on the planet.
In December 2010, the Obama administration announced a "modest pace" for setting greenhouse gas standards for power plants, setting a May 2012 deadline.
Obama put them on the fast track last summer when he announced his climate action plan and a renewed commitment to climate change after the issue went dormant during his re-election campaign.
The rule carries significant political and legal risks, by further diminishing coal's role in producing US electricity and offering options for pollution reductions far afield from the power plant, such as increased efficiency.
Once the dominant source of energy in the US, coal now supplies under 40 percent of the country's electricity, as it has been replaced by booming supplies of natural gas and renewable sources such as wind and solar.The Trace, April 2014 (Flickr) – blog post
Server Deployments Week 39 – Recap
As always, please refer to the forum discussion thread for the latest updates and information.
There was no scheduled deployment to the Main (SLS) channel this week.
On Wednesday 24th September, all three RC channel received a further update to the Experience Tool maintenance release deployed in week 38, which includes: llGetExperienceDetails(), now includes group_id in return list. In addition, llUpdateKeyValue() now correctly creates a key if it did not previously exist Objects using experience permissions and |
have fomented and sustained chaos and slaughter must answer for their crimes.
by 8 posted onby Psalm 144 (One party feigns virtue, the other flaunts its corruption. May God reward both as they deserve.)
To: knarf
Your violent analogy is perfect.
by 9 posted onby Psalm 144 (One party feigns virtue, the other flaunts its corruption. May God reward both as they deserve.)
To: Carl Vehse
It’s coming
by 10 posted onby DarthVader (Politicians govern out of self interest, Statesmen govern for a Vision greater than themselves)
To: Psalm 144
Damned shame, too. I expect a 7.0 quake Monday night... and we'll check the debris Tuesday morning.
by 11 posted onby knarf (I say things that are true... I have no proof... but, they're true... and it pisses people off)
To: Psalm 144
This is what’s called FOURTH GENERATION WARFARE, boys and girls.
Them (civilians) vs. US (Also civilians), with the “authorities” only peripherally involved if at all. They do NOT help, only excuse and cover up what are MILITARY ATTACKS—not “crimes” in the legal sense. All the while PAYING OUR TAX DOLLARS to support the enemy. Lock and load, boys and girls. They really REALLY, REEEEEELY are a-comin’ for YOU.
by 12 posted onby Flintlock (The ballot box STOLEN, our soapbox taken away--the BULLET BOX is left to us.)
To: detective
Who would pardon the little islamist if hiliary loses?
To: Carl Vehse
Probably should, but will never happen.
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2017-08-30 17:22:05 -0400
Now, coming to the issue of turban in British Army; as aforementioned, turban has been a part of indian culture only since mohammedan times. Turban was not exclusive to sikhs it was worn by hindus, muslims & sikhs alike because it had its own benefits in the battlefield; like stopping the blow from a sword (remember it’s pre-firearms age). After the second anglo-sikh war of 1848-49 when the kingdom of ranjit singh (sikh ruler) came under East India Co. rule they took over the command of a part of the sikh army (it had many punjabi hindus, muslims & few gurkhas, besides sikhs) majority of the army was disbanded after the war & their generals retired on generous pension. The remaining sikh army was re-formed on Bengal Native Army arrangement. By late 1840’s Bengal Army had already gone under several re-organisational changes and 3 costly wars (first anglo-afghan war & 2 anglo-sikh wars) thus was reduced to half of it’s original strength. Govern General Lord Dalhousie & his advisor brothers John & Henry Lawrence prudently thought of keeping a portion of the local sikh army largely to guard the border with Afghanistan and control few rebellious factions still operating in punjab. Although there’s no doubt the sikh army fought two wars with valor against it’s adversary (Bengal & British Army) it had NOTHING to do with the ‘superior’ martial qualities of the sikh warriors as many historians want us to believe. A thorough study of contemporary accounts presents a quite different picture. During the rebellion of 1857 it were not only the sikhs who stayed loyal to their British officers but almost all men (hindu, sikh & muslim) from the old sikh kingdom (punjab region) remained loyal & fought bravely against rebels & marauders. More than pure loyalty they had another good reason for sticking with the British they wanted to avenge their defeat at second anglo-sikh war of 1849 which was largely made possible due to the men now revolting against their British officers. It’s worth noting here that the other two branches of East India co. Army, Bombay Presidency Native Army & Madras Presidency Native Army, weren’t disaffected & remain loyal the the British during this rebellion.
commentedSerious crimes fell 10 percent in San Francisco last year as the city saw fewer robberies, far fewer boosted cars and a slight but welcome reduction in the vehicle break-ins that have plagued many neighborhoods, according to police figures released Tuesday.
“It’s definitely a positive when we see the numbers decrease,” said Officer Giselle Talkoff, a Police Department spokeswoman. “Part of it is due to the diligence of the officers out there, monitoring and being proactive in our high-crime areas, having a large presence, and taking fast action in making arrests.”
The year-to-year reductions come as new Police Chief Bill Scott takes command and seeks to reassure members of the public frustrated by rising crime that has struck residents, workers and tourists alike. The index of eight serious crimes measured by the Police Department — including homicides, assaults, robberies and burglaries — hit a recent high in 2015 of 60,068 incidents.
While last year’s tally of 53,898 incidents was a clear improvement, it was still 29 percent higher than the total in 2011.
Violent crimes decreased 8 percent last year, with drops seen in robberies, assaults, rapes and cases of human trafficking when compared with 2015. Homicides, though, jumped from 53 to 58, mirroring a Bay Area and national trend but still reflecting a far lower level of violence than that seen in past decades.
Property crimes fell 11 percent in San Francisco, from 53,291 reported cases in 2015 to 47,658 in 2016. Reported offenses decreased in every category — burglaries, thefts, stolen vehicles and arson cases.
While vehicle break-ins were down, they remained at extremely high levels. After they skyrocketed 31 percent from 2014 to 2015, police recorded 24,235 incidents in 2016, a 6 percent drop year-to-year.
However, some neighborhood groups have linked the drop in property crimes to city residents growing so hardened to burglaries — and seeing sidewalks covered in broken glass — that they’ve stopped reporting every car break-in.
But in August 2015, police deployed a plainclothes task force specializing in curbing property crimes. As arrests were made, officials said, they saw a decrease in reports almost instantly.
If the crime stats were positive overall, they also revealed a surge in gun violence last year.
The 40 gun killings were a jump of 15 percent, while the 189 people who survived bullet wounds represented an increase of 27 percent, reaching a level not seen it at least six years. Authorities seized 1,216 firearms last year, up 12 percent from 2015 and 40 percent from 2011.
Talkoff said the gun violence last year was alarming to the Police Department, and that the way to fight it is “making quick arrests.” Referring to guns, she said, “We are always working to get more of them off the streets to keep the public safe.”
Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @VivianHoApr 28, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford (35) during an at bat against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Covering LeBron Would Be Far Easier If He’d Just Be Like Mike
Covering LeBron Would Be Far Easier If He’d Just Be Like Mike by Samuel Charles
San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford can play defense. His bat is coming around too.
Crawford is slashing.294/.359/.439 with five home runs and a.798 OPS. Nothing special, sure, but Crawford’s offensive production has taken leaps forward this year. By comparison, he slashed.248/.304/.349 with a.653 OPS in 2012.
The improvement is noticeable, and it looks sustainable. His BABIP (.337) is a bit higher than his 2012 mark of.307. The only caveat would be the fact that he’s actually hitting less line drives and more ground balls this year than he did last year, which could eventually lead to a regression.
The only area where Crawfrord will definitely regress is in the power department, where his 10.9 HR/FB rate is significantly higher than his 2012 mark of 3.9 percent.
But that’s just the lowdown on Crawford individually, and that’s just the thing. What he’s doing is drawing a few whispers of a very coveted question: Is “insert player here” an All-Star?
Well, Crawford does deserve to be in the conversation.
Anytime the All-Star game the voting process is discussed, the relentless Giants fans have to be mentioned. Their rabidness could skew the landscape of the voting outlook, which could ultimately send Crawford to the game as a starter.
Giants fans have some work to do, though. Troy Tulowitzki holds a sizable lead on Crawford in the voting department, per MLB’s latest release, and deservedly so. He leads all shortstop in pretty much every statistical category you’ll find, most notably WAR (3.9), OPS (1.048) and wOBA (Weighted On-Base Percentage). Dial up any stat, and he’ll top the list. Heck, he even leads NL shortstops on defense, sporting a 6.2 UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating).
Even if you take the shortstop filter out, he’s still in the top 5 in most categories. So, not only is Tulowitzki the barometer for shortstops, but he’s, well, an MVP candidate. At the very least, he should claim a starting role. It’d be criminal if Bruce Bochy had to pick him.
Wait, there’s a catch: the Rockies placed Tulowitzki on the 15-day DL on Friday with a broken rib. Multiple reports confirm that he could be out for up to six weeks, which makes sense because the torque involved in swinging a bat certainly requires a healthy core.
Six weeks would put Tulowitzki’s return well past the All-Star game, which falls on July 16. Four weeks, though, would be calling it close. The question then would ultimately hinge on his readiness. Would he want to risk aggravating his rib just for an exhibition game? Probably not. The Rockies would probably concur.
After Tulowitzki, things get a bit foggy. Milwaukee’s Jean Segura is hitting.336 with a.909 OPS. Everth Cabrera is hitting.295 with a.783 OPS and 30 stolen bases, which leads baseball. And Ian Desmond has a 1.086 OPS in June after compiling a.643 OPS in May.
Statistically, the starter should be Segura. He leads all shortstops in home runs (not including Tulowitzki) and OPS. Next in line would be Desmond, who has an ISO (Isolated Power) of.188, which falls just 14 points shy of Segura–again, I’m not including Tulowitzki. To clarify, ISO measures a player’s sheer power.
Let’s call Desmond and Segura locks because they hit for a bit more power than Crawford (.145 ISO) and Cabrera (.116) with similar averages and better batting averages.
How many spots are left?
Well, in 2012, the NL team carried three shortstops, including the starter. So outside of our two locks, the race for that final spot would be between Crawford and Cabrera, barring the emergence of another candidate.
Cabrera does have a significant edge in the stolen base department, but Bruce Bochy, San Francisco’s manager, will manage the NL All-Star team. Yeah, I’m hinting at the obvious: if Crawford and Cabrera are about even come July, Bochy will choose his guy regardless of the stolen base disparity.
When asked about Hunter Pence’s All-Star chances, this is what Bochy said (via Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area):
Well, he should be up there,” Bochy said. “I mean, he’s having a great year. It’s not just the power but the clutch hits and the stolen bases. Fortunately, I do have some say.
Notice the final line. Sure, he’s talking about Pence, but that rule probably applies to anyone on his team. He showed his willingness to pick his players in 2011, when five Giants (four pitchers) occupied a spot on the NL team. And if Bochy continues those habits, there’s a good chance Brandon Crawford will be in the Big Apple come July 16.
All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs and MLB.com(CNN) The war against ISIS is expanding to a new frontier: its finances.
As the terror group plunders archaeological sites and oil fields in Iraq and Syria, the United States is offering a $5 million reward for tips to stop the smuggling of gas and antiquities.
The terror group's oil and antiquities trafficking are crucial sources of revenue, the State Department said in a statement announcing the reward.
Funds for brutal tactics
ISIS makes millions of dollars from the trafficking of oil and antiquities, which helps fund its brutal tactics, U.S. officials said.
"The U.S. Department of State hopes this reward generates information regarding individuals or entities engaged in the production, facilitation, processing, smuggling, distribution, sale and trade of oil and antiquities that benefit ISIL, as well as information regarding smuggling networks, methods and routes," it said.
The terror group uses various acronyms, including ISIL, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Experts have described it as the best-funded terrorist organization in history, which draws recruits from all over the world.
Salaries for fighters
The funds are used for various things, including paying the terror group's fighters.
The reward announcement came the same day a bipartisan congressional task force concluded the United States is losing the battle to stop Americans from traveling abroad to enlist in ISIS.
More than 25,000 foreigners have flocked to Syria and Iraq since 2011 to fight with ISIS and other Islamist terrorist groups, according to U.S. estimates.
And despite declining finances, ISIS still boasts of hefty incomes.
Its oil income alone has plunged to $500,000 a day from as much as $1.6 million a day last year, according to risk consultancy group Verisk Maplecroft.German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R), pictured on May 5, 2016, will be one of more than 50 leaders to take part in the the first-ever world humanitarian summit in Istanbul (AFP Photo/Alberto Pizzoli)
Rome (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged European leaders to protect EU borders or risk a "return to nationalism" as the continent battles its worst migration crisis since World War II.
As Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi kicked off two days of talks in Rome with Merkel and senior EU officials, the German leader said Europe must defend its borders "from the Mediterranean to the North Pole" or suffer the political consequences.
Support for far-right and anti-immigrant parties is on the rise in several countries on the continent which saw more than a million people arrive on its shores last year.
In Austria, Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party is expected to win a presidential run-off on May 22 after romping to victory in the first round on an anti-immigration platform.
Merkel told a press conference with Renzi that Europe's cherished freedom of movement is at threat, with ramped-up border controls in response to the crisis raising questions over whether the passport-free Schengen zone can survive.
- Africa plan -
With over 28,500 migrants arriving since January 1, Italy has once again become the principal entry point for migrants arriving in Europe, following a controversial EU-Turkey deal and the closure of the Balkan route up from Greece.
In previous years, many migrants landing in Italy have headed on to other countries -- but with Austria planning to reinstate border controls at the Brenner pass in the Alps, a key transport corridor, Rome fears it could be stuck hosting masses of new arrivals.
Renzi lashed out at Austria on Thursday, describing Vienna's position as "anachronistic".
"This is the wrong attitude even if there is a migrant crisis," he said.
Italy is pushing for NATO naval patrols off Libya in time for the summer people-smuggling season, and a deal with Libya on the model just concluded with Turkey.
On Thursday, Renzi stressed the need for "a strategy for Africa" to stem the influx from there.
He wants EU aid for African countries that have seen large numbers of migrants set off, in a bid to lessen the poverty that drives many of them to leave home.
"The important thing is to invest in Africa," Renzi said.
But he added that Germany and Italy were in disagreement over how to fund the plan, with Germany against using eurobonds to offer finance to African countries.
- Pope to host talks -
Renzi also hosted European Commission leader Jean-Claude Juncker, EU President Donald Tusk and European Parliament chief Martin Schulz at a debate about the state of Europe on Thursday.
During the discussion, Tusk said the notion of a "fortress" Europe was "absurd", but that the EU had to protect its external borders if it wanted citizens to feel safe. He added that the idea of a single European state was "an illusion".
On Friday, Pope Francis -- who has blasted Western society for its indifference to refugees -- will meet with the European leaders.
Merkel, whose country took in more than a million asylum-seekers last year, on Thursday insisted on the need to "respect the human dignity" of immigrants and to "share the burden" of the influx.
Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, in an interview with AFP, took a stance unusual among Central and Eastern European leaders in agreeing with her.
He pledged to accept Bulgaria's quota of 1,200 asylum-seekers under an EU plan, saying: "It does not matter if it is 1,200 or 2,000 people -- we have taken a commitment to accept them."
In Austria, far-right presidential candidate Hofer was meanwhile attempting to woo more mainstream voters by saying he believed it was possible to integrate migrants.
"I think that if we do everything we can to make sure the people who are already in Austria integrate themselves, it's still possible," he told APA news agency.DENVER (CBS4) – Denver area drivers who commute on Lincoln Street and Broadway are about to notice a big change.
Starting next week, the far right lanes that are “bus only” during peak hours will only allow buses 24/7.
Vehicles will still be allowed to enter the transit lanes to make right-hand turns to access adjacent streets, parking and driveways.
Denver Public Works, in coordination with RTD, says they’re making transit enhancements along stretches of Broadway and Lincoln Street to improve travel options for people who work, live, play and commute along both corridors.
They add this change is one of many forthcoming enhancements to the multimodal Broadway-Lincoln corridor that advance Mayor Michael B. Hancock’s Mobility Action Plan to support the mobility choices Denver residents want to make.
“Mayor Hancock is dedicated to ensuring mobility freedom for all,” said Emily Snyder, Urban Mobility Manager at Denver Public Works’ division of Transportation and Mobility. “These transit enhancements build on this promise by improving yet another travel option on one of the city’s busiest corridors.”
The new 24-hour transit lanes will run on Broadway from 17th Avenue to Exposition Avenue, and on Lincoln from 6th Avenue to 14th Avenue.
Beginning Sunday, Aug. 27, several sections of the transit lanes will receive new red pavement markings and signage to help define the dedicated travel space for transit.
But some businesses worry about the effect on traffic. Brad Deen is the service manager at Import Mechanics on Broadway. Their garage opens right onto Broadway.
“I do worry about the congestion and confusion of them being able to make it down to this part of Broadway,” said Deen.
Mike Stejskal at Turin Bicycle Shop on Lincoln says traffic is already a mess and taking one lane away for cars could make it worse.
“There are some of my customers who do utilize the bus but most of my customers do not and if they’re coming from outlying areas and traffic gets worse that will impact our business,” he told CBS4 News.
That said, both businesses say they’re willing to wait and see if the experiment works.
Dominic Garcia anchors CBS4 News at 5 p.m. and reports for CBS4 News at 10 p.m. Connect with the Denver native on Twitter @cbs4dom & on Facebook.Prisioners atop the roof of the compound celebrate the transfer of their leaders after a negotiation with the police at the Alcacuz Penitentiary, near Natal, on January 16, 2017 (AFP Photo/Andressa Anholete)
Natal (Brazil) (AFP) - Brazilian police cleared several dozen inmates from the roof of a prison where dozens were murdered over the weekend -- the latest in a series of deadly riots.
The prisoners had on Monday clambered onto the roof of the Alcacuz penitentiary near the northeastern city of Natal.
An AFP video reporter filmed the inmates standing for hours with flags on the partly destroyed red tile roof before police chased them down.
Officers also fired rubber bullets at relatives who had crowded in front of the prison's entrance, an AFP journalist saw.
In a violent riot that broke out Saturday night a total of 26 prisoners were killed in Alcacuz -- many of them beheaded, officials said.
The cells were not closed for the night because the bars on them had been ripped off in a previous riot in 2015 and not replaced.
On Sunday, police stormed the prison and ended the uprising.
- Rival drug gangs -
It was the third major massacre to hit Brazil's overcrowded jails this month, all of them thought to involve suspected drug gangs.
Officials said two rival gangs clashed in the overcrowded Natal jail.
Separately the state government said prisoners rioted early on Monday morning at another jail in the Raimundo Nonato prison, also in Natal.
No one was hurt or escaped in that riot, which was quelled by police, it said.
More violence broke out later in the day at the Dutra Ladeira jail in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.
A group of prisoners burned mattresses and threatened to kill "many people," although no one was reported injured or escaped, Globo News said.
Gruesome violence at a prison in the northwestern city of Manaus killed about 60 inmates on January 1. Many prisoners were beheaded and mutilated.
A further 33 died in a riot in Roraima state on January 6.
The Natal massacre raised fears that the wave of violence could spread across the country.
"Authorities are playing a dangerous game by underestimating the scale" of the crisis in the prison system, said Renata Neder, a human rights adviser to Amnesty International in Brazil.
The rights watchdog on Monday called for an independent inquiry into the killings.
President Michel Temer said on Twitter that the federal government stood ready to provide "all assistance necessary" to quell the prison unrest.
- Overcrowded prisons -
At Alcacuz, security forces surrounded the prison but had to wait until first light Sunday to storm the site with armored vehicles, officials said.
Prisoners had cut off the electricity and were said to have firearms.
The prison was built for a maximum of 620 inmates but currently houses 1,083, the state justice department said.
After the two riots earlier this month, Temer announced the federal government would spend $250 million to build new prisons.
The justice ministry had already announced a reform of the penitentiary system, in which nearly half those locked up have not been sentenced but are awaiting trial.
The latest riot was thought to have been a clash between Brazil's biggest drug gang, the First Capital Command, and a group allied to its main rival Red Command, Brazilian media said.
Experts say the violence is part of a war between drug gangs battling for control of one of the world's most important cocaine markets and trafficking routes.
Brazil shares borders with Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, the world's three biggest cocaine producers. It serves as an important transit point for the narcotic on its way to Europe, often on board cargo ships that stop over in Africa.A 30-year-old Florida man alleged to be driving a golf cart under the influence at the St. Michael’s Fair severely injured a woman when he plowed in to her late Thursday night.
Tullytown Police responded to a call of a struck pedestrian with injuries around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night and upon arrival observed a woman “screaming in pain” on the ground with what appeared to be a “serious injury,” court records say.
Police investigation revealed a white male – Bruce C. Coppage – was driving a golf cart on the grounds where the carnival is taken place when he stuck the woman with the cart, police records say.
Authorities observed slurred speech, lethargic demeanor coupled with Coppage admitting to consuming alcoholic beverages prior to the accident he was asked to take a portable breathe test and followed by standard field sobriety tests, court records say. Officers asked the defendant if he could perform the field test and he told them he has problems with his knees at times, records show.
Coppage failed testing and was advised he could not operate the motorized cart safely and was placed under arrest. The suspect was transferred to Lower Bucks Hospital for testing, police say.
Coppage was arraigned by District Court Judge Michael J. Burns a felony charge of accident involving death or injury and driving under the influence, along other associated offenses.
His bail was set at 10 percent in lieu of $ 5,000.Gene Luen Yang is a little nervous about his next book. Why would the 2015 Eisner winner for Best Writer have even the faintest apprehensions about his latest graphic novel, “Secret Coders,” drawn by Mike Holmes, and releasing today, September 28th, from First Second?
Holmes’ art is adept and charming. First Second’s publishing record is enviable and publicity operations are deft. And Yang has already notched unprecedented plaudits with a whole gamut of works, from his own National Book Award Finalist graphic novels “American Born Chinese” and “Boxers & Saints,” to acclaimed writing on properties like Dark Horse’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” original series and DC’s current “Superman.”
Moreover, “Secret Coders” is as ideal a project as you can imagine for Gene Luen Yang, a graphic novel series endeavoring to teach the basics of computer programming to young audiences, something Yang did professionally as a Bay Area high school teacher for as long as he has been a published author.
But I can empathize with his nervousness. I sit across the table from him at a Vietnamese restaurant as he gesticulates enthusiastically, wearing his usual ready smile and a comfortable T-shirt. For the first time in a decade-and-a-half, Yang isn’t a comics creator moonlighting as a technology educator (or vice versa); he’s now fully preoccupied scripting Clark Kent’s Twitter-era tribulations instead of troubleshooting campus networks, plotting Aang’s exploits instead of planning lessons and exams.
What makes Gene Yang nervous is the experiment he is embarking on with “Secret Coders,” because Gene Yang the Storyteller and Gene Yang the Educator are striving for harmonic convergence here. “Secret Coders” tries to tell a fun and engaging story, and at the same time, to serve as an authentically educational comic book. The stakes are high for Yang, an outspoken voice for the educational potentials of comics. And he embarks on this experiment with no certainty that the educative purposes of “Secret Coders” won’t drain the super-power out of a compelling story, nor that its narrative charisma won’t singe the glasses off of the informational clarity of his teaching mission.
“I’ve done comics that were explicitly educational,” Yang tells me, “and I’ve done narrative, but ‘Secret Coders’ is me trying to combine the two. When I started the project, I was looking at a lot of educational shows on PBS, [like Cyberchase], and it seems like for a lot of them, the characters are pure avatars. They’re almost personality-less, really just there as stand-ins for the viewer, for the audience to learn… The only problems they have are the math-based problems. It’s like, the characters never have problems between each other, right?”
“And I just thought, what if we took narrative qualities and put them into a fundamentally educational comic, what would happen? And the big worry is that they’ll get in the way of each other.”
Like me, Gene Yang came from a family of Chinese immigrants, grew up on a steady diet of superhero comics, and channeled his accumulated nerdliness towards a Berkeley education and teaching career. Like me, he finds it contrary-to-logic, though historically explainable, that his childhood teachers never used the potent medium of comics to teach, save for a fifth grade teacher who assigned a comics adaptation of classic literature. Oh, but add to that his high school computer science teacher, Mr. Matsuoka. (“I taught computer science for about 15 years,” says Yang, “and I basically just stole everything from him,” —the refrain of all good teachers). Mr. Matsuoka routinely used visual diagrams of the insides of computers, arrays and variables, binary ones and zeroes, to make the subject make sense and come alive for young Gene. It was the natural inclination of a capable teacher of technical subjects to create graphic representations and turn them into sequence.
“I don’t see comics as a better teaching tool than other media, I just think they need to be part of the teaching arsenal, the toolbox. And I think they’ve been ignored for a really long time, for not very good reasons, mainly historical [since the Wertham trials]. But it seems plainly evident that certain kinds of information are better communicated through comics,” Yang contends, citing airplane safety cards and Lego instructions.
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“So it just seems weird that I went through thirteen years of K-12 education, and really, comics were almost never in the classroom.”
Yang rectified that when he became a teacher. He often tells the story of having to leave his students with a substitute, and deciding to leave behind lesson plans in the form of a comic the students read which delivered the lesson and an assignment. He jokes that the students much preferred Mr. Yang as a comic strip over his actual presence as a teacher, but I suspect Yang’s trademark humility is masking the reality, that his comics succeeded in what every teacher wishes their substitute lesson plans would do: leave behind enough of the essence, vitality, and consistent voice of the original teacher to maintain the class’s attention on the next step of learning. As opposed to the usual procedures when there’s a sub, maybe involving spit balls or something on fire in the trash can.
As cartoonist/teachers like Scott McCloud and Lynda Barry have demonstrated, the comics medium has a way of compounding that certain mixture of elements— the aesthetic appeal, the specificity of voice, the combination of linguistic and visual clarity, the ease of quick allusions and contrasts—that a practiced classroom instructor relies on as stock-in-trade.
In an interview with Will Eisner by Stanley Wiater and Stephen Bisette, republished by M. Thomas Inge, the Master describes his road between “The Spirit” and “A Contract with God” through fifteen years of instructional and educational comics, beginning with military training comics in an Army manual. Eisner recalls, “it was an impertinence at the time… My comics implied that their regular training material was not readable. Which was indeed true!… But the essential reason that comics work so well is because… imagery is the fastest means of written communication in existence.”
Indeed. But the narrative elements that comics can surround the instructional content with aren’t just frivolous window dressing, I would argue. Observe page 19 of “Secret Coders” below. Yang and Holmes’ protagonists, Hopper and Eni, supply three elements teachers dream of in classroom learning.
First, they use that quick imagery Eisner mentioned to illustrate concepts with examples and references. In the case of the example page above, our teachers Yang and Holmes have either already implanted a reference or can readily call forth some background in learners’ storehouses of knowledge: birds with open and closed eyes appear in the first 18 pages, and the coins, the chalk drawings, Hopper’s earrings, and sundry other tokens materialize throughout the story to illustrate concepts, sometimes almost randomly, as Yang/Hopper wink at in the last panel. These tangible reference points pop up all over the book’s setting, a mysterious school with Hogwarts-like secrets based in coding rather than in magic. If only Science teachers could orchestrate their lab materials with such efficiency…
But comics’ rich gift of visual shorthands, this quick availability of reminders, tokens, and references, which can materialize in comics as easily as a sketch, applies not just to handy demonstration materials like sidewalk chalk or coins. Those shorthands are everywhere in the narrative. In fact, all the characterization, plot development, and atmosphere-creating tropes in Yang and Holmes’ quick-moving and page-turning book, the private school uniforms and old brick architecture and eccentric school custodians, these activate familiar associations in the minds of readers and learners, also serving as mental resources the authors capitalize upon to unfold new information and concepts.
Second, Eni and Hopper engage in a back-and-forth dialogue, Socrates-style, which orders and structures the presentation and flow of ideas in a manner that resembles our critical and analytical thought processes: “What are you talking about?” “You make no sense,” declares Hopper. They voice the conversation in our brains, putting speed bumps on the hard conceptual turns, articulating the doubts and befuddlement we are hazily aware of in our heads. Teachers crave that kind of engagement, when the stuff becomes so interesting that learners are asking questions out of curiosity, or even frustration that comes from the appetite to figure things out. Learning is dialogical, and comics have ways with those kinds of words, from the rhythms of word balloons and silent panels, to the ability to personify all sorts of objects and abstractions while animating them with quirks, making them sweet or portentous or scheming or oddball. In translating the conceptual stuff of coding into a story, Yang gives flesh and bone (and feathers and engines) to all kinds of Technical Things I Didn’t Understand.
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Which leads us to the third element comics can bring to teaching. This third thing is big. It’s what makes Yang nervous, but it makes all the difference. The third element is what everyone who teaches an online class struggles to approximate from the experience of attending a classroom one. It’s what every teacher knows can sour or sweeten any educational experience, sometimes definitively.
It’s the human element in learning. Much educational content gets washed in academic factuality, precision, neutrality, and objectivity. But our human instinct is to connect our learning to our social lives. Few of us learn anything in pure isolation from the inter-personal, emotional, and psychological trappings surrounding it. Even the most Spock-like quest for understanding is bound up in the language and communication we learn from interaction.
And few of us are Spock. Most of us…well…we read comic books. We study the details of geography, continuity, personality, and possibility when they have to do with our selves and our imaginations. We crave heroes, and we want villains. We want arcs of estrangement and reconciliation. We like information and we have curiosities, but we also need identification, tension and resolution, thematic resonance. We need stories, and stories for us are the shapes of what it means to be people.
Back at the Vietnamese restaurant, I ask Gene about the “Art Night” he has fondly memorialized in past interviews. I know he studied Computer Science at Berkeley, and quickly discovered, as so many cartoonists do, that college-level Art classes had little to offer his ambitions. Instead, he’s said before, his “art school” was his circle of creator buddies like Derek Kirk Kim, Jason Shiga, Lark Pien, Jesse Hamm, Thien Pham, and others, and their ritual weekly comics gathering, swapping shop talk and trade secrets, offering each other constructive feedback, goofing around and “talking crap.”
I’m insanely curious about this group, how they convened, what happened, how they figured into Yang’s comics origin story. Oddly but appropriately, Yang, a practicing Catholic, borrowed the notion of an “Art Night” from a weekly gathering of artists from a faith community he participated in, imported it with Hamm to a group of comics friends he met through the Bay Area’s Alternative Press Expo, and cultivated the weekly, sacred space of otherwise-employed, aspiring comics creatives like Gene Yang the computer teacher and Derek Kirk Kim the animator, nurturing their craft together.
When I press Yang for details about how the group influenced him, he says, “Just really simple ways. I’d never watched a Miyazaki film before I met Derek [Kirk Kim.] We sat down and just watched it together, and just listening to him talk about it made me realize why it was so important. My taste in story has been heavily influenced by his aesthetic. He just has a much more quiet, thoughtful way of telling stories, sort of allowing the stories to find themselves.”
Miyazaki’s films, where winds bend fields of grain for twice as long as American animation’s tastes would allow, filter through the languid scenes on wave-lapped beaches where Derek Kirk Kim’s “Same Difference” achieves its poignancy, into Yang’s wordless impact moments in “Secret Coders” or “American Born Chinese” when you read a hundred mixed intentions on the comically blank expressions of his protagonists.
And what did Yang learn from Art Night colleague Jason Shiga, the mad mathematical genius, recent Ignatz winner, Formalist creator of books like “Meanwhile” and the current, delightfully demented webcomic “Demon?” “What Jason demonstrated to me was, things you don’t normally think of as comics can be comics… He pushes the format.” Yang’s comics have been Master’s thesis, historical fiction, media advocacy, and teaching tool. My stack of Gene Yang books ranges widely in shape, size, and format— though none quite like Shiga’s unfolding maze of choose-your-own-adventure octo-flexagon comics.
What about gleanings from creator Lark Pien? “[From L |
for his 2011 political corruption conviction, reaffirming the decision originally handed down to the disgraced politician more than four years ago.
Blagojevich, a Democrat who served as Illinois’ governor from 2003 to 2009, won a chance at resentencing last year after an appellate court vacated five of 18 charges related to a scheme in which he tried to use his power as governor to extract favors and campaign cash from other politicians.
The former governor, who appeared for the hearing via video conferencing, had requested the judge to reduce his sentence to five years in prison.
Federal prosecutor Debra Riggs Bonamici called on U.S. District Judge James Zagel to keep the 14-year prison term in place, arguing Blagojevich didn’t deserve leniency, noting that his corruption eroded trust in public officials. She added that Blagojevich was the "same man" he was when he was convicted in 2011.
Zagel agreed the original sentence remained appropriate for the crimes committed by Blagojevich, who succeeded Gov. George Ryan, a Republican, who was convicted of corruption charges several months after leaving office in 2003.
"Ironically, this is a man who ran for office on restoring the integrity of Illinois," Zagel said.
The five counts dropped last year relate to Blagojevich’s attempt to trade the appointment of a U.S. Senate seat, which opened up after president-elected Barack Obama vacated it in late 2008.
Blagojevich offered to appoint Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to the vacant seat in exchange for appointing him to a Cabinet slot. The appellate court ruled the suggested swap — the appointment ended up going to Roland Burris — was not illegal but amounted to “a political logroll.”
The appellate court, however, upheld charges against Blagojevich related to accusations he tried to extract cash from then-U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., in exchange for the senate appointment as well as other efforts by the governor to get paid for official acts.
Even as the panel threw out the charges, the judges said a 14-year sentence was appropriate, if not too lenient for Blagojevich’s crimes.
In his argument to Zagel, Blagojevich’s attorney said the governor was a different man than the one convicted more than four years ago. “The arrogance and anger are no longer present in this man today,” said defense attorney Leonard Goodman.
Blagojevich spoke on behalf of himself, telling the judge about his regrets and detailing how he’s spent his time in prison teaching GED and history classes for inmates and conducting mock job interviews for some as they prepared to be released.
“I wish I could find a way to turn the clock back and make different choices, but that’s not possible,” said the 59-year-old Blagojevich, whose dark bouffant has turned solid white in prison. “All I can do is move forward and do better.”
In an impassioned letter entered into the court record Monday evening, his wife, Patti Blagojevich, asked Zagel for leniency for her husband for the sake of their two daughters.
She said Blagojevich calls home every night from prison, and the family has made 20 trips to Colorado to visit him.
“The unfortunate fact, though, is that all the phone calls and emails and visits cannot fill the void of his absence,” Patti Blagojevich wrote. "They cannot come close to replacing his physical presence in our lives.”
She added, “I am pleading with you, indeed begging you, to please be merciful.”
His 20-year-old daughter Amy and 13-year-daughter Annie also asked Zagel to cut their father’s sentence for their sake.
“I almost don’t want to grow up because I want to wait for him to come home,” Annie Blagojevich told the judge.
Zagel said he was sympathetic to the Blagojevich family, but that he remained convinced the length of the sentence was appropriate. "As I said four years ago, the fault lays with the governor," Zagel said.
After the hearing, Patti Blagojevich said she was "dumbfounded" by Zagel's decision, despite her daughters' pleas.
"It's clear it didn't make any difference what they said," she said. "They could have delivered a 12-page missive and delivered it Broadway style. It wouldn't have made any difference what they or what anyone said. Judge Zagel made up his mind, even before (the hearing) started."
More than 100 fellow inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood, Colo., also wrote letters to the judge vouching Blagojevich has been a model inmate and asked he be given a break.
During the years he’s been incarcerated, Blagojevich has learned to play guitar, according to court documents. The governor — a passionate fan of Elvis Presley — even helped form a prison band, known as the Jailhouse Rockers.
The band, however, broke up after the lead guitarist was released from prison.
Follow USA TODAY Chicago correspondent Aamer Madhani on Twitter: @AamerISmad
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2bczQIjBring on the drama! The Real Housewives of Dallas is shaking up its cast as it heads into season 2.
Multiple sources confirm to Us Weekly that Tiffany Hendra will not be returning to the Bravo franchise after season 1. The 45-year-old actress, who is married to pop rock singer Aaron Hendra, will be the only original cast member not returning.
To fill the void left by Hendra, Kameron Westcott and D’Andra Simmons have been added to the show, the sources confirmed. They will join returning cast members Brandi Redmond, Cary Deuber, LeeAnne Locken, Stephanie Hollman and Marie Reyes.
“Kameron is crazy wealthy,” a source told Us. “Her husband just sold something to Apple.”
Westcott is already hinting at her new role in her Twitter bio, which reads, “Housewife in Highland Park, Mommy, Fashionista, Philanthropist…I Believe in PINK & Anything that SPARKLES.”
Lunch with these two gorgeous ladies @stephhollman @kamwestcott #ladieswholunch #rhod #dallas #love A post shared by Cary Deuber (@carydeuber) on Aug 22, 2016 at 9:37am PDT
Simmons is a “well-known society woman in Dallas,” the source says of the CEO of the skincare line Hard Night Good Morning.
Simmons seems to have cozied up to Locken, tweeting on Tuesday, February 7, that she was Locken’s plus one at the Esé Azénabor Women X Power Fashion Show, which benefited My Refuge House for trafficked women.
At the Ese Azenabor Women X Power Fashion Show tonight benefiting My Refuge House for trafficked women. Thanks @leeannelocken for the +1???? pic.twitter.com/862iggni7D — D'Andra Simmons (@dandrasimmons) February 8, 2017
She also reposted a photo from Deuber saying, “we do go WAY back!"
Love this photo! Yes, we do go WAY back! We were 4, we are still SO young! Ha! Ha! @myrefugehouse #teamRHOD?????? https://t.co/pBa5fxl3ux — D'Andra Simmons (@dandrasimmons) February 8, 2017
Despite Bravo not commenting on casting, Simmons has gone public with her role on the show, re-posting on Instagram from the season finale all-cast event of RHOD, where she commented, “YEEHAW! Giddy up for Season 2 of RHOD! Hold on to your hats! Darn Tootin!”
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Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!BALTIMORE -- Orioles star infielder Manny Machado and ace closer Zach Britton have gotten hefty raises and will make more than $11 million each after reaching agreements on one-year deals.
Starter Chris Tillman also settled with Baltimore on Friday at $10.05 million and second baseman Jonathan Schoop agreed at $3,475,000. All four players avoided arbitration.
The 24-year-old Machado will get $11.5 million. He made $5.05 million last season when he set career highs with 37 home runs, 96 RBI and a.294 batting average. He had 114 starts at third base and 43 at shortstop.
The 29-year-old Britton will get $11.4 million. He made $6.9 million last season when he went 47 for 47 in save opportunities, had a 0.54 ERA and finished fourth in Cy Young voting.
Machado and Britton are eligible for free agency after the 2018 season.
Tillman started on opening day and was the right-hander was ace of the Orioles' staff, going 16-6.
Schoop, 25, was sharp in the field and played in all 162 games in 2016. He reached career highs in doubles (38), home runs (25) and RBI (82).
Three Orioles exchanged figures with the team and are headed toward hearings next month barring agreements: right-handers Kevin Gausman ($3.55 million vs. $3.15 million) and Brad Brach ($3.05 million vs. $2,525,000) and catcher Caleb Joseph ($1 million vs. $700,000).A Pennsylvania man who was paralyzed from the neck down after relatives tipped over the Porta Potty he was using has won a $5 million settlement in a lawsuit over the prank gone wrong.
Douglas Adams III and his wife sued the portable toilet manufacturer, its installer, as well as his wife’s cousins—Gerald Grater and Barry Weller—who tipped over the portable toilet during a camping and fishing trip, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Grater and Weller backed their truck against the Porta Potty door in an attempt to lock Adams inside. This caused the toilet to tip, resulting in injuries that rendered Adams quadriplegic.
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The lawsuit faulted Poly-San, the manufacturer, with not providing spikes to secure the unit in the ground, and the installer for putting the portable toilet on a 14 degree angle on the side of a hill, propping it up with wood to keep it level.
[The Legal Intelligencer]
Contact us at [email protected] United States has announced that it will provide an additional $75 million in non-lethal aid to Ukraine’s military forces. The Obama administration also revealed it will impose sanctions on several pro-Russian separatists and other individuals who were involved in the promotion of civil war in eastern Ukraine. IN PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) approaches to shake hands with his French counterpart Francois Hollande during a meeting at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, December 6, 2014.
The United States has announced that it will provide an additional $75 million in non-lethal aid to Ukraine’s military forces. The Obama administration also revealed it will impose sanctions on several pro-Russian separatists and other individuals who were involved in the promotion of civil war in eastern Ukraine. IN PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) approaches to shake hands with his French counterpart Francois Hollande during a meeting at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, December 6, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev
A leading Russian MP and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the European Parliament of an “all-out war” scenario of the United States decides to supply weapons to the Ukrainian government. U.S. President Barack Obama had previously announced that Washington was considering the option of sending lethal weapons to help Kiev.
Alexel Pushkov spoke about the dire consequences before the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. He gave the warning after Mr Obama said the U.S. was not ruling out sending weapons to Ukraine if diplomacy did not succeed.
The Russian MP, who is included in the U.S. sanctions blacklist, told members of the committee that U.S. weapons in the hands of Kiev could “expand the war” and become a real threat to the entire security of Europe, reports TASS. Pushkov is not on the EU’s list of Russian officials who are subject to a visa ban and assets freeze, which are part of the sanctions against Russia after the annexation of Crimea.
Pushkov told European Parliament TV that the option of sending weapons was the first sign of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in the 1960s. He recalled that the U.S. first sent weapons then military advisers and troops to fight the Vietnamese. Mr Putin’s ally warned of the U.S. taking an “extremely dangerous path.” Pushkov claimed there were many people in the U.S. who want a fight including Senator John McCain whom he described as “trigger-happy.”
Pushkov believe both sides of the conflict in eastern Ukraine had breached the ceasefire agreement signed in Minsk last Sept 2014. Another warning came from Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson of Mr Putin who recently declared that the potential plan of arming Ukraine could destabilise the situation, reports BBC.
Mr Obama said earlier in the week that he would wait for the outcome of the peace negotiations in Minsk before considering further measures. Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will attempt to revive the collapsed ceasefire agreement in the capital of Belarus.
Meanwhile, the head of Kremlin’s security council also reacted to the possibility of the U.S. sending weapons to Ukraine, reports the Financial Times. He said the U.S. is trying to draw the Russian Federation into an “interstate military conflict.” Nikolai Patrushev warned that the conflict in Ukraine would only escalate if Washington will proceed with its plans to arm Kiev.Video: Wild chimps take care before crossing the road
Screech! Bang! It’s the sound we all dread when crossing busy roads. Now, it turns out that like us, wild chimpanzees learn to respect roads, adopting the same cautious drills as humans, including looking both ways to check for traffic.
Hopefully, by studying how chimpanzees cope with roads, we can find ways to make them safer for wildlife, especially since road-building in Africa is on the increase.
In a 29-month survey, researchers observed and recorded 20 instances of wild chimps crossing a busy road in Sebitoli, in the northern part of Uganda’s Kibale National Park. They watched 122 chimps cross the highway used by 90 vehicles an hour, many speeding at 70 to 100 kilometres an hour.
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It’s the first report on how chimpanzees behave crossing a very busy asphalt road, says Marie Cibot of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. “We’ve described chimpanzee behaviour facing a dangerous situation never described before,” she says, pointing out that earlier studies looked at narrower, unpaved and less busy roads.
Extra vigilance
Chimps are exceptionally cautious when they cross the road. Ninety-two per cent of them looked right, left, or both ways before or during crossing, and 57 per cent ran across – showing that they knew the value of reaching the other side as quickly as possible.
Alpha males led and organised 83 per cent of the road-crossing posses, compared with only 51 per cent of tree-climbing expeditions in the forest studied in parallel. This implies that they recognised the importance of extra vigilance during road crossings.
There was also evidence that healthy and dominant chimps often made sure that stragglers or more vulnerable members of the group crossed safely. Some 86 per cent of the healthy chimps looked back or stopped when at least one vulnerable individual, such as an infant or injured chimp, trailed behind.
Chimps behaved differently crossing a quiet road in an earlier study in Bossou, Guinea, led by Kimberley Hockings of the Centre for Research in Anthropology in Lisbon, Portugal.
“At Sebitoli, chimpanzees tended to split into smaller subgroups when crossing, whereas chimpanzees at Bossou often, but not always, crossed in progression lines,” says Hockings. “This might be down to a higher intensity and speed of traffic at Sebitoli, forcing chimpanzees to split up.”
Cibot now hopes to work with the Ugandan authorities to test new safety measures. “We aim to test mitigation measures such as bridges, underpasses, reduced speed limits, speed-bumps and police patrols in the area,” she says. “Road infrastructure is spreading throughout Africa to support regional development, industry and tourism, and studying chimpanzee adaptation facing roads represents a way to reduce the risk of collisions.”
Journal reference: : American Journal of Primatology, DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22417infinitestory Profile Blog Joined April 2010 United States 3708 Posts Last Edited: 2010-10-25 21:32:23 #1
there will be spoilers here.
if you finish reading this, I'll be very proud ~
Q: Your thoughts on attending Blizzcon this year?
Fruitdealer: This is my first time attending this type of event. I never thought there would be so many people, and the spectators' intensity level is high, which is helping amp me up as well.
Boxer: The tickets are very expensive, but they still sold out very fast. I envy this type of gaming culture. I saw others being able to play matches outside of Korea for WCG, and now I get to play a match in a foreign country as well. Even though I lost, a lot of fans came to support me and cheer me on after the match. If I get the opportunity, I hope I can play against even more opponents.
Q: Thoughts on yesterday's game?
Boxer: The journey here was very long, so in order to make up for the jetlag I didn't practice. I saw Fruitdealer practicing and I realized he wasn't using his full strength. He seemingly didn't play properly in his games in order to conceal his true power. Even though I wen tall out, I still lost. But I think for me this was a good learning experience.
Fruitdealer: My condition wasn't so great either yesterday. I practiced in America, but my probability of winning wasn't even 30% in my opinion. But in the game, I got very lucky, so the result was good. Also, I got to play the Boxer who I respect so much, so I had to play hard against him.
Q: Yesterday, you (Fruitdealer) receivd Blizzard's gift of a fruit mascot.
Fruitdealer: I have no words to describe the feeling. I've lost a lot of gifts in the past, but I will make sure to treasure this one.
On October 25 2010 05:57 lazyfeet wrote:
I think that is the gift or part of it. I think that is the gift or part of it.
Q: Boxer, what's the difference between BW and SC2?
Boxer: BW's most interesting feature is the control: the control group keys were simply not sufficient for huge armies. In SC2, aside from this, everything else is pretty interesting. On top of that, the intellect required is much higher.
Q: When did you (Boxer) decide to switch to SC2, and when did you start practicing?
Boxer: After the SPL finals ended, I started preparing to switch to SC2. I hadn't been able to play for a long time, about 1 and a half years I think. I'm really sorry to everyone for that. I saw fans change over to SC2 one by one. I entered the coaching staff, but seeing an end to my progaming career was just distressing to me, and I didn't know how to choose. But since there were so many fans waiting to see me play, and I still wanted to be a progamer, I decided to switch.
Q: Since you're (Boxer) a historic icon of eSports, was the burden great?
Boxer: Very great. So I could only announce my participation in GSL the day before the prelims. Delaying the announcement to the limit also delayed the chaos for a few days.
Q: In SC2, you're also performing very well, what's the biggest advantage BW gamers get from transitioning to SC2?
Boxer: In War3, you stop worker production, but in BW, the worker flow pretty much doesn't stop, so the advantage is great. [T/N ty Entropic]
Fruitdealer: BW gamers should become accustomed to SC2 faster.
Q: Because SC2 was the reason you (Boxer) continued your gaming career, if there were no SC2 would you have stayed a coach?
Boxer: SC2's release did present an excellent opportunity, and it resolved my greatest issue. I feel like it's lucky. Right now, the feeling of excitement is the same as when I first started playing BW, so I'm playing towards the same level. I'm prepared to be a progamer until I'm at least 35. For the fans, I won't just play 1 or 2 years. The longer the better.
Q: Your (Boxer) goal is to be a 30 year old progamer, how about a statement for the younger generation?
Boxer: Age isn't a problem, the most important thing is self-management. As people get older, their dreams get bigger, and their perception of the near future becomes hazy. APM is also not a problem; it's one's own skill that counts.
Q: Fruitdealer, until how old do you expect to play?
Fruitdealer: As long as possible, but my military service is coming up, so I'll work hard until I get my notice of military service. Once I'm discharged, if I can still catch up to the other progamers, I'll continue playing, but otherwise I'll look for another path in life.
Q: Fruitdealer, right now your SC2 popularity is much greater than in BW, how do you feel about that?
Fruitdealer: Very happy. I'm ashamed to say this, but right now I'm feeling very moved. I want to take group photos or sign autographs for the fans, but I'm too shy. Also, since Blizzcon is in America, there's a language disconnect, so when the American fans talk to me I'm a little frightened. But being able to feel popularity here which I never felt back in Korea has me overjoyed.
Q: Mike Morhaime even raised your (Fruitdealer) name in the opening ceremony.
Fruitdealer: I didn't see the opening ceremony, so I don't know about the situation. But the fact that he's heard of me makes me quite honored.
Q: Boxer, as a figure almost synonymous with BW's history, do you think SC2 will need a KeSPA-like association?
Boxer: When I switched to SC2, I didn't have much of a goal, and I didn't even think that far. In the best case scenario, KeSPA and Blizzard actually come to a negotiation and KeSPA also takes care of SC2, but if that's impossible, the SC2 scene will have to build something up. But SC2 and BW are different; SC2 has the precedent and experience of BW, and its scene can avoid missteps. Also, the Blizzards of BW and SC2 are on totally different scales, and the funds are greater for SC2 tournaments. I think the SC2 the SC2 scene will become very huge.
Q: Did the people around you (Boxer) say disparaging words when you switched to SC2?
Boxer: They didn't say it to my face, but I feel like in their hearts they might have thought it.
Q: There's been talk that you (Boxer) have joined a team, but also that you're an individual? [T/N highly unsure]
Boxer: Joining a team is necessary, and I'm in the middle of considerations, but since I don't have a plan yet, there isn't much to say.
Q: Fruitdealer, people have said you don't have a lot of passion and that your games are always with one method and the same opening.
Fruitdealer: It's hard to have passion while playing Zerg, actually. In defending, Zergs rarely do anything unusual. I've thought about it a lot, but anything nonstandard is simply too difficult to carry out. The talk about my out-of-game passion is probably because of my personality issues. If I do any ceremonies but end up losing, I'll be really ashamed of myself. Since I know there needs to be some passion, once I improve some more I'll consider adding ceremonies. But if I turn the tables in a losing situation, I'll definitely release all my passion.
Q: How about dancing with units, Fruitdealer?
Fruitdealer: It's hard to use it in a game. It's possible once the game has ended, but the obs will not necessarily catch it. If I'm not careful and I slip up chatting, I'll definitely be warned (haha). It's only really possible while performing a baneling bust, but by that point the game is probably already over.
Q: After you return to Korea, you'll participate in the GSL Ro32 immediately. Will the travel have an effect on your play?
Fruitdealer: Right now, they're doing adjustments [T/N?] so in the 2 or 3 days before the games I'll be practicing. After I get home, even if I don't bother to fix the jetlag and I just play, it should still be fine.
Boxer: If I rest one day, my condition will be much better. The Ro32 is the biggest obstacle. I get back on the 25th before dawn, so in order to fix the jetlag I'll rest a day, so I only get one day to practice. But I feel like if I pass this obstacle, I'll obtain success.
Q: How much do you practice per day?
Boxer: 30+ games. I have to concentrate my energy in each game.
Fruitdealer: I think that it doesn't matter how much I play so long as I play each game well. I usually play 20-30 games or so, though.
Q: Do you two want to meet in the GSL finals?
Boxer: In this exhibition, I went all out, but I still lost 0-2. If I had prepared better, I feel like the outcome would have been different. Next time, if I have the chance, I'll prepare fully.
Fruitdealer: Yesterday I won, but if we meet in the GSL, I'll have a lot of pressure. Even though I don't want to face Boxer again, if we meet in the finals, it'll definitely be a great match. It would be the talk of the town in the eSports scene.
Q: How do you view the recent patches?
Boxer: I'm very weird, in every patch it's the units I love to use that are nerfed. Before, I liked to use tanks, and now they are nerfed. I also liked 3rax, but that strategy was nerfed. More unsettling is that not only was Terran nerfed, Zerg was buffed. I spent two hours writing a letter to David Kim (dayvie). Every time, the new patches are hard to adjust to, so I hope in the future the changes aren't cataclysmic.
Fruitdealer: In terms of Zerg, aside from defense, right now playing is more comfortable due to less early problems. But it seems that the special aspects of SC2 have been decreasing. Even though I'm doing well, other players might consider it bad.
Q: Have you (Fruitdealer) written to Blizzard before?
Fruitdealer: I haven't, but Check and David Kim (dayvie) are familiar with each other. I saw Check send a lot of emails to David Kim. It's possible he's part of the reason Zerg has been getting buffs.
Q: And you, Boxer?
Boxer: Every time a certain Zerg sends emails to Blizzard, it's always reps in which they lose. I think we Terrans should unite as well and send some losing reps.
Q: Is that Zerg Check?
Boxer: Yep. (haha)
Q: How did you (Fruitdealer) spend your first prize money?
Fruitdealer: I haven't even received the prize money yet, but perhaps that's a good thing. Recently there have been a lot of people calling me. Once I get the money, I'll send it to my parents. We'll discuss together how to spend it. Also, now that Zerg is stronger, there are people saying a Zerg will win it all again, but to me the Ro32 is a great barrier. If I can cross this barrier, I'll be confident I can perform the rest of the way.
Q. Your tactics are available for all to see online. Does that have a large impact on your practices? What would you like see Blizzard change/improve?
Boxer: I have heard that Blizzard has been working very hard to fix this issue, and since they are working very hard, I think all we have to do is be patient and wait. But I am a bit dissatisfied with unit groupings and control. A lot of times when I am using a smurf account so that no one will know who I am, I still get recognized because of my unit groupings and control. Having too good of a game UI is a problem. I think making the UI a bit worse would be nice. (laughs)
[T/N: It's more unit grouping than unit control but the vocabulary has sense of both.] [T/N all credit to TanGeng for fixing up this passage for me]
Q: Many people say you (Boxer) should help cultivate a 2nd or 3rd Boxer. Right now, in SC2, do you think there are any gamers that can be another Boxer?
Boxer: I haven't switched for that long, so I'm not so clear on it. If there were more positions, my pressure to switch would have been reduced. [T/N unsure]
Q: Any final remarks? [T/N FINALLY OMGFMGKJ]
Boxer: I hope there can be more global tournaments. If next time I get another opportunity to participate in Blizzcon, I hope it won't conflict with another competition. I intend to bring my full condition to the next game.
Fruitdealer: Nothing to say (-o-)
src: there will be spoilers here.if you finish reading this, I'll be very proud ~Q: Your thoughts on attending Blizzcon this year?Fruitdealer: This is my first time attending this type of event. I never thought there would be so many people, and the spectators' intensity level is high, which is helping amp me up as well.Boxer: The tickets are very expensive, but they still sold out very fast. I envy this type of gaming culture. I saw others being able to play matches outside of Korea for WCG, and now I get to play a match in a foreign country as well. Even though I lost, a lot of fans came to support me and cheer me on after the match. If I get the opportunity, I hope I can play against even more opponents.Q: Thoughts on yesterday's game?Boxer: The journey here was very long, so in order to make up for the jetlag I didn't practice. I saw Fruitdealer practicing and I realized he wasn't using his full strength. He seemingly didn't play properly in his games in order to conceal his true power. Even though I wen tall out, I still lost. But I think for me this was a good learning experience.Fruitdealer: My condition wasn't so great either yesterday. I practiced in America, but my probability of winning wasn't even 30% in my opinion. But in the game, I got very lucky, so the result was good. Also, I got to play the Boxer who I respect so much, so I had to play hard against him.Q: Yesterday, you (Fruitdealer) receivd Blizzard's gift of a fruit mascot.Fruitdealer: I have no words to describe the feeling. I've lost a lot of gifts in the past, but I will make sure to treasure this one.Q: Boxer, what's the difference between BW and SC2?Boxer: BW's most interesting feature is the control: the control group keys were simply not sufficient for huge armies. In SC2, aside from this, everything else is pretty interesting. On top of that, the intellect required is much higher.Q: When did you (Boxer) decide to switch to SC2, and when did you start practicing?Boxer: After the SPL finals ended, I started preparing to switch to SC2. I hadn't been able to play for a long time, about 1 and a half years I think. I'm really sorry to everyone for that. I saw fans change over to SC2 one by one. I entered the coaching staff, but seeing an end to my progaming career was just distressing to me, and I didn't know how to choose. But since there were so many fans waiting to see me play, and I still wanted to be a progamer, I decided to switch.Q: Since you're (Boxer) a historic icon of eSports, was the burden great?Boxer: Very great. So I could only announce my participation in GSL the day before the prelims. Delaying the announcement to the limit also delayed the chaos for a few days.Q: In SC2, you're also performing very well, what's the biggest advantage BW gamers get from transitioning to SC2?Boxer: In War3, you stop worker production, but in BW, the worker flow pretty much doesn't stop, so the advantage is great. [T/N ty Entropic]Fruitdealer: BW gamers should become accustomed to SC2 faster.Q: Because SC2 was the reason you (Boxer) continued your gaming career, if there were no SC2 would you have stayed a coach?Boxer: SC2's release did present an excellent opportunity, and it resolved my greatest issue. I feel like it's lucky. Right now, the feeling of excitement is the same as when I first started playing BW, so I'm playing towards the same level. I'm prepared to be a progamer until I'm at least 35. For the fans, I won't just play 1 or 2 years. The longer the better.Q: Your (Boxer) goal is to be a 30 year old progamer, how about a statement for the younger generation?Boxer: Age isn't a problem, the most important thing is self-management. As people get older, their dreams get bigger, and their perception of the near future becomes hazy. APM is also not a problem; it's one's own skill that counts.Q: Fruitdealer, until how old do you expect to play?Fruitdealer: As long as possible, but my military service is coming up, so I'll work hard until I get my notice of military service. Once I'm discharged, if I can still catch up to the other progamers, I'll continue playing, but otherwise I'll look for another path in life.Q: Fruitdealer, right now your SC2 popularity is much greater than in BW, how do you feel about that?Fruitdealer: Very happy. I'm ashamed to say this, but right now I'm feeling very moved. I want to take group photos or sign autographs for the fans, but I'm too shy. Also, since Blizzcon is in America, there's a language disconnect, so when the American fans talk to me I'm a little frightened. But being able to feel popularity here which I never felt back in Korea has me overjoyed.Q: Mike Morhaime even raised your (Fruitdealer) name in the opening ceremony.Fruitdealer: I didn't see the opening ceremony, so I don't know about the situation. But the fact that he's heard of me makes me quite honored.Q: Boxer, as a figure almost synonymous with BW's history, do you think SC2 will need a KeSPA-like association?Boxer: When I switched to SC2, I didn't have much of a goal, and I didn't even think that far. In the best case scenario, KeSPA and Blizzard actually come to a negotiation and KeSPA also takes care of SC2, but if that's impossible, the SC2 scene will have to build something up. But SC2 and BW are different; SC2 has the precedent and experience of BW, and its scene can avoid missteps. Also, the Blizzards of BW and SC2 are on totally different scales, and the funds are greater for SC2 tournaments. I think the SC2 the SC2 scene will become very huge.Q: Did the people around you (Boxer) say disparaging words when you switched to SC2?Boxer: They didn't say it to my face, but I feel like in their hearts they might have thought it.Q: There's been talk that you (Boxer) have joined a team, but also that you're an individual? [T/N highly unsure]Boxer: Joining a team is necessary, and I'm in the middle of considerations, but since I don't have a plan yet, there isn't much to say.Q: Fruitdealer, people have said you don't have a lot of passion and that your games are always with one method and the same opening.Fruitdealer: It's hard to have passion while playing Zerg, actually. In defending, Zergs rarely do anything unusual. I've thought about it a lot, but anything nonstandard is simply too difficult to carry out. The talk about my out-of-game passion is probably because of my personality issues. If I do any ceremonies but end up losing, I'll be really ashamed of myself. Since I know there needs to be some passion, once I improve some more I'll consider adding ceremonies. But if I turn the tables in a losing situation, I'll definitely release all my passion.Q: How about dancing with units, Fruitdealer?Fruitdealer: It's hard to use it in a game. It's possible once the game has ended, but the obs will not necessarily catch it. If I'm not careful and I slip up chatting, I'll definitely be warned (haha). It's only really possible while performing a baneling bust, but by that point the game is probably already over.Q: After you return to Korea, you'll participate in the GSL Ro32 immediately. Will the travel have an effect on your play?Fruitdealer: Right now, they're doing adjustments [T/N? |
road win against Alabama. Shore threw six strong innings, giving up five hits, no runs and striking out three.
“It’s pretty incredible what Logan [Shore] has been able to do on Friday nights in the league,” manager Kevin O’Sullivan said after the game. “He goes out and competes as a freshman against some of the best hitters in the country and continues to get outs. It’s special to watch.”
The series opener between two of the best teams in the SEC was billed as a pitching duel. For five scoreless innings it proved to be just that with Alabama starter Spencer Turnbull matching Shore pitch-for-pitch. Turnbull entered the contest with a 5-2 record and a slim 2.45 ERA.
It took Florida a while but they finally were able to wear Turnbull down in the fifth inning.
Freshmen Buddy Reed and John Sternagel kicked things off with a pair of walks to give the Gators two runners on and no outs. Casey Turgeon laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and Tide second baseman Kyle Overstreet couldn’t make the play, throwing the ball away allowing Sternagel to reach third and Reed to cross the plate to break the stalemate. Harrison Bader singled up the middle two batters later to score Sternagel and give the Gators a two-run lead.
Florida tacked on a run in the seventh and three more insurance runs in the eighth. With a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, the outcome appeared to be a formality. That’s when Alabama began to climb back into the game.
Back-to-back singles chased Justin Shafer (who replaced Shore) from the game in favor of Bobby Poyner but Poyner would give up a two-run double just three pitches into his outing. Both runs would be charged to Shafer. Poyner gave up another single to give Alabama runners on the corners and no outs before Eric Hanhold relieved him.
Hanhold would relinquish one more run, cutting Florida’s lead from 6-0 to 6-3 heading into the final frame.
Turgeon would single home Jason Lombardozzi in the ninth, extending Florida’s lead back to four in the top of the ninth and Hanhold worked a perfect half inning to earn his third save of the season.
“I was proud of the way our guys competed tonight. We didn’t play our best game but we were patient at the plate and drew some walks that led to some runs,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought Casey [Turgeon] had a really good night at the plate and set the tone for us and both [Harrison] Bader and [Taylor] Gushue did their thing by driving in a couple of runs each.”
The win, coupled with a South Carolina loss, gives the Gators a four game lead in the Sec East with just eight league games left this season. Florida and Alabama will square off again on Saturday at 3 p.m.
NotesA new ghostshark species has been identified off the coast of Southern California, and it's darker and weirder than any shark we know.
The purplish black ancient relative of the modern shark comes packed with a suite of odd features that give its taxonomical family the name chimaera, after the mythical beast made from the parts of many animals.
"It's a big weird looking freaky thing," said ichthyologist Doug Long of the California Academy of Sciences. "They have some shark characteristics and they have some that are very non-shark."
Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the newly described species, Hydrolagus melanophasma, is a presumed sexual organ that extends from its forehead called a tentaculum.
"They have this club on the top of their head with spikes. People think it's used for mating," Long said. "It's like a little mace with little spikes and hooks and it fits into their forehead. It's jointed and it comes out. We're not sure if it is used to stimulate the female or hold the female closer."
The species is yet another example of the tremendous, unknown biodiversity that still exists near heavily populated regions like the Los Angeles coastline. It was actually "discovered" long ago in the sense that museum specimens of the fish existed at Scripps Oceanographic Institute. But it wasn't until a team of researchers from the Pacific Shark Research Center and the California Academy of Sciences came together to examine the odd creatures that they realized they were looking at something new.
"There's an old expression by a well-known paleontologist that the best place to find new dinosaurs is in a museum," said Dave Ebert, a researcher at the Pacific Shark Research Center, and a co-author of the paper. "If you go to the California Academy of Sciences and go wandering through the fish collection, you'll find new species just sitting on shelves there."
In fact, he's had his students do just that in various collections. They've found 11 new species of sharks, rays and chimaeras in the last three years. The latest description, lead-authored by student Kelsey C. James, was published in the journal Zootaxa this month. They made the identification not just from the formalin-preserved specimens like the one pictured above, but also from video of the living creature from a Monterrey Bay Aquarium Research Institute ROV.
Ebert also said that figuring out what species are actually living in the oceans isn't just an academic task. It's important to understand the biodiversity that ecologists are trying to protect from being accidentally killed by fishermen, even if those creatures are not as charming as dolphins or awe-inspiring as great whites.
"Ecosystem-based management is such a buzzword right now, but then you start looking at a lot of the fishes and we don't even know what some of these are," Ebert said. "A lot of skates and rays and the chimaeras are not as charismatic as white sharks or whale sharks or a manta ray, but these things are probably taken in far greater numbers in terms of by-catch."
Until recent years, chimaeras hadn't received much study, so people treated the similar-looking creatures found in different spots across the world as the same species. It's hard to study or account for animals like the California chimaera if you don't even know what they are.
"We didn't have a name for this thing until now," Ebert said.
Its genus name, hydrolagus, means "rabbit teeth" "water rabbit" after the chimaera's crab- and clam-munching dental work. Nine specimens of the fish have been identified from the Sea of Cortez up the California coast.
See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter, Google Reader feed, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.**Dick Bennetts of West Surrey Racing is in a privileged position of having run two of the fastest Grand Prix drivers ever in Formula 3 – Mika Häkkinen and Ayrton Senna. In a recent Talk Show I asked who was faster in an F3 car.
“Oh dear, that’s a tricky one,” he replied. “On technical feedback Ayrton would win. On pure raw talent I would say Mika. He could drive a car with three wheels on it and still get it going quick. His technical feedback in his early days was not that brilliant, but once you learnt to understand what he was explaining – there was no data logging, there was just a very basic dash system – you were fine.
“Ayrton was more of a thinker, more tense than Mika as well. Both fantastic drivers, but slightly different in the way they approached it.”
In 1990 Mika Häkkinen won nine of the 17 British Formula 3 races and finished second in a further five for WSR. His closest challenger – Mika Salo – ended the season 23 points behind the future two-time world champion. However, despite Marlboro backing WSR couldn’t carry any branding in the British championship so was sent over to Europe to compete in three races and see how they compared.
Häkkinen in the British F3 Championship (without the Marlboro branding)
A round of the Italian Formula 3 Championship at Imola was first and, having changed from Avon tyres to Michelin rubber, Bennetts pondered how to best work the tyre allocation.
“We were only allowed ten tyres for the whole weekend so we used them very carefully, we worked out a strategy. We were against 42 cars, 40 of them were Dallaras, mainly with Alfa engines. We arrived with a Mugen-Honda so we were the odd ones out. Mika, myself and the other engineer drove round in our hire car, did a few laps and decided on setup.”
Häkkinen qualified on pole in the first session using only one set of tyres. “Then the Italians panicked because we were in P1. They were all running no downforce, but in qualifying you want to be quick round the corners so they saw our car and all started cranking wing on. Mika panicked a bit, I said ‘don’t worry; they’re now using their second set of tyres in second qualifying. We are going to sit here, sit tight and not use our second set, we’ll save them for Sunday’s race.’”
They went out, scrubbed them, came in and took them off, sitting in the pits with no wheels on the car. Just at the end of the second session they were bumped to second. “Sunday morning we put on our other pair of new tyres and we blitzed everyone in the warm up so they got even more panicky. They were shaking their head, ‘how can this team come to a new track with this Ralt car and a Honda engine and be this quick?’
“They then picked on us in scrutineering: your seatbelts are not legal, your fire bottle is not legal. They had our car pulled apart for three or four hours. Luckily the Italian Ralt agent was there and he came and helped us out with the translation. Eventually they conceded it was legal. We went into the race and Mika won it comfortably so a tick in the box from Phillip Morris.”
Next up was the final round of the German Formula 3 Championship at Hockenheim, which WSR had never seen before. “We got some advice from a team what gear ratios we should be using and they tucked us up big time. The gear ratios were miles out, the car was far too stiff in the chicanes and we had a misfire on the engine as well. We were panicking and on Friday night we were about 22nd out of 28 cars.
“Some German journalist came down and said ‘you British champions are supposed to be good!’ I said ‘we’re OK, we just have a few problems to sort out!’
“We had a spare car there, the Leyton House car, and we took every electrical component off it we could think of. Everything was changed; we had to fix the misfire. We changed the springs, dampers, ratios and went out on Saturday morning with old tyres. Mika came round with a thumbs up, misfire fixed. Michael Schumacher [who had dominated the season] was sitting there, arms folded, because he as on pole and second qualifying only had about 20 minutes to go.
Häkkinen after the Macau F3 race, which he retired from after a collision with Schumacher
“Mika came in and said ‘it’s much better over the chicanes, the gearing is better, give me the new tyres’. Then bang, pole position. Schumacher then went out and couldn’t get near us.
“The Marlboro man was there and he said ‘I want you to come across the start line before Schumacher comes out the stadium’. I said ‘blimey, that’s a tall order Graham but we’ll do our best’. Mika did it – we crossed the line about five seconds ahead of Schumacher.
“Magny-Cours was next but Phillip Morris said ‘you’ve proved enough’. That was a good, fun exercise.”[Updated renderings courtesy OliverMcMillan.]
After months of speculation and leaked news via building permits, OliverMcMillian confirmed today that Buckhead Atlanta will be a culinary destination and a great place to buy one fine-ass purse. The California-based builder and savior of Ben Carter's Recession-torched dreams confirmed more than 20 tenants that had been reported by Atlanta media — and they announced a few more exciting names like Jimmy Choo and a noodle restaurant called Qing Mu. "Visitors to Buckhead Atlanta will find themselves in one of the most unique and sophisticated shopping experiences in the Southeast," Morgan Dene Oliver, OliverMcMillan CEO, said in a release. "These new tenants, combined with Buckhead Atlanta's meticulously landscaped avenues and cobbled streets, will combine to make a remarkable fashion destination." The tenant list suggests a strong national and international interest in doing business in the heart of Buckhead. OliverMcMillan has been stingy with releasing information about its leasing successes and, curiously, the announcements come on the same week that news broke about initial openings being delayed.
Officials had previously hoped to open some stores and restaurants in July, but that's now slated for September. Debuts will continue through the holiday season and into early 2015, officials said.
Officials promise that many exciting new tenants are still to come. Meanwhile, they provided the following as being confirmed.
New retail announcements:
• Swiss fashion label Akris will open its fifth U.S. boutique in a 2,164 square foot space at Buckhead Avenue;
• Luxury purse consignment store Bella Bag will open its 1,178 square foot boutique at Peachtree Road;
• French footwear designer Christian Louboutin will open its first Atlanta location in a 1,787 square foot space at Bolling Way;
• diptyque, a French perfumer, will open its first Atlanta boutique in 496 square feet at Bolling Way;
• Italian fashion house Helmut Lang will open its first Atlanta location in a 2,116 square foot space on Buckhead Avenue;
• Theory, a minimalist fashion label started in New York, will open its first Atlanta location in a 2,580 square foot space at Bolling Way;
• Italian shoe and leather goods designer Tod's will open its first Atlanta location in 2,101 square feet at Buckhead Avenue;
• British high fashion house Jimmy Choo will open its footwear boutique in 2,162 square feet of space at the corner of Buckhead Avenue.
Retailers previously reported by dastardly media:
• Brunello Cucinelli*, a luxury Italian retailer known for fine cashmere fashions, will open its first Atlanta location in 2,491 square feet on Bolling Way;
• Canali*, a specialist in tailor-made suiting and men's clothing will open a 2,111 square foot space on Buckhead Avenue;
• Luxury Italian fashion label Etro* will open a 2,214 square foot store on Buckhead Avenue;
• Hermès*, a French purveyor of leather, accessories, luxury goods and ready-to-wear will open in a 4,100 square foot space on Buckhead Avenue and Bolling Way;
• L'Occitane*, producer of French beauty and skincare products will open a 2,784 square foot space on Buckhead Avenue;
• Luxury retailer Moncler* plans to open a 1,899 square foot space on Bolling Way to showcase its ski-inspired fashion;
• Scoop NYC*, retailer of luxury, designer and contemporary ready-to-wear apparel, will open a 2,461 square foot space on Buckhead Avenue;
• Shapewear innovator Spanx* will open its flagship store in 2,999 square feet on Bolling Way.
New restaurant announcement:
• Qing Mu, a noodle restaurant from the owners of Doraku Sushi, will be a brand new restaurant concept that will debut at Buckhead Atlanta in 2,725 square feet on East Paces Ferry Road.
Restaurants previously reported by dastardly media:
• American Cut*, an upscale American steakhouse, will open its first Atlanta location in a 10,000 square foot space on Peachtree Road;
• Fine-dining restaurant American F+B* will open its first Atlanta eatery in a 6,370 square foot space on Buckhead Avenue;
• Corso Coffee*, an Italian-style coffee bar featuring handcrafted beverages, great food and live music will open its Atlanta outpost in a 1,596 square foot space on Peachtree Road;
• Doraku Sushi*, a sushi and sake outpost with locations from Miami to Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam opens its first Atlanta location in 2,725 square feet on East Paces Ferry Road;
• Georgetown Cupcake*, a gourmet cupcake purveyor, will open in 2,700 square feet on East Paces Ferry Road;
• Spanish fusion restaurant Gypsy Kitchen* will open in a 3,750 square foot space on Peachtree Road;
• New York hotspot Le Bilboquet* will open in a 3,686 square foot space on Bolling Way for breakfast, lunch and dinner;
• Lugo Caffé*, an Italian concept specializing in handmade pastas will open in 6,050 square feet on Buckhead Avenue;
• An Atlanta outpost of New York-based Shake Shack*, plans to open in a 2,500 square foot space on Peachtree Road.
• The Southern Gentleman*, a gastropub featuring farm-sourced ingredients, will open in a 3,750 square foot space on Peachtree Road;
• Purveyor of artisan pizzas Thirteen Pies* will open in 4,300 square feet of space on Buckhead Avenue.
* Denotes names that previously leaked from death grip.
· Recent Buckhead Atlanta coverage, discussion [Curbed]
· Top 10 ATL Projects Finishing/Starting/Progressing In 2014 [Curbed]The former head of the Federal Reserve said fiscal stimulus efforts have fallen far short of expectations, and the government now needs to get out of the way and allow businesses and markets to power the recovery.
“We have to find a way to simmer down the extent of activism that is going on” with government stimulus spending “and allow the economy to heal” itself, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told a gathering held at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday.
At this point, “we’d probably be better off doing less than more” because “you’d be far better off to allow the normal market forces to operate here,” Greenspan said. That’s largely because stimulus spending is not proving as effective as many had hoped. “To the extent the evidence suggests very large deficits concurrently crowd out capital investment, there is a debit to the stimulus program that is somewhere between a third and a half of what the gross stimulus is,” he said.
Greenspan was Fed chairman from 1987 to 2006, and was succeeded by current central bank chief Ben Bernanke. Greenspan’s tenure at the Fed was defined by his opposition to government regulation and his confidence that markets would discipline themselves.
To many, the financial crisis was largely born of that ideology, and to some degree, Greenspan has himself said he overestimated the market’s willingness to understand and price for risk. Greenspan has also been widely accused of running an overly easy monetary policy during the early years of the last decade, in turn providing the fuel that powered the housing bubble, the rupturing of which drove the worst recession in generations.
Greenspan’s comments came in response to moderator and audience questions, and were accordingly wide-ranging. The former central banker noted that gold, the price of which has been surging, still represents the “ultimate means of payment.” What is happening in that market “is a signal there is a problem with respect to currency markets.” He reckons the problem is not a large one, but the jump in gold prices could be “the canary in the coal mine to keep an eye on.”
Greenspan, while worried about the outlook and what is happening with the housing market, said when it comes to a double-dip recession, “the probability of that is going down.” Given all the ground the economy has lost, “the tinder for a double-dip is not readily available,” although he added if housing goes down “all bets are off.”
Greenspan said that the U.S. needs to do something now to deal with budget deficits and it must do something very soon. He explained his anxiety is so high that “I’m coming out in the first time in my memory” in support of higher taxes in addition to reduced spending, including allowing the so-called Bush tax cuts to expire.
“Our choice is not between good and bad; it’s between terrible and worse,” Greenspan said. The nation has “a level of commitment … which I don’t think we can psychically meet,” absent huge changes in how the government finances itself.Americans had every reason, when news broke that 10 US sailors had been "detained" by Iran, to worry. This is a country that is a state sponsor of terror, that actively abetted the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq, and that, in 2007, held a group of British sailors for 13 days.
So I am sympathetic to those who met this news with outrage or panic, particularly common among those who fear that Iran's ever-so-tiny steps toward reconciliation with the West are a ruse that in fact heightens their threat. Nor am I going to pretend to be shocked that Republican presidential candidates leaped, before the facts were all in, to portray this as a humiliation and proof of President Obama's folly.
But the facts did come in, and the situation turned out not to be the crisis it had first seemed: Two small US ships had drifted into Iranian waters near a major Iranian naval base. Iran, as seemingly any country would, detained the sailors, and a few hours later released them.
An anonymous Pentagon official told the Times, "The Iran story is frankly embarrassing. We still do not know all of the facts, but these guys and gal apparently were just poor mariners." If anything, it looked like the US and Iran had succeeded in defusing the situation and negotiating a quick end. The Times's story ran under the headline, "Iran’s Swift Release of U.S. Sailors Hailed as a Sign of Warmer Relations."
So you might think, at this point, people would calm down. But that is not what happened. The generalized freakout, which oddly only grew, is best captured by this series of tweets from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough:
It's hard to overstate how foolish Iran keeps making our president look. https://t.co/4uHX37L1CT — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 12, 2016
Hey Iran, you have exactly 300 days left to push a US president around. Enjoy it while you can. After that, there will be hell to pay. — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 12, 2016
When Scarborough drew criticism for what Washington Post writer and Tufts University political scientists Dan Drezner called "macho foreign policy posturing," he responded by, as Scarborough might put it, doubling down and claiming to speak on behalf of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, illegally imprisoned for now more than a year in Iran:
Hey Danny, ask your fellow WAPO reporter Jason Rezaian if I was too harsh on Iran's thugs. Oh wait, you can't. https://t.co/jzd7EyzbI0 — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 13, 2016
You can't ask #JasonRezaian bc Obama did a deal with Iran thugs who have held Jason hostage for almost 600 days. https://t.co/jzd7EyzbI0 — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 13, 2016
Your posturing as an urbane, rational thinker actually makes you look like a fool to hostages like #JasonRezaian https://t.co/jzd7EyzbI0 — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 13, 2016
Scarborough's position here is pretty clear: High-stakes geopolitical events do not matter for the actual content of those events or for their concrete consequences, but rather primarily for their quality as theater. Foreign policy is not the conduct of relations between states but rather a locker room competition of displays of toughness. The only appropriate posture is thus one of constant and maximal belligerence.
All the stuff about lives at stake, risks of war, and complex diplomatic issues are just window dressing for what really matters: the zero-sum competition for maintaining national pride or imposing national humiliation.
Scarborough's tweets are ridiculous and thus easy to mock, but he has only just stated unusually clumsily what is in fact the norm in how US-Iran relations are often discussed, particularly on TV: as something of a game. And it's a game whose primary, if not sole, implication is how it will play in Beltway politics and which American politician will come out looking good or bad.
It's not a coincidence that Chris Christie used a playground metaphor, saying that unless we punished Iran, the US will "get its lunch money taken every time."
This sort of thinking — in which foreign policy is just a game and America's primary responsibility on the world stage is to be belligerent and to make the American president look personally tough — should look familiar. This same application of racehorse, who's-up-and-who's-down political punditry to US foreign policy helped lead us into the Iraq War, which many in the media portrayed as important for demonstrating George W. Bush's personal toughness and imposing humiliation on Saddam Hussein, who had to be punished for thumbing his nose at America and thus wounding our pride.
Foreign policy is just a game, and primarily matters for the degree to which it makes the American president look personally tough
A decade and a few thousand American lives later, this thinking was deployed again, this time toward Russia. That scoundrel Vladimir Putin had intervened in Syria, and American TV went nuts. Putin was said to be humiliating Obama and showing off his comparable strength and assertiveness. Never mind that serious foreign policy observers considered Putin's intervention to be poorly planned and self-defeating, a sign of his weakness and insecurity.
The actual consequences of Putin's actions were irrelevant. All that mattered was what it could be perceived as meaning for American pride and for Obama's personality traits.
This is all why, when it became clear that the Iran incident had been defused quickly and diplomatically, American TV focused rather on two entirely new scandals: that Iranian state media had photographed the US sailors kneeling while they were being detained, and that one of the sailors later called entering Iranian waters "a mistake" for which "we apologize."
This was treated as an unacceptable outrage not because it caused any actual harm to either the American sailors or to US interests — it did neither — but because it could potentially be perceived as a moment of awkward embarrassment for a few US sailors who had made a mistake. Or, worse, a show of minute deference toward the Iranians. Because the only appropriate posture toward Iran is one of constant belligerence, and because all US foreign policy is really just a means for demonstrating the president's personal toughness or lack thereof — remember that the world is just a schoolyard — this was thus a major and unforgivable violation.
You can see this playing out, for example, in this CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria on the Iran incident:
lol, CNN interviewer is visibly disappointed with Fareed Zakaria’s grownup refusal to panic over the Iran incident https://t.co/XhRoKsIyLT — Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) January 13, 2016
Zakaria strains to show sensitivity to American outrage over the incident while also walking through why, in grown-up terms, this all worked out basically fine. But the CNN host is not really having it. She repeatedly tries to push Zakaria to concede that, sure, both the US and Iran may have handled this generally responsibly and averted a potential crisis that could have endangered both the sailors and the fragile Persian Gulf peace, but isn't it possible that it could be perceived as personally embarrassing for Barack Obama?
The push and pull in this CNN clip seems, to me, to encapsulate the past 10 years of how we in the United States view and talk about our relationship toward Iran. Is it a story of two states, adversarial and often hostile but at least theoretically capable of navigating disagreements in ways that minimize costs while also seeing opportunities for progress? Or is it two kids on a playground posturing over who can appear toughest?
My inclination is to see the former as more productive for ensuring US interests in the world, not to mention healthier for Americans who are earnestly concerned about what they see as a hostile and frightening world. But it's been, and will likely long remain, an uphill battle to get that perspective across.You can access contacts on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 either through the phone or the contacts section - both of which have shortcuts at the foot of the screen.
Considering they both ultimately lead to the same app, you may as well delete one of these shortcuts and give yourself some more space for another app.
And once you're in there, you're treated to the standard Samsung-Android contacts display with tabs for favourites, groups and so forth.
It's really no different to what we've seen before, and does the management bit very well indeed.
Samsung throws in a few nuggets too - such as swiping left on a contact to message them and right to call them or just having you lift the phone to your ear when in a contact to call them automatically.
Though, in practice, we'd be interested to see how many people remember that feature is there and actively use it.
Contacts are brought across with pictures and then you get a huge thumbnail when you call them or they call you.
Yes, we know that's a small thing and it's something that's been around for years, but there's just something nice about seeing a nice big shot of Mum when she calls.
It's amazing how many OEMs tinker with this most basic of functions, unfortunately.
And we hanker still for some kind of HTC emulation so that contacts are linked automatically.
We have some people with six or seven entries in our phonebook and frankly, Samsung, life is far too short to have to do this manually for 2,000+ people.
There are also loads of things you can play about with in the menu - such as a block list for callers you don't like (those who clearly aren't clever enough to use 141 before they dial you) and the ability to add shortcuts to individuals to your home screen.
It all makes for a nice, easy, fluid experience.
Social networking fiends won't feel much love on unboxing the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, because there isn't really any kind of functionality built in there apart from Samsung's own ChatON app, which is a bit of a poor man's WhatsApp in terms of how many people are aware of its existence.
This is both a plus and a minus - a plus because you can always go hunting around and install relevant apps yourself without being forced to sign into endless screens automatically.
But also a minus, because most users will, by default, install the standard Facebook and Twitter apps, unaware that there are some far superior third-party solutions.
For example the amazing Twicca frankly wipes the floor with the abomination that is the official Twitter app.
Calling
Samsung very helpfully provides you with the facility to scale down items such as the phone keypad (and other bits of the UI) to lean towards your right or left hand so that you can use the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with one paw.
This is a great idea if you're a bit of a Hagrid, though we admit, although possible, we clutched the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 firmly with both hands because we were terrified we'd drop it if we showed off too much.
And that leads us nicely to the big elephant in the room. The size of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
Yes, this is a phone (Samsung has itself admitted the Samsung Galaxy Note is a smartphone, rather than a tablet) and yes, you can make calls on it.
But seriously, would you want to hold this up to your head? We did - and got laughed out of the room.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has some fantastic abilities, but to hold something the size of a breeze block up to your ear in public all feels a bit 80s.
That said, it's obvious when you buy this that it is a big handset, and we are sure that the target market will not be averse to using a Bluetooth device or car kit the majority of the time.
And anyway, how much time do we spend actually making calls these days? That's soooooo 2003.
If you do feel that crazy urge to call someone, we'll say this: you'll enjoy it.
It is a very pleasant experience to make calls on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as, indeed, it is with the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Calls connected easily and signal appeared to be well represented.
Calls were very clear at our end and the recipients said it sounded great to them - although the conversation could have been more titillating, which we can't blame on Samsung.
And once in a call, you can even take a note. It's a really simple idea that helps enormously in those moments when you need a pen. Because don't forget - you also have a pen of the 'S' variety included in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.NEW DELHI: As the country sets on the task of drafting the data protection legislation, it has sought the help of a legal think tank which was instrumental in drafting of the Aadhaar Act as well as the Bankruptcy Code apart from other recent policy initiatives.According to a top government official, the ministry of electronics and IT (MEITY), which is heading the committee that is responsible for drafting the law has sought help from the Vidhi Centre For Legal Policy. "They will help with inputs on the legal aspects as well as in drafting the legislation," said the official. MEITY will also seek the help of eminent jurists and lawyers of the country on the legislation but that will be part of the larger stakeholder discussion exercise after the first draft has created, added the official.Though the government has not put a time frame to it, it wants to come up with the law as soon as possible and the first draft will be certainly released before the end of this year, said the official.This is the first time that India has started work on a specific data protection law, which is expected to look at aspects such as data sovereignty, data retention and responsibilities of government, companies as well as individuals while handling third party data.A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will sit on July 18 and 19 to hear matters relating to Aadhaar, including the aspect of right to privacy.Arghya Sengupta, Founder and Research Director at Vidhi told ET that a lot of recent criticism against Aadhaar is instead criticism about the fact that India doesn't have a data protection law. "Aadhaar is only one part of this ecosystem which is admittedly becoming larger," said Sengupta.There is an issue with regard to what the private operators are doing with the citizen's data, every time people sign on to an app and it asks for multiple permissions to access photos etc, he added. "I have little hesitation in admitting that successive generations will possibly think that we were fools that every time we downloaded an application, we signed away our rights. So there is a larger question which is not just an Aadhaar related question but in terms of who owns our data and what happens with personal data that is shared. That is the framework that we need and that’s essentially the need of the hour," Sengupta said.Even though the Information Technology Act contains certain provisions about data protection and handling, experts are of the opinion that it may be inadequate to deal with the current requirements since it was drafted almost 17 years ago in 2000 and was amended last in 2008."In the last 5-6 years there has been a quantum leap in the world of technology which has been driven by trends such as proliferation of social media, growth of ecommerce leading to boom in transactions over the Internet and demonetisation, which has pushed more people into the digital economy, so the IT act may have to be obviously reconsidered in the light of these developments," said Sengupta of Vidhi which was set up in 2013 as a legal policy think tank.Adding that some legislative gap exists, Sengupta said that be it governments, individuals or any private entity – any entity that processes large data should have some obligation with respect to data handling. "The legislation should have rules pertaining to obligation of data handlers, ways of collection of data, its use, and do's and don'ts for any kind of onward sharing," said Sengupta.In the last couple of months, there has been a lot of debate about the handling of citizen data especially which has been linked to sensitive information such as Aadhaar or people's bank accounts.Another government official who is involved in the process said that a data protection framework is imp both for digital payments and from the point of view of the larger internet economy.It is also important since India is one of the leading users of data from outside and European Union has also been asking India to have a data protection law."The IT Act has the umbrella provisions but we don't have a dedicated or comprehensive law, incidentally in many parts of world there is no single law and there are state laws, federal laws, sector specific laws for areas such as health etc," said the official adding that the government is looking at international best practices before drafting its own legislation.The government has created a drafting committee which has had a couple of meetings so far.Climate Scientist Pens Open Letter To President-Elect Trump
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
2016 was the hottest year on record. That's according to an analysis out today by European climate scientists. Donald Trump has expressed skepticism that climate change is caused by human activity. Many climate scientists are urging him to reconsider that skepticism. One of them is Ben Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California. He wrote an open letter to Trump and joins us now. Welcome to the program.
BEN SANTER: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Before you wrote this letter, Donald Trump had already nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency and former Texas Governor Rick Perry to run the Energy Department. Both of those men have questioned the science behind climate change. Pruitt has even sued the EPA on many occasions. So do you really think the Trump administration is open to persuasion at this point?
SANTER: Well, we've got to try. As a climate scientist, if you spend your entire career trying to advance understanding, you can't just sit by idly and say nothing when that understanding is incorrectly dismissed as a hoax, a conspiracy, bunk, a contrived, phony mess. You have some societal responsibility to set the record straight. And that was what my open letter attempted to do - to state in plain English - not in jargon - this is a real problem. And if we as a country back out of the Paris climate agreement, that would be a |
latest estimates, Comelec puts that to about 39 million potential voters.
For the Philippines' 100 million people with a median age of 22 years old, 2016 may herald the first social media elections. Up to 46 million Filipinos are on Facebook alone. With such a crowded field of presidential candidates, it's expected to take less than 20 million votes to win.
For Filipinos looking for an alternative to the status quo, someone with a track record of governance, someone who has courage and vision, Duterte seems to offer a possibility of real change.
Two questions remain: will he risk it and run? And will Comelec allow him to?
He says December 10 is his new deadline.
“If I’m there, wala ng indecisive, indecisive,” he said. “Putang ina, sumunod kayong lahat. When I say that you have to stop fucking the people’s money, stop it!” – Rappler.com
Part 2: Duterte's end game for leadership
Part 3: #TheLeaderIWant: Leadership, Duterte-style (full interview)
TUESDAY'S DUTERTE EXCERPTS
Duterte on human rights: I'm saving lives
Duterte: I must admit I have killed
Question to Duterte: Can you translate local to national?BEIJING (Caixin Online)—Apple Inc. is shifting gears and promoting new apps and services to rev up growth in China amid a slump in sales for its expensive devices as local brands nibble at its market share.
For many Chinese consumers, owning an Apple AAPL, +0.06% device was synonymous with being wealthy and fashionable, and in recent years many lined up overnight to grab new models as soon as they were released. This voracious appetite for Apple products made the Greater China region, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, the second largest market for the tech company, after North America. Over 27% of its revenue in the last quarter of 2015 came from China, company data showed.
But this dizzying growth ride has hit a bump on the road as local companies catch up. Domestic competitors, with lower-priced models offering comparable features, are eating into Apple’s market share. The share of iPhone’s in the country’s mobile handset market declined to less than 13 % in the first quarter of 2016 from 16 % in the same period in 2015, Data from U.S.-based market analysis institute International Data Corporation showed. Meanwhile, local brands like Huawei 002502, -0.71% Oppo and Vivo made steady gains. Huawei’s share went up from 11 % to16 % in the first quarter of 2016, while the figures for Oppo and Vivo, two low-end smartphones, more than doubled.
Apple’s revenue in the country has also slumped. Earnings from the Chinese market tumbled 26 % to $12.49 billion in the second quarter, compared with 71% growth in the same period in 2015, the company’s latest financial report showed. Falling sales in China was blamed for more than half the decline in Apple’s global revenue in March, when the tech giant experienced its first quarterly drop in 13 years.
The company is shifting its focus to tap into new areas of growth like online payment, apps and services, said Apple’s CEO Tim Cook during his visit to Beijing on March 16. Cook also announced plans to invest $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, as part of this plan to steer away from relying on device sales for growth.
“China’s smartphone penetration rate has exceeded 90%,” said Liu Ruofei, an analyst at Beijing-based CCID Consulting Co. Ltd. “As product quality improves, devices are more durable and therefore users are slow to upgrade to a new model, resulting in weaker demand.”
Losing ground
Sales of its flagship product, the iPhone, declined 18% year-over-year for the first time worldwide, Apple said in March. This was partly fueled by the slump in China.
“Apple’s hold of the Chinese market is shrinking, in term of the number of units delivered to retailers, or shipments, and market share,” said Liu.
Between January and March, iPhone sales in China totaled 11.5 million units, 2 million less than the first quarter of 2015, data from CCID showed.
Apple’s investors have noticed its slipping sales. Over the past year, the company’s share price dropped by almost a third, evaporating $200 billion in market value. On May 16, U.S. hedge fund Tiger Global Management, a major investor in technology stocks, said it has cut its stake in Apple by 46.6%.
Local telecom operators have lost their love for the iPhone and this has accelerated the slump in sales for Apple’s expensive devices. Network operators relied on the premium smartphone to attract users in big cities to sign up for third-generation wireless services. But operators now prefer cheaper devices as they move to smaller cities and rural areas, where expensive gadgets are beyond the reach of many, said an employee in the marketing team at a telecom company.
Domestic brands like Huawei are now at an advantage because they offer features comparable to that of the iPhone at a lower price. In recent years, “the iPhone was irreplaceable in the high-end market. Users would turn to other operators if we didn’t have one on offer” said an employee of China Mobile, the country’s largest wireless operator. “But now, the Apple device is no longer the exclusive choice,” said the source, adding users were more willing to try other brands.
The latest iPhone 5 and 6 models have failed to turn the tide of users opting for cheaper handsets, experts said. One source at a telecom company’s provincial branch said iPhone sales at his branch in 2015 fell by more than one-fifth, as local rivals take a bite off Apple’s share.
Apple is rolling out new stores and aggressively expanding its sales network to push its products directly to customers. Cook said the number of Apple stores in the country will increase to 40 by the end of 2016 from about 24 in late 2015. The company opened five new outlets in cities including Guangzhou, Xiamen and Qingdao in January.
Apple has also signed partnerships with mobile phone dealers such as Shenzhen Aishidi with a strong presence in smaller cities, a source close to Aishidi said.
One phone dealer said Apple still has great potential in second- and third-tier cities if it rolls out cheaper versions of its products. But Liu said the company has so far made no attempts to tap into the lower end of the smartphone market, afraid that it may dilute its brand image.
Changing Focus
Instead, Apple is turning to apps and services to shore up its bottom line. In the two weeks that ended January 3, users worldwide spent $1.1 billion on software and services, with single-day sales hitting $144 million on January 1.
The China market ranks third in terms of app sales, company Vice President Phil Schiller told Caixin during his January visit to Beijing. About 270,000 apps on different App Stores are developed in China, and generated more than $2.5 billion in revenue in 2015.
In addition to app sales, Apple also profited from music and video downloads on iTunes, its iCloud storage service and mobile payments made using Apple Pay. In the second quarter of 2016, revenue from app sales and services almost doubled to $6 billion, from $3.17 billion in the same period in 2012.
The company’s recent investment in Didi signals an attempt to become more involved in China’s booming mobile internet services sector, analysts said.
“Emerging markets are not only growing but have also created different business models, such as the online-to-offline service business in China,” said Bryan Ma, vice president of IDC’s Asia-Pacific division. “I think one reason that Apple invested in Didi is to gain some firsthand insights on how the country’s large e-commerce sector worked.”
In December, Apple signed an agreement with China UnionPay, the country’s bank card operator, to let iPhone users make mobile payments using their UnionPay cards. This helped the company to make inroads into an arena dominated by local players like Alibaba Group’s BABA, +0.16% Alipay service and Tencent’s 0700, -0.82% WeChat Wallet. It has attracted major online-to-offline service providers, such as group-buying app Meituan, but still faces stiff competition from local rivals.
Apple is navigating its way in a country riddled with policy minefields to promote its services. From April, Chinese users have been unable to access Apple’s digital book repository, iBooks Store, and iTunes Movies launched in September. the New York Times cited unidentified sources who said the country’s media watchdog, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, had told Apple to shut down these services. The company has not issued a statement clarifying the reason for shutting these services down in China.
Apple is also trying to rope in more corporate clients. Earlier this year, furniture and home decoration brand Markor Furnishing became the first local client of Mobile First, a partnership between IBM IBM, +0.19% and Apple to develop industry-specific business apps running on Apple’s iOS operating system.
According to Mou Li, general manager of Markor Furnishing’s retail department, the new app allows client’s to design their own furniture and place orders via iPhones or iPads.
By the end of 2015, Mobile First has developed more than 100 apps for global clients in retail, insurance, finance, telecom and aviation.
“As competitors are catching up, Apple needs to change its strategies to attract users and find new revenue sources by improving its iOS platform and services,” said Lu Junkuan, chief telecom industry analyst at U.S.-based research firm Gartner. “But in the long run, the company must seek new markets and customers. Expanding into smaller cities and trying to entice corporate clients in China are steps in the right direction.”
See this report at Caixin Online. Follow Caixin on Twitter at @caixin.
Get the top tech stories of the day delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Tech Daily newsletter. Sign up here.A turkey hunter seen throwing his gun away while he was under a weapons ban was fined $1,300 in Sarnia court on Monday.
Robert Shawn Domotor, 36, pleaded guilty to the April 25 charge of possessing a gun and storing another gun without a locking device.
Court was told that Ontario Ministry of Natures Resources officers were patrolling St. Clair Township during the opening day of turkey hunting.
Domotor, who had been walking on the road, was seen throwing something as the officers approached. A loaded shotgun was found in the ditch with mud in the barrel.
A check of a database showed that Domotor was under a weapons ban due to a 2006 drug conviction. The conviction resulted from Domotor taking over a marijuana grow operation he had encountered while hunting, the court was told.
Hunting is a passion for Domotor who has a reputation as a good and responsible hunter, said defence lawyer James Guggisberg.
Domotor also had a.22-calibre rifle without a locking device under a seat in a nearby vehicle.
There was a joint submission by Crown and defence lawyers for the $1,300 fine.
A further 10-year weapons ban was imposed.
Domotor has 90 days to find an appropriate person to assume possession of the two guns seized April 25. If no person is found, the guns will be forfeited to the government.
[email protected]Two men were arrested after swinging on poles inside of an L train near Union Square, police said. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Heather Holland
UNION SQUARE — Two men were arrested for break dancing in an L train near Union Square, the NYPD said.
Police spotted the pair blasting music and swinging their arms and feet near passengers' heads at about 6 p.m. March 19, the NYPD said.
Police arrested Xavier Fowler, 20, and a 17-year-old and charged them with reckless endangerment.
During Fowler’s arraignment, the charge was reduced to disorderly conduct, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Fowler is due back in court on Sept. 19. His attorney did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The teen's name is being withheld due to his age. Information about his attorney was not immediately available.
Other notable crimes that occurred recently in the 13th Precinct include:
► A man used a billy club to attack a car while the driver was inside, police said.
Jeffrey Davis, 59, pulled up beside a man’s car at 147 W. 25th St. near Seventh Avenue, rolled down his window and without getting out began striking the passenger side of the victim’s car with the club at about 1 p.m. on March 20, police said.
During the attack, Davis told the victim, “I’m going to f---ing kill you,” police said.
The victim’s car was left with several scratches on the passenger side.
The reason for the attack was not immediately clear.
Davis was charged with menacing, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
He is due back in court on May 1. Information regarding his attorney was not immediately available.
► An employee of Caffe Bene was arrested after he was caught taking $300 out of a cash register and putting it in his pocket, police said.
A surveillance camera showed 20-year-old Kelly Latimore swiping cash from the register at 12:31 p.m on March 5, police said.
Latimore was charged with petit larceny. Information regarding her lawyer was not immediately available.
Caffe Bene did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
► A black and gold guitar pedal was stolen out of Guitar Center at 25 W. 14th St., police said.
A Guitar Center employee told police the Empress guitar pedal, worth $449, was on display when it went missing at about 4 p.m. on March 21.
Guitar Center did not immediately respond to request for comment.
► A man slapped a taxi driver in the face while riding in the cab near West 15th Street and Fifth Avenue at 3:21 p.m. on March 21, police said.
The cabbie picked up two men nearby at West 16th Street and Seventh Avenue, and they asked to be dropped off in Sheepshead Bay, police said.
But shortly afterward, one of the men, who appeared to be drunk, attacked the cabbie and then took off in another cab, police said.
No one had been arrested as of Tuesday.
► A man was arrested after he was caught sleeping in the hallway of the W New York Hotel at 201 Park Ave. at about 3:15 a.m. on March 22, police said.
Police said Bradley Zara, 21, was not a paying guest of the hotel, where rooms start at $350 per night and can cost up to $1,855.
Zara was escorted to the door and asked not to return, but he came back a few minutes later and tried taking the elevator to the upper floors, police said. Hotel security found him again and called in the NYPD.
Zara was charged with criminal trespassing. Information regarding his attorney was not immediately available.A familiar sight outside the Franklin Institute will be missing for a significant period of time, museum officials announced.
The Budd BB1 Pioneer Aircraft was removed on Wednesday from its moorings along 20th Street for a full restoration.
The 1,750-pound plane has been displayed along the building's facade since 1935, making it the second longest-running exhibit at the museum. Only the Baldwin 60,000 locomotive has been at the Franklin Institute longer.
It's also the second museum attraction to be upgraded along the street. A short walk away, museum officials converted an existing sign to digital in August after a lengthy dispute with the city of Philadelphia.
Scheduled maintenance on the plane includes a polish to its original surface, repairs of cracks to the plane's structure and installation of mesh netting to prevent future damage.
Once completed, the plane will return to its position next to the museum's entrance, Franklin Institute President and CEO Larry Dubinski said.
The aircraft holds historical and local significance.
According to the museum, The Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company decided to build the world's first stainless steel airplane. Entirely built in Philly, the Budd BB1 Pioneer's maiden flight occurred in the summer of 1932.
The company donated the plane in 1935 to the museum where it has been displayed ever since, except for a previous renovation in 1969.
The plane will not be leaving city limits, however, as it will be moved to a facility in Northeast Philly for restoration.
Museum officials said the conservation process will last at least a year.Tanglewood is a brand new and original game for the SEGA Genesis and Mega Drive, to be released on physical cartridge in winter 2017.
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Set in the realm of Tanglewood, the game follows a young creature, Nymn, separated from the pack after the sun sets. Unable to get back to the safety of the family's underground home, Nymn must find a way to survive the night terrors and get to morning. Tanglewood’s world is a dangerous one after dark; guiding Nymn you must use your skills of evasion, traps and trickery to defeat predators.
Tanglewood is a platforming game with puzzle elements, and can be described as a mix of the Mega Drive titles Another World and The Lion King.
We've already been featured on some top sites like Kotaku UK, Nintendo Life, Destructoid, Motherboard, Xataka, TecToy and more, and we're continuing to spread the word worldwide!
SEGA Mega Drive and compatible clones (PAL, NTSC-J)
SEGA Genesis and compatible clones (NTSC-US)
Windows
Mac
Linux
The Windows/Mac/Linux versions are delivered in the form of a downloadable app, providing a close-to-authentic Mega Drive experience on your desktop without the hassle of setting up an emulator!
All reward tiers include a copy of the Windows/Mac/Linux version.
Yes! This is the real 16-bit deal, a physical cartridge that plays on your very own SEGA console.
Multi-region cartridge for PAL, NTSC, and NTSC-J consoles
It is compatible with SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis (PAL, NTSC and NTSC-J) console versions I, II, and III, and all compatible clones.
Yes!
Download the prototype ROM here
The ROM is compatible with most major emulators, but we recommend playing on a real console using a flash cart like Everdrive.
The prototype contains three acts from the first level.
Tanglewood is a loveletter to a wide variety of 2D platforming and adventure games of the '90s, mixing fast-paced action with puzzles, tricks and traps inspired by titles like The Lion King, Another World, Flashback and Sonic the Hedgehog, mixed with more modern gameplay elements from newer titles such as LIMBO and Ori and the Blind Forest. It also takes inspiration from PlayStation platforming classics like Abe's Oddysee and Heart of Darkness.
The gameplay experience will vary from level to level; a toolkit of mechanics keeps the game interesting from beginning to end. Levels incorporate exploration, thought provoking puzzles, monster encounters, chase scenes, battles of the elements, as well as secret areas.
For collector enthusiasts and hardcore completionists, the game features a range of collectible items, with rewards (and bragging rights!) for finding them all.
Nymn
Nymn is Tanglewood’s protagonist, a shy creature from a family-oriented species called the Djunn race, who survive in packs, live underground, and only emerge during daylight.
Night time is dangerous for Nymn and the rest of the day-dwellers, since many of Tanglewood’s less desirable characters emerge after dark to chase, intimidate, hunt and eat any strays who should have retreated underground.
Nymn, Tanglewood's protagonist
Unfortunately, this is exactly the situation Nymn is found in. Lost, alone and far from the safety of the family, Nymn is desperate to find a way to get back to the underground pack before nightfall sets in, and becomes the victim of a hunt.
It's safe in the daytime, Nymn can snooze in the trees
An early concept of Nymn
Evolution of Nymn's design
Early face concepts and expression tests
Enemies
There’s a reason our friend Nymn is so keen to get back home before dark. That reason is huge, snarling, fearsome beasts, birds and spirits that emerge from the darkness, with the blood of the last victims still dripping from their teeth, and an insatiable appetite for Nymn’s face.
Introducing the Djakk monster: just one of many enemies the player will encounter at night.
Djakks and Djunn don't get along
Djakks have been a threat to Tanglewood for as long as its inhabitants can remember. The lore speaks of an ancient tribe of hunters who saddled them up and rode them right to the edge of the forest, hunting Nymn's kind for as far as they could smell. Long gone are the bad rulers of the lands, but their big ugly pets remained.
Djakks can outrun Nymn, so you'll need to be crafty in your escape
A Djakk fight is a long and drawn out challenge, they are expert trackers and will chase Nymn to the ends of the forest for a taste of his innards. Sometimes the only place Nymn can find safety is in the boughs of the trees where every jump counts. Flues, Fuzzls, and all other tricks and traps inhabiting the forest floor are rendered unusable with a live Djakk patrolling, making whole sections of the game, pickups and secrets inaccessible unless Nymn figures out a way to dispose of his unwelcome companion.
More importantly, Nymn is looking for somewhere to sleep to wait out the rest of the night terrors, and with this thing around it’s unlikely there will be anywhere safe to rest.
Early Nymn/Djakk palette tests
Fuzzls
Tanglewood’s world is alive with the strangest of creatures, from little to large, good to evil. The Fuzzl is a neutral, furry, confused, and easily startled member of the club.
Nymn can roll these little ones (if they’re awake…) back to their nests. The Fuzzls dish out handsome rewards for your efforts; you get to copy their colour, and use the ability that comes with it.
No, we're not sure how it got itself up there, either
Fuzzls aren’t the smartest of creatures, but they play a major role in Tanglewood, and are woven deep into its history. They were once domestic pets of various races, including Nymn's ancestors. Some of the more advanced – but now extinct – species used Fuzzls to power contraptions, as counterweights for lifts and hoists, and even to hug for stress relief, but now the Fuzzls are left alone to live out their lives sleeping, or getting startled by their own shadows.
They dream of world domination
Nobody knows what they do, what they eat, how they mate, what goes on in their little minds, if they can communicate, or how they still exist as a species without being able to perform basic functions of their own. They just… are.
Flower lamps keep sleeping Fuzzls nice and warm
Early concept of Nymn rolling a Fuzzl to its nest
Colour is everything in Tanglewood. It is a life force that can be given, shared, stolen, or used as currency.
Every animal and plant in Tanglewood has a distinct colour, which may play as an advantage or disadvantage to the player. The organic world may respond in a positive manner if Nymn is of a matching hue. For example, a length of twisted vines blocking your way may open up if you find a way to switch to the same colour, or you could even move or entice a matching creature to sit next to it.
Fuzzls give you temporary powers if you help them get back to their nests
Monsters may behave differently depending if you are a matching or opposing colour, and will either give chase or ignore you on the assumption that you are a member of their pack. Be wary, though, because your newly acquired power won't last forever, and could leave you stranded at the worst possible moment.
Glide - an ability gained from a yellow Fuzzl
In Nymn’s case, colour is power. When transformed into a blue, green or yellow creature, Nymn takes on special abilities to help navigate the terrain, or provide an advantage against enemies.
Cloak/time stop - an ability gained from a green Fuzzl
Tanglewood is set on a far away planet with twin suns and many moons. The land itself is coloured with deep forests and spotted lakes, however life is not so peaceful there once those suns have set. The day-dwelling race of creatures must find shelter amongst a world fraught with danger as packs of predatory beasts and vicious birds roam at night.
Early branch detail tile tests
Tanglewood features a dawn/day/dusk/night time cycle, with the current time of day influencing the type of enemies the player will encounter, some of the actions that can be performed, and the behaviour of creatures and organic life.
Early night environment tile count test
Floating leaf sprite animation test sheet
The game is being created using original SEGA development tools, software and processes, and programmed in raw 68000 assembly language, just like your favourite titles of the '90s.
One of the Cross Products SNASM2 MegaCD Development Kits used to create Tanglewood
It's important to us that Tanglewood is as authentic a Mega Drive game as possible. We're aiming to ensure that its journey closely matches that of original SEGA games, from the design methods, to the development hardware, all the way through to the materials and processes used to manufacture the cartridge, box and manual.
You can learn more about the development hardware and processes, and see the kit in action over at Computerphile:
An approach to tree branch tile count optimisation - video memory is a limited and precious resource!
Matt Phillips - Designer and Programmer
My name is Matt Phillips, I'm a videogames programmer from Manchester UK, with over 10 years industry experience.
I've worked on 14 released AAA titles at studios such as Traveller's Tales, Crytek UK and Deep Silver Dambusters, under roles from engine programming to audio to gameplay to special effects. I have experience programming for Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo DS and 3DS, SEGA Mega Drive, SEGA MegaCD, SEGA Saturn, SEGA Dreamcast, Windows, Mac and Linux.
Actual size
I've worked on 2D and 3D platforming games, serious first-person shooters, not-so-serious first-person shooters, action adventure games, vehicular combat games, physics puzzle games, vertical scrolling shooters, ports of old games to new platforms, franchise reboots, and more licensed IP's than I can count.
The most prominent titles in my catalogue are from the LEGO franchise; from LEGO Indiana Jones to LEGO Marvel Superheroes, and everything in between. Oh, and I brought that TimeSplitters 2 arcade machine to Homefront: The Revolution!
I also run a blog on Mega Drive programming. I've been a very active member of the SEGA homebrew community for around 5 years, helping out other members, honing my 68000 assembly programming skills, writing tools and utilities, and studying other Mega Drive games to see what makes them tick.
My SEGA Mega Drive development blog
Nathan Stanley (aka freezedream) - Composer
freezedream is a rare breed of experienced Mega Drive composer, and someone familiar with the machine's sound hardware at a fundamental level.
Nathan Stanley (freezedream)
In 2010 he released an album on a physical Mega Drive cartridge, which more than shows his dedication to keeping the 16-bit era alive. More importantly for Tanglewood, freezedream is able to bring out the Mega Drive's more ambient side to suit the dark environment and gameplay, a tricky feat considering the machine is infamous for its loud, in-your-face, and very "SEGA" style of sound.
freezedream will be giving Tanglewood's audio an overhaul, and will be composing a complete soundtrack and a set of iconic sound effects to give the game its own identity.
You may already be familiar with one of freezedream's prominent tracks. We used Rain to accompany the Tanglewood pitch video, and the piece will feature in the game.
freezedream is an underground experimental electronic music artist from Adelaide, Australia. With more than 16 years of experience, he uses tracker software to create emotive, organic digital music with deep bass, melodic arpeggios, complex beats and layers of ambience that conjure up vivid sonic dreamscapes. Starting out making chipmusic with LSDJ on a Gameboy, he now prefers to explore the rich timbres of the Sega Mega Drive FM synthesis chip. In 2010 freezedream became the first artist ever to release a chipmusic album for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis as an album on a cartridge that plays directly from the console.
Some more examples of his work:
and more on his SoundCloud page.
Adoru C. (Pier Solar) - Character/Cutscene Artist
Adoru was a character designer, cutscene director and illustrator for the original Mega Drive release of Pier Solar, and more recently the HD re-release!
His style defined the final visual appearance of the characters and cutscenes for Pier Solar, and his work was reprised as a base for the recreation of the cutscenes and in-game portraits in the HD version. His most recognised and highest praised work was the creation of its iconic 3 minute opening animation. He then handled identical tasks for a still undisclosed game developed by the same company.
Adoru also worked as a character designer and cutscene director on the platforming games Battlekid and Battlekid2, on the Nintendo Entertainment System, by Sivak Games.
Examples of Adoru's work:
Matthew Weekes (Freedom Planet) - Environment Artist
Matthew has an impressive portfolio. His most significant work is that on Freedom Planet, a highly received fast-action platforming game that's been widely compared to the original Sonic games on the Mega Drive. It currently sports a 10/10 rating on Steam, which is quite a rare sight!
Some of Matthew's other works include Poncho, MachiaVillain, and a plethora of other titles from his employed and freelance work.
Simon Butler (Ocean Software, Atari, Team 17, Probe) - Character Artist
Sporting over 300 titles in his 33 years of videogames development, Simon is an industry dinosaur who can still roar when needed (his words, not mine)! Simon's expertise spans every console generation since the Spectrum, and boasts his name on some top favourites such as Addams Family (SNES), Total Recall (Amiga), Platoon, Target Renegade (ZX Spectrum), and a bucket load more.
Simon will be breathing life into Tanglewood's bad guys. The Djakk monster isn't the only threat to our little Nymn - you'll need to watch the skies, dirt, and even the trees themselves to save from getting munched, crushed, shredded or even skewered by Simon's incoming army of wretched, sharp-toothed predators.
To continue and make a full length game, I can't do it alone. I need to hire pixel artists and animators, tool and utility programmers, sound designers and composers, and engage publishing experts to help me realise my dream and bring Tanglewood to the masses. I also need more equipment, and a more appropriate work space.
The project will see a physical cartridge release, which has considerable overheads compared to a digital download.
Stretch Goals!
For those unfamiliar, Kickstarter allows a project to continue funding past its goal for as long as the time limit allows, and one particularly lovely way to make good use of that little extra is some stretch goals! We've got a few planned out, just in case:
£50,000 - Gloss Print
If we stretch £2,000 beyond our goal, we'll be offering any backers at the Boxed Cartridge tier one high quality gloss print of Nymn inside the box! To make things extra spicy, the print will be one of ten different designs, making your copy a little more unique than its neighbour!
We'll also add an additional concept art print to the Collector's Edition and Developer's Edition boxsets.
£55,000 - Tanglewood - SEGA Dreamcast Port
If we secure £7,000 beyond our original goal, we'll put that extra into a SEGA Dreamcast edition of Tanglewood, after we've finished and released the Mega Drive version.
Once again, created on genuine development hardware, and released on physical disc, because we can! This will be a complete port of the game's code (not emulated) using the original graphics and audio.
All Tanglewood Collector's Edition (and higher) backers will receive Tanglewood on SEGA Dreamcast free of charge. It will be shipped separately from the main bundle.
Plus...
An Extra Level
We'll also expand upon Nymn's story with a level that we previously cut to keep the project scope under control. With this little extra, we can afford to dust it off and continue developing it!
£75,000 - Tanglewood - Dreamcast HD
With an extra boost of £30,000, we'll be expanding upon the Dreamcast port by reworking all of the 16-bit graphics and audio to bring you a high definition version of Nymn's story, for the Dreamcast and more!Tardigrades – invincible animals
These “bears” invisible to the naked eye are one of the most extraordinary animals on Earth. Their survival skills and appearance amaze and also make you wonder. Probably, because of these two features, they are seen as extraterrestrial creatures… Let’s take a look at the cosmic tardigrades.
Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Animalia Superphylum: Ecdysozoa
Ecdysozoa Phylum: Tardigrades
Tardigrades Classes: Heterotardigrada Eutardigrada Mesotardigrada
Evolution
The first fossils resembling tardigrades were found in Siberia. This finding dates back to the Cambrian period (about 540-485 million years ago).
On the basis of genetic studies, two theories have emerged. The first one says that tardigrades are the closest relatives of arthropods and Onychophora, and the second one says that they are closer to the nematodes. However, the latter one has been rejected after conducting additional DNA analyses.
The latest conclusions have shown that tardigrades are the sister group of Lobopodia, which includes the abovementioned Onychophora.
Occurrence – from one extremity to another
Tardigrades are cosmopolitan animals – they can be found in every region of the world, unless we don’t have a microscope :). Some species inhabit terrestrial, damp mosses, lichens, forest litter and soil, and some prefer freshwater or marine environment. In the course of evolution, plenty of species of tardigrades have developed, and each of them is adapted to a different habitat.
These animals that are invisible to the naked eye can survive in various conditions. They have been found in hot springs and on top of the Himalayas, under thick layers of ice, and in ocean sediments. Many of species chose ponds, lakes, or meadows for their habitats, and other live in stone walls.
The common denominator of all tardigrades is moisture, although, they can do without it even for… 100 years! Besides, it’s not their only skill that is amazing.
Anatomy
Size
The elongated body is supported by 3-4 pairs of thick legs. Usually, the body length is between 0.3 and 0.5 mm (0.011-0.019 in), but some species can be about 1.2 mm (0.047 in) long.
Appearance
The body is clearly segmented into a head, trunk, and abdomen. The middle part, consisting of three segments, is equipped with legs without joints, but the microscopic feet have 4-8 claws. The cuticle consists of chitin and protein.
Tardigrades, similarly to crustaceans and insects, which they are the most closely related to, moult regularly.
Circulatory system
The body cavities consist of the circulatory system, but the only place where it can be found is around the gonad.
They don’t breathe…
Tardigrades have no airways, so there is no gas exchange. Some species possess tubular glands placed around the rectum, that may serve as excretory organs. They resemble the Malphigian tubules, characteristic for arthropods. However, the role of this organ in tardigrades has not been fully known.
Food and defecation
The tubular mouth on the head has teeth-like structures, thanks to which the animal pierces the plant cells, algae, or small invertebrates, to suck out their contents. The food goes from the mouth through the pharynx to a short esophagus which is connected to the intestines that constitute the most of the body length. Redundant metabolic products are excreted on an ongoing basis, or only during moulting (feces are detached from the body with the dead cuticle). The way of defecation is closely related to the species.
Brain
The brain consists of several groups of neurons. This organ is connected with a large ganglion, which is located below the esophagus. A double ventral nerve cord runs the length of the body from there. It is responsible for leg movements, that are connected with it with special nerve fibers.
Sight
Many species possess a pair of ommatidia – conical organs (elements of the compound eyes) responsible for vision. Apart from the eyes, tardigrades have sensory bristles that cover the head and trunk.
Reproduction
Many tardigrades reproduce by parthenogenesis (the development of the young from an egg cell without a spermatozoon), but gonochorism also occurs. Females have a cloaca, and males two separate openings in the back of the body.
Tardigrades are egg-bearing, and fertilization is external. Mating occurs during moulting, when the female shows egg cells along with the redundant cuticle layer. |
what happened in Benghazi—and how it was portrayed—has ensnared a top contender to replace Clinton, American Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.
The White House has described GOP lawmakers as being gripped by a politically fueled "obsession" with a series of television appearances Rice made shortly after the attack in which she linked it to the video. Obama has repeatedly and forcefully defended Rice.
In late November, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the United States still does not know who carried out the attack.Story highlights The recall was issued after a consumer reported finding plastic in chicken nuggets
No adverse events have been reported, the USDA says
(CNN) Tyson Foods is voluntarily recalling more than 130,000 pounds of cooked chicken nuggets because they may contain hard plastic, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service said Tuesday.
The recall was issued after a customer reported finding "foreign material" in a chicken nugget product.
"According to Tyson Foods, the plastic material ranged in size from 21mm in length and 6.5mm in diameter and may have come from a round, hard plastic rod used to connect a plastic transfer belt. The firm said the products pass through a metal detector, but the plastic is not detectable to this technology," the USDA recall announcement said
In all, 132,520 pounds of chicken are subject to this recall, which applies to 5-pound bags of fully cooked panko chicken nuggets with a "use by" date of July 18, 2017. They also have case code 2006SDL03 and 2006SDL33 on the package.
Twenty-pound bulk packages of Spare Time nugget-shaped chicken breast pattie fritters with rib meat are also being recalled. These bulk packages, which were shipped to Pennsylvania for "institutional use," are marked with a production date of July 18, 2016, and case code 2006SDL03.
Read MorePolice open the 'peace line' gates at Workman Avenue in west Belfast, where Orangemen have now also been banned from passing nationalist homes
FOR the first time since the formation of the Parades Commission, four of the most contentious marches in Northern Ireland have all been banned.
Set up following violence around Drumcree in Portadown, the body has blocked almost all return parades along contested routes over the Twelfth period this year.
While some have been banned for several years, other rulings represent a gradual decline in the number of return marches permitted.
The Drumcree march has been banned from Garvaghy Road since 1998, with Orangemen still holding a weekly protest.
The Ormeau Road in south Belfast was also the scene of violence for many years, in a dispute over parades on a contested section of the lower Ormeau.
However, in recent years there has been calm in the area.
In August 2005 there were three days of violence associated with the annual Whiterock parade, which spread across the north after the Orange Order called people onto the streets when it was banned from a stretch of the Springfield Road in west Belfast.
Gunmen opened fire on police who returned fire with live rounds. British soldiers were also called in to assist officers, the last year the army were involved in parading disputes.
A compromise was later reached where 50 members of the Orange Order would pass through the security gates at Workman Avenue and onto the contested nationalist stretch to meet the rest of the parade passing through the old Mackies factory site.
However, during a parade last month Orangemen were banned completely from passing through Workman Avenue, with the commission citing a lack of dialogue and poor behaviour of marchers in previous years.
The watchdog has permitted a morning parade next Tuesday but banned the return march.
By far the most contested march in recent years has been in Ardoyne, where Orangemen have been banned from returning along the Crumlin Road since 2013.
Regular protests, which also saw a permanent camp set up at Twaddell Avenue, have cost more than £20 million to police.
A deal to end the dispute and allow the three Orange lodges to complete the return leg collapsed last month after one of the lodges objected to the terms.
Earlier this week the commission again ruled against allowing the return march but agreed to a morning parade along with 100 supporters past the interface.
A leading Orangeman last night claimed recent rulings are evidence that the commission has "taken the place of nationalist protestors".
Rev Mervyn Gibson said new legislation to deal with parades is urgently needed.
"The Parades Commission is the only body in the UK that is unaccountable - if we object to a ruling we can only challenge the procedure and not the outcome and that's wrong," he said.
"We need fair legislation. It may not always go our way, but at least it would be transparent and accountable."
The Parades Commission said last night: "The majority of parade organisers and communities share the common objective of peaceful parading and protest with the result that the vast majority of the approximate 2,500 loyalist/unionist parades each year are not considered by the commission, and do not have any conditions imposed by the commission.
"For the 3.6% of parades which do have conditions imposed, these conditions reflect the impacts of the parade and protest upon community relations, community life, public disorder and the rights of others.
"Conditions include route, music and other conduct requirements."Hi everyone. I’m Mark Gerhard, Jagex’s CEO.
I wanted to respond briefly to a topic that’s had quite a lot of discussion inside the RuneScape community recently – micro payments.
Micro payment-based services, such as items on Solomon’s General Store or Treasure Hunter, are an essential part of helping keep RuneScape as a healthy business. If we didn’t offer micro payments we would either need to more than double the cost of monthly membership for everyone or halve the size of the RuneScape team or otherwise make other rather unpalatable choices which we’d rather not contemplate.
And with a healthy business we can and will continue to pour our love into RuneScape at an enviable scale - RuneScape employs a full-time development team of around 160 dedicated professionals and totals well over 200 when you include community, infrastructure and customer support.
This allows us to release weekly game updates, run community events, run charity events, run Old School, make videos, run live streams, invest in content and marketing for new players, run entirely free game worlds, create a burgeoning mobile app, perform extensive R&D into new technologies to guarantee RuneScape’s future and continue to hire more great talent from the RuneScape community.
It also means we can offer features like Bonds which allows players to pay simply through play, and close to my heart have much of a packed release schedule now decided entirely by the community.
Our sole intent with micro payments is to provide interesting but optional services for RuneScape players – fun items, new visuals or greater convenience for those that may want it. It’s NEVER our intention to undermine the games core content.
We’re human and we occasionally make mistakes. This undoubtedly happened with the Silverhawk Boots item which was added to Treasure Hunter recently.
At release, this item was evidently overpowered and understandably frustrated many players, including both the team and I. I want to sincerely apologise for this error of judgement and process on behalf of everyone.
Mistakes are only OK if they’re acknowledged, rectified and learned from…
In this case we’ve already patched the item in question so it does not allow for skill training faster than existing content.
Just as important, we’re going to put additional safety checks in place to make sure the balancing of any promotional item or micro payment service gets double and triple checked by us.
As with the rest of the game, micro payments evolve as we try out new ideas and make ongoing improvements. While they’re essential for RuneScape, they are not essential for players to enjoy the game, for those that may want a specific promotional item we also try to make them as accessible as possible to everyone, so everyone can take part if they should they wish.
Bonds were a major step in this direction, giving access to all of our premium services without the need to pay real money. Loyalty points reward our long-standing members.
And recently, we’ve also added more methods to get RuneCoins without paying through supersonic ads – you can find the new ‘Earn’ button in Solomon's General Store to take part in this, and also soon we’ll be adding the ability to earn Keys to play Treasure Hunter as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post today. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter and please keep the constructive feedback coming! I hope you can see how much we all care about RuneScape, as a business, a game and a community – and one we want to see thrive for many decades more to come.
Take care, God bless and have fun!
Cheers,
@Mark__GerhardKöln -
Am Donnerstag ging die gemeinsame Tour mit dem Trainer- und Betreuerstab durch Wien zu Ende, am Samstag geht es schon wieder mit Torwarttrainer Alexander Bade zum Pokalfinale nach Berlin.
Dazwischen blickt Stöger im EXPRESS zurück - und nach vorn. Er freut sich über den langfristige Vertrag seines Vertrauensmanns Jörg Schmadtke. Sagt aber selbst: „Ich brauche keinen Renten-Vertrag.“
Die erste Bundesliga-Saison ist beendet. Wie sehen Sie das Jahr im Rückblick?
Es geht ja inzwischen schon 24 Monate. Wir haben eine Mannschaft entwickelt und Schritt für Schritt nach vorne gebracht. In der Bundesliga hat dieser Kader mit vielen Neuzugängen aus der Zweiten Liga, dazu ein Bundesliga-unerprobter Trainer es geschafft, nicht einmal unter dem Strich zu stehen - anders als zehn andere Teams. Da stand oft Hamburg, Stuttgart, auch Bremen und sogar Dortmund. Aber nicht der 1. FC Köln. Da kann man schon ein bisschen stolz drauf sein.
Mit Jonas Hector hat der Klub auch wieder einen Nationalspieler.
Das ist eine Auszeichnung für seine tägliche Arbeit, aber auch für die Mannschaft. Hätte sie nicht so positiv auf sich aufmerksam gemacht, wäre auch Jonas kaum in den Fokus gerückt. Eine tolle Geschichte für alle.
Eine tolle Geschichte war auch diese Aufstiegssaison mit dem Abschluss gegen Wolfsburg.
In der Tat. Dass wir auch gegen den Vizemeister punkten konnten, die 40-Punkte-Marke erreicht haben, war noch mal ein i-Tüpfelchen. Die Abschlussparty in der Flora rundete es ab. Dass auch Jörg Schmadtke und Alexander Wehrle verlängert haben, war aber die wichtigste Nachricht an diesem Wochenende.
Und wann gibt es für Sie einen neuen Kontrakt? (lacht) Ich brauche keinen Rentenvertrag. Es ist alles gut, wie es ist, ich bin glücklich und zufrieden. Mit Jörg Schmadtke und Ihnen scheint sich ein Duo gefunden zu haben. Wir haben ähnliche Gedankengänge, wie wir die Dinge vorantreiben wollen. Man muss aber auch sagen: Die richtig große Baustelle hat uns die Mannschaft nie aufgemacht. Das haben die Jungs wirklich gut hinbekommen. Aber wir bieten schon eine stabile Einheit, die der Mannschaft die Ruhe gibt, um ihre Leistung abrufen zu können. Schmadtke ist immer sehr nah bei der Mannschaft. Wie eng sind Sie dabei, wenn es jetzt um die Neuzugänge geht? Wir stimmen uns ja permanent ab. Und das wird mehr und mehr. Unsere Büros sind ja nur durch eine Brücke getrennt und immer offen. Es gibt keine geschlossenen Türen. Es geht nichts über gesunde Kommunikation. Wo setzt für Sie die Weiterentwicklung des Teams an? Wir müssen auf jeden Fall auf unsere Stabilität weiter Wert legen. Und wenn wir Ballbesitz haben, müssen wir lernen, mit den Situationen mehr anzufangen. Erst wenn ich mir sicher sein kann, vorne drei oder vier Tore zu machen, kann ich Stabilität aufgeben. Aber das wird sicher noch die ein oder andere Saison dauern. Sie haben sich da nie vom Weg abbringen lassen. Die Aufgabe, die man als Lehrer hat – egal ob in der Schule oder beim Fußball –, ist es, nichts schleifen zu lassen. Genauso schädlich ist es, seine Schüler permanent zu überfordern. Wir schicken die Jungs mit einer Spielidee aufs Feld, von der wir glauben, dass wir sie erfolgreich umsetzen können. Im zweiten Teil des großen Stöger-Interviews verrät der Österreicher unter anderem seinen Moment der Saison...NIGEL Farage says Britain should take Donald Trump’s lead and bring in “extreme vetting” at our borders.
The former Ukip leader also defended the US President’s controversial Muslim travel ban after it was slammed by a host of UK politicians this morning.
He said Mr Trump is entitled to introduce the measures in a bid to crack down on any would-be jihadis entering the country.
And he instead blamed the ban, which sees citizens from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen barred temporarily along with all refugees, on Germany's open-door policy towards those fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking on BBC1's Sunday Politics, Mr Farage said: "He was elected to get tough, he was elected to say he will do everything within his power to protect America from infiltration by Isis terrorists.
EPA 4 The ban has sparked widespread protests at airports across America
PA 4 Mr Farage said Mr Trump was correct to bring in the ban
"Now there are seven countries on that list, he is entitled to do this, he was voted in on this."
Mr Farage, who has previously called for Syrian refugees to be allowed into Britain, said he now agrees with Mr Trump's policy.
And he suggested German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy has left Europe vulnerable to terrorism.
RELATED STORIES: 'it's a dictatorship' Anguish of families across US as relatives are detained at airports amid chaos over 'Muslim ban' KIM GETS INVOLVED Kim Kardashian wades into 'Muslim ban' row by tweeting on number of Americans killed by jihadi immigrants 'IT'S DEEPLY TROUBLING' Mo Farah says 'Muslim ban' means he will have to tell his kids 'Daddy may not be able to come home' DON'T LET THE DON IN Petition to ban Trump’s State visit to UK passes 900,000 - surging past threshold for MPs' debate 'DEMEANING AND SAD' Tory MP banned from visiting America under Trump’s travel ban says he feels 'discriminated against' 'IT'S SHAMEFUL AND CRUEL' Mayor of London Sadiq Khan condemns Trump's 'Muslim ban'
He said: "I mean frankly since I made those comments we had the Merkel madness, and I think Trump's policy in many ways has been shaped by what Mrs Merkel did.
"He is fully entitled to do this, and as far as we are concerned in this country, yes I would like to see extreme vetting."
Mr Farage, who is close with Mr Trump and became the first British politician to meet him after his election, said the US President was voted in on the promise he would introduce tougher vetting and he is doing "exactly" what his voters want.
AP 4 Donald Trump signed the executive order bringing in the ban over the weekend
He said: "We have elections so voters can make choices and they voted for Donald Trump to become president, and he said he will put bans in place and then move towards extreme vetting.
"Now, as far as Syria is concerned, he has made that decision. But that is what he was voted in for."
The MEP conceded American citizens radicalised at home are responsible for the recent terror attacks in the US rather than refugees.
He added: "But when you've got a problem already, why on earth would you wish to add to it?
Reuters 4 Sajid Javid has attacked Mr Farage for defending the travel ban
"I would remind you that of the eight people who committed those atrocities in Paris, five of them had got into Europe posing as refugees. So, there is an issue here."
But cabinet minister Sajid Javid hit out at Mr Farage’s support for the travel ban.
The Communities Secretary, who is a Muslim himself, tweeted: “Farage is wrong to try and defend US immigration ban.
“These are not British values.”
A petition to block Donald Trump's state visit has rocketed to almost 200,000 signatures in just hours, after being backed by Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron.Cuomo. | AP Photo/Mike Groll State likely to defer $1 billion in pension payments
ALBANY—State lawmakers are moving ahead with a plan to defer more than $1 billion in pension payments over the next five years, arguing it will help them hold the line on spending increases even as critics warn of long-term risks.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, proposed another five years of “pension amortization” in his proposed $141.6 billion budget, the state's most recent financial plan shows. He's continuing to utilize a program first enacted in 2010, when the state government and municipalities were socked with a spike in required pension obligations to make up for stock market losses related to the 2008 stock market crash.
Story Continued Below
In New York, public employee pensions are paid from a handful of funds managed by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. (A separate fund handles teacher pensions.) Employers—a village, county, or the state itself—are required to pay a contribution that is inversely related with the fund's performance, rising after years when the $181.7 billion fund posts a piddling return.
The amortization program lets them defer a portion of their bills and pay them back over 10 years, at interest rates between 3 percent and 5 percent, a move critics say is akin to borrowing. Dozens of municipalities have used the program, holding their short-term costs down to prevent tax hikes or reductions in other services.
The state has deferred $3.2 billion in payments since 2011, and was set to stop borrowing this year. The budget division reversed course in October, after DiNapoli's office announced it was adjusting the way contributions are calculated to reflect longer lifespans.
Cuomo's spending proposal includes another five years of amortization, including $395.1 million in the upcoming fiscal year. Members of both the State Senate and Assembly accepted the idea in their one-house budget resolutions.
“Amortization takes volatility out of the state’s pension contribution costs and helps us maintain stability,” said budget division spokesman Morris Peters. In January, after the budget was unveiled, outgoing budget director Bob Megna suggested the state would re-evaluate whether to keep borrowing in future fiscal years.
But critics said there was no reason to borrow the money this year because the state has gathered a $5.4 billion cash surplus from one-time settlements with major financial institutions.
Elizabeth Lynam, director of state studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, said use of the program was no longer warranted.
“It's a bad idea,” she said. “Anything we do to postpone payment, to defer payment, puts those funds in jeopardy. New York is a bright spot—we're pretty well funded—and we don't want to start down the slippery slope to a situation like New Jersey or Illinois where we don't have the funds to meet our obligations.”
In September, DiNapoli's office calculated the ratio between the pension fund's assets and its expected liabilities—assuming a 7.5 percent discount rate for future payouts—at 92.2 percent. A ranking by Bloomberg using 2013 data shows New York had one of the top 10 best funding ratios in the country; Illinois was the worst.
The C.B.C., a business-backed group, estimated that the state's deferrals have already resulted in $144 million in interest costs. That figure will run to $780 million if the borrowing continues.
And according to data provided by DiNapoli's office, dozens of localities, school districts and institutions have also pushed back their payments. In 2013, 139 entities borrowed $368 million. Cuomo proposed and pushed through a revised version of the 2010 plan that year, and municipalities elected one or the other in 2014, making comparisons difficult.
Under either program, they can only amortize a portion of their pension costs. Participation is voluntary, and according to Peter Baynes, executive director of the New York Conference of Mayors, is a valuable option to have.
“We supported it as a somewhat unattractive, but sometimes necessary option,” Baynes said. “If it's used responsibly and the government weans itself responsibility of it, it's a way in which to stabilize taxes and level your pension payments. We supported it as an option, and as pension rates for local governments begin to decline, you're going to see less and less use of it.”
DiNapoli announced in September that the required contributions had dipped for the second year in a row. But according to E.J. McMahon, an analyst for the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy, uncertainty in stock markets could render the decision to defer payments costly.
“Once you start it, the problem is something like this happens: you find yourself in a hole because there was a spike you thought would go away, and it doesn't,” McMahon said. “The question is when are you going to take your medicine, or are you going to make the future take it? And, what if the future isn't the way you expect?”Chapter 33
The Great Escape
Long ago before we met, I dreamed about you and the peace you would bring. Then one day you arrived and I heard your angel cry, "Helpless, small, and perfect, welcome to your new life".
Team RWBY had split up to cover more ground in search for Ruby. While Blake and Yang searched to the northwest, the area Ruby had last been, Weiss searched to the south and Oobleck the northeast. Eventually the partners' search expanded to the abandoned shopping centers and the school began fading in the distance. Soon the light would be fading as well.
Yang called out her sister's name again and Blake had to grit her teeth in frustration. They were deep in enemy territory and Grimm could be behind any corner waiting for foolish, unsuspecting prey. She'd already warned her multiple times, and had to stick closer than she would've liked in a search and rescue operation, but Yang didn't seem to care whether she alerted every nightmare in the city to their location.
Blake came to a halt in an empty parking lot looking for any sign that her leader had passed when someone plowed into her nearly knocking her to the ground.
"Sorry," the other girl murmured for the third time in ten minutes. Blake glanced back at her, noting how she looked like a wreck. Constantly glancing down with tearful eyes at her scroll in case her sister's vitals changed before looking around wildly again.
"She'll be okay," Blake repeated for the hundredth time. becoming more of a plea than a comforting statement.
Her partner remained silent. Ruby's name, picture, and all her vitals were grayed out. meaning she was either out of range, which wasn't likely, or she was... gone.
Blake's nose twitched as the wind changed, and she noted how silent the birds and insects had become.
"You smell that?" she asked.
Yang didn't look up. "Smell what?"
Blake retrieved her katana and cleaver, and followed the source of the scent. It reminded her of decaying shadows.
Yang followed behind and bumped into her once again when she came to a sudden halt. She glanced up at the old dust shop, but then her eyes widened at the four foot diameter hole in the concrete, then at the giant claw marks stretching from the hole to inside the shop where the ground was stained black.
There were also speckles by blood as if it had fallen from the sky, and Blake had to cover her mouth to keep from vomiting. The stench coming from the store was horrific, but the girl beside her barely noticed.
Yang stared down into the abyss her eyes becoming misty, and bent down reaching into the unknown.
"No don't!" Blake ordered, fearful of what might still be lurking around.
Ignoring her, Yang stretched her arm out and yanked a red and black sniper-scythe out of the ground, and with vacant and empty eyes she held it up for Blake who just like her looked as though her soul had just been ripped out.
There were chips missing from the blade as well as deep scars, and something like a monstrous black hand print as though something had leisurely grabbed one of the deadliest weapons on Remnant.
Blake's hand shook as she opened her scroll. "Weiss, Oobleck," she choked, "you need to get over here..."
"That's Dr. Oobl-" began the professor before being muted.
There was a pause on the other end as someone fumbled with their scroll. "Did you find her?!" Weiss' voice cracked.
Blake shook her head despite them not being able to see her. "We're on the northwestern side of the school in some kind of shopping center. Just get over here..."
"Is Ruby there?!" she repeated nearing hysterics.
Blake hesitated and glanced at her partner who was holding Crescent Rose in her arms and gazing down at its injured blade.
"No," she choked before abruptly hanging up.
Yang glanced down and picked up a scrap of red cloth.
"Ruby's hood," Blake guessed, wiping her eyes.
The blonde cradled the torn cape and scythe to her chest, and didn't react when the other girl wrapped an arm around her.
Minutes later Oobleck arrived with Weiss in tow. A soft golden glow was coming from her, having used the strongest haste glyph she could handle in order to keep up with the professor.
"No..." she whispered, covering her mouth and coming to a stop when she saw Ruby's scythe and the scrap of red cloth in Yang's hands.
Oobleck bent down and examined the claw marks on the ground, but everyone else was preoccupied with the ones on their leader's scythe.
"What kind of Grimm could do that to Crescent Rose?" Weiss asked, staring in awe like the others. Their own weapons began to feel much smaller and insignificant.
"Something very old and very dangerous," Oobleck said, glancing around as sweat beaded on his brow.
"It'll be okay," Blake cried, wiping her face and trying to reassure her teammates when no one else spoke. "Ruby's fine."
Weiss couldn't look her teammates in the eye, and came no closer while Yang stared into the abyss.
"No she's not. Ruby's down there..."
Blake looked into the darkness and a moment later Oobleck joined them, with Weiss shortly thereafter.
"Can you see anything, miss Belladonna?" the professor asked with reluctance in his voice.
Her sharp eyes narrowed and after a moment nodded. "I can see the bottom. It's some kind of cave or unfinished maintenance tunnel, but I'll need a closer look."
Oobleck bit his lip but nodded.
"Stay here." Blake took a deep breath and brandishing her weapons once again, stepped into the abyss.
When her teammates heard her feet hit the bottom they followed without hesitation. Blake turned back at them as they landed but they obviously couldn't tell, that is until Weiss shined a flashlight from her pack into the faunus face.
"Oh, sorry..."
"Next time wait until-"
"See or sense anything?" Oobleck asked, his heavy boots landing a moment later.
Blake resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead let out a breath before stooping down to the ground and examining the dirt.
"Here's where Ruby landed." She stood up and followed the slight impression of boots. "And here's someone else..."
Yang dropped to her knees where her baby sister had fallen. She recognized a hand print, possibly where her sister had pushed herself up, and placed her hand atop it.
"She's alive," Yang whispered.
Weiss stood behind and nervously shifted her body weight. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Ruby's alive, and she needs me..."
Blake came to a stop as the tracks ended and a new set began.
"What is it?" Oobleck asked.
Yang got up and Weiss followed with the flashlight, both barely able to see the impressions in the dirt.
"The White Fang," Blake growled. "They're the only ones who could be here, and they've got Ruby."
Weiss made a choking sound and her eyes went wide, while all around them shadows were cast aside as a golden flame was lit.
Yang took off running.
Ruby groaned as she awoken to the sound of giants walking.
*BBSSSHHHH!* *BBBSSSHHH!* *BBSSHHH!*
Her eyelids opened but everything was hazy and her head was throbbing. She tried to rub her eyes to get the sleep out but her hands wouldn't budge. She quickly realized they were tied behind her back, and tried kicking her legs but found she couldn't move them either.
Instead she focused on the ground watching it move which puzzled her until the answer came. Someone was carrying her over their shoulder...
She craned her neck but could only make out the side of a white mask. On either side of the large man carrying her was another masked man. The one on the left carried a rifle and rubbing a nasty purple bruise on the side of his face while the other wore glasses over his mask with his chin held high. She could also see something large moving behind them and other people in masks staring back at her.
Ruby blinked away the fog clouding her sight and mind believing she must've still been dreaming. Why were there bullheads with legs?
'Paladins!' screamed the rational part of her mind.
Her body tensed up as she began taking in her surroundings. They were in some kind of large underground cavern with train tracks running through a dark tunnel, and the men with her were standing on a large platform with boxes and crates labeled 'volatile'. All around, men and women in Grimm masks carried supplies while operators in Paladins moved heavy shipping containers with 'SDC' printed on the the sides.
Ruby had never seen a subway or train station before but it all seemed very old fashioned to her, and her eyes lit up seeing a train for the first time in her life but quickly faded.
The symbol and the name of the train...
Schnee Dust Company Locomotion.
Ruby remembered the White Fang stealing a SDC train months prior to joining Beacon. It had been all over the news and Weiss had mentioned it once or twice, and recalled how upset it had made her partner.
The men came to a stop outside a derailed train car, and without warning she was tossed onto the ground as though she were garbage.
She grimaced as she'd been unable to protect herself and skinned her knees on what was basically rock. Luckily she hadn't hit her head again.
"Hey boss!" the glasses wearing faunus cried. "I've got something you'll want to see."
Ruby heard the shuffling of papers and a fist striking a desk.
"This had better be good Perry!" Her eyes widened as she recognized the voice. "Because if it's not you'll be having a stern talking to with Neo!"
The man gulped and his hand reached for his throat. "I-it's a little girl in a red cape and hood, sir. We found her in the southern tunnel."
A black bowler hat with a red stripe poked its way out the door, and Roman Torchwick's eyes rested on the captive. Ruby was increasingly thankful he couldn't see her hands shaking behind her back.
"Is this good boss?" the man squeaked.
"Perry," he said taking a deep breath, "this is the best news I've heard in weeks."
Torchwick threw his bowler hat in the air and grabbed a nearby White Fang member and embraced him.
"I can finally get out of this dump!" he cried, letting him go to retrieve his hat.
The masked men turned to each other confused while the man who'd just been hugged slowly backed away into the crowd.
"Keep this up and you'll make lieutenant one of these days," Torchwick promised.
"But I'm the one who caught her!" the large man beside Perry shouted.
"I saw her first!" said the one with the purple bruise on his face.
"Listen up people!" Torchwick yelled, getting the attention of everyone including the Paladin operators. "There has been a slight change of plans to the operation."
The White Fang began to murmur to themselves causing Torchwick to narrow his eyes.
"We have been discovered by the huntsmen."
The voices stopped and the man with the bowler hat grinned as he was the center of attention again.
"Please move all dust containers onto the train and prepare to withdraw. We're moving ahead of schedule!"
When no seemed to share his excitement or even move, his hand drifted to his cane as he looked around at all the Grimm masks starring back at him.
"Unless you'd like to meet the huntsmen and military first hand, I suggest you MOVE!"
The White Fang scattered as his threat worked, and supplies began piling into train cars as the Paladin carried massive crates to be unloaded onto each.
Torchwick sighed and looked down at the caped-girl on the ground grinning ear to ear.
"Where are my manners?" he apologized. "How's it going, Red? You seem to be a bit tied up at the moment."
He practically skipped to her side and tipped his hat, then noticed all the cuts and bruises on the young girl and her overall disheveled state.
"Looks like you had a nasty run in with a Grimm, Red. I'll be sure to thank it later."
He stooped down and laid a gloved hand under her chin. "I really like the boot impression on your head. Please tell me it hurt."
Ruby spat in his face.
Torchwick sneered and stood up. "That wasn't very nice," He chided, wiping the spit away with a handkerchief. "Luckily for you I don't hit little girls."
"Perry." He lit a cigar, and she barely had time to prepare as a boot was driven into her stomach knocking the breath out of her.
Ruby gasped for air and began coughing and heaving into the dirt as another boot struck her in the ribs.
"Good work, Perry. After the City of Vale falls I'm recommending you for a promotion."
"Thank you, sir," the young man beamed.
Ruby's eyes widened at the mention of Vale and her coughing ceased.
The man in the bowler hat noticed her reaction. "Oh silly me." He said, smacking his forehead.
Torchwick stooped down again blowing smoke in her face.
*cough, cough*
"Tell me, Red, have you ever heard of the massacre in the Patchwork mountains?" He grinned as he saw her defiant eyes widen. "Now imagine that just with a lot more dead bodies."
"No," she whispered, shaking her head.
"Afraid so, kiddo," he said feigning sympathy. "It's gonna look like the lost city when we're through, and it's all thanks to you."
She looked confused and he seemed all too eager to enlighten her.
"We weren't supposed to move out for at least another month, but thanks to you I don't have a choice to get this glorified zoo on the road." He smiled as he looked from faunus to faunus. "Good riddance."
Ruby shook her head refusing to believe she was playing a part in a plan so horrible, but he continued talking and blowing smoke in her face.
"You have no idea how great it'll be to get some fresh air again. Since I'm not a faunus, I can't exactly go to the surface."
When she didn't understand he laughed. "There's a reason why the faunus have been able to survive and thrive outside the kingdoms. In case you couldn't tell they're not exactly human."
She gritted her teeth.
"Most Grimm think they're nothing more than animals..." He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "And they're right."
Ruby tried to headbutt him but he retreated too quickly and began chuckling to himself. "The Grimm in the city don't even notice us, and if they do Neo takes care of them." Torchwick brought a finger to his lip as if in deep thought. "You know, I didn't think Grimm could actually feel fear or pain, but I believe Neo may have changed my mind. Also, I'd keep an eye on that cat of yours. Who knows what horrible secrets she could be keeping..."
Ruby remained silent. She knew Blake had her secrets and had her reasons for keeping the team in the dark. She also didn't trust Torchwick for a second. She didn't care if the faunus did have animal like features, they were just as human as she was.
"Okay, Red, time for business," he said, suddenly losing his once jovial attitude. "Tell me who all is in the city with you and I promise I won't kill you." He winked. "For now."
When she kept quiet he sighed. "I'm sure your little friends are here of course. White, Yellow, and your pet cat of course, but I really need to know if there are any real huntsmen with you. They could be a problem for us."
She tried to spit in his face again but Torchwick put his cane under her chin and his finger on the trigger.
"I wouldn't do that," he advised his face growing dark, "but I really wished you would."
Ruby bore holes into him and thought of several names to call him but bit her tongue.
"Good girl." He patted her head and removed the cane. "I'd hate to get your blood all over my shoes. Perry!?"
"Yes, sir?" The man saluted.
"Go find Neo and see if she's busy. Tell her that I have a friend who isn't cooperating."
Perry hesitated but nodded and slowly turned to leave but Torchwick held up a finger and grimaced.
"If she's busy though I wouldn't bother her if I were you. We still haven't found the last Perry's head."
The masked man wearing glasses was visibly shaking as he left, and kept rubbing his throat as if it was stinging.
Torchwick tipped his hat clasped before his hands together. "Well, Red, it's been a pleasure but I must be going." He stood up and dropped his cigar on her cape. Her eyes went wide as he stomped it out leaving brown stains and burn marks. "Tell Neo I said hi. When you're not screaming that is. You see, unlike me she |
open terrain and can spot you from further away, especially if they're manning searchlights. Further stacking the odds against you, aiming is a lot harder to pull off from a distance as bullets are affected by distance and gravity. In order to get that delicious insta-snooze headshot with your MK22, you'll have to aim a smidge in front of or above an enemy's noggin. Thankfully, the punishment for a missed shot is less severe than it used to be, with foes sometimes attributing a stray tranquilizer dart to a mosquito.
Another neat detail this more open format brings with it is player-controlled extraction points. At any time Snake can summon a chopper to specific landing zones where he can leave the area or deposit POWs. The first time this happens it feels like a scripted event, but by the end of the main mission it shows its true colours as a slice of true tactical decision making. Do you try to clear out a landing zone of its enemy population, or do you try to carry someone to a more remote location further away? Perhaps you'll be able to clear out just enough enemy forces that even if the helicopter is under attack you can make one risky push for it amid enemy fire? If you go with plan C, is disabling the enemy's anti-air turrets enough or should you risk making a scene by planting C4 on that tank? Ground Zeroes' small world is packed with such choices.
Outside of the core game a decision you may be making is which platform to get Ground Zeroes on. Digital Foundry will have the graphics and performance comparison, so I'll focus on each console manufacturer's exclusive bonus missions.
Can you tell which scenes are from The Phantom Pain and which are from Ground Zeroes? Hint: GZ Snake doesn't have a ponytail or cyborg arm.
The Xbox One's Jamais Vu mission stars Raiden, who runs a lot faster than Snake, but otherwise operates the same. Your goal in this mission is to eliminate a gang of body snatchers who can only be detected by tagging them with your binoculars. It's a fun little jaunt and it gives non-lethal-focused players like yours truly a chance to muck about with the game's deadlier weaponry, but it's ultimately insubstantial and ends with a frustrating, overly long shooting sequence.
The PS4's Deja Vu mission is the real surprise. In this goofy side-quest you're tasked with recreating photographs of areas in the level that recall the first Metal Gear Solid. Find the right angle to snap a pic of a chopper and two soldiers and the picture is automatically taken, which brings with it a funny cutscene comparing the new game to its 1998 forbear. Like Jamais Vu, it's not a huge boon, but it is an amusing aside for exploration-loving, secret-hunting players like myself.
Unfortunately both console-exclusive missions take a lot of doing to unlock. Konami won't let me say how you unlock them, but let's just say that it's something that would have taken me a very long time to do without outside help. Being the stubborn player that I am, I actually never unlocked them on my file and simply switched demo stations to scope them out.
I'd be remiss to not at least mention one of Ground Zeroes' biggest changes to the series: the newly cast Kiefer Sutherland voicing the lead. It's hard to come to a proper conclusion from this thin slice of content as Snake is a man of few words, but based on his handful of lines I'm not sold on this new interpretation of the protagonist. On a base level, Sutherland's softer, raspier tones sound an awful lot like those of Robin Atkin Downes, who plays Snake's primary compatriot Kaz. This problem makes itself present in the opening cutscene where the two have a conversation off-screen and even after my third viewing of this I had a hard time sorting who was talking at times.
Beyond that, this new Snake - whom I like to call Kiefer Slytherin - simply sounds too human. I've always felt that part of Snake's appeal was due to him being not being a realistic character, but rather an impossibly sexy cipher. Snake was always tough, but never particularly angry or emotional, and I'm not sure there's ever been a more innocent, inquisitive growl than David Hayter's comically one-note take on the character. Snake never behaved like an actual person, but rather an emotionally distant outsider. He was the Man Who Fell To Earth: David Bowie in military scrubs. (And indeed in The Phantom Pain he'll sport a Diamond Dogs biker jacket.)
Kojima Productions has cribbed the radial zone of detection form Splinter Cell, where if you're in danger of being spotted a white glow will emit near the center of the screen indicating where the threat is coming from.
In a lot of ways, there's really a lot to Ground Zeroes. Its small scale is more than compensated for by its robust depth, but its conclusion is anticlimactic, despite its bombastic and lengthy denouement cutscene being exciting in and of itself. Indeed the biggest issue with Ground Zeroes isn't its length: it's a lack of closure.
Gone Home may have lasted a scant three hours, but its conclusion left the player feeling like they'd experienced a full story. Ground Zeroes, on the other hand, doesn't only end in a cliffhanger - much like MGS2's Tanker opening - it doesn't even attempt to spin a full yarn. That mysterious burned man in the opening named Skull Face piques our curiosity only to completely disappear with nary a mention (though he does inexplicably leave behind a seven-plus minute audio recording where he gives a pretentious philosophical monologue to a POW he's torturing). Ground Zeroes may be marketed as a standalone short story, but it's not even that. It's merely a stranded scene or two, floating in isolation for newcomers and lacking in the narrative nourishment series fans expect (despite its marathon hidden audio recordings).
The truth is perhaps that Ground Zeroes was never intended as a standalone release. Konami's always passed it off as an appetiser to tide us over until the main course, but despite The Phantom Pain's gargantuan publisher-backed budget, this feels like a crowdfunding effort in a disguise as obvious as a cardboard box. As Kickstarter has proven time and time again, people are willing to pay top dollar not simply for early access, but because they want to support a project - and the extra money towards the Phantom Pain's no-doubt immense development bill provided by Ground Zeroes will no doubt be appreciated by Kojima and Konami.
So Ground Zeroes is hardly essential, but it accomplishes what it set out to do in giving players a taste of how a more open-ended Metal Gear adventure might feel. Its wealth of strategies and secrets unearth plenty of tactical treasure for those willing to dig - something the premium price deviously encourages. Those expecting a full game are going to be disappointed, however - Ground Zeroes does feel like a very expensive demo. But it's also a very, very good one.Nova Scotia's provincial liquor corporation is standing by its decision not to engage in a price war with New Brunswick over beer, according to a spokesperson.
The decision comes as NB Liquor announced it was keeping its cheap beer promotion until the fall amid strong sales.
The deal has attracted some Nova Scotian buyers to cross the New Brunswick border and take advantage of the promotion.
Denise Corra, a spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp., says New Brunswick's latest decision isn't going to tempt them into dropping their beer prices.
"I don't think it does change anything for us," said Corra. "We have no plans to follow suit."
Corra says they won't know the impact of NB Liquor's promotion on their sales until they get their numbers in October.
'Sales have been going great'
Nova Scotia's provincial liquor corporation has no plans on getting into a price war with NB Liquor. (CBC)
Mark Barbour, the communications officer with NB Liquor, said on Tuesday "The sales have been going great" for the beer promotion.
The deal started on July 14 and offers four 15-can packs of beer for $74.99, which works out to $1.25 per can.
The brands in the promotion include, Alpine, Moose Light, Budweiser, Bud Light, Canadian and Coors Light.
Barbour says to date, they've sold 870,000 cases of beer, which translates to $15.2 million in sales exclusively off their promotion.
That success has prompted NB Liquor to extend the promotion to Oct. 9.
Barbour says there were no plans to make the promotion a permanent deal, but they will continue to assess it as the promotion continues.
"Right now it's too early to tell what's going to be the end result," said Barbour.John McCain and Lindsey O. Graham, both Republicans, represent Arizona and South Carolina in the Senate, respectively. Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent, represents Connecticut in the Senate.
As 2012 draws to a close, Syria is descending into hell. At least 40,000 people, and likely many more, have been killed, while millions have been forced to flee their homes. Over the past 12 months, Bashar al-Assad has steadily unleashed ever-greater military firepower in response to what began as peaceful protests by the Syrian people. Starting with tanks and heavy artillery in February, the Syrian regime escalated over the summer to using attack helicopters and fighter jets. In recent weeks, it has begun firing Scud missiles at its own population.
The world has failed to stop this slaughter. President Obama has declared that his “red line” is Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Many Syrians, however, have told us that they see the U.S. red line as a green light for Assad to use all other weapons of war to massacre them with impunity. Many of those weapons continue to be supplied directly by Iran.
Despite the U.S. government’s warnings, Assad has reportedly taken steps in recent weeks to prepare chemical weapons for use against his people. From everything we know about Assad’s regime, and considering that he has methodically escalated this conflict using nearly every other weapon in his inventory, does anyone really believe that this man is incapable of using chemical weapons?
Syria’s descent into hell poses an increasing threat to its neighbors. Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Israel all face rising risks of instability. The longer this war grinds on, the greater the chance it could ignite a wider sectarian conflict.
For months we have argued — including on this page — that the United States, together with our allies in Europe and the Middle East, must do more to stop the killing in Syria and to provide help to moderate forces among the opposition. Specifically, we have advocated providing weapons directly to vetted rebel groups and establishing a no-fly zone over part of Syria. Neither course would require putting U.S. troops on the ground or acting alone. Key allies have made clear again and again their hope for stronger American leadership and their frustration that the United States has been sitting on the sidelines.
Most distressing of all are the swiftly deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Syria. While rejecting calls to provide weapons or establish a limited no-fly zone, the Obama administration has emphasized the aid that it has committed to the Syrian people. We fear, however, that those efforts are also failing.
According to U.S. and European officials and experts, as much as 70 percent of the foreign assistance being sent to Syria ends up in regime-controlled areas. Recent visitors to Aleppo have told us they saw no sign of U.S. aid there, nor were local Syrians aware of any American assistance. As a result, people in the opposition-held north of Syria are starving, freezing and dying from disease because of shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies.
This failure to get American humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people has not only worsened the humanitarian crisis but has also created opportunities for extremist groups to provide relief services and thereby win even greater support from the Syrian people. To many, these extremists appear to be the only ones stepping in to help Syrians in the fight. Meanwhile, moderates in the Syrian opposition are being discredited and undercut by our lack of support — including the newly established Syrian opposition coalition, whose formation last month was made possible in part by U.S. diplomacy.
While recent regime defections and battlefield setbacks suggest that Assad’s hold on power is deteriorating, this conflict could grind on for some time, at an awful and escalating cost to Syria’s people, its neighbors and U.S. interests and prestige. It is not too late to avert a strategic and moral calamity in Syria, but doing so requires bold and decisive U.S. leadership that needs to come directly from President Obama.
The United States must rally our allies to channel assistance to the newly established Syrian opposition council for distribution in the rebel-held areas. We must provide weapons and other lethal assistance to the opposition military command. And we must impose a no-fly zone in some areas of Syria, to include using the U.S. Patriot missile batteries en route to Turkey, to protect people in northern Syria from Assad’s aerial attacks.
If we remain on the current course, future historians are likely to record the slaughter of innocent Syrians, and the resulting harm done to America’s national interests and moral standing, as a shameful failure of U.S. leadership and one of the darker chapters in our history. That should unsettle us all as we pray for peace and goodwill this holiday season.Dr. Charles H. Best and Dr. G.R. Williams check one of many experiments being conducted in the lab of the Charles H. Best Institute, University of Toronto. Image: National Film Board of Canada / Library and Archives Canada / PA-112972.
For many years scientists believed that some kind of internal secretion of the pancreas was the key to preventing diabetes and controlling normal metabolism. No one could find it, until in the summer of 1921 a team at the University of Toronto began trying a new experimental approach suggested by Dr. Frederick Banting.
For many years scientists believed that some kind of internal secretion of the pancreas was the key to preventing diabetes and controlling normal metabolism. No one could find it, until in the summer of 1921 a team at the University of Toronto began trying a new experimental approach suggested by Dr. Frederick Banting. By the spring of 1922, the Toronto researchers — Banting, Charles Best, J.B. Collip and their supervisor, J.J.R. Macleod, were able to announce the discovery of insulin. In 1923, Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize for one of the most important, and most controversial, breakthroughs in modern medical history.
Early Research
For many centuries people knew about diabetes mellitus (commonly referred to as diabetes), but it was only dimly understood until the end of the 19th century.
Initially, the body’s inability to process carbohydrates and other nutrients, signified most obviously by the presence of sugar in the urine, was thought to be a liver or a stomach disorder. In 1889 German researchers Oskar Minkowski and Josef von Mehring discovered that dogs that had their pancreas removed immediately became severely and fatally diabetic. Something in the pancreas appeared to be essential to prevent diabetes. Researchers immediately began to try to find the mysterious substance.
Results were mostly negative; for example, feeding pancreas to diabetic patients did no good. Still, new knowledge about the body’s dependence on chemical messengers — or hormones — added plausibility to the hypothesis that some kind of internal secretion of the pancreas maintains normal metabolism. The gland was already known to have an external secretion, digestive juices that flow into the duodenum. Another German researcher, Paul Langerhans, had discovered a separate system of cells in the pancreas, later named the islets of Langerhans, which came to be seen as the possible source of the elusive internal secretion. But how could the substance be separated from the rest of the pancreas?
In the meantime diabetes in its severe form, which often struck children, was a horrible disease. Patients expelled excess sugar via their urine, lost weight and strength, suffered many other complications, eventually fell into a coma and then died. Researchers kept hoping that by feeding or injecting diabetic animals or humans with portions of pancreas they could cause an improvement in their condition. The most common test would be to try to lower urinary sugar, or perhaps the blood sugar of a diabetic subject. Until the hoped-for discovery emerged, about all that people with diabetes could do to hold off their disease was eat less and less — postponing death from diabetes by literally starving themselves.
In the 30 years after Minkowski and von Mehring’s 1889 discovery hundreds of investigators around the world tried to find the internal secretion. A few of them, Georg Zuelzer in Germany, E.L. Scott and Israel Kleiner in the United States, N.C. Paulesco in Romania, reported promising findings. Yet their pancreatic extracts functioned erratically and unconvincingly, often with harmful side effects. By 1920, some scientists had given up, thinking the whole idea of an internal secretion of the pancreas was a wild goose chase. Others kept on searching; and by this time, they were starting to be able to use better tools, such as new techniques for quickly measuring sugar in the blood and urine.
Frederick Banting
Frederick Banting was the codeveloper of insulin and shared Canada's first Nobel Prize (artwork by Irma Coucill).
On the night of 31 October 1920, Dr. Frederick Banting, a young physician and surgeon in the city of London, Ontario, jotted down this idea for research about the pancreas:
Diabetus
Ligate pancreatic ducts of dog. Keep dogs alive till acini degenerate leaving Islets.
Try to isolate the internal secretion of these to relieve glycosurea.
Banting, a farmer’s son from Alliston, Ontario, had graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1916, served in the First World War, done post-graduate work in surgery and, while starting up a medical practice in London, was earning extra income as a part-time teacher in the physiology department at the local University of Western Ontario (now known as Western University). He developed his idea as a result of background reading he was doing to prepare a talk to medical students about the pancreas. Banting had little experience at research or at treating (or even spelling) diabetes.
Banting’s reasoning was that possibly others had not been able to find the internal secretion in their pancreatic mixtures because it was being destroyed by the organ’s well-known external secretion, the digestive juices produced in its acinar cellular system. Perhaps if the flow of digestive juices out of the pancreas could be stopped by surgically blocking or ligating the pancreatic ducts, then the pancreas would stop producing its external secretion. Its acinar cells would shrivel up, but its islet cells, perhaps the source of its internal secretion, would keep on producing the substance. It could then be isolated and used to treat diabetes.
John J.R. Macleod
Frederick Banting was advised at the University of Western Ontario to take his idea back to the University of Toronto, which had extensive research facilities under the direction of a renowned physiologist and expert in carbohydrate metabolism, John James Rickard Macleod. At their first meeting, Macleod was skeptical about both Banting’s idea and his credentials as a researcher. Macleod knew that much better trained scientists had worked on much the same idea. But he had surplus capacity, including research animals and enthusiastic student helpers, in his laboratory. He decided that no harm could come from letting Dr. Banting try to succeed where others had failed. Macleod offered Banting lab space, dogs to work on and the services of a student assistant during the summer of 1921.
One of Macleod’s student helpers, Charles Best, won a coin toss to be the first to start work with Banting. Banting and Best began their experiments under Macleod’s direction at the University of Toronto on 17 May 1921.
University of Toronto Research
Frederick Banting and Charles Best found that serious research was difficult, complicated and fraught with pitfalls. Doing pancreatic surgery to ligate the ducts of dogs was far from easy, especially during the sizzling Toronto heat of the summer of 1921. Accurately and consistently measuring the results of their work was also far from easy. Before J.J.R. Macleod left to holiday in his native Scotland, he gave the young researchers detailed guidance on procedures to follow in their work, including crucial advice on how to prepare extracts of pancreas from duct-ligated dogs for injection into other depancreatized (thus diabetic) dogs.
Banting and Best's laboratory where insulin was discovered (courtesy University of Toronto Archives/A1965-0004). Charles Best (left) and Frederick Banting, with a dog used in their experiments to isolate insulin (courtesy Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, U of T). PreviousNext
Banting pressed on with great determination and an enthusiast’s tendency to interpret his results always positively. On 30 July he and Best injected an extract of degenerated pancreas from a duct-ligated dog into another depancreatized, diabetic dog and observed a sharp drop in its blood sugar. Injections of extract into other dogs (the dogs had no names, only numbers) often seemed to reduce blood sugar. When Macleod returned to Toronto at summer’s end he was confronted by excited researchers who believed their experiments with what they called “isletin” were extremely successful.
Macleod was much more critical. He required the duo to repeat and elaborate upon their work, while disagreeing sharply with Banting about facilities and resources. As experiments continued in the autumn of 1921, Banting and Best found that they could discard the cumbersome procedure of duct-ligation. It was possible to make just as effective extract from fresh, chilled beef or pork pancreas obtainable at local slaughterhouses. Banting’s great idea, it turned out, had been useful only to start the Toronto research. In truth it was not particularly original, effective or even physiologically sound.
James Collip
The real problem was to make their pancreatic extracts work consistently and convincingly to treat the symptoms of diabetes. Chilling the pancreas (which inhibited enzyme action) had been an important step forward. The group also made progress with their techniques of trying to purify the ground-up tissue that seemed to contain the internal secretion.
James B. Collip worked with Banting and Best on the discovery of insulin (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-37756).
At Frederick Banting’s request, J.J.R. Macleod added a skilled biochemist to the team in December 1921. James Bertram Collip was a Toronto-educated professor at the University of Alberta, who had returned to the city to work for a few months with Macleod on other research. Collip immediately began improving Banting and Charles Best’s crude and inconsistently effective extracts. Still, the first presentation of the Toronto research at the end of December, by Banting and Best, to the American Physiological Society, met substantial criticism from an audience of distinguished diabetologists. The pattern of their results, though perhaps promising, did not yet seem to be significantly better than others had reported.
In January 1922 the Toronto group decided they could safely begin testing their pancreatic extracts on human subjects. On 11 January pancreatic extract made by Banting and Best was injected into the body of Leonard Thompson, a 14-year old boy on the brink of death from diabetes in Toronto General Hospital. Everyone was disappointed when measurements showed the test was a failure. But 12 days later, on 23 January, the team resumed administration of extract on Thompson, and now had spectacular success. His blood and urinary sugars went to normal and his other diabetic symptoms were alleviated. The group knew they were on to something very big in medicine.
The key to the breakthrough on Thompson was that Collip, working furiously, had been able to develop an improved extraction process to remove toxic contaminants from Banting and Best’s extract. His purer extract worked consistently and effectively, suggesting very powerfully that the Toronto team had indeed discovered the internal secretion of the pancreas.
The work now proceeded at a feverish pace. The group, which continued to expand, published a preliminary report of its clinical trials on Thompson and several other patients in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on 22 March 1922. On 3 May 1922, Macleod delivered a paper, “The Effects Produced on Diabetes by Extracts of Pancreas,” at the Washington, DC, meeting of the Association of American Physicians, in which the team first used the word “insulin.” Macleod had suggested this use of a Latin root for islets. The paper’s authors were F.G. Banting, C.H. Best, J.B. Collip, W.R. Campbell, A.A. Fletcher, J.J.R. Macleod and E.C. Noble. (Campbell and Fletcher were the clinicians who administered the extract on patients; Noble was another young physiologist).
The audience gave the Toronto researchers a standing ovation. In the eyes of most of the world this was Toronto’s announcement of the discovery of insulin.
For many years afterwards, the University of Toronto supervised insulin production on the basis of patents given to it by members of the discovery team. It licensed manufacturers, who, by the end of 1923, were able to make insulin available to victims of diabetes around the world. The addition of chemist Peter Moloney to the team in the spring of 1922 had marked a turning point in its production operations. The process Moloney developed for purifying insulin made it possible to produce the substance in large quantities.
Nobel Prize
Global excitement at the sudden appearance of an effective treatment for diabetes masked a nearly incredible story of rivalries and bitterness among the researchers involved.
Frederick Banting had had the idea that started everything. He thought that he and Charles Best, working mainly on their own, had discovered the internal secretion with their dog experiments in the summer and autumn of 1921. Banting had never liked J.J.R. Macleod; and he thought James Collip — with whom he had had at least one violent confrontation in the lab — had only added somewhat to the purification of insulin. Banting had well-placed friends in Toronto. Knowing that a Nobel Prize might well be awarded for insulin, they worked very hard to have Banting honoured, at home and abroad, as the discoverer of insulin.
Among experienced scientists there was more support for the view that Banting and Best’s somewhat fumbling researches would not have reached the goal without the contributions of both Macleod and Collip — along with other workers, such as those who had made recent crucial advances in the ability to measure and track changes in blood sugar levels. In its deliberations for the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Committee of the Caroline Institute in Sweden concluded that Banting would not have found the way to insulin without the guidance of Macleod. They awarded the 1923 prize — one of the fastest honourings of a discovery in the history of the awards — to Banting and Macleod. Banting immediately announced that Best should have been honoured and that he would divide his prize money equally with his young partner. Macleod announced that he would divide his prize money equally with Collip.
The Nobel Prize for insulin became highly controversial. Banting’s admirers, joined by Best and his friends, insisted that Macleod was improperly recognized, and that the award should have gone to Banting and Best. Years of propaganda, involving extensive distortion of history, established in the popular mind, especially in Canada, the view that insulin had been discovered by Banting and Best. Macleod and Collip became forgotten men.
Scientists and medical historians were more inclined to the view that the discovery of insulin involved a collaborative effort by a team of scientists — Banting, Best, Collip, Macleod and others. This is now the more accepted view at the University of Toronto and in other informed circles. From time to time there have also been campaigns to claim that one or other of the earlier researchers — Zuelzer, Scott, Paulesco and others — was the real discoverer of insulin. These claims have not been widely credited.
Significance
At Toronto’s Nobel Prize dinner in 1923, a wise scientist dismissed the honours controversy with the comment “in insulin there is glory enough for all.” Millions of diabetes sufferers around the world were less interested in battles for scientific prestige and power than they were in the fact that out of Canada had emerged a therapy that gave them relief from their disease. With the discovery of insulin, the primary question of diabetes became one of the quality of life, not the speed of death. Building on the contributions of their predecessors the Toronto group of Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip and J.J.R. Macleod had brought about a dramatic breakthrough, and one of medical research’s earliest successes.ES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account
London's first “crow cafe” has become involved in a row after it was revealed one of its bird handlers was convicted of animal welfare offences.
The pop-up cafe - set up by Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist David – saw hundreds of visitors, including actress Billie Piper, in Tower Hamlets last Sunday when it opened for one day only.
However it has now faced criticism after it emerged a handler who brought along three birds to show people had been found guilty of multiple animal welfare offences.
Stephen Burns, 59, was convicted after around 180 birds were found in cramped conditions at the rescue centre Raven Haven he ran from his home in Crowthorne, near Sandhurst.
Some had broken legs and wings and were in such a bad state they had to be destroyed by vets.
Mr Gilmour has said he knew of Burns’ conviction but added “everyone deserves a second chance.”
The bird sanctuary was raided by Thames Valley Police in May 2015 in a joint operation with the RSPCA, local vets and DEFRA.
Burns was given a six month sentence suspended for 18 months at Reading Magistrates’ Court last July for 42 counts of animal related crime.
He was also ordered to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work and banned from taking in any new birds at Raven Haven for 12 months.
Burns is not thought to be breaking any law for his appearance at the crow cafe as the ban did not extend to his existing collection of birds.
Mr Gilmour wrote in the Standard last week that the cafe was to educate the public on the corvid birds such as rooks, ravens and crows.
Some visitors reacted angrily on social media to Burns’ involvement.
One attendee said his involvement was a “disgrace” due to his conviction.
She said: “I personally am ashamed of having attended now and feel I have been tricked into something I would not support.”
Another visitor tweeted: “Why was Stephen Burns part of Crow Cafe. He has a conviction for cruelty against birds.”
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said the charity had welfare concerns about the “growing trend” of wildlife and animal-themed cafes in the capital.
She said: “A busy, noisy and bright cafe would be a stressful environment for these birds.
“We are concerned about the welfare of animals in entertainment, which is a largely unregulated area.”
In a statement online, Mr Gilmour said he initially planned to donate the proceeds from the crow cafe to Raven Haven until the conviction came to light.
Instead the £1,500 raised from 240 visitors will go to the Folly Wildlife Rescue charity in Tunbridge Wells.
Mr Gilmour said: “Like everyone here, I was deeply shocked when I read Raven Haven’s press.
“I also very strongly believe that once people have been punished by a court - as Steve was - that should be it.
“It’s not fair to continue to punish people for something they have already paid for. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Burns told the Standard: “I don’t really want to say anything at the moment but Charlie Gilmour knows me and knows what I’m about.
“I’m just trying to have some quiet time at the moment.
“The crow café was all for the benefit of the crows, that’s why I got involved. It was to raise awareness of what an underrated bird they are.”CM Punk returns to Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena this Saturday for UFC 203, the first time he will step in the building since he walked out on Vince McMahon before Raw on January 27, 2014.
Despite the fact that Punk has not wrestled in nearly three years—and is a mere two days away from making his debut in the Octagon—the disciplines of pro wrestling and pro fighting continue to intertwine in his life.
While Punk is finished with WWE, he is open to the idea of wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
“A long time ago I stopped saying ‘never,’ but that’s a loaded question,” Punk explained. “I don’t know the answer. No matter what I say, it’s going to take on a life of its own.”
Punk turns 38 in October. Although both Punk and UFC president Dana White have publicly stated that he has a multi-fight UFC contract, there is no defeating Father Time in the cage. Punk’s age, however, would not hinder him in pro wrestling, and the chance to compete in Japan would fulfill his boyhood dream.
“When I started wrestling, I never wanted to go to WWE,” said Punk, who wrestled in Japan in 2003 for Pro Wrestling Zero1. “It was the Japanese life for me. I romanticized guys, like [Eddie] Guerrero, [Chris] Benoit, [Chris] Jericho, who went over there, and it just sounded like such an awesome life. You’d go over there for two, three, four weeks, and you come back and nobody knows who the f--- you are. I could go get ice cream with my sisters without being harassed, and that was always my style.”
Punk’s fight with Mickey Gall is only two days away, but his battle began the moment he signed with UFC. His UFC signing, announced by Dana White on December 6, 2014 at UFC 181, set off a firestorm of criticism.
The rush to judge bothered Punk but did not crack him. In fact, the same doubt was cast on him thirteen years ago while wrestling in Japan.
“One of the biggest moments for me was when I wrestled in Japan, and I was told I was too small to be a heavyweight and too big to be a cruiserweight,” said Punk. “I remember thinking, ‘What the f--- do I do now? This was my dream.’ So I re-evaluated and got new goals, and I could have quit then but I didn’t.
“It’s just like fighting. It’s something I want to do, people laugh and say ‘you can’t do it,’ and then I think, ‘Why should I believe you?’ and I go out and do it. Things that you learn along the way and things that you gain, it’s all positive. I could think of awful stories when I didn’t think I’d survive the night, and now I’ve learned from it and grown from it.”
Undeterred, Punk continues to move forward by training and refusing to allow the self-doubt of others to cripple him.
“I’m a polarizing person, so people get caught up in hoping I fail,” said Punk. “And just like success, failure is a perspective. If I go out there and lose a split decision, then I lost the fight. But did I fail? I don’t know. Everybody has a different perspective.
“Winning is different based on your perspective, just like success is different based on your perspective. I’m not sure how often I win at things. To me, just doing this is winning. I don’t think about shocking the world or changing everybody’s mind, but I just think about going out there and doing what I was taught to do and showing people that, if you want to do something, then work hard at it and it can be done.”
Punk remains an unproven commodity in mixed martial arts, but he is arguably the most compelling box office attraction in wrestling. Even after an arduous training camp, led by Roufusport’s renowned MMA expert Duke Roufus, Punk admits that the grind of pro wrestling is far more taxing on the mind, body, and soul than fighting.
“If I come in here on a day and I’m not feeling it, and if I wasn’t in camp, I would look at everybody and say, ‘You know what guys? Not today,’” said Punk. “I’d go home and rest, but you can’t do that in wrestling. You get off the plane, load up on coffee—or whatever stimulants (when the reporter mentioned to the colorfully tattooed Punk that his stimulant of choice is Pepsi Cola, he replied, “Some people like coke, if you know what I mean”), and it’s just go, go, go, go, go, go.
“It’s a lifestyle you’ve got to do when you’re younger. I got too f------ old for it. I was sick of it. I met my wife, and it’s not a life conducive of happiness, at least in my opinion. I wasn’t happy, now I’m happy. I can come in here and I can still feel like s---, and I can still get something done and learn something, then sleep in my own bed every day. Comparing the two are apples to oranges. You can find parallels and comparisons, but they’re two different animals.”
Punk is still capable of cutting the sharpest promo in sports, which will be on display with a victory this Saturday—he is, after all, the originator of the “Mic Drop”—but he is also extremely humble and gracious. His humility was on display as he expressed his gratefulness for his time in pro wrestling and the opportunities it continues to provide him.
“Of course I’m happy with my time in professional wrestling,” said Punk. “I met some great people, I met my wife, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Evolving from a career in the sports entertainment business to a crash course in the unforgiving reality of mixed martial arts—which, in Punk’s case, happened practically overnight—is no easy task.
“The only thing I can touch on that is sometimes I’m too nice in the cage,” said Punk. “Sometimes I’m still in pro wrestling mode. Instead of snatching an arm right away, I’m not cranking on it as much as I should, which would end a fight. But there’s also been situations where I’ve been put in a sparring situation and my head is in the right spot.”
Punk’s job in wrestling was to make punches look stiff and believable while protecting |
ised Sikhs are allowed to carry ceremonial swords
Now their work detailing the origins of the religion has become the subject of a new book, unveiled at the National Army Museum in central London.
The book, Warrior Saints: Four Centuries of Sikh Military History, explores the people, events and ideas that gave rise to a warrior culture, through 90 rare historical images and contemporary testimonies from archives around the world.
Hidden history
Co-author Parmjit Singh, of Southall, said: "For the past 20 years, we have been on a wonderful journey of discovery to reveal this hidden history.
''The reputation of the Sikhs as warriors is well known throughout the world. However, how they gained that reputation has never been fully told or appreciated.
"Indeed, the details have always been sketchy, even to Sikhs themselves."
The book features illustrations comprising rare historical paintings, photographs, artefacts and maps.
They explore the martyrdoms and conflicts that gave rise to a culture steeped in the teachings of Guru Nanak, the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus.
"The images in the book offer a fairly complete and unprecedented window into Sikh history, in a way never captured before," said Mr Singh.
''It is a tale of enormous fortitude and resolve that rivals any military history through the ages," he added.
Image caption Veteran Akali-Nihang armed with bow and arrows
One of the images in the book shows what is thought to be the only contemporary portrait of the Sixth Guru, Hargobind.
He raised the first Sikh standing army after his father, the fifth guru, was executed.
Fighting oppression
Guru Hargobind started to militarise Sikhs so that they would be able to resist any oppression.
"It's a stunning portrait of the first real warrior amongst the ten gurus," said Mr Singh.
"It's a remarkable find for us to have a portrait that is believed to be from his actual lifetime."
The authors said they wanted to remind modern generations of Sikhs about the struggles and history of their ancestors, which they believe has been forgotten by many.
Co-author Amandeep Madra, of Hillingdon, said: "People think of the Sikh warrior tradition as coming into being with the founding of the Khalsa in 1699 by the 10th Guru, Gobind Singh.
"In fact, its roots lie in the teachings of Guru Nanak in the 1500s and in the struggles of the Sikhs for survival from the early 1600s."
Many Sikhs in the capital have welcomed the long-awaited book.
The director of the City Sikhs Network, Jasvir Singh, said it gave context to the Sikh community today and how it developed from the Gurus to the modern day.
"It's very accessible to be able to make a connection between Sikh history and present day Sikhs through the images.
"It's different to other books because it's engaging and really highlights what the Sikh community was like then and how has it evolved.
"It is a wonderful way to restore and preserve our history for generations to come.''
You can hear more on this story on BBC Asian Network on Saturday 4th May.Mysterious clowns have been seen lurking in the streets of the northern Israeli town of Afula and residents don’t think it’s funny.
In fact, many are terrified.
Social networks and WhatsApp groups in the town have been buzzing over recent days with parents discussing reports and rumors about mysterious clowns loitering on streets after dark.
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One mother wrote, “My children are hysterical over this whole story,” according to the local Emek News site.
Many speculated that Afula’s clowns had been inspired by the horror movie “It” based on a Stephen King novel and featuring Pennywise, the dancing clown.
Police said they are looking into it, but face paint and red noses are not crime.
“A wave of rumors apparently started after people saw a video clip of a clown in fancy dress,” a police statement said,
“Even though we have not received any complaints, we made a number of inquiries and located a number of youths in clown costumes. They said they were just playing with the costumes for fun. Obviously, this is not a crime.
“Despite that, we explained to them and to their parents that this is sensitive in light of the movie and the clip that has gone round on social media. Beyond this, everything is just rumor.”Jared Bernstein is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington and a former chief economist to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Last week, Dean Baker and I asserted on this blog that the Phillips Curve has flattened over the years, and this development means policy makers face a diminished risk of inflation in the pursuit of full employment.
This week, I’d like to unpack that very dense sentence.
Today's Economist Perspectives from expert contributors.
First, what’s the Phillips Curve (and who was Phillips)? For one, he was a Kiwi, one of a line now including the great New Zealand economists Julia Lane and Chye-Ching Huang (to name only the ones I personally know). The Phillips Curve is a negatively sloping line in a graph with wage or price growth on the Y axis and unemployment on the X axis. The more slack in the job market, the less pressure we expect on wage growth and thus price growth.
Now, when you think unemployment/inflation trade-off, you are likely to think of the Federal Reserve. When its governors ply monetary policy to lower unemployment, as they’re doing today, they typically worry about pushing too far and generating inflation. The Phillips Curve tells them how much to worry, i.e., how much they would expect inflation to accelerate for each percentage point reduction in unemployment.
We’ll get to the main event – the flattening of the curve – in a moment, but first we need to dive a bit deeper into the Phillips Curve weeds. The equation below is one way economists think of the curve these days, and it will help in our analysis of how it has changed over time.
inf = inf_exp – K x (U-U*)
Inflation (inf in the equation) today is a function of expected inflation minus the slope of the curve (that’s the “K,” for Kiwi) times the unemployment gap, a measure of labor market slack defined by the actual unemployment rate minus the full employment rate. Each one of those terms to the right of the equal sign has evolved in important ways.
First, it is widely believed that inflationary expectations have become increasingly well-anchored. The Fed has convinced people that inflation will generally flit about its target rate of 2 percent. That doesn’t mean the Fed can stop a price spike resulting from some supply shock or other, like a disruption to the oil supply. But the expectation is embedded in the system such that once the temporary shock is resolved, inflation will settle back to its expected rate.
Second, K, the negative slope of the Phillips Curve, has drifted up toward zero. My own estimate is shown below in the solid line, using the same method as in this important paper by Laurence Ball and Sandeep Mazumder.
Photo
Clearly, K has moved around over time, posting the biggest negatives in the 1970s, when inflation was buffeted about by supply shocks and poorly anchored. In fact, the 1970s is the only period wherein the standard error lines do not cross zero, suggesting the slope has actually been hard to identify with precision for most of its recent life.
Most recently, K by this estimate has been around zero. If that were true, and I don’t think it is, there would be no trade-off at all. But as Dean Baker and I wrote last week, “The fact that inflation has grown less responsive to lower unemployment means the weighting of the risks associated with the unemployment-inflation trade-off has changed in favor of full employment.”
True, one could assert that a flatter curve actually makes it harder for the Fed to reduce price pressures through higher unemployment, but I don’t think that’s a problem. In fact, along with the stronger anchoring function, numerous other factors are probably reducing inflation these days, including the increased supply of goods courtesy of globalization and sticky nominal wages. The Phillips Curve is a stalwart macroeconomic war horse, but it’s an awfully simple, if not reductionist, construct.
One last point. There’s something important and interesting going on with the last part of that equation above. First, U (the unemployment rate) is biased down because so many people have dropped out of the labor force, meaning the actual unemployment gap is larger than the measured one and implying that the labor market is probably putting more downward pressure on prices than we thought (and suggesting that the Fed should lower its unemployment target accordingly).
Second, and this pushes the other way (i.e., toward a smaller unemployment gap), the share of the unemployed who are long-termers is higher than it has ever been, and this too plays out in the Phillips Curve. A fundamental relation behind the curve is that as more unemployed unsuccessfully search for work, wage and price pressures diminish. But other research finds that the longer you’re unemployed, the less intense is your job search, so these folks may have little impact on wage pressure.
The interesting point about this right now is that if you ran an equation like the one above on today’s data, you might expect deflation. One reason we’re not there may be because all those long-termers raise the unemployment rate but don’t put much downward pressure on wages and prices.
The key conclusion is that the trade-off between unemployment and inflation is a lot less steep than it used to be, inflationary expectations are well-anchored and, even in good times, most workers these days have little bargaining power. That’s one reason they’re seeing so few gains from a recovery that’s a lot more evident on Wall Street than on Main Street.
So policy makers should seriously down-weight the phantom menace of inflation. Even if they overshoot on the unemployment side, an extremely unlikely result in today’s policy climate, the impact on prices is likely to be minimal.Paul Benson pleased to end near six-year wait for Dagenham & Redbridge start
Paul Benson of Dagenham & Redbridge and Michael Poke of Woking (pic: David Simpson/TGS Photo) ©TGS Photo tgsphoto.co.uk +44 1376 553468
Paul Benson made his first start for Dagenham & Redbridge in 2,184 days at Woking on Saturday and jokingly hopes he does not have to wait as long for his next.
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Of course, the 36-year-old has been away from the club for much of that time having moved to Charlton Athletic in August 2010, with his previous start for Daggers coming on August 28 that year.
The striker rejoined the club on a one-year deal in the summer following his release from Luton Town to link up with boss John Still for the third time in his career.
Benson had made two appearances from the bench before being named in the starting XI for the trip to the Cards after Oliver Hawkins was ruled out with a back injury.
The evergreen forward was understandably delighted to start his first Daggers game in nearly six years, but admits it did come as something of a surprise.
“It was brilliant to start against Woking and I didn’t know I would be starting until a couple of hours before,” said Benson.
“Hawks had unfortunately picked up an injury, so it wasn’t planned, but it was nice to be back.
“Hopefully I can get a few more under the belt, because I certainly need it!”
Benson’s return to Victoria Road has been warmly received by the fans, with whom he has always had a great relationship.
When he was unveiled at half time on the opening day of the season, the striker was given a raptuous applause, while his subsequent appearances since have received a similar reception.
And Benson is delighted that even after six years away, he and the Daggers supporters still enjoy a good relationship.
“Ever since I signed first, they’ve always backed me and that’s what helped me have the success the first time around,” he added.
“They backed me from the moment I first came as if I was one of their own.
“We’ve had a great relationship and I’ve always given 100 per cent every time I’ve played for the club.
”Likewise, the fans have always given me 100 per cent, always backed me, so I’m grateful for the support they give me.”From the USC instructor that taught you about selfies
The role of universities in the fight against “fake news” has not yet been determined, but some professors are taking the initiative to teach students about it.
Oh, and to help them write their own fake news.
“How to Write and Read Fake News: Journalism in the Age of Trump,” which reached its full winter enrollment of 142 students just before Christmas, is not part of any accredited university curriculum.
It’s the latest online class in a six-year-old semi-satirical project called UnderAcademy College, created by Winona State University’s Talan Memmott, identified as its “provost.”
It calls itself “a shadow-academic environment offering alternative courses and anti-degree programs,” and its primary mission is to “remain open, marginal, and unaccredited.”
The “college” started as a response to the proliferation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) at institutions such as MIT, but its aim is to deliver a liberal-arts education in MOOC format, Memmott told The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2012.
Puns galore
The three-week fake news class is co-taught by Memmott and University of Southern California Writing Prof. Mark Marino, one of UnderAcademy’s early instructors.
The free, open-enrollment course aims to “cover all the basics in producing and consuming real fake news,” according to its description, which is written more like a satirical article in The Onion than a syllabus.
MORE: Meet the Ariz. lawmaker fighting liberal stranglehold on higher ed
“In the age of the RealFakeDonaldTrump, the fourth estate Journalism has been usurped by a fifth estate, Journullism,” the description reads, calling Memmott and Marino “co-digressors”:
In this course, we will teach: The five Ws of Fake News — who,what, where, why, and WTF, Digital Manipulation, photoschlopping (digital photography manipulation) hoaxing for fun and profit, and mild misleading. With a heavy emphasis on easing ethical anxieties, the course will help you learn to navigate the vicissitudes of a world unencumbered by empirical facts. Reality TV was the first wave. The age of the Surreal Society is Upon us. And the supreme commander is Donald Trump. Don’t sink under the waves of this tsunami of fake tsnews! [sic]
It asks students to “ROCK ENROLL” on a Google Docs form.
Our Fake News course launches January 20th! We are ready 2 raise the next-gen fact-free journalists! @UnderAcademy https://t.co/tWqrkwP4st — Mark C. Marino (@markcmarino) January 4, 2017
Marino told “edtech” publisher EdSurge News that the Donald Trump course – scheduled to start on Inauguration Day – is not “pure satire” but rather an “artistic adventure” in which students will be prepared for their roles as “21st century jour-null-ists.”
Intersectional selfies
It’s not Marino’s first artistic adventure. He taught a class on selfies to his own USC students and made public one of the assignments two years ago:
Take or choose 5 selfies of yourself. You may be alone or with another person, but try to make sure you are a central and large part of the photo. All of the selfies should be different. Examine your selfies for your performance of Race-ethnicity Socio-economic status MORE: Journalism students not learning about new flood of legal threats Sexuality Gender Consider these identity characteristics independently and as they intersect.
Marino then tasked his #SelfieClass students with writing a “thesis-driven essay” on how their selfies “produce or obscure a sense of your identity,” analyzing the photos for “three intersecting and overlapping identity characteristics.”
#SelfieClass was featured by USC’s in-house news operation. Marino told USC that selfies have a “delicious ironic energy around them” and are “iconic of our age,” just as the self-portraits or religious journals of the past “were the selfies of their moment.”
If we mislead people, well, so does The Onion
Addressing the potential ethical concerns of intentionally publishing “fake news,” Marino told EdSurge News that his class is indeed like The Onion, which “has misled people in the past and again.”
Misleading the public is a “price of engaging in a satirical activity” and will eventually “take away” some of the “power” of fake news, Marino said.
MORE: Male students to undergo ‘critical self-reflection’ of masculinity
Student assignments include “live mis-tweeting the inaugural address,” creating fake digital images, and holding a mock State of the Union address in which the co-digressors “will try to mis-direct and mis-answer” the students, who will in turn “incorrectly” report the event.
Students will see if they can find “at least one online source” that verifies a fake news story, Marino said. They will also put their own fake news “into the self-publishing journalism eco-sphere,” he added.
Marino’s larger goal seems to be teaching students about serious subjects in a silly manner.
His “sillybus” for a previous UnderAcademy course, “Grammar Porn,” says students will explore “the libidinal qualities of grammatical intercourse,” but admits that the course “may very well be” simply an excuse “to make tawdry puns about punctuation.”
MORE: Study selfies at USC and Indiana U. Northwest
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IMAGES: Shutterstock, UnderAcademy College screenshot, markcmarino.com screenshotNatus Vincere still do not know if they will be able to field their full lineup at ESWC 2015 due to visa problems affecting their Russian players.
Ukrainian duo Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev and Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko, and Slovakian AWPer were able to obtain their visas without any problem, but Egor "flamie" Vasilyev and Denis "seized" Kostin have encountered issues and may have to miss the Canadian event, which starts on Friday.
If the Russian duo are unable to travel to Canada, then Na`Vi will field Sergey "starix" Ischuk and Arseny "ceh9" Trynozhenko as stand-ins, the team announced.
ceh9 and starix may have to play for Na`Vi in Montreal
Earlier on Tuesday, seized took to Twitter to lament that the Canadian embassy was not doing everything in its power to help him and his Russian team-mate obtain visas to attend the event.
Sixteen teams from all over the world will be competing at ESWC 2015, where a total of $75,000 will be on offer.I’ve attended six same-sex weddings over the last couple of years, with two more on the horizon. That hardly makes me Katherine Heigl in “27 Dresses.” Having too many happily marrying friends is also a minuscule problem, as problems go. As my friend Shaw snapped, “Be grateful anyone wants your whiny face around at all.”
But whine I will: when you’re not used to attending any weddings (or have grown out of the practice), this starts to feel like an awful lot of toasting and tuxedo wearing and traveling.
“I completely support gay marriage and understand the value and beauty of it, but like anything else there’s a saturation point,” said Scott Cooke, a principal at GCK Partners, a New York marketing firm. “A little goes a long way, and most gay men don’t have any interest in little. They feel a need to make a big show — ta-dah! — and you get burned out on that really quickly, or at least I do.”
Mr. Cooke, who has attended seven gay weddings and was recently invited to an eighth, added in a whisper: “This is kind of a taboo thing to admit. Does it make me sound like a bad gay?”
Some people would probably say yes — same-sex marriage needs all the support it can get at a time when states like North Carolina are willing to ban it outright. Even joking about fatigue can rub people the wrong way. Dustin Lance Black, the marriage equality advocate and Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Milk,” responded to an e-mail about high-frequency gay-wedding guests like this: “Weddings among my friends have come to a screeching halt in hopes of legal weddings here in California sooner than later.”
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Janet Barros, a 71-year-old retiree in Taunton, Mass., said she had been to at least 12 same-sex weddings since her home state legalized them in 2004 and can’t imagine anyone tiring of them. “Each and every one has been lovely and moving,” she said. “I love that gay couples get to write their own rules about what the ceremony and reception should be like. They always thrill with their unpredictability.”
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Or they can turn awkward, as couples, looking for guidance and finding little in wedding books and on Web sites, cling a little too rigorously to tradition. The throwing of a garter? If you’re two guys, just don’t do it. Ever.
But in most ways, gay weddings are exactly the same as straight ones, which is to say, an emotional minefield. The push and pull between the sets of parents. Who was asked to make a toast and who wasn’t. The pity parties (always a bridesmaid, never a bride). Same-sex weddings can also add an additional layer of angst: Why can’t my father be more supportive of my relationship, the way that weeping father of the groom appears to be? Am I really allowed to feel euphoria for my marrying gay friends when the Defense of Marriage Act is still in place?
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Same-sex weddings can also make us wince as stereotypes go on display in mixed company. Exhibit A: lesbians plodding down the aisle to the Judds. (Or all those times I shrieked and Rockette-kicked when “Dancing Queen” came on at the reception.) I’m talking about one bride in a frilly Vera Wang and one in a butch pantsuit. You’re a better person than I am if that attire doesn’t make your mind wander into areas of their relationship it doesn’t belong.
Mr. Shields, who has been invited to five gay weddings and has a sixth coming up, recalls two men who married in an art gallery filled with S-and-M paintings.
“One was a picture of a naked George Washington dwarf standing on top of a pile of slave dwarfs in fetish gear,” he said. “All I could think was, ‘Oh, please, no — we have moms in the room.’ ” Daniel Nardicio, the New York night-life promoter, said he was invited to a nude gay wedding last fall on Fire Island; not all of the 150 or so guests took the invitation at its word, including Mr. Nardicio, but most did.
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“Be who you are, I guess,” Mr. Nardicio said. (Can you imagine the starvation diet you’d have to go on after getting that invite?)
Judgment, a favorite gay hobby, factors in, too. A lot of my friends, for instance, think it’s weird for two men who have been together for 30 years to have a big, traditional wedding. In the opposite extreme, it’s hard not to worry when new boyfriends decide to leap into marriage. We’ve all been to straight weddings and wondered how long they would last. But it’s easy to put those thoughts aside and enjoy the party. So what if they end up getting divorced? Society accepts that.
It’s not as easy with the Gays. Since the battle for marriage equality is still raging, the last thing you want to do is hand the opposition ammunition. See! They’re destroying the sanctity of marriage! Toldja!
“There are a lot of gay people running out and getting married who probably shouldn’t,” Mr. Nardicio said. “It’s understandable, of course, because they’re so excited that they finally have equal rights. But still.”
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How is he navigating the invitations? “I choose very judiciously,” he said. “You just have to be confident enough to say no.”
Mike Vollman, a movie marketing consultant, laughed when I complained about the wed-a-thon happening among my friends. Enjoy it while you can, he said, because weddings are a breeze compared with what comes next.
“Oh, just wait,” he said. “We’re now on the other side of the gay-wedding bubble with our friends. You know what’s there? I call it death by gay baby shower.”New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday ruled out any tie-up with the JD(U) in Bihar even if it snaps ties with the RJD, whose leader Lalu Prasad and his kin are facing corruption allegations.
Modi also said that nothing much should be read into the "issue-based" friendship between Nitish Kumar and the National Democratic Alliance in the wake of the JD(U)'s support to BJP's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.
He said only the BJP Parliamentary Board can decide on any political developments in Bihar.
"There is no such plan with the BJP (of tying up with JD(U)). In case of any fresh political development, the BJP Parliamentary Board alone is empowered to take a decision," Modi, a former Deputy Chief Minister, told IANS in an interview.
He was asked to comment on Bihar BJP President Nithyanand Rai's reported remarks that the BJP would consider providing outside support to the JD(U) if it snaps ties with Lalu Prasad's RJD.
Modi said Rai had denied making such a statement.
Modi said the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have supported each other on certain issues but this should not be seen as the two parties coming together.
"The support (in the Presidential election) is issue based and nothing more should be read into it. The BJP has supported Nitish Kumar's liquor prohibition policy and he has supported the NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind," he said.
"But for Vice President's election, his (Nitish Kumar) party has supported the UPA candidate."
Modi also said his party was not hatching any conspiracy to destabilise the Bihar government.
"The BJP is not interested in breaking any alliance or government. The government will only fall because of the corruption (charges) and other things against its partners."
The CBI, the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate are probing several cases of corruption against Lalu Prasad and his family including his son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, daughter Misa Bharati and her husband.
The CBI raided the residences of Lalu Prasad's family in connection with an alleged case of corruption in giving tenders of two hotels to a private company when he was railway minister.
In the CBI case, Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi and his son Tejashwi Yadav have been named among the accused.
Modi said the people had given a mandate to the Grand Alliance of the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), RJD and the Congress and they should run the government.
Asked about the Bihar chief minister's "silence" over the allegations of corruption against Tejashwi Yadav, Modi said: "The day Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad made the alliance, he had compromised with his integrity and transparency. He joined hands with Lalu Prasad to remain in power and now it has become a 'gale ki haddi' for him.
"The only option left with him is to dismiss Tejashwi Yadav," he said.
Modi also said that during his stint as NDA chief minister, he had set a very high benchmark. In that light, he must dismiss Lalu Prasad's son, the BJP leader said.
"After maintaining silence for four days, Nitish Kumar has given an ultimatum to the RJD to give a point-by-point rebuttal on the alleged corruption allegations," Modi said.
"The RJD has taken a stand that Tejashwi Yadav won't resign. Now Nitish Kumar has to take a call."
He said Nitish Kumar cannot give "good governance" in the company of Lalu Prasad.
The BJP leader pointed out that Nitish Kumar had earlier stated there will be no compromise on the issues of corruption and crime.
He said the BJP wants a time-line from Nitish Kumar over the Tejashwi Yadav issue.
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.Moments after the Russian ambassador to Turkey was shot dead during an exhibition by an attacker who screamed "Allahu Akbar", Swiss Blick magazine reported that three people were hurt during a shooting at an Islamic center in Zurich.
#BREAKING THREE PEOPLE HURT IN SHOOTING AT #ZURICH ISLAMIC CENTRE - BLICK NEWSPAPER — Global Markets Forum (@ReutersGMF) December 19, 2016
The initial report from Blick is sparse, and follows, google translated.:
As the city police confirms against BLICK, an operation runs: Three people were injured. Nothing is known about the severity of the injuries-just as much on the offense. The area around the military street / ice lane was closed off by the police. (Rey)
Swiss 20 Minuten adds the following:
Shots have fallen in a Muslim center in the Militärstrasse / Eisgasse in Zurich. Three people were injured as the city police confirmed a message of "look" about 20 minutes. One of the perpetrators is on the run.
Developing storyJep, i just finished my second predator tank. In fact i finished it on Saturday, along with some more models yet to be uploaded (but i have already taken their pictures )
This one (as well as the upcoming 2 uploads) have been weathered quite much, mostly to test the effect. All upcoming models will be finished in a hopefully efficient way for a solid look making games fun to watch, but i don't want to go overboard as i am tired of painting them. I will use the models as a canvas to learn new techniques and methods to make the upcoming army as prefect as possible!
Feel free to spread this piece to your friends! Be sure to leave a link to this submission or to my Deviantart profile!African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an international ban on the ivory trade took effect in 1989. But the public outcry that resulted in that ban is absent today, and a University of Washington conservation biologist contends it is because the public seems to be unaware of the giant mammals' plight.
The elephant death rate from poaching throughout Africa is about 8 percent a year based on recent studies, which is actually higher than the 7.4 percent annual death rate that led to the international ivory trade ban nearly 20 years ago, said Samuel Wasser, a UW biology professor.
But the poaching death rate in the late 1980s was based on a population that numbered more than 1 million. Today the total African elephant population is less than 470,000.
"If the trend continues, there won't be any elephants except in fenced areas with a lot of enforcement to protect them," said Wasser.
He is lead author of a paper in the August issue of Conservation Biology that contends elephants are on a course that could mean most remaining large groups will be extinct by 2020 unless renewed public pressure brings about heightened enforcement.
Co-authors are William Clark of the Interpol Working Group on Wildlife Crime and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Ofir Drori of the Last Great Ape Organization in Cameroon, Emily Kisamo of the Lusaka Agreement Task Force in Kenya, Celia Mailand of the UW, Benezeth Mutayoba of Sokoine University in Tanzania and Matthew Stephens of the University of Chicago.
Wasser's laboratory has developed DNA tools that can determine which elephant population ivory came from. That is important because often poachers attack elephants in one country but ship the contraband ivory from an adjacent nation to throw off law enforcement.
For instance, 6.5 tons of ivory seized in Singapore in 2002 were shipped from Malawi, but DNA tracking showed the ivory came originally from an area centered on Zambia. Similarly, a 2006 shipment of 3.9 tons seized in Hong Kong had been sent from Cameroon, but DNA forensics showed it came from an area centered on Gabon.
Evidence gathered from recent major ivory seizures shows conclusively that the ivory is not coming from a broad geographic area but rather that hunters are targeting specific herds. With such information, Wasser said, authorities can beef up enforcement efforts and focus them in specific areas where poaching is known to occur as a means of preventing elephants from being killed. But that will only happen if there is sufficient public pressure to marshal funding for a much larger international effort to halt the poaching.
In 1989, most international ivory trade was banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which regulates trade in threatened and endangered species. The restrictions banned ivory trade except for ivory from elephants that nations legally culled from their herds or those that died naturally.
At the time the treaty was enacted, poachers were killing an average of 70,000 elephants a year. The ban instigated much stronger enforcement efforts, nearly halting poaching almost immediately. However, that sense of success resulted in waning enforcement. Western aid was withdrawn four years after the ban was enacted and poaching gradually increased to the current alarming rates, Wasser said.
"The situation is worse than ever before and the public is unaware," he said, "It's very serious because elephants are an incredibly important species. They keep habitats open so other species that depend on such ecosystems can use them. Without elephants, there will be major habitat changes, with negative effects on the many species that depend on the lost habitat.
"Elephants also are a major part of ecotourism, which is an important source of hard currency for many African countries."
The illegal ivory trade is being carried out mostly by large crime syndicates, Wasser believes, and is being driven by growing markets in China and Japan, where ivory is in demand for carvings and signature stamps called hankos.
In addition, in the last few years demand has risen sharply in the United States, where much of the ivory is used to make knife handles and gun grips. In fact, a May report from the Care for the Wild International, a not-for-profit British natural protection organization, ranks the U.S. second behind China as a marketplace for illegal ivory.
But the illegal ivory trade has gotten relatively low priority from prosecutors, and new laws promoting global trade have created "a policing nightmare," Wasser says, which makes ivory poaching a high-profit, low-risk endeavor.
The only way to curb the trade, he believes, is to focus enforcement in areas where the ivory comes from in the first place, before it enters the complex, global crime trade network. Public support is crucial to helping reduce demand and to spur the needed enforcement help from the West.
However, Wasser believes that news reports about the need to cull excess elephants from managed populations in three or four countries have led many people to believe incorrectly that there are too many elephants in Africa. Those managed populations are confined by fences that limit the elephants' natural movements.
"Public support stopped the illegal ivory trade back in 1989 and can do so again," Wasser said. "The work with DNA sampling allows us to focus law enforcement on poaching hot spots.
"It forces countries to take more responsibility for what goes on within their borders, and it also gives us more insight on where to look so that, hopefully, we can stop the poachers before the elephants are actually killed."
The work was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service African Elephant Conservation Fund, the University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.One of the major 9.7 changes is separating new players from experienced ones on tiers 1-3 (no more pedobears, unless you make a twink)-9.7 will not bring changes to individual missions, 9.8 will bring a large set of changes however;-It's not possible to release the set of changes via a mini-patch;-Platoon finder will not come in 9.7 or 9.8, but later;-The IM changes will include both description fixing and actual changes in IM conditions;-It's not clear yet whether the penetration changes in first 9.7 test will appear in final 9.7 version, developers will think about it (it's possible it will, it's possible it will not);-It's not clear what the conditions for making a difference between newbie and experienced player on tiers 1-3 are (RG: Seriously?);-"Want skill MM? Play team battles with leagues.";-There are more plans (apart from the penetration nerf in 9.7) "to make the life of HT's easier";-Some extremely high pen gold shells will have their penetration nerfed;-More complicated shell mechanisms (like special properties for sub-caliber shells or crit like in War Thunder) will not be introduced, because it would make the game too complicated and when shooting at large distances, the game would behave "randomly". Storm states that one of the main reasons why the game was so successful is the simplicity of gameplay;-Gold ammo (as a premium improved option) will not be removed;-Q: "With the appearance of special MM rule to separate newbies from experienced players, I'll make a twink" A (Storm): "Spitting on you!";-The rules to protect new players do not mean that the old SerB's motto "if you are skilled, you can pwn" is no longer valid, but newbies have to be protected. The issue of sealclubbing grew a lot recently, pedobears are driving new players away (RG: Not just recently);- |
Q: Have you been to Darfur?
A: Nope.
Q: Do you know how it feels to work there?
A: Nope.
Omnia Abbas smiled as she remembered the first two questions of a job interview two years ago that changed her life. Now she is the field representative for a nonprofit that is working to reduce air pollution and improve people’s lives in the rural areas of Darfur by producing a better cooking stove.
In her Oakland office, the young Sudanese woman is surrounded by household items used in the rural areas of northern Darfur. Hanging on the wall is a traditional Sudanese handmade bag, a gofa, normally used to temporary store the aseeda, the Sudanese local bread, and other food items. A steel pot, known as tambal bai, often used for cooking the aseeda, is stationed on top of a new special stove.
Abbas’s journey started at a job interview in Khartoum, Sudan, and led her to the Oakland-based company Potential Energy, which makes and distributes those special stoves. Her job has also taken her since then through the Abo Shook and AL Salam IDP camps – that is the international shorthand for the temporary homes of “internally displaced persons” – in northern Darfur, Sudan.
“I have no Idea what I was going for when I applied to this job,” Abbas said. The job is maintaining the connection between Potential Energy and the local partners organization in Sudan that works closely with the people on the ground.
Women in Darfur, Abbas said, traditionally do their cooking on a “ladayah,” a stove that sits upon three rocks heated by a wood fire below. But these ladayahs can cause health problems and air pollution. According to the World Heath Organization, 4 million people every year die “prematurely” from illnesses connected to household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/
The traditional firewood cooking stove caused additional hardship in Darfur, where firewood has grown scarce over the last 20 years. Due to deforestation, war, and climate change, firewood became very expensive. Women in northern Darfur IDP camps have been known to walk for miles to get the firewood – facing the risk of being kidnaped, raped or murdered.
In an effort to address both problems, Potential Energy, in cooperation with Berkeley Labs and Engineers Without Borders, has invented a new energy-efficient stove call the Berkeley Darfur Stove (BDS) – a stove that uses less firewood, and produces less harmful smoke.
The stove is cylindrical, about the size of a recycling bin, and weighs 11 pounds. It has a curved windshield made of steel. There is a wood pit, “a fire room,” in the bottom; the fire room is separated from the pot by pieces of steel in the shape of a triangle.
These stoves were invented at the Berkeley lab and are manufactured in India; assembled in Alfashir, Sudan; and then distributed in the IDP camps in northern Darfur.
There are 15 different models of the Berkeley Darfur stove. The most advanced of the company’s models, which have incorporated suggestions from the Sudanese users, have two wooden handles that allow users to move them safetly around even while the stoves are lit. These newest versions use half the wood of the previous versions.
The stove has a five-year life span. Women in Darfur have nicknamed it “Kanon Khamsa Dagaie,” Arabic for “five-minutes stove.” “It cooks really fast,” Abbas said.
Since 2007, the Berkeley Darfur Stove project has distributed 28,686 free stoves in northern Darfur. In 2011, they started selling the stoves in northern Darfur for 60 SDG, the Sudanese equivalent of about $18, and managed to sell 11,990 stoves. But now there is competition from a private company in Sudan, which started manufacturing a new kind of stove called the AZ Stove. The Hjar Group also distributes the stoves in the same areas that the Darfur Stove project is distributing.
Abbas added that they are working on new stoves, which will be sold for the equivalent of about $36. The price covers the cost of assembly and distribution for their local partners in Sudan.
With a grant from the Global Alliance for Clean Cook Stoves, a funding initiative — in the form of a revolving-loan program started in northern Darfur — allows women to purchase the stoves and pay the loans back in three installments.
Potential Energy has two projects underway in Africa, one in Ethiopia and the other in Sudan. But other African regions also suffer from the same cook stove pollution that causes respiratory diseases, and Abbas said the company is planning to expand to other Sub-Saharan African countries.
Beyond the obvious pain and struggle in Darfur, there is accomplishment, Abbas said. She enjoys her job. “It’s nice to see people in the IDP camps move in units just like the villages that they came from,” she said. People have started settling, building houses, buying phones, and socializing, she said. And now these new stoves are helping women in Darfur save time, and their lives.
“History tells us that people move on and forget,” Abbas said. “But Sudan has seen too much suffering. I never doubt that there is a better future for us in Sudan. I am a part of our present, and when that better future happens, I will be part of it.”1. Why does my cat...
Cats are often considered to be independent and able to look after themselves whereas dogs are usually perceived to need their owners. While cats are pretty good at surviving without us, they do of course have biological and ethological needs.
To enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship with a cat, and to minimise the chance of a behaviour problem occurring, an understanding of these basic needs is important. With a look at a wildcat species of similar size that shares common ancestry with our domestic pet, we can perhaps better understand the origin and bases of many of these needs.
An understanding of cats' needs
Cats Protection has a single and clear vision - a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs.
It may seem obvious but this vision is absolutely dependent upon a widespread understanding of the needs of cats. Sadly, cats are all too often misrepresented and misunderstood, not just by those who admit they don't like cats, but even by the media and those who work with them or keep them as pets.
This unit will help you understand feline origins and through this their basic needs and what you can do to help meet these needs.
This course will relate to policies, procedures and guidance that are all available to download on CatNav, specifically the Adoption Centre manuals and the Branch manuals.The lawyer for the Toronto police officer found guilty of misconduct after ordering the “kettling” of hundreds of people during the G20 says docking him no more than 10 days owed is plenty punishment for his actions during the summit. Supt. Mark Fenton was found guilty last year of two counts of unlawful arrest and one count of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act for ordering the kettling of people in a rain storm during the 2010 G20. Hundreds of innocent people were swept up in two mass arrests at Queen and Spadina, and near the Novotel Hotel.
Supt. David (Mark) Fenton is seen outside police headquarters. Complainants told his misconduct sentencing hearing he should be fired for ordering indiscriminate mass arrests during the tumultuous G20 summit six years ago. ( Colin Perkel / THE CANADIAN PRESS )
His sentence is being determined at an ongoing police tribunal hearing, where the prosecution argued for a one year demotion in rank and lawyers representing people detained during the arrests said he should be dismissed. Fenton’s lawyer Peter Brauti argued Thursday that the prosecution’s call for demotion was “too harsh” and the complainant’s call for dismissal “patently unreasonable,” and would not respect the principle of progressive discipline. Instead he is arguing Fenton should be docked no more than 10 banked days owing to him and/or receive a reprimand.
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Brauti said the 56-year-old cop had already paid a huge personal and professional price for his actions six years ago, and the hearing has had a direct result on his health and contributed to the end of his 20 year marriage. He argued Fenton has an “exemplary police record” and is a “highly dedicated officer.” “In 28 years he has never been the subject of one finding on either formal or informal discipline,” Brauti said. He argued Fenton has “had to take the brunt for the failings of an entire senior command and a multi-service effort in dealing with the G20,” and any failings or mistakes that day should be seen “not as the failings of Fenton alone but rather the failings of an organization.” He said Fenton was worried for public safety and misapprehended the law during the G20.
“This is somebody who has been plunged into chaos and been told, ‘it’s your job to stop it.’” “That is not the same as being a hothead,” he added.
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“If Fenton was making mistakes so were the people above him.” Fenton was the only senior officer who was charged under the province’s Police Act following the June 2010 G20 summit. The prosecution argued Wednesday that Fenton should be demoted in rank for one year from superintendent to staff inspector, and that he be reinstated as a superintendent after the year. Prosecutor Brian Gover said Thursday that he stands by his proposed sentence. “(Fenton) behaved like a hothead on June 26 and June 27,” said Gover. “What we needed was a cool head to prevail.” He added there must be “individual accountability” and “meaningful consequences when orders are given that result in the unlawful arrests of hundreds of people.” Brauti said taking into account the impact the demotion would have on Fenton’s pension, it would cost him about $45,000 in total. After the hearing outside Toronto police headquarters, Brauti told reporters Fenton has “suffered a lot” from the hearing and resulting publicity. “I don’t want to belittle what those people went through, standing in the rain for three hours, five hours, eight hours, but at the end of the day, the last thing I would want to do is lose a marriage over a decision that I made, and have health-related issues.” The sentencing will continue on June 15, 2016.Yeonmi Park was nine years old when she was invited to watch her best friend’s mother be shot.
Growing up in North Korea, Yeonmi had seen executions before. She remembers her mother piggybacking her to public squares and sports stadiums to watch the spectacles used by Kim Jong-il’s Workers’ Party to silence even the slightest whisper of dissent.
But this killing lodged in her mind. Yeonmi watched in horror as the woman she knew was lined up alongside eight other prisoners and her sentence was read out. Her crime was having watched South Korean films and lending the DVDs to friends. Her punishment in this most paranoid of dictatorships was death by firing squad.
As the executioners raised their weapons, Yeonmi covered her face. But she looked up again, just in time to see an explosion of blood and the woman’s body crumple to the ground. ‘It was a shock,’ she remembers. ‘It was the first time I felt terrified.’
Yeonmi is recounting the horrific incident over a milkshake in Seoul, the ultra-modern capital of South Korea that is only 35 miles from the North Korean border but, with its luxury cars and 10-lane motorways, feels like another planet. Twelve years have passed since that day, and Yeonmi, now 21, is one of tens of thousands of North Korean defectors who have escaped one of the world’s most reclusive and repressive regimes.
Yeonmi has become a globetrotting activist intent on raising awareness about the plight of her people. She appears on South Korean television and uses Facebook, Twitter, Skype and WeChat to spread the word about the human rights abuses inside North Korea. She has travelled the world to talk about her experiences. And next month she will attend the annual One Young World Summit in Dublin, where she will appear alongside figures including Kofi Annan, Sir Bob Geldof, the former Mexican president Vicente Fox, and Dame Ellen MacArthur, the world record-breaking sailor.
Yeonmi was born on October 4 1993 in Hyesan, a notoriously cold river port along North Korea’s 850-mile northern border with China. The following year, on July 8, Kim Il-sung, the country’s 82-year-old founder and ‘Great Leader’, died of a heart attack. Hopes that he might have been ready to gradually open North Korea to the world evaporated as his son Kim Jong-il took power and set about transforming the hermit nation into a member of George W Bush’s notorious ‘axis of evil’.
Photo: JeongMee Yoon
Meanwhile, the economy was collapsing and the Great Famine, which would eventually claim up to 2.5 million lives, according to Andrew Natsios, the former head of USAID, was beginning to take hold. As Barbara Demick describes in Nothing to Envy, her definitive book on the period, those too young, too poor or too honest to find food quickly died. ‘The killer targets the most innocent, the people who would never steal food, lie, cheat, break the law or betray a friend.’
Yeonmi’s father was a mid-ranking civil servant and Workers’ Party member who worked at the Hyesan town hall. He kept his family afloat through an illegal sideline in selling gold, silver and nickel (which he had acquired through middle men in Pyongyang, the capital) to Chinese over the border.
That income helped insulate his family from the worst of the suffering as North Korea was plunged into famine. But the bodies Yeonmi saw at the railway station: ragged, skeletal waifs collapsed on the pavement and slumped against walls, told her something was badly wrong. She caught a glimpse of corpses in the river, too. ‘I think they were trying to escape,’ Yeonmi says matter-of-factly. ‘But they didn’t succeed.’
Initially shielded from the effects of the famine, Yeonmi’s world started to disintegrate when, in 2002, her father was arrested for illegal trading. ‘Everything changed,’ she recalls. Yeonmi’s father was taken to a prison near Pyongyang and given a 17-year sentence. Her mother visited him once but that was enough to see the toll that the brutal torture had taken on her husband.
He was beaten. Guards placed sticks between his fingers and crunched them together. He was made to sit in excruciating stress positions for interminable periods.
Prisoners were deprived of water and food. ‘The environment was crazy. So many bugs and lice,’ Yeonmi says. ‘They treated them like animals. He was a really brilliant man. He was my hero, and the country just beat him. I couldn’t believe it.’
Yeonmi’s father was luckier than many North Koreans who were spirited off to the country’s Soviet-style gulags, never to return. According to a Human Rights Watch report in January this year, up to 120,000 political prisoners, among them children, are currently being held in secretive labour camps known in Korean as the kwan-li-so.
Torture including ‘sleep deprivation, beatings with iron rods or sticks, kicking and slapping, and enforced sitting or standing for hours’, is routine, the group found.
After three years Yeonmi’s father managed to bribe his way out of jail. But by then he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. When Yeonmi saw him on his release, the once strapping figure had been transformed into a ghost of a man. ‘He had changed so much. He was so small. He spoke differently. I couldn’t believe it was my father,’ she says.
Photo: JeongMee Yoon
The Park family had been ruined by the imprisonment of Yeonmi’s father. Shortly after his arrest they were forced to move from a comfortable house in Hyesan to a minuscule apartment. After his release they almost immediately began plotting their escape into China to start a new life.
But before the family could put its plan into action, Eunmi, Yeonmi’s 16-year-old sister, fled across the border with a friend without telling them. Terrified about how she might fare on her own, Yeonmi and her mother decided to follow her over the border and bring her home. Once reunited, the family would attempt a second escape altogether.
And so, on the night of March 30 2007, Yeonmi and her mother made their way towards the border with the help of a people smuggler. Yeonmi’s father stayed behind, to minimise the risks. They crossed three mountains and finally came to a frozen river that separated the two countries.
It was desperately cold, Yeonmi says, and she remembers feeling terrified that the ice beneath them would give. But they eventually made it to the other side. On dry land, they ran. ‘I ran so fast. The only thing I could think was that I could get shot. I ran and ran and ran.’
When Yeonmi stopped she found herself in the Chinese province of Jilin. Here, Yeonmi and her mother set about trying to find her sister. But she was nowhere to be found and the local people smugglers refused to help. One even threatened to turn them in to Chinese authorities unless he was allowed to have sex with Yeonmi.
Yeonmi’s mother implored the man to leave her daughter alone and offered herself instead. ‘She had no choice,’ Yeonmi says. ‘Literally, in front of me, he raped her.’
A few days later Yeonmi’s father, who had become concerned about their lengthy absence, slipped across the border and managed to join them. But the family’s slide continued. Yeonmi and her parents still had not managed to track down Eunmi but they decided to remain in China rather than attempt a potentially dangerous return to North Korea.
A great-aunt who lived on the Chinese side of the border found them shelter in a filthy, cobweb-filled room in the countryside outside the city of Shenyang. ‘There was no electricity. We couldn’t pay for water,’ Yeonmi said. Her parents would collect water from a dripping tap.
It was an experience familiar to the tens of thousands of other North Korean refugees who have escaped to China, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, only to discover a new world of poverty and exploitation. ‘Even in China we were hungry,’ Yeonmi says.
The year 2008 was an exciting time to be in China. A construction boom was under way in Beijing as it geared up to host the summer Olympics. But for the Park family the new year brought more misery. At 7.30 one cold January morning, Yeonmi’s father died. Without documents and facing arrest and deportation if they were caught by Chinese police, his family were forced to bribe a local crematorium to destroy his body by night.
At three the following morning, Yeonmi and her mother took his remains to a nearby mountain and secretly buried them.
‘There was no funeral. Nothing,’ Yeonmi says. ‘I couldn’t even do that for my father. I couldn’t call anyone to say my father had passed away. He was 45 – really young. We couldn’t even give him painkillers.’
For Yeonmi and her mother, the death signalled an end to their time in China. They took a bus south for two days and spent a short period at a Christian shelter run by Chinese and South Korean missionaries in the port city of Qingdao, which has a large Korean population. When a chance to flee to South Korea via Mongolia arose they seized it, even though they had still not been reunited with Eunmi.
In February 2009 Yeonmi and her mother found themselves deep in the Gobi desert, searching the night sky for the Plough to guide them over the border into Mongolia and towards freedom.
Once there, they could request help from South Korean diplomats who were known to help refugees from the north escaping to Seoul.More than 1,500 North Koreans fled their country in 2012, hoping to build a new life away from the regime of Kim Jong-un, who became Supreme Leader after Kim Jong-il, his father, died in 2011.
Their motives for fleeing are understandable. Earlier this year a UN inquiry concluded that the human rights abuses being committed by Kim Jong-un’s regime were ‘strikingly similar’ to those perpetrated by the Nazis during the Second World War. Torture, mass starvation, rape, forced abortion and execution were used as everyday weapons against its 24 million inhabitants, the report claimed.
Photo: JeongMee Yoon
While a growing number of foreign tourists and international celebrities including Dennis Rodman, the American basketball star, and Pras Michel, the rapper, have recently visited the country, the freedoms of movement, information and belief are still almost non-existent for ordinary North Koreans.
‘The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,’ the UN report argued.
But escaping North Korea is far from easy. Refugees who make it to China face discrimination, the constant threat of arrest and, in the case of women, sexual violence, activist groups say. Those who attempt to reach a third country from which to fly to South Korea face deportation if caught, and the penalty for those forced to return is execution or life imprisonment.
That appeared to be Yeonmi’s destiny when Mongolian border guards surrounded her group as it meandered through the Gobi desert. They told them they would be immediately sent back to China. Yeonmi and her mother begged for their lives. When that failed, they tried something altogether more radical.
They grabbed the small knives they had brought and thrust them to their throats, threatening to commit suicide unless the guards let them stay in Mongolia. ‘I thought it was the end of my life. We were saying goodbye to one another,’ Yeonmi says.
Their actions, though, proved effective. Yeonmi and her mother were taken into custody and after 15 days were transferred to a detention centre in Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital.
Several weeks later they were handed over to South Korean officials and on April 1 2009 – just over a year after the death of her father – Yeonmi stood at Ulan Bator’s Chinggis Khaan airport preparing to board a plane for Seoul. It was her first time flying and her new-found freedom had not yet sunk in. ‘Oh my God,’ she thought when Mongolian customs officials waved her through. ‘They didn’t stop me.’
A few hours later the plane touched down at Incheon airport in Seoul. Yeonmi stepped off the passenger jet wearing a shabby prison uniform. She remembers gasping at the sight of the moving walkways – a contraption unimaginable in her broken and impoverished homeland – and the immaculate lavatory facilities. ‘It was the first time I had seen a fancy rest room. I thought, “It’s so clean. Do I wash my hands in the [lavatory bowl]?’’ ’ she says. ‘Everything was shiny. I’d never seen anything like it.’
At least 20,000 North Korean refugees have sought shelter in South Korea over the past two decades, and while adapting is far from easy, Yeonmi has fared better than most. She and her mother both worked (as a shop assistant and waitress) so Yeonmi would be able to pay to go back to school. Five years after she arrived, Yeonmi is a third-year student of criminal justice at Dongguk University, one of the city’s best, and is a regular guest on South Korean television programmes.
She uses her fame to spread the word about the situation in North Korea and in her spare time has learnt to speak fluent English, with the help of YouTube and the Friends DVD box set. In April she was finally reunited with the sister she had long feared was dead; Eunmi, now 23, had reached South Korea via China and Thailand.
Still Yeonmi feels she has not entirely escaped the clutches of Kim Jong-un’s regime. South Korea allocates local detectives to keep an eye on all newly arrived defectors, and in May Yeonmi received a call from the official handling her case.
He warned her that her name had been added to a ‘target list’ of outspoken defectors that the North Korean regime wanted to eliminate. The revelation made her more angry than scared, Yeonmi says. ‘I crossed the Gobi. I lost my father. But I am still not free. They still have power over me. They still try to control me. Until I can be really free, I will keep going.’
The detective and Yeonmi’s mother urged her to stop criticising Kim Jong-un. But she ignored them, convinced that she, as someone who had suffered the same fate, now had a moral obligation to draw attention to the thousands of women risking sexual violence and murder as they tried to escape North Korea.
‘I thought about quitting,’ she says, with a grin that suggests she did not entertain the idea for very long at all. ‘When I was crossing the Gobi desert I thought nobody really cared, you know?
'Even though I was dying there nobody was going to remember me. These girls too. They are dying. They are being raped. But nobody is going to remember them. Nobody is going to care for them. That is why I thought, “I’m going to do this and there is no way I will stop doing this.’’ ’
The day we meet, Yeonmi is wearing a startling red dress and a near permanent smile. But the anger she feels towards those who have destroyed her country is clear. ‘Kim Jong-un and the regime don’t just oppress,’ she says, ‘they play with human lives. Kim Jong-un should be punished. He must be brought to justice. How many people did he kill?’
One day, she hopes to return home to rebury her father’s ashes in a free North Korea. ‘It was his dream,’ she says. ‘It is hard to imagine that day coming but maybe my daughter or my son will be able to do it. Kim Jong-un thinks he can keep going on being a king there. But nothing is for ever.’At least 28 Senate Democrats are pulling an all-nighter on Monday to wake up "stubborn" climate change deniers in Congress.
With substantial climate change legislation all but dead in Congress, the senators involved in Monday's climate-fest just want to get to a point where lawmakers can agree that climate change is a scientific fact.
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And having the Senate Democratic leadership on their side doesn't hurt, said Sen. Brian Schatz Brian Emanuel SchatzOn The Money: House votes to block Trump emergency declaration | McConnell unsure if Trump move is legal | Fed chief sees 'conflicting signals' from economy | Governors bullish on infrastructure after Trump talks | Big win for AT&T-Time Warner deal Fed chief sees 'conflicting signals' from economy Dems mock Trump's pitch for Fourth of July celebration MORE, (D-Hawaii), who helped spearhead the push for congressional action on climate change.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) will be among those participating in the talk-a-thon on the Senate floor, along with Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and 22 others.
Notably absent from the marathon session will be the four most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection this year: Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Mark Begich (Alaska) are not scheduled to take part, according to a list of speakers.
However, they were invited, Schatz said, adding that their Republican colleagues were verbally invited as well. The response, Schatz admitted was far from enthusiastic.
Republicans aren't budging anytime soon, and they likely won't take being cornered by Democrats on climate change lying down.
"Republican's aren't anti-climate policy or anti-mother earth but the policies put forward by Democrats aren't achievable," said Robert Dillon, a top energy adviser to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, (R-Alaska), adding that Republicans are open to real legislation on climate change. "We just don't want to drive the economy off the cliff to do it," he said.
And it's those climate change policies that have Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fired up.
McConnell renewed his skepticism of climate change ahead of the all-nighter.
"For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't," McConnell said in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer on Friday.
"You're not going to have global cooperation to do it," McConnell said of climate rules on the coal industry. "Even if you conceded the point, which I don't concede, but if you conceded the point, it isn't going to be addressed by one country. So the idea is, we tie our own hands behind our back and others don't. I think it's beyond foolish, and real people are being hurt by this," McConnell said.
There aren't any Republican senators signed up for the all-night climate-fest, but Democrats hope to get their attention.
"The impact on our communities is not confined to traditional environmentalist issues anymore," Schatz said in an interview with The Hill. "This is really harming out economy and changing our way of life."
"There is a stubborn group of climate change deniers and we are hoping to shrink that number. It's hard to predict what their response will be, but we welcome a debate on this issue, and there is room for conversation for what suite of policy solutions we aught to undertake," Schatz said.
While legislation that establishes a carbon tax on the nation's biggest polluters isn't possible this year, Schatz agrees with Whitehouse's timeline that one might be able to pass in a year or two from now.
Still, climate policy advocates are optimistic.
"There are some bright spots," Schatz said. "John Podesta, the president's new [adviser] is a very good sign. The president has been focused on this issue and is working it into his remarks, and every agency is getting involved from the Defense to State Departments."
In their Quadrennial Defense Review released this week, the Department of Defense cited climate change as a valid threat to military installations worldwide.
On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry stuck by his vow to put climate change at the front of all diplomatic efforts when issuing his first policy guidance to diplomats on the issue.Furious about national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation, Alex Jones posted a video commentary this morning warning about the threats President Trump is facing from what Jones described as a demonic conspiracy out to destroy him.
While railing against a Foreign Policy article (which he misattributed to Foreign Affairs) about the Russian government’s view of Trump, Jones said that there is a plot to sabotage both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over their efforts to stop globalism.
Among the plotters, according to Jones, is Barack Obama, whom he accused of living in a “bunker” in Washington, D.C., where Jones believes he is personally directing and “recruiting with [George] Soros an army for a Bolshevik-style revolution.”
He warned that the Foreign Policy article is a sign that globalists are getting ready to “execute really horrible devastation: starting huge wars, setting a nuke off in D.C., anything, talking about ‘time to kill Trump.’”
“There was a coup over America under globalism by stealth, there was a counter-coup with Trump, and they’re launching a counter-counter-coup right now,” Jones said. He added that Trump is trying to “empower humanity” and bring down the demonic systems that secretly run the world.Cold War era soviet propaganda posters.
The Moscow Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics and the Shanghai Propaganda Art Gallery contain an open secret; a trove of Soviet artwork dedicated to peace and reconciliation. Not only did the devastating US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki spark a global nuclear arms race, but the USSR fiercely opposed the escalation of tensions leading up to the Cold War with a fierce campaign of Soviet realism, expressing defiance towards Western imperialism and impending nuclear warfare. To celebrate our Soviet tee lineup, we’ve shared a few exemplary designs from the vaults of Communist history, just in time for the October Revolution centenary.
The simmering conflicts of the Cold War demanded the attention of activists with a sense of urgency never seen before in history. The Manhattan project’s ‘successes’ doomed humanity to new forms of warfare, from prolonged, 4th generational conflicts to outright nuclear disasters. To cull these hostilities, the Soviet Union ushered in a new wave of modern art tasked with de-escalating aggressions between superpowers by condemning the rise of atomic weaponry. In celebration of the October Revolution centenary, ALLRIOT revisits some of the lesser-known examples of Soviet Realist art which capture the zeitgeist of the proletarian struggle against ever-increasing US militarism.Hell Freezing Over? Disney Realizing That Fans Celebrating 'Frozen' By Infringement May Be A Good Thing
from the and-that-day-disney's-heart-grew-one-size-bigger dept
Disney’s expertise in nurturing, co-opting and, most of all, not cracking down on the many ways fans have embraced “Frozen” online is a template for how to thrive in a digital, copy-promiscuous, consumer-empowered environment. Disney, long one of the fiercest and most powerful defenders of strict intellectual property control, has learned how to let copyright go.
Disney did not respond to my queries as to where they draw the line or how they are engaging with non-authorized use of Disney characters. But there’s anecdotal evidence that the company has realized that the same people who are buying soundtracks and merchandise and DVDs are the same people who are making and sharing YouTube videos. Although Disney once viewed YouTube with alarm, the company now seems to realize that fan-created content — even in cases where that content is generating revenue that is not captured by Disney — is cross-promotional marketing that money can’t buy.
Disney is a name that is often associated with copyright maximalism for pretty good reasons. Despite the fact that many of its early successes depended heavily on either direct infringement or making use of the public domain, the company was aaggressive enforcer of its own copyrights. And, of course, it was also a primary lobbyist for expanding copyright protections, and extending copyright term every time Mickey Mouse approached the public domain.However, in the past few years, it's seemed as though Disney has been a bit quieter than in the past about copyright issues, allowing some other companies to take the lead on that. And, in some cases, it seems to even be recognizing (*gasp*) that some infringement. Andrew Leonard, over at Salon, has the story of how Disney has finally joined the 21st century in realizing that having fans create derivative works around the movie, has actually beenandpromotion for the original (and massively successful) movie.The article includes a bunch of examples of people who have built up huge audiences (and even careers) themselves, almost entirely built off of Disney's works -- without Disney getting involved at all. Disney isn't asking for money and it's not shutting them down. It's just letting them do their thing,they're making money from doing so. Why? Because it appears that even Disney is recognizing that even when these "infringers" are making money, Disney itself likely makes even more money from it:For all the times we see copyright defenders insist that anyone "making money" from someone else's work is "obviously" a problem, it's nice to see Disney understand how non-zero-sum markets work, and the fact that just because someone is making some money, it doesn't automatically mean that money is coming out of Disney's bank account.So... within a very short time it appears we've seen both the Supreme Court officially admit that infringement can be beneficial, and Disney implicitly admit the same thing. It feels like hell may be freezing over.
Filed Under: copyright, creativity, fans, frozen, infringement, publicity
Companies: disneyMaria Cantwell (D-Wash.) became the 35th senator to commit to voting for a public health insurance option if it comes to a vote on the floor under the rules of reconciliation. That leaves advocates of the option 15 votes short with no official whip action from either the White House or Senate leadership.
Senate leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) have expressed support for the movement, but the White House has concluded, according to press secretary Robert Gibbs, that the public option doesn't have "political support."
The steady climb in named supporters undermines the White House's conclusion.
While it refuses to push for the public option, the White House is attempting to muscle through several measures that have almost no political support within the Democratic caucus and, in fact, are vociferously opposed.
The excise tax on benefits, which hits unions hard, has extremely little support yet the White House has managed to include it. The administration is now pushing to include health savings accounts, a GOP priority that amounts to the creation of significant tax shelters for the wealthy. Democrats have fought hard in the past to oppose them and weaken them but the White House now intends to give them to the GOP in exchange for nothing.
"I find that ironic -- something that we had fought to keep out, and indeed were successful, gets back in as part of reconciliation. And a public option that enjoys great support in the House and up to 30 senators gets left out. That's something I just don't understand," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Salon Wednesday.
Obama's campaign arm, meanwhile, is arguing that "at this point, the public option is detrimental to our efforts," according to Chris Bowers.
The administration's efforts notwithstanding, Cantwell said that if the parliamentarian determines that the public option can be voted on under the rules of reconciliation, which require only 50 votes, she's on board.
"If the parliamentarian says you can and it can all work, yes," she told HuffPost when asked if she'd vote for it. "If it works, fine."
Progressive groups pushing for the public option are keeping a running tally here.On Tuesday, The Times published a cartoon by Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, which depicted the NPA’s Shaun Abrahams as a monkey doing the bidding of Jacob Zuma, who controls him with a music box labelled “NPA”. Now, while Zapiro is known for courting controversy, this cartoon was a step |
aimondi of MMAFighting.com stating that Cortney Casey had failed a drug test at UFC 211. This is news to Casey, who hasn’t yet been informed of the violation and finds out from someone in her camp that MMAFighting.com had contacted for comment.
That same day, after Marc Raimondi had been sent the information, Cortney receives an email from the TDLR informing her that she had failed a test due to an elevated T:E ratio, and that this “is strong and convincing evidence” that she had used drugs. At this point, it must be noted that an elevated T:E ratio is not considered strong or conclusive evidence of PED use by competent anti-doping regulatory bodies.
The email also states that she had until May 30th to respond to the TDLR and request that her “B” sample be tested at the laboratory of her choice… if she pays for it.
Cortney calls the UFC’s VP of Athlete Health & Performance, Jeff Novitzky, to inform him of the situation. Novitzky initially believes an error has been made, because he has copies of the drug test results from the Texas event and no one tested positive. Upon closer inspection, he realizes Casey’s result has an atypical T:E ratio. That shouldn’t count as a fail, but he figures maybe Texas made a mistake and calls them.
The TDLR official tells Novitzky that they are following USADA guidelines and that a T:E ratio above 4:1 is a fail. Novitzky points out that this is an incorrect understanding of USADA rules and inquires if the proper isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) followup testing was performed. The official doubles down on his position that this IRMS testing isn’t needed under USADA/WADA guidelines. It is.
May 30th: Cortney Casey sends an email to the TDLR stating that she wants to have her B sample tested at the WADA accredited SMRTL lab in Salt Lake City and requested IRMS testing be performed on the sample to exonerate her. She also gave the TDLR permission to request her testing records from USADA.
In a separate email, Jeff Novitzky sends multiple TDLR officials copies of WADA guidelines proving a 4:1 T:E ratio requires followup IRMS testing before it is considered a positive result—as he had verbally informed them on May 26th—and supplies further documentation about why this guideline is in place and why a 4:1 ratio shouldn’t be considered a failure on its own.
June 1st: Jeff Novitzky emails the TDLR again asking when a reply can be expected.
June 4th: The TDLR still hasn’t responded to Casey’s email, not even with a confirmation. She sends a follow up email. Jeff Novitzky also hasn’t received a reply from the TDLR at this point.
June 8th: Charles Johnson, Assistant General Counsel at the TDLR, emails Jeff Novitzky to tell him what steps Casey can take to get her B sample tested. This is the first time anyone from the TDLR has supplied Novitzky with this information, a full two weeks after the news of Casey’s test “fail” was released to the media.
June 9th: Jason DeBord, an investigator with the TDLR, contacts Cortney Casey and asks her what she took that elevated her testosterone. Remember, her test result did not actually show elevated testosterone, just an elevated T:E ratio that was likely caused by reduced epitestosterone. Casey tells him that she has been informed that her birth control may have lowered her epitestosterone, which DeBord didn’t seem to understand.
This is the last time anyone from the TDLR contacts Cortney Casey.
Separately, Jeff Novitzky responds to Charles Johnson with documentation of WADA guidelines showing Casey’s initial result shouldn’t have been considered a failure, and further stating that her sample is being sent to SMRTL for the proper followup testing. Charles Johnson replies to the email informing Mr. Novitzky that he will be out of the office the following week, but would review the material submitted and discuss it when he returned. He never responded to Novitzky again regarding this.
June 22nd: The Austin Mobile Drug Testing (AMDT) lab, which took and tested Cortney Casey’s original sample, is informed by SMRTL that her B sample came back clean after IRMS testing. AMDT sends this information—which completely exonerates Casey—to the TDLR and Jeff Novitzky.
Jeff Novitzky separately emails the results to several Texas officials, including Charles Johnson, asking whether or not the TDLR would be retracting Cortney Casey’s positive result today, and what their next steps would be.
Journalists contact the TDLR for a statement in light of the evidence proving Cortney Casey is innocent only to receive a canned response stating they can’t comment on ongoing investigations.
June 24th: Cortney Casey’s reputation has now been tarnished for four, full weeks. The TDLR still haven’t responded to Jeff Novitzky or Cortney Casey informing them of their plans in light of the exculpatory evidence proving Casey’s innocence. They have also neglected to make a public statement acknowledging this, or provided the media with any statement acknowledging it.
June 25th: Charles Johnson replies to Jeff Novitzky's June 22nd email asking if TDLR would be retracting Casey's positive test today. The email simply says, "The decision is under review."
At this point, it’s clear that the problem here wasn’t just an innocent misunderstanding of drug testing results. The problem is TDLR officials don’t seem to care that their mistakes are having very real and very serious effects on an athlete, and instead of trying to resolve these mistakes as quickly as possible, have doubled down on them rather than admit they made a mistake.
No matter how many articles are published about Casey’s innocence, there will still be people who think there is no smoke without fire; people who don’t see the follow-up stories, or don’t care to read them carefully enough to understand what really happened. This is a bell that can’t simply be un-rung. Texas—at the very least—owe Casey a sincere, public apology and a guarantee that no other athlete will be treated this way again.
Sadly, I doubt she even gets that.Housing Rights and Your ESA
If a person is emotionally or psychiatrically impaired (disabled) and an emotional support animal prescribed by a licensed mental health professional), the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 requires the landlord/property manager to make a reasonable accommodation to their policies and allow the tenant to have an emotional support animal. There are no specified limitations with respect to species, breed, or weight policies.
That means if they have a "cats only" policy, they must accept your emotional support animal if it is a dog. If they have a policy that allows dogs weighing no more than 30 lbs. and your emotional support animal (ESA) weighs 75 lbs., they must make a change in the rules to accommodate you. If they accept all dogs, except pit bulls, and you have a pit bull, they must allow your pit bull to reside with you.
Property managers/landlords are NOT required to make a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act for ESAs or Service Dogs in these cases:
Buildings with 4 or less units where the landlord occupies one of the units
Single family housing sold or rented without a real estate broker
Hotels and Motels are not considered dwellings under the FHA but are considered places of public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act
Private Clubs
To register your pet as an ESA, click here.
Documentation Required for Emotional Support Animals
The one requirement for a person to legally qualify for an emotional support animal (ESA) is that the person has a letter from a licensed mental health professional (therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist or medical doctor) on his/her letterhead that states the person is under his/her care, is emotionally or psychiatrically disabled, and prescribes for the person an emotional support animal. Without this letter, if the person presents an animal as an ESA, he/she is in violation of federal law; an offense punishable by fine and imprisonment, if convicted.
If you have no therapist or your therapist is unwilling to write a letter of prescription for an ESA, we recommend Chilhowee Psychological Services, who offers a disability assessment designed to determine your eligibility. If you meet the disabled criteria based on their assessment, then they also send that RX letter to you, written by a licensed therapist. Click here to review.
Verification May Be Required by Property Managers
The Fair Housing Act (a federal law) allows a property manager to accept a letter from the tenant's licensed mental health professional (LMHP) for an ESA, but they may also require a short verification form to be completed by a physician or therapist, confirming your emotional/psychiatric disability. Despite how much the property manager/landlord does NOT want your emotional support animal, federal law requires him/her to make a reasonable accommodation in the rules. If they do not, they are discriminating against a disabled person and are in violation of federal law.*
Click here to view an important document from the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development that addresses this issue (see the 3rd page, second column).
Examples and Specific Rules
So how do Fair Housing laws apply to real life situations? Here are some examples:
John has been diagnosed with severe depression and is disabled as defined by the Fair Housing Act. His doctor prescribes John a dog to help alleviate some of his symptoms. John asks his landlord if he can have a dog as a reasonable accommodation for his disability. His landlord says yes, but tells John he'll need to pay a $250 pet deposit and must provide proof that the animal is trained.
Question: Did John's landlord correctly handle John's request under the Fair Housing Act? What if John wanted a cat or a ferret instead?
Answer: No, John's landlord did not handle his request correctly. The landlord cannot charge John a pet deposit for his animal because it is not a pet, but rather emotional support animal required for his emotional impairment. Further, the landlord cannot ask for proof that the animal is trained. Lastly, emotional support animals do not have to be just dogs; they can also be other animals, such as cats or ferrets (and many other species).
Landlords cannot legally:
Ask a tenant to pay a deposit, fee, or surcharge in exchange for having an emotional support animal, even if they require such a practice from owners who wish to obtain pets in their dwelling.
Require that an emotional support animal have any specific training
Require the emotional support animal to wear or carry any special collar, harness, vest, emblem, or other means of identifying it as such.
Inquire about the extent of the disability, or ask for detailed medical records for the individual requesting the emotional support animal.
Refuse to accommodate you and your animal because their insurance policy won't allow a species, breed, or weight. They are still subject to the law.
NOTE:
A person with a disability may, however, be charged for damages caused to the premises by their emotional support or service dog.
A disabled person who does not properly manage his/her unruly, destructive, aggressive, or disturbance causing animal can be evicted.
What to Do When a Property Manager Refuses to Comply
Failure to accommodate a physically or emotionally impaired person is a violation of federal law and can be successfully sued AND the landlord/property manager financially penalized by the U.S. Justice Dept. because it is considered discrimination against a disabled person. Something the government takes seriously.
Clients are encouraged to make sure the landlord or property manager are clearly aware of the law and consequences to help them avoid prosecution and punitive damages. Most are in violation simply because they do not know the law.
A client can report the landlord/property manager to the U.S. Justice Dept. and file a complaint for discrimination.
A client may sue the landlord/property manager for discrimination.
You'll need to be prepared to reinforce your position and case with supplemental documentation from a physician or mental health professional that verifies your need for the animal.
Click here for another Dept. of Housing and Urban Development document that refers to these and other issues.
To register your pet as an emotional support animal, click here.
*Based on statements by Fair Housing Advocates, Inc.OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Based on the Baltimore Ravens' weightlifting feats, no one is surprised their run defense is anxious to flex its muscles against NFL leading rusher Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
"They’re the best and we’re the best, and somebody is going to come out on top," Ravens nose tackle Brandon Williams said. "Why wouldn’t you look forward to a game like this? We can’t wait."
The Cowboys top the NFL with 161 yards rushing per game, churning out big gains with Elliott and a relentless offensive line. The Ravens are the No. 1 run defense with 71.3 yards rushing allowed, and it all starts with their 679-pound wall.
Defensive tackles Brandon Williams (340 pounds) and Michael Pierce (339) are massive. They're prideful overachievers. And they're powerful.
Pierce has squatted 725 pounds. Williams has squatted a teammate during a game.
Last week, Williams was messing around in practice and lifted safety Eric Weddle for a set of five. Then, late in the Ravens' 28-7 win over Cleveland, Williams decided to celebrate when he saw he was standing next to the 195-pound Weddle.
"I asked him, 'Hey, mind if I get another set?,'" Williams said. "He’s like, 'Hell yeah!'"
Williams wins on creativity. Pierce wins on pure awe.
Thursday night's national broadcast showed footage of Pierce squatting the equivalent of almost four Eric Weddles last year at Samford.
"I think I could do a little more," Pierce said. "At Samford, honestly they cut me off for health reasons. I didn’t have a belt."
Their exploits in the weight room translate onto the field. To hold up against double-teams, Williams and Pierce sink their hips and rely on the powerful base they built up in the offseason. Their legs become anchors in the ground as they occupy blockers and free up linebackers C.J. Mosley and Zachary Orr.
The domination of Williams and Pierce shows up in the numbers (which come compliments of ESPN Stats & Information):
The Ravens have held teams to 2.5 yards per carry in the 77 running plays with both Williams and Pierce on the field.
Baltimore has given up 3.5 yards per carry on the 96 running plays when either Williams or Pierce are off the field.
The Ravens have allowed 5.8 yards per carry on the 20 plays with Williams and Pierce both on the sideline.
It would be an oversimplification to label the Ravens' dynamic run-stopping duo as space-eaters.
"They’re two big guys, but they’re two big guys that are really excellent athletes," coach John Harbaugh said. "They’re in great shape. They’re explosive. They play hard. They use their hands really well. They can get off blocks."
Williams and Pierce are the Ravens' first line of defense Sunday, when the Ravens face their biggest challenge of the season. Elliott is averaging 111.7 yards per game, which is 18.7 yards more than anyone else in the NFL.
Much of Elliott's success comes up the gut of the defense. He has gained 72.6 percent of his yards in between the tackles.
"He’s a really good back. He’s proven that he can do it," Williams said. "My biggest thing is his power comes from his offensive line. It’s kind of like, cut the head of the snake."
The Ravens have heard all week about how the Cowboys have the best offensive line in the NFL. Dallas' front certainly has a pedigree, with three first-round picks (left tackle Tyron Smith, center Travis Frederick and right guard Zack Martin) who come from big-name schools like USC, Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
It's a stark contrast to the Ravens' defensive line. Williams is a third-round pick from Division II Missouri Southern State, and Pierce is an undrafted rookie out of Samford.
"It’s best on best. It doesn’t matter what school you came from," Pierce said. "For me and Brandon, we’re just trying to prove our worth. We want to show we’re one of the most dominant fronts in the league."
Stopping the run is not only a source of pride with the Ravens. It's become tradition.
Since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1996, the Ravens have never allowed an opponent to average more than four yards per carry in any of their 20 seasons, which is an NFL record.
The names up front have changed over the years, from Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams (2000-01) to Haloti Ngata and Kelly Gregg (2006-10) to Williams and Pierce. The staggering low rushing totals, however, have remained the same.
"That’s who we are," Williams said. "That’s our standard is stopping the run. You don’t become a Raven if you don’t know how to stop the run."A recent report finds that the New York City Department of Education (DOE) does not keep track of the number of students that request a transfer to ensure a student is safe from bullying or other attacks.
This news comes after Mayor Bill De Blasio, and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña promised to transfer students who were victims of bullying immediately. Prioritization of safety transfers come as part of $8 million in sweeping reforms to the city's anti-bullying measures.
The DOE told NY1 education reporter Lindsey Christ that it doesn't know how many students request safety transfers, how many requests the DOE denies, and how many families reject the transfer offers.
The DOE did report, nonetheless, that it has transferred 1,513 students to other schools to keep them safe.
Ms. Christ, argues, nonetheless, that without information on outstanding requests and denials, the DOE has no way to identify whether a school has a bullying problem.
"If they don't know how many students are requesting to get out of a given school they have no idea that that school is in crisis," Ms. Lindsey during the NY1 segment in the video. "But what if one school has 200 kids requesting a safety transfer and the principal's just not helping them get the paperwork in, and they're not being granted that safety transfer?"
The DOE's Office of Enrollment (OSE) just transferred a 10-year-old student only after NY1 aired the news segment quoting his complaints.
Other boys bullied him by saying he was terrible because he was Hispanic. According to the father, the teachers would witness the incidents, and if Lance defended himself from his aggressors, Lance would get in trouble.
The father filed a complaint with the DOE, and the agency's representatives called him back over a month later. Superiors at the DOE told the representatives to call the father back after NY1 aired the news segment on safety transfers last week.
Ms. Christ says that parents need to be "unbelievably persistent" to ensure the DOE tends to their complaints.This story has been updated. PETA announced Tuesday that they wanted the animal handler's license revoked.
DETROIT, MI - Two men took to social media Monday to announce they were corralling a live tiger inside the city's historic Packard Plant. Kari Smith, director of development for the Packard Plant, confirmed the tiger was inside the plant as part of a photo shoot along with two other large cats. The animals came from Animals of Montana, based in Bozeman, Montana. Smith told reporters the tiger got away from the photo shoot. She said the crew did get a permit to work in the plant but did not tell plant officials that they intended to bring a tiger into the building. The Packard security guards noticed "they had a large cage, so my security guards investigated the issue, called me immediately, I went out there and closed them down," Smith said. The trainers took the animals back to their cages, she said. There were 15 people involved in the photo shoot, which was being held by David Yarrow photography, according to Smith. They had permission for a basic photo shoot. There hadn't been any mention of the animals. A tiger, wolf and a bobcat had all been inside the plant. "This is not something that we would allow to happen here," she said. "This is not something that we condone in any way." Animals are not allowed on site at any time, she said. Smith said there are no loose jungle cats in the building anymore. In an unbelievable series of Facebook posts, Andy Didorosi, a Detroiter who runs The Detroit Bus Company, unraveled he and Tony Barchock's efforts to rid the abandoned plant of a stray tiger. The Detroit Police Department said Monday at noon that they had "no information" on any tiger in the Packard Plant. At 12:08 p.m., police were on the scene. MLive could not reach Didorosi for comment, but a video posted to Facebook and Instagram shows one of the men trying to scare the big cat out of a stairwell. What looks like a fake tiger turns and swats at the device one man uses to try to scare it. The tiger does growl as it swats at the man before the video ends. Here's the video Didorosi posted on Instagram Monday:
#tigerwatch15 A video posted by Andy Didorosi (@thatdetroitandy) on Aug 17, 2015 at 8:20am PDT
At 12:09 p.m., Didorosi said on Facebook that the Tiger was secured. The photo shoot was held on the far south side of the Packard Plant. The crew would not be receiving a refund for the shoot. Smith said she wasn't sure if the men who posted the photos to social media were involved in the photo shoot. The crew claimed they had a permit from the City of Detroit to have the animals on site, but that doesn't matter. The crew was out of the plant by 10 a.m., Smith said. The following video shows the crew scaring the tiger out of a stairwell inside the Packard Plant.
"Remember, no talking near the tiger." Or: When your friend calls and says he needs help getting a tiger out of a staircase, you listen. (I just happened to be the closest dumb person to the scene. The real crime here is that I used vertical video, apologies to the world.) Posted by Andy Didorosi on Monday, August 17, 2015
Smith said she had expected a "standard photo shoot with models." A local photographer, going by Slim Spidey,
. The Detroit Zoo was not involved and did not come out to the scene, according to a spokeswoman. Smith said the group was supposed to shoot at the Packard Plant for two days, but it's been canceled. There were two animal trainers on-site.
Photographer Tanya Moutzalias contributed to coverage on this story.
Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter.JUDGES 14
« Judges 13 | Judges 14 | Judges 15 »
Samson’s Marriage
14:1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.
6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.
8 After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.
10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.
11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes,
13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.”
14 And he said to them, And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.”
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”
16 And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?”
17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people.
18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.”
19 And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.
20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
And in three days they could not solve the riddle.And he said to them,
« Judges 13 | Judges 14 | Judges 15 »TotalBiscuit: Games Journalism Is An Irredeemable Mess By William Usher Random Article Blend
In the eyes of TotalBiscuit, the Cynical Brit, a man that commands nearly a million subscribers and has enough video views to make every other video game website out there blush (we're talking 303 million video views and counting) he's asked about the recent scandal that didn't really rock the video game news cradle: Eurogamer's
The 18 minute video covers a nice range of topics and you can check it out for yourself below, as he completely blasts the gaming arena for being the joke that it really is.
For those who don't know, Rob originally wrote the article showcasing an ad-laced Geoff Keighley in one image, and a few paragraphs about Dave Cook and Lauren Wainwright further into the piece. He calls some journalists out on partaking in advertising games for trying to win goods in return – pretty much bribery at the core of it – as well as journalists defending this kind of behavior, and it resulted in Wainwright's boss at MCV UK, Michael French, stepping in to back his writer which eventually led to Rob losing his job. As for Mr. David Cook...well, he smartly faded into the background, presumably riddled with shame.
The thing that made the Wainwright case so bad was because it was later discovered on Tomb Raider, and she was also caught in a lie stating that she didn't do reviews even though she did do reviews. One-too-many-lies later and she ended up privatizing her Tweeter account and having previous articles and content that exposes the lie(s), buried, removed or hidden from the interwebs, in an attempt to save face.
At least it's all chronicled, in great detail at that
I hope Rob Florence bounces back after this (it's a toss up at this point). It seems weird that the person exposing the very thing that gamers have been complaining about to this generation is the one who gets sent packing. The irony of it seems to prove the tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists right.
The other problem, as mentioned by TotalBiscuit, is that you can't really count on the YouTubers to completely takeover because they're also ripe for corruption if they're not careful (even more-so than the pen, paper and text guys). And TB is also right about sites and print magazines folding in faster than the flabby skin on an old Hollywood celeb when the plastic starts loosening. It feels like the video game news arena is a hotplate full of fail.
So who do you trust? Well, there's still Rock, Paper, Shotgun, GamesIndustry.biz and GiantBomb, amongst a few other mid-tier sites, but on the upside, at least some of us know who maintains integrity and who's willing to sell out for that almighty dollar...*cough*MCV*cough*...so at least we know who to stay away from. Eurogamer's former writer Rob Florence lost his job to the very thing he was criticizing in his last and final article at Eurogamer. He took a bullet to the back because Eurogamer had to fold to legal pressure. The whole thing showcased how poor and untrustworthy video game journalism (or rather, advertorialism) really is, so much so that one of the most popular YouTube gaming commentators out there has called it an “irredeemable mess”.In the eyes of TotalBiscuit, the Cynical Brit, a man that commands nearly a million subscribers and has enough video views to make every other video game website out there blush (we're talking 303 million video views and counting) he's asked about the recent scandal that didn't really rock the video game news cradle: Eurogamer's Rob Florence losing his job over outing the corruption in games advertorialism.The 18 minute video covers a nice range of topics and you can check it out for yourself below, as he completely blasts the gaming arena for being the joke that it really is.For those who don't know, Rob originally wrote the article showcasing an ad-laced Geoff Keighley in one image, and a few paragraphs about Dave Cook and Lauren Wainwright further into the piece. He calls some journalists out on partaking in advertising games for trying to win goods in return – pretty much bribery at the core of it – as well as journalists defending this kind of behavior, and it resulted in Wainwright's boss at MCV UK, Michael French, stepping in to back his writer which eventually led to Rob losing his job. As for Mr. David Cook...well, he smartly faded into the background, presumably riddled with shame.The thing that made the Wainwright case so bad was because it was later discovered on NeoGaf that she does/did work for Square Enix, the company publishing the upcoming, and she was also caught in a lie stating that she didn't do reviews even though she did do reviews. One-too-many-lies later and she ended up privatizing her Tweeter account and having previous articles and content that exposes the lie(s), buried, removed or hidden from the interwebs, in an attempt to save face.At least it's all chronicled, in great detail at that NeoGaf link. Just follow it a few pages in or skip to page 20 to get to the good parts. Yeah, you get to see it all unfold right there at NeoGaf, where the truth will slap you in the face like salami on a porn set. Ah, NeoGaf I hope Rob Florence bounces back after this (it's a toss up at this point). It seems weird that the person exposing the very thing that gamers have been complaining about to this generation is the one who gets sent packing. The irony of it seems to prove the tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists right.The other problem, as mentioned by TotalBiscuit, is that you can't really count on the YouTubers to completely takeover because they're also ripe for corruption if they're not careful (even more-so than the pen, paper and text guys). And TB is also right about sites and print magazines folding in faster than the flabby skin on an old Hollywood celeb when the plastic starts loosening. It feels like the video game news arena is a hotplate full of fail.So who do you trust? Well, there's still Rock, Paper, Shotgun, GamesIndustry.biz and GiantBomb, amongst a few other mid-tier sites, but on the upside, at least some of us know who maintains integrity and who's willing to sell out for that almighty dollar...*cough*MCV*cough*...so at least we know who to stay away from. Blended From Around The Web Facebook
Back to top(a) In General. A party may serve on any other party a request within the scope of Rule 26(b):
(1) to produce and permit the requesting party or its representative to inspect, copy, test, or sample the following items in the responding party's possession, custody, or control:
(A) any designated documents or electronically stored information—including writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations—stored in any medium from which information can be obtained either directly or, if necessary, after translation by the responding party into a reasonably usable form; or
(B) any designated tangible things; or
(2) to permit entry onto designated land or other property possessed or controlled by the responding party, so that the requesting party may inspect, measure, survey, photograph, test, or sample the property or any designated object or operation on it.
(b) Procedure.
(1) Contents of the Request. The request:
(A) must describe with reasonable particularity each item or category of items to be inspected;
(B) must specify a reasonable time, place, and manner for the inspection and for performing the related acts; and
(C) may specify the form or forms in which electronically stored information is to be produced.
(2) Responses and Objections.
(A) Time to Respond. The party to whom the request is directed must respond in writing within 30 days after being served or — if the request was delivered under Rule 26(d)(2) — within 30 days after the parties’ first Rule 26(f) conference. A shorter or longer time may be stipulated to under Rule 29 or be ordered by the court.
(B) Responding to Each Item. For each item or category, the response must either state that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested or state with specificity the grounds for objecting to the request, including the reasons. The responding party may state that it will produce copies of documents or of electronically stored information instead of permitting inspection. The production must then be completed no later than the time for inspection specified in the request or another reasonable time specified in the response.
(C) Objections. An objection must state whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of that objection. An objection to part of a request must specify the part and permit inspection of the rest.
(D) Responding to a Request for Production of Electronically Stored Information. The response may state an objection to a requested form for producing electronically stored information. If the responding party objects to a requested form—or if no form was specified in the request—the party must state the form or forms it intends to use.
(E) Producing the Documents or Electronically Stored Information. Unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court, these procedures apply to producing documents or electronically stored information:
(i) A party must produce documents as they are kept in the usual course of business or must organize and label them to correspond to the categories in the request;
(ii) If a request does not specify a form for producing electronically stored information, a party must produce it in a form or forms in which it is ordinarily maintained or in a reasonably usable form or forms; and
(iii) A party need not produce the same electronically stored information in more than one form.
(c) Nonparties. As provided in Rule 45, a nonparty may be compelled to produce documents and tangible things or to permit an inspection.
Notes
(As amended Dec. 27, 1946, eff. Mar. 19, 1948; Mar. 30, 1970, eff. July 1, 1970; Apr. 29, 1980, eff. Aug. 1, 1980; Mar. 2, 1987, eff. Aug. 1, 1987; Apr. 30, 1991, eff. Dec. 1, 1991; Apr. 22, 1993, eff. Dec. 1, 1993; Apr. 12, 2006, eff. Dec. 1, 2006; Apr. 30, 2007, eff. Dec. 1, 2007; Apr. 29, 2015, eff. Dec. 1, 2015.)
Notes of Advisory Committee on Rules—1937
In England orders are made for the inspection of documents, English Rules Under the Judicature Act (The Annual Practice, 1937) O. 31, r.r. 14, et seq., or for the inspection of tangible property or for entry upon land, O. 50, r.3. Michigan provides for inspection of damaged property when such damage is the ground of the action. Mich.Court Rules Ann. (Searl, 1933) Rule 41, §2.
Practically all states have statutes authorizing the court to order parties in possession or control of documents to permit other parties to inspect and |
in the American round of the FIA WEC," continued Rauturier.
"Ideally we, team and drivers, would love to be at the start of the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2017 for which we are going to submit an entry application."
Graff, based close to Orly airport on the outskirts of Paris, is racing in both CN and LMP3 this season.
The promotion to LMP2 with Oreca sees them as a confirmed customer of the new Oreca 07 Coupe LMP2 car. All LMP2 entries from 2017 onwards will race with a spec Gibson Technology V8 engine.
Existing customers of the Oreca 05 chassis, which number among them Manor, G-Drive, Signatech Alpine, KCMG, Eurasia and TDS, will be able to upgrade to a 07 spec with a bespoke update kit.
The Dragonspeed team has also indicated that it will race two Oreca 07 designs next season.A group of Polish-Canadian entrepreneurs wants to revive the Syrena brand after a 30-year absence from the market.
The Syrena, which is often referred to as the mermaid in Poland, was produced in the country from 1957 until 1983, first by FSO (Fabryka Samochodow Osobowych) in Warsaw and then by FSM (Fabryka Samochodow Malolitrazowych) in Bielsko-Biała. An estimated 521,311 Syrena models were made.
AK Motor International Corp., a Canada-based company run by Polish ex-pats, recently released photos of its vision of the 21st century version of the car, which it calls the AK Syrena Meluzyna.
AK Motor founder and CEO Arkadiusz Kaminski told me that he is looking for investors as well as an industrial partner to make the car. One potential partner is FSO, which has the historic rights to the FSO Syrena while AK Motor has the exclusive rights to develop, produce, and market AK Syrena cars.
Kaminski, 39, said that his preference is to have the car made in Poland.
The new Syrena resembles the original car much like the current Fiat 500 pays homage to its early predecessors.
“It’s an iconic design,” Kaminski said in a phone interview. “If you asked a child to draw a car it would be as clean and simple as this.”
He also loves the brand’s longtime link to mermaids because nearly every culture has a legend about the imaginary sea dweller.
“Why should cars be so serious,” said Kaminski, whose background is in designing toys.Red Bull elected to give Ricciardo the new engine to try at Interlagos in the hope it would deliver a step forward in performance, knowing it would land him a 10-place grid penalty.
But Ricciardo revealed that he was in fact slower in a straight line during qualifying than teammate Daniil Kvyat, who was not using the upgraded engine.
Asked if he felt it was worth taking a grid penalty for, he said: "With the grid penalty, no, but for us getting some clarity on where [the engine] is, yes.
"We had to try it, and see if what Renault saw on the dyno could be replicated on track, but it didn't really give us any laptime.
"So it's a penalty for a little bit of knowledge. We've taken a hit today, but long-term we're better off for what we've learned.
"We know what [the engine] is, and that we need something better if we continue together next year."
Unsure of points
Ricciardo also admitted that scoring points from 19th on the grid could be a struggle without the necessary straight line speed to overtake.
"We're quicker than the group of cars around us," the Australian told Sky Sports. "Whether we'll be able to make one less stop and jump into the points, I don't know.
"We'll have the tyre wear to do it, but I don't know if we have the speed."
He added: "The weekend went pretty smoothly, but in qualifying we lacked that extra tenth or two we needed to make the step up.
"I've been thinking a bit more of the race and setting the car up for starting towards the back, but even so you always want to beat your teammate."Using art to advance the culture of life
Apr. 26, 2013 - For aspiring elementary school art teacher Jennifer Evans, the meeting with her teacher for her final class project was not going well. With two weeks to go before the project deadline, her teacher was threatening to censor her work.
Jennifer thought the decision to include a prolife message in her work might not go over well with her art teacher, but the Thornapple Kellogg High School senior was undeterred. She knew she had the freedom of expression, and was committed to expressing a positive prolife message at her school's art festival on May 19.
"She didn't want this message in this school," Jennifer said.
Her first idea for the project wasn't a prolife message. Her initial piece was going to express diversity by forming a face out of many separate pictures arranged together. The difficulty of putting it together forced her to reexamine her plan, but it opened up a new opportunity.
"I had been thinking about putting a prolife message in my art for a while, but didn't know how I would do it yet," she said.
After a few days of brainstorming, she settled on three large separate drawings of a baby growing up throughout life, the last drawing featuring the person as a nurse holding an ultrasound photo. Below the three frames, the word "life" was spelled out in bold letters.
On February 28, two weeks before the project was due, Jennifer met with her teacher to get approval for her plan.
Jennifer's teacher was not impressed. She asked Jennifer what the piece meant. Rather than say it was the circle of life or a story of a girl growing up, both conclusions someone viewing her art might reasonably think of first, Jennifer decided to honestly tell her teacher it was a prolife message.
The teacher first tried to talk her out of the idea, but when Jennifer said she was committed to doing it, her teacher said she would not allow it to be displayed and that the artwork would damage Jennifer's future.
"She told me this kind of art wasn't going to get me a scholarship, it was definitely a tense conversation," Jennifer said.
Jennifer said the teacher's objections first centered on the controversy of sharing a prolife message, even one that is not explicitly about an issue like abortion. Later on during further discussions, she said the teacher objected to the depiction of the ultrasound photo the nurse was holding.
Her teacher said, "you have a fetus in your art!"
The teacher would allow her to finish her artwork, but refused to allow her to present it. Fearing for her educational plans and her desire to have her work join those of her fellow students at the school art festival, it would have been easy for Jennifer to reverse course. She said she instead felt she had to be bold and speak up for her deeply-held beliefs.
"I didn't want it to be this big deal, but I decided it had to go as far as needed," Jennifer said.
Fortunately her case didn't go as far as it could have. Jennifer's parents wrote to the teacher, imploring her to respect Jennifer's freedom of expression. They also contacted the school's principal and superintendent. After a few stressful days of drawing, not knowing if her work would see the light of day, Jennifer was informed she would be allowed to display her art.
The art festival will cap a special end to her senior year, she said. Jennifer's last day of high school is Friday, May 17, she will be competing in the Right to Life of Michigan High School Oratory Contest on Saturday, May 18, and her artwork will be displayed for everyone to see on Sunday, May 19.
She said she was very thankful for her parents' support, as well as support from others during her struggle. At Thornapple Valley Church in Hastings Jennifer was able to display and explain her work. She said she hopes her experience inspires other people to be bold in sharing prolife stories, even in the face of controversy or consequences.
"Go for it! Don't let your fears get in the way," Jennifer said. "It was a big mess and really ugly, but it was worth it in the end."
For information about prolife volunteering opportunies and to sign-up for them, click here.
Share your story
Back to Real Life Stories archiveThis might be a little shorter than usual, as I was driving from Connecticut to Rochester and missed most of the noon games.
-Texas A&M is better than I expected. Yes, they lost to Florida, but they hung in there and redshirt freshman Johnny Manziel looked very much at home playing QB in the SEC. The run game was solid as well.
-Florida may have won the game, but they need to be more disciplined. They followed up their 14 penalties last week against Bowling Green with two personal fouls in the first half against A&M. That will come back to bite them eventually if they keep it up.
-Of the Penn State players who transferred, I think K Anthony Fera was the biggest loss for the Nittany Lions. His replacement missed four field goals (one of which would have won the game) and a PAT in a 17-16 loss to Virginia.
-Michigan struggled on defense again, but Big Ten teams don’t see the triple option every day. I’m not writing them off yet.
-What a red-zone threat J.C. Copeland is for LSU. He’s a 272-pound former defensive lineman converted to fullback, and when he doesn’t get the ball he’s a hell of a blocker.
-It was a weird day in the SEC. Auburn loses to Mississippi State? #8 Arkansas goes down to Louisiana-Monroe? Georgia struggles with Missouri before eventually winning big?
-In other news, it’s probably safe to count out Arkansas and Auburn in the SEC West race.
-Mississippi State may not be a contender in the SEC West just yet, but in a year or two they could be. They looked good yesterday.
-Oregon State’s upset of Wisconsin may affect the Badgers’ national championship hopes, but they should still get to the Big Ten Championship. The Leaders division is weaker than the Legends’, and Ohio State is ineligible.Druid Circle: Circle of the Pact
Druids of the the Circle of the Pact form a bond with a bestial benefactor. This benefactor becomes their primal guide calling them to protect weaker creatures under the benefactor's protection from the evils of the world. This pact may be the result of a being spared in a close encounter with one of the entity's subjects, a particularly wild druid drawn to this power, or the bestial entity may have sought the Druid out themselves.
While possessing the ability to morph into many lesser forms, druids of this circle prefer to take the form of their benefactor. While taking this form, their benefactor is able to amplify the wild power running throught their veins allowing them to transcend the power their bestial cousins.
Your benefactor may be a bear, panther, snake, ape, horse, or crocodile. Or benefactor may be another beast, at your DM's discretion (and balancing by your DM).
Combat Wild Shape
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape on your turn as a bonus action, rather than as an action.
Additionally, while you are transformed by Wild Shape, you can use a bonus action to expend one spell slot to regain 1d8 hit points per level of the spell slot expended.
Primal Guide
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape to turn into an avatar of your spirit guide. This avatar follows the Wild Shape rules, except it always takes the same form (color, scars, gender, etc). Your guide's power fills you when you take this form granting you +3 AC, additional HP equal to your druid level times 4, and you may speak though it sounds bestial (reminiscent of your avatar form).
The primal power granted to you affects your untransformed body as well. At your option, you also gain minor physical attributes that are reminiscent of your primal guide. For example, a bear pact may make you hairier or a crocodile pact may give you scaly skin.
Elemental Primal Strike
Starting at 6th level, choose lightning, cold, fire, or poison. You may infuse your attacks in avatar form to change the damge to your choosen damage type. All attacks in avatar form count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. You may choose to replace the damage
Bestial Fury
Beginning at 10th level, while in avatar form you can make two attacks when you use the Attack action.
Bestial Avatar
Starting at 14th level, when you transform into your animal avatar, you may choose a size class up to two sizes greater or smaller than your normal form. You may not be smaller than tiny, nor larger than huge. If you do so, your avatar form is affected in various ways, see table below. (Note: your damage dice cannot be reduced below d4, nor increased above d12)Bill Murray, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, John Travolta and Julia Roberts are among the A-Listers who will help usher David Letterman into late-night history.
CBS has unveiled the guest list for Letterman’s final 28 Late Show installments, beginning tonight and climaxing with his final broadcast on Wednesday, May 20.
In addition to the quintet above, Letterman will also be visited by George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Tom Hanks, Jack Hanna, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Keaton, Steve Martin, Sarah Jessica Parker (tonight’s headliner), Don Rickles, Ray Romano, Paul Rudd, Martin Short, Howard Stern, Bruce Willis, The Avett Brothers and Brandi Carlile, Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews Band, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Mumford and Sons, Ralph Stanley and Amos Lee.
Additional names will be announced in coming weeks.A reporter from the White House press corps went rogue Wednesday when she livestreamed audio from the day’s press briefing.
Ksenija Pavlovic, a former political science teaching fellow at Yale and founder of the news site Pavlovic Today, used the Periscope app to stream the briefing audio, also tweeting a link to the feed, according to the Washington Post.
Despite poor sound quality, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders could be heard introducing Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short, who addressed reporters before Sanders answered questions from the press corps.
The Periscope livestream cut out after about 17 minutes, while Short was still talking, but Pavlovic quickly resumed streaming and tweeted a new link that carried another 31 minutes of live audio.
The seemingly rebellious act marks a significant development in relations between the media and the White House.
Trump’s spokespeople have ordered the press corps not to film or broadcast live audio at every White House briefing since June 29. Reporters have balked at recent restrictions on coverage of the briefings, urging that the White House allow live broadcasts. But they have complied with the rules, despite carrying smartphones that can stream video or audio in seconds.
The audio of at least one off-camera briefing since June aired live on all three cable news networks but was a result of ambivalent guidance from the White House, which has insisted that recordings air only aired on delay. Since then, the networks have complied with their request.One of Nokia's key elements to success in the Windows Phone market was delivering quality apps and games to the Lumia Windows Phone line. We've seen quality apps such as Sophie Lens HD, AccuWeather, Benji Bananas as well as the line of Nokia imaging apps (Camera, Creative Studio, Video Trimmer, etc.) and navigation apps (Here) populate the Nokia Collection in the Windows Phone Store. This week's Windows Phone Central roundup we take a look at four titles in the Nokia Collection that are among the newer members of the collection that may have snuck under the radar. We'll take a look at two games and two apps and fear not if you're sporting an HTC or Samsung Windows Phone. Three of the four titles are not exclusive to the Nokia Lumia Windows Phones. While listed in the Nokia Collection, several of the apps the collection have lost their exclusivity or were released platform wide.
CamScanner (free): CamScanner is a document scanning app for your Windows Phone 8 device. You can scan just about anything you can take a picture of. That would include receipts, invoices, contracts, magazine articles, reference books, business cards, tax returns, and certificates. When you first launch CamScanner you'll need to set up an account with CamScanner.net. While the app is free, access to a handful of premium features (cloud storage and OCR to texts) will cost you $49.99 annually. Fortunately, CamScanner is running a promotion through the end of November for a free, one year subscription to the premium features. CamScanner's main features include: Auto detect and crop of scanned images
Smart enhance to get the right exposure
.PDF file support
Text search with scanned documents
Copy, move and merge documents
Cloud support through CamScanner
CamScanner Library Page and Adjustments Screens
The app is laid out about as simple as you can get. The main page is a library of scanned documents with a camera button at the bottom of the screen to start the document scanning. Up under the three-dot menu you'll find options to sync your documents to the CamScanner's cloud service, select and sort the documents in your library and access the settings. Settings cover your account information and a few general options that include syncing only over WiFi and choosing your default enhancement mode. The Settings Pages also offer options to boost your cloud storage slightly by rating the app or inviting friends to try CamScanner.
CamScanner's Settings
Document scanning is on par with any other scanning app for our Windows Phone. Once you tap the camera button, line up your document on the screen and press the shutter button or just tap the screen. Once the document is captured, CamScanner will attempt to automatically crop the image. If things aren't just right with the crop, just manually adjust things. From there you have a series of adjustment screens to navigate through where you can adjust the exposure, sharpness, and contrast of the document. You can also apply one of five enhancement settings to your document that include original, lighten, magic color, black & white, and grayscale. The magic color setting seems to give the document a noticeable boost in contrast, brightness and sharpness that gives things a bit of a pop. Once saved the document will be added to your document library where you can pull the document up to share, edit, set tags, pin to your Start Screen, or add additional pages to things.
CamScanner Document View, InNote Integration and Page View Fully Zoomed
When you are viewing a document you can re-edit the page, edit the page name, share the document as an image or.PDF file, pin it to your Start Screen or delete it all together. You also have options to annotate the document, add a note to the document and apply the OCR filter. The annotation feature requires InNote to be installed on your Windows Phone. InNote offers an easy way to highlight sections of a document, mark up a document for editing or just doodle away on a document. CamScanner is an impressive document scanning option for your Windows Phone 8 device. The app has a simple, straight forward user interface and document quality is really good. I think what hurts CamScanner is the cost of the premium features. I would rather pay $4.99 for the app and have the option to use my SkyDrive account. The cloud storage does include 10GB of storage space but I'm beginning to wonder if the sky is getting too cloudy. CamScanner is a free app for your Windows Phone 8 device. Through November 30, 2013 when you register with CamScanner you'll get a free, one year subscription to their premium services. After that, it'll cost you $49.99 per year. You can pick up CamScanner here in the Windows Phone Store and it is available for all Windows Phones.
Tut's Tower (free): Tut's Tower is a painstakingly frustrating Windows Phone 8 puzzle game. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. You are given an assortment of shapes that you have to stack and balance. Once you get the last piece in place, the stack must be stable for ten seconds before you can advance to the next puzzle level.
Tut's Tower's Main Menu, Tutorial and Game Screen
Tut's Tower has three difficulties (Easy, Medium, and Hard) that progressively become unlocked as you progress through the game. You also have a level creator where you can create and share your own puzzles with other Tut's Tower players or download their creations. Game play is simple but don't let that fool you. The game screen has a base pad at the bottom of the screen and your playing pieces lined up at the top. Playing pieces range from blocks of assorted sizes to triangles to bars that you balance on pegs. Just tap and drag a piece into position and repeat those steps until all the pieces are in play. When you place your last piece, a countdown timer will start and if your creation stays balanced, you get to advance to the next level.
Tut's Tower's Puzzle Levels and Level Creator
Tut's Tower is one of those games that can be so challenging you'll toss it aside out of frustration but oddly get pulled back into playing the game. The physics based puzzles border on being cruel and the level creator allows you to vent your own frustration out on other players of the game. Tut's Tower is available for all Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices. It is a free, ad supported game and you can find Tut's Towers here in the Windows Phone Store.
Battery Sense (trial/$.99): There are a ton of battery monitoring apps available for our Windows Phone. While Battery Pro + is sponsored by Nokia, Battery Sense is part of the Nokia Collection.
Battery Sense Main Pages
The main pages for Battery Sense cover an overview of your battery status (percent charge, time remaining, etc.), a history graph, and details stats. Up under the three dot menu you'll find options to add the app to your lockscreen, view an assortment of tips to maximize your battery life, and an audible reading of your current battery status.
Battery Sense Control Panel and Settings
Battery Sense's setting may set this app apart slightly from other battery apps. From the settings you can: Set the color of your Live Tile which includes defaulting to your theme color, choosing a separate color or choosing a dynamic color that changes as your battery level lowers.
Set how your battery life is estimated. Your choices are Battery Sense Style and Windows Phone Style. Battery Sense provides a more accurate estimation but takes a little longer to calculate due to the need to learn your battery usage history. Windows Phone Style will use the native or standard estimations used by our Windows Phone.
You have a handful of notifications that include being notified when the battery is fully charged and when the battery is less than 25%.
Battery Sense has a battery drain indicator the will notify you when the battery is draining quicker than normal. This setting has three sensitivity levels that determines how quickly you'll be notified. High sensitivity notifies you immediately once a battery drain starts. Lower sensitivity waits until the draining becomes serious while medium sensitivity is somewhere in the middle. Speaking of Live Tiles, Battery Sense supports all three sizes of tiles with the larger tile displaying your current battery status and how much life is left. For the most part, Battery Sense performed on par with the other battery apps we've tested. I did get random notifications that my battery charging was complete hours after I had removed my Windows Phone from the charger. Beyond that, the app ran just fine. Battery Sense is available for Windows Phone 8 and there is a trial version available. The full version will run you $.99 and you can find it here in the Windows Phone Store.
Rail Rush (free): Rail Rush is a relatively new Windows Phone 8 game that first came to light during Nokia World 2013. The game has a Temple Run feel to it but instead of running across hill and dale, you're piloting a runaway mine cart. The task at hand calls for you to safely guide the cart through an endless mine shaft collection precious stones and gold nuggets. All the while keeping your cart on the tracks.
Rail Rush Main Menu, Missions, and Shop
From the main menu you can access game play, visit the game's shop, check out your missions/achievements, and access Rail Rush's options. Options cover replaying the game's tutorial, muting sound/music, viewing which gems you've collected and visit your gaming stats. The Shop is where you can use your collected gold nuggets (or cash via in-app purchase) buy/unlock additional characters, upgrades for your cart, and other bonus items that can help you survive the mines. You can also get a head start on things and buy extra nuggets through in-app purchases. When you first jump into game play, Rail Rush will walk you through a tutorial detailing all the moves needed to navigate the cart tracks. In a nutshell, you swipe at the screen to jump your cart left, right or up and duck to avoid obstacles and other situations that will end your journey. Tilt controls allow you to lean your cart left or right to collect objects and avoid obstacles. To keep things interesting, Rail Rush has four worlds to conquer. The first two are free with the last two costing you $1.49 through in-app purchases. You can bundle the last two worlds for $2.49.
Rail Rush World Choice and Game Screens
Game play has a fast pace to it and if your attention wanders for just a second, you'll find your cart crashing to the bottom of the mine. There are plenty of twists and turns to navigate through and hidden paths to discover. As with most games of this nature, the longer you survive, the pace of the game increases. Animations are fantastic, game play challenging and the Rail Rush has an addictive draw to it. My only nit is that the game is a little heavy on the in-app purchase options. Rail Rush would easily stand up to a $.99 price tag to reduce the need for so many in-app purchases. Heck, it might even stand up to a $1.99 pricing point. Regardless, Rail Rush is a great game for your Windows Phone 8 device. It is currently only available for Nokia Lumia Windows Phones. Rail Rush is free with in-app purchases to expand your gaming features and it can be found here in the Nokia Collection of the Windows Phone Store. Overall ImpressionsThe UESPWiki – Your source for The Elder Scrolls since 1995
Bran
Bran is one of two armored huskies living in Fort Dawnguard, along with Sceolang. They can be found within a wooden pen in the cave section for Fort Dawnguard. Go past the forge and to the right of the armored troll pen to find them both. Each can be used as a follower if you join the Dawnguard. They function exactly like the other animal followers, having only 'wait' and 'follow' as commands, following the typical behavior of running and attacking things on sight, and are allowed to be recruited in addition to an NPC follower.
Bran is one of the non-NPC followers that can become your pet with the Hearthfire add-on. He becomes available after completing the quest A New Order.
Notes [ edit ]Balsam, KF, Rothblum, ED, Beauchaine, TP ( 2005 ). Victimization over the life span: a comparison of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual siblings. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 73, 477 – 487.
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Hadden, BR, Tolliver, W, Snowden, F, Brown-Manning, R ( 2016 ). An authentic discourse: recentering race and racism as factors that contribute to police violence against unarmed Black or African American men. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment 26, 336 – 349.
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Jensen, JD, Holton, AE, Krakow, M, Weaver, J, Donovan, E, Tavtigian, S ( 2016 ). Colorectal cancer prevention and intentions to use low-dose aspirin: a survey of 1000 US adults aged 40–65. Cancer Epidemiology 41, 99 – 105.
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Rothman, EF, Exner, D, Baughman, AL ( 2011 ). The prevalence of sexual assault against people who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual in the United States: a systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 12, 55 – 66.
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Weitzer, R ( 2000 ). White, black, or blue cops? Race and citizen assessments of police officers. Journal of Criminal Justice 28, 313 – 324.
Weitzer, R, Tuch, SA ( 2004 ). Race and perceptions of police misconduct. Social Problems 51, 305 – 325.Breaking Down Ruger's New Suppressed 10/22 Takedown Rifle
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how to take care of lands," Montana state Sen. Jennifer Fielder said at a news conference. "We have to start managing these lands. It's the right thing to do for our people, for our environment, for our economy and for our freedoms."
In other words, today’s revival of the “Sagebrush Rebellion” is as much about political philosophy as it is about great stretches of the largely-arid territory west of the 100th meridian splitting the Dakotas and running down through Texas.
There’s a modern tea party political element to it, but it goes much farther back to when many western territories achieved statehood in the 19th century, working out deals with Washington (as Mormon Utah did over what adherents at the time called “plural marriages”).
The map accompanying this article shows the difference between the West and the rest of the country. Here’s a list showing percentages of federal land by state, according to the Congressional Research Service. It includes the US Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, National Parks, and military bases: Nevada 81, Alaska 62, Utah 67, Oregon 53, Idaho 62, Arizona 42, California 48, Wyoming 48, New Mexico 35, Colorado 36.
State lawmakers say they’re better prepared to manage such lands, both for the environment and for regional economies.
"There is a distinct difference in the way federal agencies are managing the federal lands today," Sen. Fielder said. "They used to do a good job, but they are hamstrung now with conflicting policies, politicized science, and an extreme financial crisis at the national level. It makes it impossible for these federal agencies to manage the lands responsibly anymore."
Utah has led a legislative charge to demand relinquishment of title to certain lands that exclude national parks and wilderness study areas, reports the Deseret News in Salt Lake City.
The “Transfer of Public Lands Act,” signed into law by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert in 2012, set the stage for a formal showdown with the government by demanding action under threat of lawsuit, the newspaper reports. Other states are exploring similar options.
Often, the political fight centers on some hapless species of plant or animal threatened with extinction and protected under federal law – like the northern spotted owl in Oregon or the desert tortoise in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. Sometimes federal agencies are caught in the middle, trying to apply the “multiple use” doctrine to lands in dispute.
A group of environmental groups recently filed a notice of intent to sue the BLM for failing to report impacts to the desert tortoise and similarly threatened and endangered species from off-road vehicles, cattle grazing and other activities in California.
“BLM says it’s committed to conserving species and habitats in California deserts – yet it has failed to comply with even the most basic requirements for management of desert tortoises and other rare and vulnerable wildlife,” Lisa Belenky, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
A potentially dangerous confrontation was averted last week when the BLM stopped rounding up Cliven Bundy’s cattle, which had been described as “trespassing” on federal land. Hundreds of Bundy supporters had gathered, many of them armed with assault-style rifles and other weapons.
The BLM vows to continue its action against Bundy in the courts, where it has won every decision so far.
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But this dispute over a few hundred cows is an important symbol of a much larger issue that’s been part of US western history since wagon trains brought settlers west along the Oregon Trail.
"What’s happened in Nevada is really just a symptom of a much larger problem," Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart said at the public lands summit.Police in the north Brazilian state of Amapa have unearthed a cache with 450 kg of enriched uranium ore, a dangerous mineral used for nuclear arms production.
Police in the north Brazilian state of Amapa have unearthed a cache with 450 kg of enriched uranium ore, a dangerous mineral used for nuclear arms production.
The operation to seize radioactive material was a result of four-month work by investigators, who found a bag of pitchblende on Friday in a remote area of tropical rainforest.
Pitchblende, or uraninite, is an extremely radioactive mineral used as a major component for the production of fuel for nuclear power plants and nuclear arms.
An investigation is underway.
Brazil's nuclear capabilities are considered the most advanced in Latin America. The country runs its sole nuclear power plant, Angra, with two reactors, and a third is under construction.
RIO DE JANEIRO, January 23 (RIA Novosti)>>> there is growing reaction tonight over an ohio gym teacher fired from her job at a catholic school for being in a relationship with another woman. while the school is digging its heels in over the incident, some of the students are standing up for her. nbc's stephanie gosk has our report.
>> carla hale does not like the news cameras.
>> i don't want money, fame.
>> she would prefer to be at the catholic high school in columbus, ohio, where she taught for 19 years, but last month, she was fired.
>> shock. i literally could not even sit down.
>> hale lives with her partner. something she never talkeded about at school, but when her mother died in february, hale included a mention in their relationship in the newspaper.
>> i told julia what i had done and she instantly questioned me and said, are you sure you want to do this.
>> one of the students read it and sent to the -- a coach at a catholic school living in a relationship in which the church is against amazes me. days later, hale, a practicing methodist, lost her job. a statement says the catholic church respects the fundamental dignity of all persons, but also must insist those in its employ respect the tenants of the church. a group of students jumped to the teacher's defense. an online petition has more than 62,000 signatures, including kendall meacham's.
>> my generation has no problem with people being gay.
>> these graduate say the decision to support hale is inspire inspired.
>> part of the system is when you see an injustice, you're called to stand up.
>> one of the reasons she says she stayed at the school her whole career.
>> it's just the great place to be. i loved the school.
>> but the gym teacher really wants to do is go back to work.
>>> when nightly news continues, heartApple was surely riding high after the announcement of their new iPad yesterday, but that doesn’t mean that everything is OK in CA if a Wall Street Journal report published today holds true.
According to “people familiar with the matter,” Apple along with HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan are on the verge of being slapped with a Department of Justice lawsuit that alleges they colluded to raise e-book prices.
At the heart of the DoJ’s beef with these publishers is their adoption of Apple’s agency book-selling model, under which publishers can set e-book prices on their own, but surrender a 30% cut from each sale to Apple. It’s no wonder then that these publishers would jump onboard — a presence in the iBookstore means they’ve got access to a ridiculous number of iOS devices, and can charge as much as they like in an effort to offset their payouts to Apple.
The industry’s talking heads have been more than a little outspoken about the pricing model shift. According to American Bookseller Association CEO Oren Teicher “the agency model is in the best interest of not only the book industry, but the consuming public as well.” I beg to differ Mr. Teicher — I can see how the book industry would love being able to charge whatever they want for their books, but I don’t see how you can frame higher costs for e-books as a boon for customers.
Anyway.
Rivals like Amazon have been feeling the heat for over a year because of the agency model adoption. Given their longevity as a book retailer, Amazon sticks to a wholesale pricing model, under which they can purchase the rights to sell an e-book and determine their own selling price. While this choice (and the ensuing slate of $9.99 bestsellers) generated love among consumers, it has caused them to scuffle with publishers who think their digital editions are undervalued.
The five publishers reportedly involved in the suit are big players in the book industry, but at least one major publisher seems to have dodged the bullet here. Random House announced their intentions to switch to the agency model for their e-books at the end of February, but I wonder if that decision will stick now that the model faces legal scrutiny.
So what’s the end-game scenario here? If the Department of Justice gets their way, then cheaper e-books for you and me are on the horizon, though how exactly that sort of pricing shift could happen is still up in the air. The publishers in question are scrambling to come up with a solution that allows them to dodge legal heat while still raking in revenue. Among the ideas currently being floated is the possibility of sticking to the agency model but allowing certain retailers to offer discounts. Negotiations have apparently been going on for a while, and we’ll keep you posted if anything actually comes of them.Apple's share of total smartphone industry profits grew to 94 percent during the September quarter, up from 85 percent one year ago.
Source: Canaccord Genuity
"We recorded the highest rate on record for Android switchers last quarter at 30 percent" - Tim Cook
The iPhone maker's overwhelming share of all smartphone income comes despite Apple being second in smartphone volume shipments to all vendors collectively selling devices running some form of Android software.According to Canaccord Genuity research, Samsung, the largest Android licensee by far, took a distant 11 percent share of total operating income. Those numbers exceed 100 percent because most other phone makers reported negative operating income.Canaccord analysts Mike Walkley blamed some of the losses suffered by HTC, BlackBerry, Sony and Lenovo (which now owns Google's former Motorola subsidiary) on their inability to compete in the market for higher end phones priced at more than $400.Apple earned its overwhelming share of profits despite producing just 14.5 percent (48 million) of the smartphones sold in the quarter. Samsung shipped an estimated 81 million units in the same quarter, accounting for 24.5 percent of the total.The average selling price of iPhones in the quarter was $670 driving 37 percent operating margins, while Samsung's ASP was just $180.While some analysts are predicting that Apple has nowhere to go but down, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook noted it the company's September earnings report that "momentum for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus remained very strong across the quarter, and we established a new launch record for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus near the end of the quarter."He added, "we exited the quarter with demand for our new iPhones exceeding supply, but we've made good progress with our manufacturing ramp in the initial weeks of October."In response to a question on future guidance from analyst Katie Huberty of Morgan Stanley, Cook answered, "We believe that iPhone will grow in Q1, and we base that on what we're seeing from a switcher point of view. We recorded the highest rate on record for Android switchers last quarter at 30 percent. We also look at the number of people that have upgraded, that were in the install base prior to iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and that number is in the low 30 percentages, so we feel like we have a very open field in front of us."“Just think a moment about what is happening right now. In 25 years, your children and grandchildren will read [about this coup], as now people read about the 1953 overthrow of Prime Minister of Iran Mohammed Mossadegh. Does it not seem to you at some point that this can happen in Caracas and Kiev, or actually in Ankara, Damascus and Baghdad?” Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson — Chief of staff of US Secretary of State Colin Powell
The CIA played a role in the attempt of a military coup in Turkey, says Lawrence Wilkerson. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
Lawrence Wilkerson was the chief of staff of former US Secretary of state Colin Powell. Wilkerson does not mince words about the attempted coup in Turkey.
“I think it is undeniable that John Brennan and others knew about what was happening in Turkey, and it is clear that the USA had to do something.” “Either we are internally advised to refrain from doing so, which happens from time to time, or, conversely, greatly contributed to this, or something between.”
The Empire Files: ‘This Ship is Sinking’
Abby Martin interviews retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former national security advisor to the Reagan administration, who spent years as an assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell during both Bush administrations. Today, he is honest about the unfixable corruption inside the establishment and the corporate interests driving foreign policy. Hear a rare insider’s view of what interests are behind U.S. wars, the manipulation of intelligence, the intertwining of the military and corporate world, and why the U.S. Empire is doomed
REFERENCE
Former state Department official: CIA involvement in the coup attempt in Turkey
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TURKEY — Former US Secretary chief of staff: “The CIA knew about the coming coup…”Levelers Bunker
Mod for Fallout 4
Version 0.13 BETA - 10/30/2016
by WillieSea
-INSTALLATION--------
-LOCATION------------
-DESCRIPTION---------
-REFRESH Mod---------
-Building in the Bunker!----
-FEATURES------------
*CREDITS*-------------
*KNOWN BUGS*
*This mod will be updated on occasion as I dream up new ideas and fix reported bugs.1. Unpack the 7z file and copy the 'Data' folder into your steam folder located at:2. *\Steam\SteamApps\common\Fallout 4\3. Overwrite all files and folders. No vanilla files have been modified so this is safe to do.4. Activate the mod from with-in the the games Mod menu. For best compatibility with other mods, put Levelers Bunker towards the top of your load order, which can be done in-game.The bunker is located outside the Vault 111 entrance. Look to the South.Trouble finding the key? Check the army skeleton outside the bunker.Player Home Base with many features. You can quickly create test characters for testing your own mods, re-create a lost character due to hardware failure or save game corruption, or just have fun making up any level ofcharacter you like.This readme document should have all the information you need to play the mod to its full advantage. Pleaseread it before asking questions.Why is a refresh necessary sometimes?This mod is currently being developed, and sometimes I modify things and they will not show up in your save game.Why don't they show up in my save game?Because, the save game is loaded into memory last. Think of your save game as the last item in your load order. So, if something is saved in your saved game, such as a container location, the position of that container will be taken from your save game, not the mod. So you need to remove all mod information from your save game, or refresh it.How do I refresh the mod in my save game?1.. First, make sure you clear out all the containers, displays, everything from the mod interiors. With a refresh, everything will be reset to new.2. Disable the mod in your load order and then load up your save game. Once loaded, save it as a new save game.3. Restart the game and enable the mod in your load order. Then load your cleaned save game.Do I always have to refresh the mod with every new version?No. It is only necessary to refresh the mod when I move stuff around and I will always let you know that I recommend a mod refresh. Most updates you can simply install the update and continue playing.Building is NOT supported in the bunker. If you want to build, head for 'The Dig' in the research wing.Why?Because it conflicts with 'room-bounds'.What are room bounds and why are they more important than building?Room-bounds allow a modder to create'sections' of larger cells, so only those sections will be rendered when the player is in them. All other sections will not be rendered, an thus it will increase the performance for players.You can still build, but it will be buggy because its a bug with the game engine. You can still place stuff, but it will be invisible. At least until you'reload' the game, then it will all show up.Why does it turn invisible when I place stuff?Because your new objects are NOT part of the room-bound your in after being placed. Since its not part of the room-bound, it is not rendered. But once you reload your game, it becomes part of the room-bound its in and it will be rendered.There will be a separate cell that will allow you to build all you want.==Exterior==*Vertibird landing pad with locked bunker entrance.*Bunker entrance contains bedroll and terminal which must be unlocked in order to power up the elevator.==Bunker Entrance/Exit==*Elevator that brings you back to the surface.*Reset Decals - Button that will make all the decals re-appear.*Auto-Sort button and Auto-Sort trunk. Place items in the trunk you want sorted into the lockers below. Then press the auto-sort button. This will not sort items out of your inventory.==Clinic==*Health related containers==Atrium==*Fusion Recharge Station - Place any fusion core into the station container. Press the "Start Recharging Station" button and a fully charged fusion core will appear in the outlet. Activate the "Recharged Fusion Core" to take it.*Workbenches - Armor and Weapons workbench available for your use.*Merchant - But or sell goods to this robotic merchant. You can use the 'Returns Terminal' to give the merchant more caps.*"Autosort All from Inventory" - Press this to auto-sort all defined items into their seperate named lockers. Items are taken from your inventory.*Individual Autosort buttons in front of each locker - Autosort just those items into the single named locker. Items are taken from your inventory.*"Returns Terminal" - Use this terminal to set which and how much of the ammo and explosive types you want returned to you from the lockers. This also by default, returns some medical and other useful items to you.*"Return Stuff Button" - Press this button to have bobby pins, health items, and the ammo/explosive choice items returned to your inventory from the lockers.*"Auto-sort Junk" button - Press to sort all the defined junk items to the 'Junk' and 'Special Junk' metal boxes. Special Junk are rare or items you can sell. The Junk box will contain all the useless junk ready for scrapping.*"Scrap all the Junk" button - Everything in the 'Junk' metal box will be broken down and converted into its component parts, and placed into the 'Components' metal box.==Depot==*Misc containers. Terminal for opening warehouse doors. - WIP==Reactor==*Power generators - WIP==Residential - Bottom floor==*Cafeteria - WIP==Residential - Top floor==*Security Office - Key to Research vault door found in the lockup on the shelf.*Bedrooms - WIP==Research==*All the cheats in the game. There is a'readme' tape drive that explains how it works.*V111 Bunker Master Pipboy Holotape found on desk terminal - Contains teleportation, auto-sorting, retrieval, and deathclaw spawner, all available from your pip-boy at any time.*Bobbleheads - Increase your base SPECIAL values. No limit, if you go over 10, its your own risk.*Experience console - Leveled exp gain for each activation.*Carry Weight - Increase your carry weight with each activation.*Bottlecaps - Increase your bottlecaps with each activation.*Radiation Cleanse - Remove all radiation effects.*Max Radiation - Increase radiation levels.*Max Health - Increase your maximum health with each activation.*Restore Health - Full heal.*Cure Addictions - Remove all addictions.*Cure Disease - Call all diseases.*Perks Terminal - Gain any vanilla or companion perks.*Worktables for Weapons, Armor, Chemistry, Cooktop - All share component inventory.*Mod added items, will not be auto-sorted.*New items with more protection or attack power:-Vault 111 suit.-Full set of light combat armor, that has protection of heavy combat armor.-Magnum Weapons: 10mm Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle, Gauss Rifle, Minigun, Laser Pistol, Nano-sword. All better damage capacity.*Component spawners - Click a button, get the compenent delivered to you from warehouse storage.*Munitions Terminal - Select ammo to be delivered to you from warehouse storage.*Research Terminal - Gain ballistic weave recipe. You can also remove it if you gain the recepie from the Railroad.*Medical Mirror - Respawns medical supplies each time you open it.*Bottled Purified Water - Water fountain that gives you purified water bottles.==Maintenance==*Metal boxes full of components.*Many power armor stands for display of your power armor units.==Overseers Office==*WIP - Will become a quest display room for special items.*Safe contains many 'NPC' style weapons. Non-sortable.*Bobblehead display.==Combat Zone==*WIP - More combat types will be added later.*Start a raider battle and repulse the raiders from the town! Spawns 25 raiders and 15 creatures.==The Dig==*Large open area for you to build in. Contains a large pond of water and a large garden area. You decide what you want to build!WillieSea - Levelers Bunker**If you see something you think you made and I did not give you credit, please let me know and I willinvestigate.The Nexus website:If you like the mod, Please endorse it.If you like me, I like Kudos.If you use the mod, please consider making a donation.***NOTICE on RE-USE***You may use any of my objects in this mod without asking me first with the following exceptions. You may notre-use anything that I have given credit to someone else for that is in this mod without their approval. Youshould give me credit if you do use anything of mine.If you wish to create a different language version of this mod, feel free to, but please only upload theobjects you changed the language on. The other objects need to be downloaded from the location it was originallyuploaded to by me. You may point to this mod in your own mod if you wish to do this.This mod may not be uploaded in its entirety to any other web locations without my consent. I can be reachedthrough private message on the nexus as 'WilliamSea'.If I do not respond within 90 days to a private message, you may assume your granted permission.*Decals will not display once you visit and leave the vault in the same sitting. I included a button to're-enable' them which can be found next to the exit elevator and the merchant.*Its a known bug that when you build in a cell that also uses Room-bounds, that any placed objects will not display properly until after you reload your game.*Some people report they cannot unlock the bunker door. I suspect a mod conflict. It has been reported you can have Cait (or another follower) unlock the door for you, or you can use the console command 'unlock' on the door.*BETA TESTERS**hard8*CHANGE LOG*-------------------10/30/2016 - v0.13- Creation of Combat Zone with Raider battle.- Master Pipboy holotape: Additional and fixed teleport locations.- Master Pipboy holotape: Added DLC teleport locations.- Master Pipboy holotape: All teleports now work instantly instead of having to exit the Pipboy.- Stopped interior doors from respawning - Should force them to stay in the state you left them in.- Cram Deluxe- Many easter egg room changes including supporter poster.- Auto-sorts now include many DLC items and some more vanilla items.10/16/2016 - v0.12- More Readable auto sorts.- Bigger water pool in The Dig.- Some shelving added to bunker.- Navmesh completely redone.- Security patrols in bunker.- Maintenence bot in bunker.- Added auto-sort components.- DLC and Unique lockers added. No sorts yet.- All DLC posters should work. I cannot verify Far Harbor or Nuka-world.- Holotape can now recall components from component metal box.- V81 teleport location fixed.- Power Armor Depot created in its own cell.- Several minor bug fixes.10/09/2016 - v0.11- Initial build of workshop settlement cavern. Water and farm.- Merchant vendor will now buy and sell.- More Auto-sorts added. Misc items, holotapes, notes, game cartridges, fusion cores.- Master Holotape fixes.- Double bed can now be activated and slept in.- New floor textures added. Wood paneled wall in overseer office.- Feral ghoul change, so it will not respawn.- Fix for companion pushing player into ground upon exiting bunker.- Added 1x corset outfit which can be upgraded.- Added Incinerator - Destroys items.- General bug fixes.10/02/2016 - v0.10 - First Nexus Beta release09/11/2016 - V0.0 - Alpha testing.Showing 1 - 40 of 528
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incentive to raise red flags.
“I can assure you that the ADWs today are not going to risk their relationship with the industry, with the tracks with whom they have simulcast agreements and are allowed to enter their pools,” he said. “None of the ADWs that come into TRA pools want to have account holders who are doing something nefarious. They value the fact that they have relationships with TRA and non-TRA racetrack associations.”
The Meadowlands' Darin Zoccali agrees. When the track signed a simulcast deal with a computer betting group earlier this year, the contract included an “out clause” if any problems arose.
“If we saw anything that concerned us with any possibly negative impact on our other customers or our pools, we can get out of the contract within 72 hours, no ifs ands or buts,” Zoccali said. “We can just tell these guys it's not working out for us anymore – we're out.”
But Zoccali said the track has seen no issues with astronomically high wagers, odds manipulation, or out-of-whack payouts.
“We couldn't be happier with it the way that it's gone. We've had no issues at all.”
The Future of Race Betting?
So, will there come a day when “flesh and blood” bettors are replaced entirely by bots wagering at warp speed against each other?
It seems highly unlikely.
For one thing, there are about a dozen high-volume, robotic wagering entities currently betting into North American pools, but not only are the start-up costs a barrier to growth of the sector, the TRA's Chris Scherf believes there's probably a point of saturation, too.
“I don't know how many computer teams this could absorb because they would squeeze the profit out of the odds if they were all going against each other,” he said.
There is evidence elsewhere that computer arbitrage reaches a tipping point. Australian pioneer Alan Woods had phenomenal success for years but went on a lengthy losing streak once other computer teams got in on the action in Hong Kong.
On Wall Street, the cracks are already appearing in high-frequency trading. From 2008 to 2011, as much as two-thirds of all stock trades in the U.S. were attributed to HFT companies. This year, it's down to about half, and both overall profits and profits per trade are down significantly. Some HFT firms have gone out of the business. The market is less volatile, and that has cut into HFT's edge, but so has competition.
Still, sophisticated computer-modeled gambling isn't going anywhere. In Las Vegas, both bettors and sports books are still ramping up their statistically-driven technology. North American racing can choose to continue on that path or reverse course, but the consensus seems clear.
“At this point, do you really want to scare these guys away just because you're not sure how their computer program works even though everything has checked out? I don't think you want to go down that road,” said the Meadowlands' Zoccali.
The computer teams clearly do well enough to survive – some of them like RGS and Elite Turf Club have been around for years. Many tracks and horsemen have decided, however reluctantly, that the handle is too good to pass up. Overall wagering has seen a steady decline, however, and it's fair to wonder whether high-volume shops have affected the odds enough over time to scare away other customers.
But Zoccali and Scherf both say they've seen little to no pushback from day-to-day gamblers.
“They say, let those guys in. We want them in,” said Scherf. “One thing they do is create pools, and they're not always right. Computers aren't always right.”
What's your take on high-volume, computer robotic wagering in horse racing? It's good because it creates pools and drives handle
It's bad because it can distort pools and discourage other gamblers
It doesn't make that much difference View Results
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Copyright © 2019 Paulick Report.By Setanta O’Ceillaigh
When times are hard it pays to ride a bike. Bikes can travel at a reasonable speed, carry a reasonable cargo, and there is very little that can break. They are light enough to carry over rough terrain, and they are very good on gas — they don’t use any. But a bike is more than a means of hauling cargo or getting from place to place; it is also a very valuable foraging tool if you know how to use it.
To forage with a bike, it should be outfitted with a basic kit for the task. A good mountain bike should have a basket in front, and two side baskets in the rear or a cargo bin on the back. A bike trailer is also very useful, but not a necessity. Any basket can be attached to the front of a bike, however my personal preference is a plastic battery box. To attach it, I bore out a few holes in the lip and use zip ties to fasten it between the handle bars. To keep rain water from collecting, I also drill out a few small holes in the bottom. For rear side baskets, I have used a heavy saddle bag basket I picked up in a yard sale and have also used square buckets that I attached to the sides. A milk crate can be added as a rear cargo bin directly over the rear wheel.
A good mountain bike can become an ideal foraging bike with a couple of inexpensive baskets, like these. The bike trailer is nice, but not a necessity.
A few tools are very handy for foraging, these include cloth and plastic bags, a knife, some kind of reaching tool (such as a can grabber or an old wooden cane), some light rope and bungee cords, and either a crack barrel pellet pistol or slingshot with a small amount of ammo. The tools should be stored within easy reach; the front basket is ideal. There should also be room for a water bottle, rain jacket, and any other miscellaneous tools that need to be kept at hand.
When foraging, stick to back roads. Bigger roads can be foraged along, but I recommend not picking anything close to the roadside. This is due to gas and oil runoff and other contaminants that might come from vehicles. Scarcely-used roads should only have a few feet for a no-pick zone, while busy main roads should have up to 100 feet for a no-pick zone. Use discretion.
Wild grapes
Recent logging sites might be filled with wild raspberries and blackberries. Old abandoned farms may yield wild carrots, parsnips, and other crops growing outside cultivation. Abandoned houses that are falling in might have asparagus, knotweed, Jerusalem artichokes, and rhubarb growing all over the yard. Forest edges might yield wild ginseng and ginger, hickory, walnuts, and butternuts. Many apple trees have grown near roadsides because someone threw an apple core out a car window. I have found old fences covered in wild grapes. Wetlands can be sources for cattails, duck potato, and wild rice. A gold mine of free fresh fruits and vegetables can be found as long as a bike forager knows what’s what and what is in season.
To collect things, I get off the bike and push it into the grass off the road (easier to do without a trailer attached — with a trailer it is best to use the kickstand).
If I find a dense area of wild grapes that are ripe, I twist the bunches off from the vine and pack them into a doubled up plastic bag (a grocery bag lined with another grocery bag). I don’t bother trying to separate each grape, plus the wild grape is mostly seed. I fill the bags and fill the saddle bag baskets with them. To use them, I dump them all into a large stock pot and pack them down, add about three inches of water, cover the pot, and set it on the stove. I heat the water to a boil and the steam wilts the stems and makes the grapes droop and weep. After a few minutes of boiling, the fruits are turned to a loose mush. I use a cheesecloth to filter out the mush, seeds, and stems, and set the juice aside to make wild grape jelly. Wild grape juice can be jellied following any grape recipe, but the result is a tart jelly not a sweet one. It’s really good.
Wild apples
For apples, I use the reaching tool to hook branches and pull them down to where I can reach them. I pick the best ones and make a big pile that I load into bags and cart home. Roadside apples tend to be small, but make for good cider. To make it without a press, I chop up the apples and crab apples and toss them all in a big stock pot and boil the same as I do for the grapes. After quickly filtering, the result is a tart juice that can be canned as cider or used to make a strong, cider-flavored jelly.
Hickory nuts and butternuts can be picked up off the ground, bagged up, taken home, and cracked with a hammer or nut cracker (depending on species). They can be added to breads and trail mixes, and a good breakfast can be had from boiled cornmeal mush, maple syrup, and hickory nuts. Locally, hickory nuts sell for $5 a gallon, and I know several people who make good money in the fall fighting the squirrels for them.
Cattails
When digging up roots, I use the knife from the tool kit to make a pointed digging stick on the spot. Roots can be piled into a bag, taken home, washed, and cooked.
Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, black raspberries, currents, and other berries can be used fresh, canned as jams, jellies, and pie fillings, or sold for $5 a pint.
I keep note when I see things like asparagus growing wild, that way I can return to the spot in the spring and transplant them to my homestead.
Bike foraging can be enhanced with guerrilla gardening. This can be done by planting onion sets or garlic or by deploying seedbombs. Seedbombs are made from a mix of seeds, fertilizer, and clay, rolled up and air dried and thrown into abandoned areas. When rain water hits the seedbomb the clay dissolves so the seed can start growing with a little fertilizer. Many roadside apple trees grew from accidental guerrilla gardening, and the same method can be used for over ripe garden produce, throwing squash or tomatoes into random places. Sometimes the seeds will germinate and grow wild, sometimes they won’t. Nature has been spreading seeds this way on its own forever. A bird eats a berry, flies away, and the seed is dropped out somewhere else with a little fertilizer. Seedbombs are just mimicking a natural process.
Wild asparagus
Bike foraging can also be used for opportunistic hunting. By keeping a loaded pellet pistol or slingshot in the front basket, it is possible to take rabbits, grouse, squirrel, and woodchuck when so see them as you ride by. (Just know that shooting from the road is illegal just about everywhere, so don’t do that.)
The few dangers I have experienced while foraging on my bike are the same as using a bike in any other way. The biggest danger is aggressive dogs. If a dog gets close, I get off the bike and push it, keeping on the other side of the bike so it acts as a shield. Most dogs back off when I hold up the cane; they know a human with a stick means trouble. Having the pellet gun helps even the odds in an attack. I have been bitten by a few dogs while foraging and don’t take any chances now. The only other dangers I have faced are from reckless drivers.
When foraging, I stick to the back roads, stay out of peoples yards, and only forage from land known to be public (such as state or federal land), from abandoned properties (like run-down, falling-in houses with weeds and shrubs all over the yard), or from other tracts that are obviously not being used for anything. By regularly scouting, it is possible to forage large amounts of free produce. With the right mindset and some simple tools it is easy not only to stay fed, but also make a small income doing so — both things always worth considering when times are hard.ACTING LRPD CoP HAYWARD FINKS - TOO DUMB TO BE CHIEF?
We obtained all the applications for the open LRPD Chief of Police Position. We found that three active LRPD officers have applied for the position, Assistant Chief's Alice Fulk and Hayward Finks along with patrolman Ethan Williams.
Finks was hired by LRPD in 1988 and Fulk in 1992. Williams was first hired in 2005 and he quit in 2013 to attend college; he rejoined in 2017.
ALICE FULK
ETHAN WILLIAMS
In Finks' application packet there is a letter in which he makes reference that he had attached a resume. Fink's resume was not included in the response the city provided to our FOI request.
So we attempted to obtain a copy of Fink's missing resume. We were not successful.
We noticed and odd coincidence in the files we obtained. Take a look at Finks' letter again.
Now look at the one from Fulk.
We find it too coincidental that the letterhead is similar, same blue color used for both. Did Finks and Fulk have the same secretary type their letter for them?
Did the secretary try and sabotage Finks?
Did Finks intentionally not submit one so that he could look at Fulk's and try and match it?
Or as we suspect, is Finks too dumb to realize that he forgot to include his resume if he actually had one prepared.
Stay tuned for updates.
***UPDATE - 01/16/18***
We sent an email to the city of Little Rock Human Resources Department about Finks' missing resume. They told us that they did not receive it. We then sent an email to Finks asking about it and he referred us to the HR department. We responded and pointed out that our email had our request to them and their response. We never heard back from him.
We also received information that Finks, like all other applicants, had to fill out an online application and upload a resume.
Finks did not understand our simple question and request. He tried to wiggle out and told us to talk to HR about the "application process" when we did not ask about that, we just wanted to know what happened to his resume.
Finks is just like his former boss, that befouled POS Kenton Tremar Buckner.Fresh doubts over Hitler's death after tests on bullet hole skull reveal it belonged to a woman
Adolf Hitler may not have shot himself dead and perhaps did not even die in his bunker, it emerged yesterday.
A skull fragment believed for decades to be the Nazi leader’s has turned out to be that of a woman under 40 after DNA analysis.
Scientists and historians had long thought it to be conclusive proof that Hitler shot himself in the head after taking a cyanide pill on 30 April 1945 rather than face the ignominy of capture.
Revealed: The skull with a bullet hole, kept in a Russian archive, is a woman's
The piece of skull - complete with bullet hole - had been taken from outside the Fuhrer’s bunker by the Russian Army and preserved by Soviet intelligence.
Now the story of Hitler’s death will have to rewritten as a mystery - and conspiracy theorists are likely to latch on to the possibility that he may not have died in the bunker at all.
The traditional story is that Hitler committed suicide with Eva Braun as the Russians bombarded Berlin.
Although some historians doubted he shot himself and suggested it was Nazi propaganda to make him a hero, the hole in the skull fragment seemed to settle the argument when it was put on display in Moscow in 2000.
But DNA analysis has now been performed on the bone by American researchers.
Where is he? The skull the Soviets found in 1946 is not Adolf Hitler's, tests show
'We know the skull corresponds to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40,' said University of Connecticut archeologist Nick Bellantoni.
'The bone seemed very thin; male bone tends to be more robust. And the sutures where the skull plates come together seemed to correspond to someone under 40.' Hitler was 56 in April 1945.
Mr Bellantoni flew to Moscow to take DNA swabs at the State Archive and was also shown the bloodstained remains of the bunker sofa on which Hitler and Braun were believed to have killed themselves.
'I had the reference photos the Soviets took of the sofa in 1945 and I was seeing the exact same stains on the fragments of wood and fabric in front of me, so I knew I was working with the real thing,' he said.
His astonishing results have been broadcast in the U.S. in a History Channel documentary titled Hitler's Escape.
Is it hers? Eva Braun died aged 33 and the skull was from a woman under 40
According to witnesses, the bodies of Hitler and Braun were wrapped in blankets and carried to the garden just outside the bunker, placed in a bomb crater, doused with petrol and set ablaze.
In May 1945 a Russian forensics team dug up what was presumed to be the dictator’s body. Part of the skull was missing, apparently the result of the suicide shot. The remaining piece of jaw matched his dental records, according to his captured dental assistants. And there was only one testicle.
A year later the missing skull fragment was found on the orders of Stalin, who remained suspicious about Hitler’s fate.
Just how and when he died is now shrouded in mystery. Mr Bellantoni said it was unlikely the bone was Braun’s, who was 33.
'There is no report of Eva Braun having shot herself or having been shot afterwards,' he said. 'Many people died near the bunker.'
The bunker: Where Hitler and Braun's bodies were said to be burned and buried
Unknown to the world, the corpse then believed to be Hitler's was interred in Magdeburg, East Germany.
There it remained long after Stalin’s death in 1953.
Finally, in 1970, the KGB dug up the corpse, cremated it and secretly scattered the ashes in a river.
Only the jawbone (which remains away from public view), the skull fragment and the bloodstained sofa segments were preserved in the deep archives of Soviet intelligence.
Mr Bellantoni studied the remains after flying to Moscow to inspect the gruesome Hitler trophies at the State Archive.
He was allowed only one hour with the Hitler trove, during which time he applied cotton swabs and took DNA samples.
The samples were then flown back to Connecticut.
At the university’s centre for applied genetics, Linda Strausbaugh closed her lab for three days to work exclusively on the Hitler project
She said: ‘We used the same routines and controls that would have been used in a crime lab.’
To her surprise, a small amount of viable DNA was extracted.
She then replicated this through a process known as molecular copying to provide enough material for analysis.
‘We were very lucky to get a reading, despite the limited amount of genetic information,’ she said.Today on “The Alex Jones Show,” NRA board member Ted Nugent blamed the country’s current political environment on teachers who didn’t show their students the movie “Old Yeller.”
“I don’t care why he’s foaming at the mouth, I don’t care how he got rabies, he’s rabid, get rid of the damn dog,” he said. “When Old Yeller brings us slippers, give him a biscuit; when he foams at the mouth, you shoot him between the eyes. Any questions? You got to do it. America, you got to cleanse this country. No, I’m not talking about shooting anybody. I’m talking about dealing with an outrageous condition that is painful and traumatic and frustrating, but if you don’t face the beast, you’re dead, and that’s what’s going on.”
He continued: “I don’t really care why Barack Obama is the enemy of America. I don’t really care why Nancy Pelosi is a braindead, vicious freak. I don’t care how Sheila Jackson Lee is allowed to stay in power.”
“Or why Harry Reid is a piece of crap,” host Alex Jones interjected.
Nugent went on to claim that liberal Democrats are “subhuman freaks,” while Jones wondered how America “could be ruled by such gibbering weirdos.” “If I didn’t laugh I’d probably throw up blood, it’s so insane,” Nugent said.
Nugent concluded that liberals want everyone “bending over and taking it in the ass,” and can only be thwarted by great leaders like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Jones hoped that the establishment would eventually realize that Obama is “trying to set up a caliphate” and “overthrowing this country”: “Do they really want to put bags on our women’s heads?”ADVERTISEMENT
Donald Trump has a knack for nicknames. Low-energy Jeb caught something of Jeb's entitled aura. "Little Marco" got at something truly juvenile and naive about Marco Rubio. And "Lyin' Ted" was an effective way of branding Ted Cruz's dishonesty. Lately, Donald's been trying new nicknames for Hillary Clinton, but he seems to like his original "Crooked Hillary" best.
And his first instinct is best. The Clinton Foundation and other associated concerns really are a kind of globalist grift.
Funded by the rich, the foundation allows the Clintons to travel around the world and to network with other high net worth individuals. It even pays the salaries of Clinton friends and other flunkies. And where does the money come from? Bill Clinton would often raise it from people who had direct financial interests at play in the U.S. State Department when Hillary was there. One such deal resulted in a Russian company, Uranium One, obtaining control over one-fifth of the world's uranium production.
As Peter Schweizer's book Clinton Cash details, Hillary's loyalty could be well-bought. Consider the financial interests of Mohammed al-Amoudi, who committed $20 million to the Clinton Foundation in 2007. Al-Amoudi profits from the Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies, which could have been harmed by U.S. policy changes in Ethiopia, particularly if the U.S. government scrutinized Ethiopia closely for human rights violations, as required by U.S. rules on foreign aid. Clinton dutifully gave a waiver to Ethiopia during her time as secretary of state. Bill Clinton would praise Ethiopia's leaders as a new guard for the continent, even if their rule included extra-judicial killing and plunder.
There are dozens of other sordid little tales, like that of Claudio Osorio, currently in federal prison for fraud. The Clintons, to whom he donated generously, helped his firm InnoVida obtain a $10 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. More evidence of financial corruption may be coming now that Charles Ortel, who uncovered wrongdoing at General Electric, is examining the Clinton Foundation's disclosures. He's already describing their work as "charity fraud."
There's also the matter of Hillary's speaking fees. In just the two years between leaving the Obama administration and launching her bid for the presidency, she made nearly $22 million from speeches. Right after her service to Obama, Hillary Clinton began giving one to two speeches a month at around $225,000 or more per speech. Who wanted to hear Hillary speak? Lots of financial services companies, including Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Fidelity Investments. Goldman Sachs even hired her to speak in South Carolina in June of 2013, and then again in New York and Arizona that October. Her clients included major investors in government projects, like TD Bank, which had major investments in the Keystone Pipeline.
Clinton has steadfastly refused to release any transcripts from these speeches despite pressure from the Bernie Sanders campaign. It's easier to find out what she said in official State Department email. That's too bad for her. Because she has a long-term partner in this financial corruption. If there isn't some value in it for the companies that pay the Clintons' speaking fees and honorariums, why did the price for Bill Clinton appearances suddenly rise when his wife was made secretary of state in 2009?
Now, of course, Donald Trump himself has openly admitted to participating in exactly this kind of pay-for-play political corruption from the private sector side. He's gotten government to bully property owners that stand in his way. He admits to donating to politicians as the price of doing business, even referring to donations to Hillary Clinton herself.
But what does the public find more shameful? Is it the businessman who looks after his own interests, using government to smooth his real-estate business and casino interests? Or the government official, who prostitutes the public offices she uses, not only for personal gain, but sometimes in ways that work to legitimize human-rights abusers in Africa, or enrich shady Middle Eastern business concerns, or give Russian companies greater access to weapons material? We're going to find out.
The Democrats have only themselves to blame for this. For years, liberal politics has been moving away from the triangulating, neo-liberal, wine-track politics of the Clintons. And for years, the public at large has become more and more restive when it comes to the politics of elite cronyism and bailouts for big players.
But Democrats nominated one of their most impeachable figures anyway.Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, stood on the 68th floor of 4 World Trade Center in the heart of New York’s financial district Wednesday morning, dispensing advice on a new asset class that promises sky-high returns: chickens.
“There is no investment that has a return percentage anything like being able to breed chickens,” Gates said as a gaggle of 30 birds clucked inside of a coop behind him at the fifth annual Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy. “Our goal here is to take West Africa, where 5% of the households have chickens, and get that up, country by country, to about 30%.”
It’s an ambitious plan, one that could drastically increase nutrition and income levels in one of the most impoverished regions of the world. And in typical Gates fashion, it’s all based on math: A farmer who starts with three hens and one rooster can breed them to have 12 chickens within three months and 250 within a year. One chicken in Africa sells for roughly $5. That means a small starter kit of four birds could yield a yearly flock worth $1,250, a sum twice as high as the extreme poverty line.
Gates is providing the seed capital to get it all going. His foundation invests $400 million in its livestock programs annually and hopes to reach its 30% goal in five years. He has already started work in Ethiopia, investing $7 million to create a massive operation that provides the chicks to get farmers started.
Expenses for the farmers are minimal. A vaccine for Newcastle disease, which can devastate flocks of chickens, costs less than 20 cents. The birds find much of their own food, eating bugs, grass and other things that humans cannot consume. And building a basic chicken coop is relatively cheap, requiring little more than wire and sticks.
Genetics are also a key part of the equation. Typical African hens are generally far less productive than their American counterparts, but African chickens do have better resistance to heat and disease. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is now breeding the two types of livestock to try to create super birds that are both resistant to disease and extremely productive.
An added advantage: Chickens help empower women, because they generally stay close to the house. Larger livestock like cows and goats tend to wander farther away and are more likely to be cared for by men. That matters because women, as a percentage, are more likely to spend income on things like food for their family and school fees than men are. Gates’ wife Melinda, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has recently focused much of her philanthropic work around empowering women, as Forbes outlined in a feature story last December.
Gates served as the CEO of Microsoft until 2000 and stepped down as its chairman in 2014. He still owns a stake in the company, but the bulk of his fortune is now spread out over a diversified portfolio of holdings. His full-time job these days is figuring out the smartest way to give away his fortune.
He started learning about farming in Africa in the late 1990s but didn’t fully recognize the opportunity of livestock until the mid-2000s. After investor Warren Buffett, the 3rd-richest man in the world, committed to give the vast majority of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, the Microsoft cofounder expanded his agricultural philanthropy.
“It’s the classic thing of teaching somebody how to fish,” says Gates. “If you don’t live near water, then it’s pretty hard to fish. But you know, the parable could have been stated in terms of giving someone a chicken and showing them how to raise chickens. In fact, in West Africa at least, there’s more people who can raise chickens than there are who can go out and go fishing.”Washington (CNN) -- Despite Republican calls for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to step down from his leadership post over racially insensitive comments he made about President Obama, analysts believe the controversy won't hurt Reid any more than other issues already have.
The Obama controversy is centered on remarks published in the book "Game Change," by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. The book cites Reid as saying privately in 2008 that President Obama could succeed as a black candidate partly because of his "light-skinned" appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
Reid apologized to Obama after excerpts from the book were released and Obama said he considered the issue closed.
On Monday, Reid said he was ready to move on.
"I've apologized to everyone with the sound of my voice that I could have used a better choice of words," he told reporters after an event announcing a new energy project in his home state of Nevada. "And I'll continue doing my work for the African-American community."
Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ed Rollins said Reid's flap would only help Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections.
"We should beat him in November.... This certainly isn't going to help him," Rollins said. "I would rather see Harry Reid sit there and try to explain this away over the next several months and continue to be a leader, then we'll beat him in November."
But Norman Ornstein, a political scholar with the non-partisan American Enterprise Institute, said the comments are unlikely to hurt politically.
"I think he survives this. [But] I think it's not going to go away immediately," he said. "You're dealing with a guy who's got some political troubles to begin with and is not the smoothest or most articulate leader we've had. And it obviously is a serious distraction for him."
And that distraction comes as recent polling shows Reid facing a tough re-election battle.
Only one-third of Nevada voters have a favorable opinion of him, while 52 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the four-term senator, according to a survey by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research for the Last Vegas Review-Journal released over the weekend.
Your take: iReporters sound off on Reid's comments
The poll, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, was conducted January 5-7, before news of Reid's comments.
But Reid is getting some election help from the man the controversy surrounds.
A senior administration official told CNN Monday that Obama will join Reid in Nevada next month to campaign on his behalf.
Jon Ralston, a former political writer at the Las Vegas Review-Journal for 15 years, said Reid has always had "very little margin for error to be able to win" in 2010.
"And considering his approval numbers, this is certainly a fairly large error," he added.
Reid trails three of his possible GOP challengers in hypothetical general election matchups, according to the poll. Reid trails Sue Lowden, Nevada GOP state chairwoman, by 10 points and businessman Danny Tarkanian by eight points. Reid also trails GOP hopeful Sharron Angle by five points. Tarkanian and Lowden are deadlocked in the primary battle among GOP voters.
Reid received 61 percent of the vote in his last race in 2004.
Peter Beinart, a public policy expert at the non-partisan New America Foundation, said the 'Negro' comment is the least of Reid's concerns.
"I think his political problem is that he's in a conservative state in what's looking like a very conservative year," he said. "I think that's his bigger problem than his comment."
Ralston, who now runs The Ralston Report -- a daily e-mail newsletter on politics and business -- said the controversy is unlikely to move African-American Democrats to support Reid's GOP opponents.
"Are there going to be African-Americans here that are going to be disturbed by those comments? Absolutely. Does that mean they are going to vote for a Republican? I doubt it," he said.
Beinart said Reid's comments are unlikely to hurt him with African-Americans because of the state's demographics.
"If Harry Reid loses in Nevada, it's not going to be because of African-American votes," Beinart said. "There's not that many African-Americans in the state anyway. And there may be turnout issues anyway."
Exit polling from the 2008 general election indicates that 10 percent of African-Americans turned out to vote in a year in which minority voter turnout was higher than normal because of Obama's presidency.
Ralston said because of the controversy, African-Americans might not enthusiastically support Reid now -- something the Democrat is "going to have to deal with and something he's trying to tamp down by pointing out his record on issues important to African-Americans."
For his part, Reid said his efforts to integrate the Las Vegas Strip workforce and the gaming industry, among other legislation favored by African-American voters.
One issue that may be hurting Reid is health care reform. The Senate majority leader is playing a large role in pushing the bill through his chamber, but 54 percent of Nevadans oppose the legislation and only 35 percent support it, according to the poll.
"Obviously the timing of this is lousy for Reid as he's just trying to maneuver through what could be an enormous triumph for him with the health care plan," Ornstein said.
Though, according to Beinart, Reid will be viewed as a "pretty effective" majority leader if he gets health care reform passed, opposition groups are already lined up against him.
The Tea Party Express -- one of the national conservative Tea Party organizations -- has released a television ad in Nevada against Reid. The group said they're spending more than $100,000 to air their ad on television in the state starting Monday.
Ralston believes Republicans will certainly try to keep the story in the headlines -- and pour vast resources into taking down the Democratic leader.
"There's going to be more money spent in this state by Republicans and anti-Harry Reid groups than has ever been seen before. And this is just the beginning," he said.
Reid, though, does have some advantages.
"Sen. Reid's campaign advisers have pledged to spend upwards of $25 million to help him win re-election," said Mark Preston, CNN political editor. "That is a lot of money in Nevada. And even though Reid made those comments about Obama, I think that the president will do whatever is necessary to help him win another term. After all, Reid has been one of Obama's closest allies on the Capitol Hill."
And he has Democrats on his side -- from top leaders to African-American politicians in Nevada and in Congress -- including the Congressional Black Caucus.
"What this shows actually is that the great strength that Harry Reid has is the affection and backing of his colleagues on the Democratic side," Ornstein said.
CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.I’ve been vegan for fourteen years. Not “I’m vegan except for milk.” Not “I’m vegan except sometimes I eat fish.” Not “I’m vegan except when it’s not convenient.” I’m a hardcore, strict, and no eggs, milk, meat, fish, whey, casein, wool, silk, or leather vegan. I always seemed to be headed down that path, ever since I found out at age of five that the lobsters in the tank were the same as the ones on people’s plates. I’m empathetic to a fault, and I just can’t stand the idea of harming another living creature. So, for me, veganism was a moral imperative.
I am also a competitive powerlifter. At around 102lbs bodyweight, I’ve deadlifted 255lbs, benched 115lbs, and squatted 190lbs. I’ve done weighted pull ups with over 20kg loaded on me, bent steel rods and horseshoes by hand, overhead pressed a 24kg kettlebell, and more. Not only has my strength not suffered from my veganism, but my skin is better, my energy is better, my blood work is the best it’s ever been, and I just feel good in general.
I’m very live-and-let-live. I don’t believe in trying to push my morals on anyone else, and I certainly don’t believe veganism is the right lifestyle for everyone. But if the only thing standing between you and going vegan is the fear that your health or strength will suffer, then allow me to allay your fears. (And if I can’t allay your fears, turn to Ken Blackburn, Mike Mahler, Frank Medrano, Patrik Baboumian, and many other phenomenally strong and healthy vegans for more assurance.)
How to Eat Like a Vegan Strength Athlete
Although there is currently little well-designed research published on the subject, one of the few studies existing conceded that, “Well-planned vegetarian diets, particularly those including milk and/or eggs, can provide all essential nutrients for good health and for a high level of sports performance.”1 So let’s get down to brass tacks. What should a vegan strength athlete eat? Here are my rules to lift by:
1. Get Enough Protein
Although getting enough protein for good health is easy on most diets (pretty much everything has protein in it, to some degree), I do believe that strength athletes need more. In addition to a diet rich in beans, sprouted grains, seitan, nuts, and seeds, I also take a protein powder every day mixed with unsweetened almond or flax milk. Some good brands are Spirutein Gold, Vega, Sunwarrior.
2. Take Creatine
I really recommend this for everyone, but in particular for vegans as the main sources of dietary creatine are meat and fish. Creatine has been proven to improve muscle |
flogged her up the couple of miles or so abreast the harbour landing, where I cast anchor at 3.30 pm, July 17, 1897, twenty-three days from Thursday Island. The distance run was twenty-seven hundred miles as the crow flies.... During those twenty-three days I had not spent altogether more than three hours at the helm, including the time occupied in beating into Keeling harbour. I just lashed the helm and let her go; whether the wind was abeam or dead aft, it was all the same: she always stayed on her course."[5]:197
Sailboat designer John G. Hanna said of Spray, "I hold that her peculiar merit as a single-hander was in her remarkable balance of all effective centres of effort and resistance on her midship section line." Hanna nevertheless felt it necessary to warn prospective circumnavigators looking for a suitable vessel that "Spray is the worst possible boat for anyone lacking the experience and resourcefulness of Slocum to take offshore."[9]
Cipriano Andrade, Jr., engineer and yacht designer, said of Spray: “After a thorough analysis of Spray's lines, I found her to have a theoretically perfect balance. Her balance is marvelous — almost uncanny. Try as I would — one element after another — they all swung into the same identical line. I attacked her with proportional dividers, planimeter, rotameter, Simpson's rule, Froude's coefficients, Dixon Kemp's formulae, series, curves, differentials, and all the appliances of modern yacht designing, and she emerged from the ordeal a theoretically perfect boat. For when she is underway every element of resistance, stability, weight, heeling effort, and propulsive force is in one transverse plane, and that plane is the boat's midship section. I know of no similar case in the whole field of naval architecture, ancient or modern.”[8]:281–299
Slocum himself said "I did not know the center of effort in her sails, except as it hit me in practice at sea, nor did I care a rope yarn about it. Mathematical calculations, however, are all right in a good boat, and Spray could have stood them. She was easily balanced and easily kept in trim."[8]:280
Replicas [ edit ]
There are several replicas of the Spray. One is in Fiumicino (Rome- Italy) and it goes under the name of 'Berenice' Make:Tuccoli Italy Model:Spray Replica Year: 1969 Length:41 ftPolice chief's remarks on terrorism anger Arabs S.F. Police
San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon answers questions during a news conference at police headquarters in San Francisco, Thursday, March 11, 2010. Criminalist lab technician Deborah Madden is accused of stealing cocaine last year that was used as criminal evidence by prosecutors. San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said the allegations could affect "hundreds if potentially thousands of cases." less San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon answers questions during a news conference at police headquarters in San Francisco, Thursday, March 11, 2010. Criminalist lab technician Deborah Madden is accused of... more Photo: Paul Sakuma, AP Photo: Paul Sakuma, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Police chief's remarks on terrorism anger Arabs 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A breakfast to tout the importance of passing an earthquake-safety bond measure on the June ballot wound up sending shock waves through San Francisco's Arab American community after Police Chief George Gascón made controversial remarks about terrorism.
Gascón reportedly said the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St. is susceptible not just to an earthquake, but also to members of the city's Middle Eastern community parking a van in front of it and blowing it up.
The chief was addressing a crowd of about 150 City Hall officials and members of the building trades Wednesday and was one of several speakers discussing the $412 million bond to seismically retrofit a number of city buildings, including moving some Police Department functions out of the decrepit Hall of Justice and into a new Mission Bay facility.
Chief cites countries
Despite some reports to the contrary from those in attendance, Gascón on Thursday said he never referred to Middle Easterners or Arab Americans.
He said he instead singled out those from Yemen and Afghanistan as posing potential terrorism risks - especially in an iconic city like San Francisco with large numbers of residents from those countries. He admitted to saying they could park a van in front of the Hall of Justice and blow it up.
"There was no need to single out the two countries, and I recognize that, but it's not because it was not accurate," he said. "The reality is this is the area where we're seeing most of the international terrorism coming from.... I think certainly in this case, people are reading too much into it."
He gave no specific examples of threats to San Francisco, but did point to the attempted bombing on Christmas Day of a Detroit-bound airplane by a man allegedly trained by an al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen.
Apology expected
Ali Altaha, a member of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce who owns a small engineering firm in the city and was at the breakfast at the Ferry Building's MarketBar, said the chief should be fired.
"He basically said there's a large Arab American community in the Bay Area, a lot of Muslims, and because of terrorism, they need to be very careful," Altaha recalled. "It was very degrading, very inappropriate for a city official to make comments in this manner.... I felt he was trying to sell terrorism as a commodity to justify his position or funding for his department."
Altaha, who moved from his native Iraq 30 years ago, said he tried to speak with the chief outside afterward.
"I was expecting him to make an apology," Altaha said, noting that didn't happen. "He was very aggressive and very cocky about it."
Mayor Gavin Newsom wasn't at the breakfast, but learned of Gascón's remarks and phoned Altaha on Wednesday.
"He apologized on behalf of his administration," Altaha said. "I told him we don't have a problem with the mayor's office, but clearly this guy needs to be put in check."
Gascón said he didn't know about Newsom's apology. Tony Winnicker, the mayor's spokesman, said the mayor and chief would probably discuss the remarks next time they talk, though no meeting has been scheduled.
Commitment to diversity
Winnicker said Newsom held the city's first Arab Heritage Month in October and formed a sister-city relationship with Amman, Jordan.
"We're proud of that and wouldn't want the administration's commitment to that diversity and to the Arab American community to be undermined by a couple of poorly considered remarks," he said.
Winnicker added that the mayor has been impressed by Gascón's outreach to diverse communities. "He doesn't think these remarks define the chief in any way," he said. "He has full confidence in him."
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who is of Iranian descent, wasn't at the breakfast but said he's received numerous phone calls from people of Arab and Persian descent who were there.
"It's no way to represent San Francisco and certainly no way to pitch for a bond that's on the ballot," Mirkarimi said. "Painting broad strokes in the way that he did, it's reckless."
Mirkarimi said Gascón is a quick study who's unlikely to make the blunder again. But he added that it's poor timing considering City Hall plays host to a Persian New Year celebration tonight.The world of Pauper was turned upside-down on April Fool's Day, as the latest update to the banned list went live and the MTGO budget format's players were no longer allowed to take the Treasure Cruise to value town. With the format's previously dominant decks taken down a peg, it was anyone's guess what deck would lead the field in its first week of daily event play. I managed to watch three events (Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon, and Saturday evening), note down which decks were played and which ones won, and generally get a sense of what was happening.
At a first impression, the ban seems to have improved the format's diversity, at least for the moment. There were more different decks than I remember seeing in a long time, and while Island-Delver of Secrets and Island-Preordain remained popular openings, it didn't feel like I was seeing them from both sides of the table in half the matches I watched.
By far the most popular decks in the three events I watched were Mono Black Control, with 26 appearances, and UR Fiend, with 24 appearances - between them, they made up nearly 30 percent of the decks. Affinity, Delver, Stompy, and Cloud of Faeries Combo (in four variants) were the other decks to pass the 5 percent threshold, with 14, 12, 11, and 10 appearances, respectively. These six decks, taken together, made up a bit more than half of the metagame.
Before I reveal how the decks did, let's check out our six contenders:
Mono Black Control is a deck that lives off of controlling the board and grinding out card advantage using powerful removal spells like Victim of Night and Chainer's Edict and two-for-one cards like Chittering Rats and Phyrexian Rager. The deck follows this plan up with a huge haymaker in Gray Merchant of Asphodel, which often drains for six, eight, or even more. The deck usually runs a set of Cuombajj Witches, which deal with pesky 1/1s, particularly the unflipped Delvers and Faeries that populate the Delver deck. The witches also fill the two-drop slot in the deck, which otherwise doesn't have much to do on turn two, especially if the opponent hasn't put out a creature to remove. Crypt Rats give the deck the most powerful board-clearing spell in the format, and Fate Reforged gave the deck one of the format's fattest bodies in Gurmag Angler. The deck fared poorly during the Treasure Cruise era, as one cruise could undo multiple turns' worth of grinding, but most players expected it to return to the top tier once Cruise made its exit.
UR Fiend (or Izzet Blitz or any number of other names) is an Aggro-Combo deck that aims to win on turn three by sending a Kiln Fiend into the red zone with ten power and double strike. This is achieved by combining a zero-cost spell like Gitaxian Probe or Gush, a one-cost spell like Ponder or lightning bolt, and Temur Battle Rage. The deck used to use assault strobe for the double-strike effect, but most versions switched to the new Fate Reforged card, which always provides its ferocious bonus when there's a Fiend or Nivix Cyclops on the board. Battle Rage's trample effect means that the deck can do without unblockability spells like shadow rift and artful dodge, using Battle Rage and Apostle's Blessing, which can also protect the deck's very few creatures, to force damage through blockers. The deck also runs four Delver of Secrets; its high proportion of spells means the little guy is very likely to flip, and a 3/2 flyer backed by burn spells is too fast a clock for the opponent to ignore. The deck proved to be a top contender during the Treasure Cruise era due to the ease with which it filled its graveyard with meaningful spells.
Affinity is a deck that leverages the artifact lands from Mirrodin, along with Affinity creatures like Myr Enforcer and Metalcraft creatures like Carapace Forger, to rapidly deploy a large number of giant threats and overrun the opponent. The deck's very powerful plan B relies on either swinging in with a giant Atog, or simply Flinging it at the opponent's face. The deck overcomes its awkward four-color mana base with fixing artifacts like Springleaf Drum and Chromatic Star and refills its hand with 1-mana Thoughtcasts. Some versions also use Perilous Research and Ichor Wellspring to draw even more cards; other variants slam in even more creatures, recruiting fatties like Quicksilver Behemoth and Auriok Sunchaser to help apply the beatdown. The deck managed to remain competitive during the Treasure Cruise era despite not generally running Cruise.
Delver is the deck everyone loves to hate; a tempo deck that relies on dropping a turn one Delver of Secrets and beating down with it while using Counterspell and Spellstutter Sprite to counter anything meaningful the opponent attempts to do. Cloud of Faeries can join in the fun on turn two while leaving two blue mana untapped and helps to power up the Spellstutter. The deck refills its hand with Ninja of the Deep Hours and Gush and uses Spire Golem as its late-game trump card; few pauper cards can beat through the golem's 2/4 flying body. Delver is generally considered to be the best deck in the format; "Can this beat Delver?" is the most important question any pauper deck designer needs to ask him or herself.
Stompy is the format's most consistent true aggro deck, combining some of the format's best one-drops in Nettle Sentinel, Skarrgan Pit-Skulk, and Young Wolf with the many pump spells that green has been blessed with over Magic's history. The deck aims to simply overwhelm the opponent by going on the aggressive while the format's reactive and combo-oriented decks are still getting set up.
If Delver is the deck everyone loves to hate, Cloud of Faeries Combo is the deck everyone just plain hates. The classic Esper version of the deck uses untap effects like Cloud of Faeries and Snap along with "Karoo" lands like Azorius Chancery and mana cost reductions from Sunscape Familiar and Nightscape Familiar to generate large amounts of mana, setting up a combo in which Ghostly Flicker is repeatedly cast on the Cloud and a Mnemonic Wall, generating infinite mana. The mana allows the player to also flicker card-draw creatures like Mulldrifter and Sea Gate Oracle, eventually finding a Sage's Row Denizen and milling the opponent out. Other versions of the deck cut white (and sometimes black) in favor of red and use the infinite mana for a lethal Kaervek's Torch instead. One version that appeared this week used the Dragons of Tarkir card Impact Tremors as its win condition, allowing it to flicker infinitely with only one Karoo land instead of the two needed to generate positive mana. The deck is very difficult to interact with, due to its large amount of card draw and the fact that Flicker and Snap can be used to save its crucial creatures; it is also very difficult to play on MTGO, as all of that flickering takes time. Newer players often end up timing themselves out before they can finish executing their combo to win the game.
The Results
So with the players in place, how did they do? A full listing of the results, including various rogue decks, is available at my pauper spreadsheet, which I'll be updating over the course of the DTK season.
Mono-Black Control, despite being the most popular deck, fell flat on its face in its triumphant return to Pauper; the 26 entries managed only six 3-1s and one 4-0, and the average deck returned 1.8 packs to its player (as compared to the average pauper deck, which yields 2.2 packs). The deck managed a total record of 40-44 versus the field; some room for improvement there.
Delver and the Cloud of Faeries Combo decks also had a rough opening weekend; Delver managed just 1.5 packs per entry and a 16-21 match record, while the Fae decks combined for 1.8 packs per entry and a 15-17 record. Delver's cousin, the Mono-Blue Control deck, which leaves out the Clouds of Faeries and Spellstutter Sprites in favor of yet more counterspells and card-draw spells, managed to earn more packs (23) with four entries than Delver's 18 packs in twelve entries.
UR Fiend and Affinity both more than held their own, returning slightly more than 2.4 packs per entry to their players. UR Fiend turned in a dead-even 38-38 match record, while Affinity pushed a bit past.500 with a 24-22 record.
The big winners among the top six decks were the little green men from Planet Stompy. The deck managed a cool 3.7 packs per entry, with six of the eleven entries coming home as winners. The deck recorded a 27-15 record for a winning percentage close to 65 percent.
A bit deeper
Having identified the decks from the three events, I was also able to check how the top decks performed against each other. Again, a lot more information can be found in a spreadsheet. The results for the top six decks against each other, and against the rest of the field, are as follows:
Deck vs. Affinity vs. Delver vs. Fae vs. MBC vs. Stompy vs. UR Fiend vs. the field Affinity 1-1 2-2 2-0 4-5 0-3 4-4 11-7 Delver 2-2 1-1 1-0 4-5 0-3 3-5 5-5 Fae Combo 0-2 0-1 0-0 5-2 0-1 4-3 6-8 MBC 5-4 5-4 2-5 8-8 3-3 2-4 15-16 Stompy 3-0 3-0 1-0 3-3 1-1 2-5 16-4 UR Fiend 4-4 5-3 3-4 4-2 5-2 5-5 12-18
With such a small set of games to work with, small sample sizes are clearly a potential issue. Still, a couple numbers stand out for me.
One is Stompy's record against the field - a gaudy 16-4. While many of the decks that make up "the field" are quality opponents, there is some trash out there. This result suggests that Stompy might have picked up a few more wins than usual against under-baked brews, which might account for part of its strong record on the week.
The other is Mono-Black Control's 2-4 record against the UR Fiend deck. This is a small sample, but it's still shocking that a deck that specializes in removing creatures failed to come away with a winning record against a deck that only runs 12. That says to me that the MBC players out there might be running a bit too high a mana curve in an effort to hit the Gary jackpot, and might want to think about tightening things up and returning to their core mission of destroying all creatures everywhere.NEPD Staff Writer: Oliver Thomas
With his four-catch, 42-yard performance in the season opener, Kenbrell Thompkins became the first undrafted rookie wideout to record a regular-season reception with the New England Patriots since Bam Childress in 2005.
But aside from falling on a milestone, Thompkins also fell on the turf and saw many passes meet the same fate. The El Camino College and University of Cincinnati product was in the vicinity of 10 incompletions, which dropped his receiving efficiency to 28 percent.
Yet in order to understand those numbers, it’s important to understand the context behind them.
It’s time to take a glance at all 14 passes thrown in the direction of New England’s 25-year-old target.
Incompletion: 15-Yard Dig Route
On a 1st-and-10 with over 13 minutes remaining in the first quarter against the Buffalo Bills, Thompkins lined up at the “X” spot and ran a 15-yard in. When he cut towards the hashes at the Buffalo 30-yard line, quarterback Tom Brady delivered the ball out in front where he wanted his receiver to be.
A rifle of a pass, Thompkins lunged between two Bills defensive backs and left his feet with his arms sprawled.
It sailed beyond his outstretched fingertips.
It’s possible that the 6’0”, 195-pounder could have hauled the throw in – if he stayed grounded for a split second longer. However, with the ball slightly overthrown, it would have been an impressive feat.
Incompletion: Hitch Route
With 8:30 left in the initial frame, the Patriots left the huddle in “21” personnel on a 1st-and-10. Thompkins split out left, and as the ball was snapped, he ran a hitch route towards the middle, cutting at the 35. The problem, though, is that he did not appear to be on the same page with Brady.
Thompkins halted his route and turned back to the football, merging in the direction of the numbers before switching inside. The idle time spent between the end of his pivot and the arrival of the football would lead many to believe that he ran the incorrect route.
Brady threw the ball across the middle, almost as if he anticipated Thompkins to run a post instead of a hitch. And as a result, No. 85 was left to dive at the pass with safety Aaron Williams nipping at his heels.
The ball deflected and fell incomplete.
Two-Yard Completion: Wide Receiver Screen
On a 2nd-and-10 – directly following the previous incomplete pass intended for Thompkins – the Patriots spread out in “11” personnel. Thompkins stood inside on the line and ran a quick-out option screen, coming back to the ball for the catch.
Thompkins harnessed the ball right at the line of scrimmage and turned upfield for his first NFL catch. But despite having three blockers in position to enhance his lanes, Thompkins opted to run back inside instead of continuing outside.
The play netted a two-yard gain.
Incompletion: Wheel Route
With six minutes left in the first, the Patriots sent Thompkins on a wheel route down the left sideline. As he got off the line, it was clear that he’d have to fend off the aggressive hands of Bills cornerback Leodis McKelvin.
The corner’s left arm latched onto the left cuff of Thompkins’ jersey, which held Thompkins back from retreating towards the football as Brady tossed his way. When the ball reached Thompkins, McKelvin had a wrap around his left arm, and as a result, the receiver lost his balance.
Thompkins fell backward and out of bounds as the ball fell incomplete.
Nine times out of 10, the nature of the play would have drawn penalty flags. This was that one time out of 10.
Incompletion: 10-Yard Dig Route
As the second quarter got underway, the Patriots had to work from the 20-yard line. The offense showed “21,” and the coaching staff called on Thompkins to run a 10-yard dig.
As Brady took the snap, the Bills pass rush quickly closed in. In turn, the quarterback was just before he got the ball out.
The result was a bounced incompletion. The pass didn’t get halfway to its receiver before hitting the ground.
Completion: Deep Curl Route
On a 1st-and-10 with less than seven minutes to go in the first half, Thompkins shipped out on a 20-yard deep curl while Brady faked the play-action. As he crossed the Buffalo 40, his fly route turned into a curl. And it transpired on a dime, which left McKelvin five yards off.
As the ball closed in, Thompkins broke back to it, leaped up, and with his hands out in front of him, he secured the ball cleanly.
Getting both feet inbounds upon landing, the greenhorn’s sharp route-running created separation for a 20-yard pick-up.
While Thompkins used his feet and deception to create space, he didn’t use his feet and deception to take more space. McKelvin didn’t shove Thompkins out of bounds; he tiptoed out under his own will.
Incomplete: Comeback Route
On a 3rd-and-5 midway through the second quarter of action, the Patriots operated out of “10” personnel with four receivers out wide. Thompkins, near the left sideline, got out of his stance to run a comeback route.
He fought through McKelvin’s contact via a speed release outside. From the sticks, he planted himself back to the ball and hauled in the arrow from Brady.
But after Thompkins caught the pass, he made a common college-to-pros mistake.
He didn’t get the second foot inbounds. And an incompletion was the byproduct.
Incompletion: Wide Receiver Screen
On a 1st-and-10 with 8:56 left in the third quarter, the Patriots aligned three receivers out wide with Brady in shotgun. At that juncture, Thompkins embarked on quick screen nearly identical to his two-yard reception earlier – just on the opposite side of the hashes.
As Thompkins meandered out and swiveled back in, Brady hit him as his first read.
McKelvin was there to hit him, too.
The defensive back toppled over the crouched receiver and jarred the ball out. Consequently, the short pass was ruled incomplete and Thompkins was ruled for a drop.
Completion: Five-Yard Dig Route
With under six minutes left in the third, the Patriots offense found itself down by the goal line in “11” with Thompkins flanked right. Off the snap, Thompkins ran four yards downfield, brushed off his man with sweeping arms, and carved inside as Brady threw his way.
Thompkins’ underneath eclipsing garnered him a reception. Nevertheless, if he kept his footing and didn’t lay out for the ball, he could have had a touchdown. No Bills defender was immediately there to graze him at the point of reception.
Between his college days and his four preseason games, Thompkins flashed the clean routes and ball-carrier vision to be considered more than a possession receiver.
His regular-season debut didn’t consistently glean those traits.
Incompletion: Slant Route
Out of the no-huddle attack on the next play, Thompkins stood as the lone receiver abutting the left sideline. As Brady harnessed the snap and faked the handoff to tailback Shane Vereen, Thompkins slowly stuttered forward before patiently slanting behind the safeties on his path to the goal post.
Brady floated the ball overhead to Thompkins, who went second-level behind McKelvin’s man coverage to make the snag.
Still, momentum worked against New England’s starting wideout. With some assistance from Buffalo’s right cornerback, Thompkins flew out of bounds before getting a foot in.
Could Thompkins have done anything differently on the potential touchdown?
It’s easy to pontificate in hindsight. But to make a couple bullet points, he could have run a shallower slant to allow himself a larger landing pad, and he could have gone back-shoulder instead of front.
Instead, it was an incompletion.
Completion: Deep Comeback Route
On a 2nd-and-5 early in the final quarter, the Patriots displayed “21” with Thompkins out left. As the ball was snapped, the receiver bent inside before redirecting outside and down the field. When he surpassed the 30-yard marker, he adjusted back to inhale a pass from Brady.
Thompkins didn’t make it easy on himself as the ball arrived. He was content with his footing and corralled the inside throw without closing in on it.
For all intents and purposes, his 16-yard catch was an impressive one. That said, he left his feet behind when he went out to catch the ball. And as a consequence, he prevented himself from acquiring more yards.
Incompletion: Deep Crossing Route
On a 2nd-and-goal with 11:30 left in the tilt, the Patriots were in seating to get pay dirt. As the ball was hiked, Thompkins twisted inside his defender on his itinerary to running a deep crossing route.
Yet as Brady went through his progressions and Thompkins reached the back of the end zone, the wideout cut off his route. He looked back before stepping away from the defenders as Brady flung a pass in.
Thompkins didn’t run to it; he sprung to it.
The ball fell incomplete.
Incompletion: Curl Route
With 8:41 left to play and the Patriots down a point, Thompkins left the line to run a curl route. Every step of the way, McKelvin was there with him. But despite that, Brady stuck with his read and fired a ball in.
It short-hopped.
The ninth incompletion associated with Thompkins could be attributed to a discrepancy in the route distance. It could be attributed to stopping and running back to the ball. Or, it could be attributed to a misplaced throw.
Regardless, it went down as an incompletion.
Incompletion: Fade Route
Thompkins’ last target of the game came on a 3rd-and-7 with six minutes to go. As Brady handled the ball, Thompkins strove to beat McKelvin on a curving fade route outside.
As Thompkins reached the 50-yard line, Brady had the ball airborne and in his direction. Underthrown, Thompkins nearly saw his man register an interception.
Instead, it deflected to the ground.
With that, Thompkins’ 4-14 day drew to a close. Pro Football Focus graded his performance out as -2.8 – the third lowest among NFL receivers who played 25 percent of offensive snaps. Nonetheless, even with the numbers in the books, it’s important to note that Thompkins’ development is not.
Week 1 was a point of reference. Now, it’s about taking it in context and learning from it.
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Rafa Benitez has snapped up Chelsea outcast Kenedy on a season’s loan.
Newcastle’s boss offered the Brazilian an escape route to the north-east after learning he was up for grabs.
Benitez has moved quickly to secure the deal using well-established contacts made during his spell in charge of the club four years ago.
And the winger will offer the Tyneside giants added impetus going forward as the Spaniard continues his re-building of the Magpies.
(Image: Darren Walsh)
(Image: Serena Taylor)
It is little surprise that Chelsea have made the 21-year-old available following a huge public relations own goal during the Londoners’ pre-season tour of China last month.
The former Fluminense teenager caused outrage with a couple of ill-advised posts on social media which were not well-received in the Far East.
Kenedy went public with a couple of shots on Instagram in which he wrote: ‘Damn China,’ and ‘Wake up China, you idiot,’ the second of which was accompanied by a picture of a security guard asleep.
Chelsea were accused of racism and xenophobia and the official paper of the ruling Communist Party reprimanded the youngster in an editorial for his ‘absurd comments.’
That led to a grovelling climbdown by the Premier League champs who confirmed they had ‘reprimanded and disciplined’ their player.
They also issued an apology in which the club said it ‘had the utmost respect and admiration for China’ and that they were ‘shocked and saddened by the negative impact.’
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It is no surprise now that the hierarchy at the London club have chosen to pull Kenedy out of the firing line and sent him on loan.
He was allowed to leave on a similar basis to Watford last season but struggled with injuries and was returned to Stamford Bridge after making just one appearance for the Hornets.
(Image: Laurence Griffiths)
This switch to Tyneside, under Benitez’s watchful eye, will afford Kenedy a clean slate and will give the player himself an opportunity to shine.
Benitez has been working over-time on a couple of deals this week and, although he has admitted the Magpies will find life tricky back among the elite, remains positive he can improve the squad further before the window closes.In this week’s politics chat, we talk about what we know about the incoming Trump administration. The transcript below has been lightly edited.
micah (Micah Cohen, politics editor): Welcome, all! We’re now officially three weeks past Election Day, and Donald Trump’s administration is starting to take shape (including a couple of Cabinet appointments announced or reported today). So it seems like a good moment to take a step back from the drip, drip, drip of transition news and talk about what we’ve learned — if anything — about how this administration will work, the policies Trump will pursue and the way the media will cover it all.
So let’s start with staffing. What do you make of his appointments so far and the way he’s gone about making them?
clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): Just so we’ve got it all out there, as of this writing, he’s officially announced: Jeff Sessions as attorney general, Michael Flynn as national security adviser, Tom Price to Health and Human Services, Mike Pompeo as CIA director, Nikki Haley as U.N. ambassador, Betsy DeVos as the Secretary of Education. Then of course, there’s Reince Priebus as chief of staff and Steve Bannon as chief strategist. (Elaine Chao is said to be Trump’s pick for transportation secretary, although there’s been no official announcement as of yet.)
harry (Harry Enten, senior political writer): It’s a mixed bag. You have your establishment-like selections, such as Chao and DeVos. You have more extreme candidates like Sessions and Ben Carson for Housing and Urban Development (though that’s not official yet). But I think the most shocking thing (and I don’t mean shocking as in surprising) is how the whole battle for secretary of state has gone on. Having Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, publicly blast picking Mitt Romney? That’s something else.
micah: And the Conway hit on Romney was reportedly Trump-sanctioned.
harry: My understanding is he said it was all right that she made that attack. Not that he agreed with it.
natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): I don’t think the reporting on that’s been very authoritative, TBH.
clare.malone: One thing I will say is that he’s been considering a lot of military types (generals), though not necessarily picking them, which has been interesting to me.
micah: Yeah, can we say anything about the group as a whole?
natesilver: It’s more establishment-y than one might have thought.
clare.malone: Yeah, I think that’s right. His instinct seems to have been to go with the big personalities, the general types, and then he’s sort of moderated a bit. The final choices seem to indicate the behind-the-scenes talks, perhaps the influence of people like Vice President-elect Mike Pence who talk “normal Republican” a little more fluently?
harry: Chao, Price, Pompeo and DeVos are all establishment-friendly. Heck, even Sessions is to some degree. Carson, Flynn and Bannon are not. So even if it is more establishment-y friendly than we expected, there are plenty of folks who we wouldn’t otherwise expect to be selected. Well, not me anyway.
clare.malone: He is choosing the hardline of the establishment — Sessions was the OG immigration hardliner.
micah: Price is hardline on Obamacare. Chao is hardline on transportation. (Just kidding — I don’t even know what that means.)
harry: Perhaps, we can say it is a more conservative Cabinet.
clare.malone: I mean, if he appointed David Petraeus at State, that would be a more down-the-middle person. Petraeus was appointed to head U.S. Central Command during the Bush years, and he of course served as CIA chief under Obama, so he’s worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations to one degree or another.
natesilver: I think it’s important to look at the overall balance in the Cabinet, especially given that Trump has a reputation for doing whatever the last person he spoke with tells him to do. And I think Conway — from her vantage point — is somewhat rationally worried about the balance tipping away from her and Bannon and Trump becoming a vessel for more conventional Republicans.
micah: Does the balance matter, though, Nate? The policies that Chao pursues won’t really soften the hardline approach Sessions is likely to take, right? Is that really even a useful way to think about a president’s Cabinet?
harry: The balance is hard right, I think. Price and Sessions are both in positions in which ideology really matters, and they are solidly conservative.
natesilver: I think you may be thinking too conventionally. The question I’m thinking about is where people’s loyalties would be if there’s some sort of crisis within the administration, which there’s a fairly high chance of at some point in the next four years.
micah: But there have been plenty of Trump loyalists among his picks so far.
clare.malone: Yeah, but people like Price and Sessions are in more high-profile, powerful positions — their loyalty matters more, right? And they’re indebted to Trump for being elevated from the fringes to the marble halls of Cabinet power (or are they mahogany halls if they’re in a Cabinet)? Regardless.
natesilver: To continue down my line of unconventional thinking: The 25th Amendment requires the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unfit for office. How likely is that to actually come up? Probably not too likely (that section of the 25th Amendment has never been invoked before). But I do think a useful heuristic is to think in terms of whether Cabinet members might be more loyal to Trump or more loyal to Pence in a crisis.
harry: OK, now this is interesting.
micah: This seems really premature.
clare.malone: So we’re talking democratic coup here, basically?
harry: The coup is not of interest to me, haha. But the idea that this Cabinet may reflect Pence’s ideology more than Trump’s is.
natesilver: Yeah, Pence has become a weirdly under-covered figure.
clare.malone: He’s a more telegenic Cheney. In the sense that he’s going to wield a lotta lotta power.
natesilver: Unlike most vice presidents, he really might be the second-most-powerful person in America |
contract clause – in that they would have had to sign a statement that Emotiv were not responsible for the legal rights that the buyer would or would not buy. So if there was a subsequent challenge to them, the buyer not the seller would be responsible for all legal fees to fight it.
Briefly, what the Elliott group intended to do was to licence Marvelman from Emotiv – rather than buy the character from them outright – and with the consent of all the other copyright holders – Moore, Leach, and so on – to produce three films based on the three books of Moore’s run on the character; to publish the three volumes of Moore’s run with new artwork, all done by a single artistic team, possibly with Garry Leach involved; to also republish the books in Moore’s run as they had originally appeared, with the original artwork; and to then go ahead and produce two new mini-series, both set in the time before Moore’s story started.
Dave Elliott explained to me what these would have been:
One was the origins of the [Zarathustra] project, including a second scientist working with Gargunza who was actually the one responsible for starting it. As Gargunza used himself in the stories as the villain, this scientist was the Astrophysicist. The other series would be Johnny Bates’s story, from the bomb going off in 1963 to Marvelman coming back in 1982. I’d actually reached out to Grant Morrison to see if I could use the material in his story that was never published.
Of course, despite Marvel having lifting their objections to anyone else using the name Marvelman when Neil Gaiman set up Marvels and Miracles, it was possible that they might reverse that decision, so a new name was devised: Marvelman would no longer be Miracleman, he would be Masterman. Emotiv had even gone to the trouble of having a logo made up, just in case they needed it.
It could be said that this bid, with a group of people including Dave Elliott and presumably Garry Leach also, would have been in a position to make contact and deal properly with the various people involved, and in a reasonably short amount of time. However, their bid was ignored, right at the eleventh hour, and this is what happened instead…
On the 24th of July, 2009, at Comic Con International in San Diego, Joe Quesada announced that Marvel Comics had bought the rights to Marvelman. A press release from Marvel just afterwards said,
The biggest news of Comic Con International in San Diego was revealed moments ago and jaws are still on the floor – the world-renowned superhero Marvelman is now part of the Marvel Comics family! Marvel Comics has purchased the rights to Marvelman from creator Mick Anglo and his representatives, finding a home for one of the most sought after heroes in graphic fiction! ‘It is an honor to work with Mick Anglo to bring his creation to a larger audience than ever before,’ said Dan Buckley, CEO & Publisher, Print, Animation & Digital Media, Marvel Entertainment Inc. ‘Fans are in for something special as they discover just what makes Marvelman such an important character in comic book history.’ Originally created in 1954 by Mick Anglo and appearing in some of the most celebrated comic stories of all time, Marvelman is Micky Moran, a young reporter gifted with the power to save the world by simply uttering the word ‘Kimota!’ ‘I did not think it would ever happen,’ said Mick Anglo. ‘It’s a wonderful thing to see my creation finally back.’ Marvelman is back and he’s found a new home at Marvel Comics! What’s next for Mick Anglo’s legendary creation? Stay tuned to Marvel.com for all the news on Marvelman and this exciting new addition to the Marvel family!
In the following few months, there was furious speculation on the Internet and in the comics media as to what was to happen. One thing that stood out for me was that, in all the statements and interviews that Marvel gave at the time, the name Miracleman was never once mentioned. Neither, for that matter, was the name of Alan Moore. And, once again, as with Todd McFarlane’s supposed purchase of the rights to Miracleman, the question that everyone really wanted to know the answer to was, what exactly had Marvel bought? It was a good question in July 2009, and it’s still a good question now. Another good question was, and is, what were they intending to do with it now that they’d got it?
After that initial announcement, Marvel eventually revealed plans to publish a one-off comic called Marvelman Classic Primer in July 2010, a six-issue series of reprinted stories called Marvelman Family’s Finest, starting in July 2010, and the first hardback volume of Marvelman Classic in August 2010, which was presumably the start of what would eventually become a full collection of all the stories published in L Miller and Son’s Marvelman comic, with further volumes due on a roughly six-monthly basis. There was also a first volume of Young Marvelman Classic in May 2011, which would presumably follow the same publishing schedule as Marvelman Classic.
However, and despite their saying they would have news about it ‘soon,’ anyone who was waiting for an announcement from Marvel about their plans to reprint Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman’s work on the title is still waiting (there’s an incomplete collection of those ‘coming soon’ announcements here, which I really need to update). The listing for the Marvelman Classic Primer on Marvel’s website said,
Who is the mysterious Marvelman? The answer to that question is one of the most mysterious in comics lore. Created in 1954 by writer/artist Mick Anglo, the character enjoyed a long run in the British comics market as one of its most powerful heroes. A few decades later, the character was revived with a dark, moody, deconstructionist bent, and produced one of the most important works of comic art in the medium’s history. But now, miracle of miracles, Marvel has stepped up to the plate to deliver on the promise of Anglo’s incredible characters. The Marvelman Primer will help readers unfamiliar with that character get up to speed on the past, present and future of Marvelman stories. We’ll check in with Mick Anglo, Neil Gaiman and others who contributed to this character’s history over the years. It was the news that swept the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con and the Marvelman Primer explains why.
Leaving aside the obvious hyperbole – ‘The answer to that question is one of the most mysterious in comics lore’ – and the somewhat ominous foreshadowing of what their plans for the character might have been – ‘Marvel has stepped up to the plate to deliver on the promise of Anglo’s incredible characters’ – it did look as though Marvel really were going to explain what their plans for the character were, and the fact that Neil Gaiman was to be in it would seem to suggest they were going to talk about the later incarnation of the character, and not just the Miller-era stuff. However, this never came to pass. The Primer was published, but there was no interview with Neil Gaiman in it.
There was the promised interview with Mick Anglo, however, talking to Joe Quesada, who travelled to England to meet him, but Anglo really had nothing to say about Marvelman, with most of the interview being about his days in the Second World War. He actually only referred to Marvelman three times, saying, firstly,
My brother called me Gargunza. He said I was an ugly-looking fellow. That was my brother!
And later,
Marvelman is one word: I’ve seen it on milk powder, on special products for babies. Marvel was a good name. It was unique, simple, and it means a lot. I liked drinking Marvelmilk! I’ve got a Marvelman T-shirt. I don’t know who gave it to me. The silly thing comes down to my ankles.
Finally, apparently in answer to a question about the possibility of the success of a Marvelman revival, he said,
I don’t like taking anything for nothing unless it’s in big quantities.
And those three statements are the sum total of what Mick Anglo said to Joe Quesada about Marvelman, at least according to what is printed in the interview in Marvelman Classic Primer. It’s worth bearing in mind that, at the time of the interview, Mick Anglo was 94 years old and, sadly, there’s a very real possibility that he didn’t fully understand what was going on, or what he was being asked about.
The rest of the Marvelman Classic Primer consisted of a very brief and incomplete history of Marvelman, more or less beginning in 1953 and ending in 1954; an article about Marvel UK; any amount of Marvelman artwork by recent Marvel ‘superstar’ artists, but virtually none by any of the original 1950s artists, with what there was by them usually being unattributed, unless it was attributed to Mick Anglo; and a history of British comics, which included this paragraph:
In 1982, Dez Skinn – who, during his reign as Marvel UK Editor in Chief, had successfully resurrected the idea of UK-originated material with Hulk Comic and Doctor Who Weekly – launched Warrior, a groundbreaking anthology. A launch pad for the careers of John Bolton, Alan Davis and others who had also contributed to Skinn’s 1976 title House of Hammer, it led the way when it came to offering the more mature British reader an alternative to traditional comics fare.
For whatever reason, Marvel seemed to be going out of their way to avoid any mention of Marvelman past the Miller-era run, even mentioning Warrior, the very magazine it was resurrected in, without mentioning the strip itself, or Alan Moore, its famous writer, without whom nobody would actually be interested in the very character they were touting. It was becoming obvious that something odd was going on at Marvel, and that things might not be as straightforward as they had originally appeared to be.
And it was becoming apparent that nobody really cared about the reprints of those old 1950s Marvelman comics. The sales figures for both the hardback books and the comics reprinting the 1950 Marvelman stories were very poor, and Marvel abandoned Marvelman Classic after volume 3, which had sales below 300, and Young Marvelman Classic after volume 2, which had sales below that again. The reprint project has been in abeyance since January 2012, and it’s unlikely ever to resume.
However, it was obvious to anyone with eyes to see that these weren’t Marvel’s primary target in buying the rights to Marvelman. After all, Marvel Comics are not in the business of buying up the rights to what are really pretty bad old British comic stories that haven’t stood the test of time too well, just to reprint them in expensive hardback books that have a very limited market, particularly if one rumour, which holds that Marvel paid Jon Campbell $1,000,000 for the rights he held, is to be believed. Their primary reason for buying the property can only have been to reprint the Moore and Gaiman stories, the very things they avoiding even mentioning. I’d like to think that they have some sort of a plan, but at the moment it seems as if nobody actually knows what it is, perhaps not even themselves.
And that is the Marvelman story very nearly up to date, with the exception of recent news about Marvel publishing work featuring Todd McFarlane and Neil Gaiman’s Angela, which I just wish to comment on briefly. One good thing about reviewing all of this material again, to put it online here at The Beat, is that sometimes something that passed me by the first time gains a new significance in light of what we now know. For instance, the interview with Todd McFarlane from 2005 on UGO.com that I led off with in the last part, where we get this exchange:
UGO: Has the Miracleman film gone back to Neil Gaiman or wherever it is supposed to go? TMcF: With the lawsuit, Gaiman walked away from Miracleman. I have the trademark for Miracleman. No one wants to say it out loud, but that’s what happened with the lawsuit. Everyone was like ‘Hah hah, he killed Todd,’ but unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on where you are standing – he had to pick some copyrights to some Spawn characters or pick Miracleman. He didn’t pick Miracleman. UGO: Did he take Angela? TMcF: Yeah, he took some of the Spawn stuff. For whatever reason he walked away from Miracleman, so now Miracleman will be in the Image 10th Anniversary Book.
When the interviewer said ‘Did he take Angela?’, was this actually an indication that Neil Gaiman was after full ownership of the Angela character all along, and had actually secured it fully eight years and more back? Certainly the whole thing, where Marvel were suddenly talking about publishing Angela, as if it was part of the plan all along, is pretty peculiar – as is McFarlane’s comments on the whole situation, where he said,
“Neil Gaiman and I had a resolution in our legal dispute, and as part of that he ended up with the rights of Angela. Whatever Neil chooses to do with something that he owns is at his complete and utter discretion. The health of the industry is based upon having good stories and good characters, and a wide customer base. If bringing some of these characters back to the fold in a meaningful way adds to that, then it just strengthens our industry. Good stories that entertain are something that we all should applaud on any level. Whether we’re doing it directly at Image Comics, or at our competition, it helps keep our industry that we love alive. I will sit back and be as interested as anyone else.”
Who was this man, and what had he done with the Todd McFarlane we knew and loved?
And, somewhere along the line, McFarlane’s last attempt to claim a trademark on Miracleman was abandoned, and this was quickly followed up by Marvel Comics claiming the trademark on the name instead. What did this mean? Much like everything else, I don’t really know, and they’re not telling me, but I may speculate on it later on.
I did do some actual speculation about whether or not Marvel had succeeded in buying Garry Leach‘s share of the rights to various things, particularly including his half-share of Warpsmiths, which would include the crucial rights to the Qys technology, the backbone on which Alan Moore’s version of Marvelman is build, here, but as it is simply that, speculation, I don’t know if it even belongs here. None the less, it is not without interest, I hope, and I’ll also be referring back to that later on.
And, really, that’s it. That’s the Marvelman story pretty much right up to date. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be going back over it all again, first to try to condense it all into some sort of comprehensible whole, and then to try to finally answer the question that started me off on this quest, maybe ten years ago now: Who Owns Marvelman?
Thanks to everyone who has hung on this long, and who have given me such valuable feedback. Courage, mes braves, the end is in sight! To you all I address the question, before I start to wrap it all up, is there anything I’ve forgotten? Anything I haven’t made clear? One of the guiding principles for this, from the beginning, was to cast light into corners, but to do so using verifiable sources, by telling the story out of the mouths of those involved, and I hope this is what I’m achieved. But now’s everyone’s chance to ask me about everything, before I’m finally done with this, and I shall do my best to answer as plainly and honestly as I can.
Oh, yes, there’s one other thing: I’ve one more witness to bring forward, a man I’ve been keeping behind the curtain for a very long time now, who casts a very interesting light on, well, pretty much everything. See you all back here next week!
To be wrapped up, and concluded, very very soon now…
[The Marvel Milk photograph is copyright to Edward Coughlan, and is used without permission, but in good faith!]
Like this: Like Loading...Apple CEO Tim Cook is slated to sit down with U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch this Friday in a Q&A session that will cap off the senator's Utah Tech Tour, an event created to shine a light on the state's technology community.
According to a press release on Wednesday, Cook will take the dais following comments from a lineup of Utah's top tech leaders. The Apple chief will offer a short address before fielding questions from Hatch and members of the public, including those submitted via an online form Topics of discussion have not been announced, though the issue of national security versus personal privacy is likely to be broached considering Apple's recent dustup with the U.S. Department of Defense and the FBI. Earlier this year, Apple refused to obey a court order requesting the company unlock an iPhone tied to San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, saying such actions would endanger millions of iOS devices worldwide.Serving as the Chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, Hatch is keenly aware of Apple's position on the encryption debate. Notably, Hatch in April invited members of the Senate to a special Q&A session with Ted Olson, a prominent lawyer whom Apple hired to head its legal team during the San Bernardino litigation.Like most recent public appearances, Cook is also expected to tout Apple's latest products and services.The Utah Tech Tour is scheduled to take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. MDT on Friday, Sept. 30, at the Grand America in Salt lake City. The public is invited to attend, though tickets are required and seating is limited. Those interested can register for tickets through the Utah Tech Tour websiteWASHINGTON — The government shutdown that ended this week will cost the United States economy several billion dollars, according to estimates by economic research firms.
But the affiliated damage — like the undermining of consumer and business confidence — will be far greater, economists said, especially combined with the financial effects of the near-breach of the country’s statutory debt ceiling.
When the federal government shut down on Oct. 1, permit offices across the country stopped accepting fees, contractors stopped receiving checks and research projects became stalled. Such disruptions come with a price tag, although it will be small in the context of the $3.5 trillion the federal government spends every year.
It might take months for the Obama administration to come up with a thorough accounting of the direct cost to the taxpayers of putting much of the government out of business and then reopening it. Several offices, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Institutes of Health, said they were in the process of gauging the disruptions.A paper released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows a gap in thinking and policies at the intersection of climate change and immigration. Preparing BC for Climate Migration examines current policies and practices relating to climate migrants—people who, due to the effects of climate change, are displaced from their homes.
While Canada has contributed more than its fair share of emissions that cause climate change, people in the poorest counties who have contributed the least to the problem are feeling the harshest impacts of climate change.
The study identifies three key shortcomings:
Neither our governments, nor the leadership of our health, housing and other core service systems, are thinking about, let alone planning for, what climate migration may require of our social, cultural, service and infrastructure systems.
Immigration and refugee policy and practice are not currently designed to accommodate the underlying reality of climate change and migration;
More migrants will require enhanced settlement and other social services, but service-provider organizations are already stretched thin.
According to SFU Faculty of Health Sciences professor, and report co-author Tim Takaro, “Canada has a moral responsibility to people who migrate due to climate change—not just as a matter of charity or generosity, but of justice and reparation as well. The federal and provincial governments, rather than ignoring the issue, should develop a comprehensive policy framework to manage climate migration.”
Tens of thousands of people are already on the move due to climate change, and that number stands to increase substantially. Canada’s leadership must begin a serious conversation about how we will take responsibility and prepare, both structurally and culturally, for the inevitability of climate migration.
“Currently, the services and organizations that help to settle immigrants are already under stress from inadequate funding—they are barely been getting by. Yet, the demands on them will only grow.”
In particular, the report recommends Canada create a new immigration class of “climate migrants” along with targets and programs to ensure Canada absorb its fair share of those migrants. Key ser-vices—including legal, housing and education—should be made available to these migrants, and funding should be allocated to reduce strain on these already-overloaded systems.
As the Society for Bangladeshi Climate Justice’s Mohammed Zaman states, “Canada’s immigration numbers have remained stagnant for two decades. Canada must open itself to more migrants. A new immigration category would helpand people who come to Canada as climate migrants should be in addition to our existing immigration numbers. We need to do better.”
Recognizing that most climate migrants will remain in the Global South, the report recommends that Canada increase its support to developing countries shouldering the burden of climate displacement.The director said that he spent countless late nights watching Freeman on "Sherlock," and reworked his entire shoot to accommodate him.
Peter Jackson was going to get Martin Freeman to Middle-earth, no matter what it took.
The 41-year old English actor, best known right now for his work as Watson on BBC's Sherlock, plays the reluctant lead hero, Bilbo Baggins, in Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy -- which was the director's plan from the start.
STORY: Peter Jackson, Ian McKellen Defend Making 'The Hobbit' a Trilogy
"Martin was the only person that we wanted for that role, and that was really before we met Martin," the director told reporters in New York. "We knew him from [the BBC's] The Office and Hitchhiker’s Guide [to the Galaxy], and we just felt he had qualities that would be perfect for Bilbo. The stuffy, repressed English quality. He’s a dramatic actor, he’s not a comedian, but he has a talent for comedy."
Persuading Freeman, who had never read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books but enjoyed Jackson's film adaptations, to join The Hobbit was a relatively easy process. But delays on the project, thanks to MGM's bankruptcy, meant that they had no formal offer to present, and by the time Jackson could give him a contract, he had signed on for Sherlock.
Film Review: 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'
"We were in trouble. I was really panicking," Jackson said, adding that while he looked for other actors, no one matched up to Freeman. "I was having sleepless nights. We were probably six weeks away from the beginning of the shoot, and we hadn’t settled on anyone else, and I was torturing myself by watching Sherlock on an iPad at 4 o’clock in the morning."
But this is a man who has created an entire miniature universe in New Zealand -- and Jackson decided to make a major concession: After shooting with Freeman for four months, he let him go back to England for two months to film Sherlock.
As it turns out, it was a smart decision in more ways than one, Jackson said: He was able to edit the film and make adjustments in ways he would not have been able to do otherwise.
Freeman, meanwhile, had fun Wednesday tweaking the look of his small, furry-footed character.
"Bilbo went through a few faces. There were a couple of noses," he said. "They had the idea of having a more snub nose, and then they decided that my nose was weird enough. So it went from a more middle-aged rocker to being what Bilbo looks like now, which is a middle-aged rocker. So it was gradual; it wasn’t one minute you are you and then the next minute you are the character. It was incremental."One of the murkier and more forbidding aspects of the post-9/11 world has been the massive growth of what's become known as the "intelligence industrial complex." Similar to its sibling, the "military industrial complex" (as it was called by President Dwight Eisenhower), the intelligence industrial complex is a national and international web of numerous partnerships between government and various private corporate entities of all shapes and sizes. In a major 2010 report by The Washington Post on "Top Secret America," investigators summarized, "Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States." That was four years ago; despite federal budget cuts, this quasi-"defense" economic sector has continued to grow.
Based on the broad figures provided in annual federal budgets, from 2001 to 2012, spending on "homeland security" has quadrupled. During that time, the federal government has persistently outsourced intelligence work, as government employees routinely carry their security clearances into the private sector. (The Post estimated that 854,000 people – or roughly the total population of Austin – held "top-secret" security clearances nationwide as of 2010.) Consider just Booz Allen Hamilton, former employer of National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden and the company where he accessed the documents he leaked. According to a U.S. General Services listing of government contractors, BAH maintains extensive connections with government agencies and provides a variety of services, including intelligence gathering and analysis, worth in 2012 more than $4 billion.
However, you needn't travel to Hawaii, where Snowden worked, to find examples of overlap between government, law enforcement, and private intelligence. You don't even need to leave Austin.
The Stratfor Hack
On Dec. 24, 2011, activist Jeremy Hammond completed several weeks of work hacking the computer files of Austin-based global intelligence company Strategic Forecasting, Inc., better known as "Stratfor." Soon afterwards, several of the company's emails and many of its subscriber credit card numbers were released on the Internet. By February 2012, the material made it to the website of Wikileaks, which gradually began to release more emails. An early release revealed a connection between Stratfor and the Texas Department of Public Safety, concerning the DPS surveillance of Occupy Austin. (See "Strange Bedfellows," Feb. 3, 2012). Those documents reflect that a Texas DPS agent was providing undercover intelligence information on Occupy protesters not only to his state agency superiors, but to private firm Stratfor – although neither the company nor the DPS would provide any additional information or comment on the relationship, and DPS claimed at the time that it couldn't verify the existence of any undercover agent.
On Nov. 15, 2013 – the day Hammond was sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (and after holding them back during Hammond's trial) – Wikileaks posted on its website the rest of the Stratfor emails. The Wikileaks website now includes posts of more than five million Stratfor emails, dating from July 2004 through December 2011. It's an imposing data file, and has steadily revealed more about the inner workings of the intelligence industrial complex.
Asked by the Chronicle for comment on the additional emails, a Stratfor spokesman referred to the company's standard response, originally attributed to founder and chairman George Friedman: "Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies. Some may be authentic. We will not validate either, nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them." (See "Stratfor's Web," March 9, 2012.)
Boys and Their Toys
On its website, Stratfor describes itself as "a geopolitical intelligence firm that provides strategic analysis and forecasting to individuals and organizations around the world" – in other words, a high-tone foreign policy think tank – and it regularly issues news bulletins and analytical essays to its subscribers. But the hacked emails (which Wikileaks dubbed "The Global Intelligence Files") reveal another, much more local aspect of the privately owned company. The emails reflect that Stratfor has cultivated relationships with members of the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety for the purpose of gathering locally based "intelligence" – specifically, surveillance of protest groups – that one would presume (perhaps naively) would not normally be shared beyond immediate law enforcement circles. In addition to the sharing of confidential information about local activists, the emails also reflect several examples of trainings or demonstrations provided to Stratfor by APD personnel.
For example, throughout August 2011, a number of Stratfor emails discuss an APD demonstration for Stratfor employees using live explosives near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. In an internal Stratfor email dated Aug. 27, 2011, with the subject line "weekly," Stratfor Vice President Fred Burton announced blissfully: "The highlight of the week was the Austin Police Department (APD) Bomb Squad'special' training session for Stratfor staff. A six-man team augmented by the Austin Fire and EMS set off a wide variance of explosive charges for our group, to include ANFO [i.e., ammonium nitrate/fuel oil]. The staff got a chance to feel, smell and touch'real' explosives; and feel the energy output when bombs are detonated (called a blast wave). The sound and color of the various explosives will enable the team to better understand attack scenes from as they say at Foggy Bottom [i.e., the U.S. State Department] 'dispatches afar.' We also examined the blast seats (craters). Several said it was the best damn training they have ever received at Stratfor. We also had a little bit of fun (or panic) when two brush fires were started.... Man 'ole man was it fun."
(Burton's personal notions of amusement are already notorious from earlier email releases, as when he speculated on the possibility of the U.S. killing or torturing Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at Guantanamo, and reminisced about the good old days at the State Department when political assassinations were not so controversial. Here's Burton (April 27, 2010), musing nostalgically on Bolivian President Evo Morales and then Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez: "Back in the day, we would have been planning [Morales'] (and Chavez's) helicopter 'accident.' Guess I'm getting old, I think it's best to keep these lads around for comic relief.")
In addition to the oddity of APD blowing things up for the entertainment (or "understanding") of a private company, the brush fires mentioned by Burton (and apparently extinguished by the Austin Fire Department, which was standing by along with EMS) occurred during a countywide burn ban, and the worst year of the current severe drought – indeed, less than two weeks before the great Bastrop County fire. Seemingly oblivious to these conditions, Burton emailed Stratfor employees the day of the demonstration, flippantly warning: "If anyone calls from the arson squad, we were never there.... Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations. (CIA Bombing School motto)."
But the live explosives demonstration, while undoubtedly "fun" for Burton and his colleagues, was also – according to an email sent before the demonstration to Burton from APD Senior Officer Robert Nunez – "law enforcement sensitive" (the phrase routinely used by APD brass to classify information as confidential). Nunez advised Burton, "Photos are ok, no video... we don't like seeing any bomb squad stuff on any social media sites." Asked for comment recently, Cmdr. Nick Wright of APD's Explosive Ordnance Disposal division explained via email, "Live explosive demonstrations are very rare," and contrary to Nunez's earlier warning to Burton, Wright later added that "no law enforcement sensitive information is shared." Nevertheless, Burton was thoroughly pleased with the demonstration, writing to Stratfor employees three days after the demonstration: "The folks are kind enough to cook off whatever we want to see."
Earlier this month, the Chronicle asked APD the purpose of this exercise, and received a response that essentially echoed Burton's internal Stratfor emails. Cmdr. Wright explained, via email: "The explosives demonstration was a familiarization training for Stratfor analysts so they better understand the intel they processed around the globe regarding improvised explosives and their capabilities." Wright added, "The demonstrations are part of the regional explosive awareness training mission performed by the Bomb Squad for various law enforcement and governmental agencies. Stratfor was considered a partner NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) and U.S. Government contractor in the global war on terrorism through its activities in the global intelligence field."
Team Building
The Stratfor emails reflect that watching APD personnel ignite explosives was believed to be of crucial importance to the "analytical" work of Stratfor staffers. According to an internal email dated Aug. 24, 2011, the day of the demonstration, Stratfor employee Sean Noonan informed Burton and others, "I'm hop[ing] all of you that thought this was just for fun and games understand how important this is to us tactical analysts understanding what we are doing."
In another email, Officer Nunez provided Burton with a list of six APD officers, including himself, who attended the demonstration, adding "We appreciate the cooperation and open communications." It's unclear why Stratfor would need a list of APD officers who were present, but another Stratfor email offers at least one hint – the eagerness of APD personnel to take part in the theatrics – and perhaps, eventually, to have an opportunity to join the Stratfor "team," in the long-standing tradition of mutual interests between uniformed police forces and private security firms.
According to an Oct. 2, 2011, email, Stratfor employee Jen Richmond wrote Burton: "James Stanesic – the detective that has helped me out so much – texted me today and said he heard a rumor that we were collaborating with the APD. I told him that we were but that I didn't know the specific details. He said: 'I want in.' You know I can't recommend him enough, so whatever we are doing, I highly suggest him being on the 'team.' He's one of the best cops I've met."
Intel 'R' Us
And this "collaborating" and "cooperation" extended beyond explosives and beyond APD. Numerous emails reflect the sharing with Stratfor of undercover information on local activist groups.
For example, an email dated Dec. 5, 2011, sent from APD officer J.J. Schmidt was forwarded to Burton by APD Lt. Tom Sweeney: it contains information about an Occupy Austin march to Chase Bank at 221 W. Sixth that took place on Dec. 8, 2011. Schmidt's email contained APD's confidentiality notice; despite that warning, Burton was told, "It is unclear how many people will be in attendance. It appears that the bank is the target of the protest, however, there are a few other offices of concern at this location." However, Sweeney added, "[w]e don't expect trouble." One possible "office of concern" would be that of Stratfor itself, also located in the Chase Bank office building. In another internal email regarding a different march, Burton shares similar information that came "from an LE [Law Enforcement] intel source."
When asked about APD's policy regarding informing businesses about the activities of protesters, Wright responded (somewhat at cross-purposes), "APD does not have [a] policy [of] informing businesses when protesters are expected. However, if there is a public threat to a business then it is the Austin Police Department's duty and obligation to let the businesses know."
APD was not Stratfor's only source for information on activists. According to a Dec. 14, 2011, email, DPS Agent David Dudley provided Burton with "research" on Occupy Austin, environmental activist group Deep Green Resistance, and local organizers LoveATX, whose website lists their goals as "develop holistic culture" and "unite for progress." Dudley wrote ominously to Burton that LoveATX "has a website that seems all warm and fluffy, but...." He includes a two-and-half-page research document by an unnamed author (possibly Dudley himself), titled: "'Deep Green Resistance' Joins Forces with 'Occupy Well Street.'" "Occupy Well Street" was the name given by Occupy to activism concerning natural gas "fracking," and the document mainly recounts anti-fracking protest actions.
After numerous requests, DPS would not comment on Dudley's activities nor his relationship with Stratfor. A spokesman would only confirm that "David Dudley is a Criminal Investigations Division agent stationed in Austin."
One person mentioned in the Dudley email is Occupy Austin participant and 2012 City Council candidate John Duffy, who told the Chronicle via email, "Seeing your phone number in [APD] documents is a bit worrisome, because it makes you wonder if they are listening to your calls.... It just seemed so disproportionate to what Occupy was doing."
Punching Stratfor's Ticket
The dubious relationships among Stratfor, APD, and DPS remain unexplained to this date, and none of the parties are eager to discuss the subject. APD describes the bomb demonstration as "an attempt [by APD] to stay well informed," but the department also confirmed that "there are no legal contracts, agreements that document this relationship" with Stratfor – unlike a direct government contractor that might at least be bound by contract terms.
DPS had even less to say, and in the absence of more information – unlikely to be forthcoming – it remains unknown how Stratfor came to receive the access it has to the state law enforcement agency. Equally troubling, it's also unclear under what legal authority a now acknowledged DPS agent was providing undercover intelligence directly to Stratfor.
Stratfor VP Burton's own brief stint at the DPS, in 2009, as Assistant Director for Intelligence & Counterterrorism, likely played a role in establishing Stratfor's network. According to Burton's "weekly" email about the live explosives demonstration, "You simply can't pay (nor get in) this kinda training without having the right tickets punched."
In that context, Burton was apparently not shy about returning agency favors, as suggested by law enforcement personnel clamoring to join his "team." He's also listed on the board of directors of the Greater Austin Crime Commission, an organization of mostly local businessmen and a few public officials devoted to "public safety." In that capacity, he reports in an Oct. 2, 2011, Stratfor email string that he met with the ACC in "executive session" (presumably the executive committee of the board), after he was asked "to help |
2013 op-ed piece in The New York Times. Mob attacks, by their very nature, are difficult to reduce to a single reason.
Yet, the presence or absence of farmland and housing facilities has been at the heart of recurring patterns of migration among Punjabi Christians over the last many decades.
In 1947, there were two types of Christians in what was then known as West Pakistan: landless, unskilled, poor labourers and peasants living in villages across central Punjab, and educated Christian professionals, mostly Anglo-Indians and Goans, who lived in big cities such as Karachi and Lahore. The former are generally converts to Christianity from low-caste Hindus and the latter from upper-caste Hindus as well as Muslims.
The Christians did not own the land. It belonged to the government – recorded as shamlaat-e-deh, the extension of the village land earmarked for collective usage.
Anglo-Indians and Goans immediately faced discrimination in jobs and business opportunities in the newly created Pakistan. Their rather privileged social status under the Raj – that prized their English language skills and British cultural mannerisms – started waning. Punjabi Christians, on the other hand, were always treated with contempt due to their caste and their dark skin.
Faced with cultural, political and economic isolation, Christians in Pakistan embarked on two different trajectories of migration. Punjabi Christians started leaving villages to shift to Church-developed Christian-only neighbourhoods in, or just outside, main cities. Anglo-Indians and Goans left in droves to Europe and North America.
They formed the bulk of the first wave of Pakistani migrants to Europe and the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s, according to Patricia Jeffery, a British researcher who investigated migration trends among Pakistani Christians in the early 1970s.
Young boys at a Christian colony in Gulberg, Lahore | Arif Mahmood, White Star
At Partition, S P Singha was the most prominent leader of Punjabi Christians. Before joining politics, he worked as a registrar at the Punjab University during the 1930s. In 1947, he was Punjab Assembly’s speaker and one of the three Christian members of the assembly who voted in favour of Punjab becoming a part of Pakistan.
His decision was based on pragmatic considerations. He thought Hindus discriminated against Punjabi Christians more than Muslims did. “In non-Muslim villages, we have no graveyards and are not allowed to draw water from the wells,” he told Sir Cyril Radcliffe’s boundary commission.
Additionally, the partition of Punjab being proposed along religious lines meant that there would be more Punjabi Christians living in Muslim-dominated western regions of the province than in the eastern parts dominated by Hindus and Sikhs. When the boundary commission announced its scheme for partitioning Punjab in June 1947, eastern (Indian) Punjab had only 60,955 out of 511,299 Punjabi Christians at the time.
Indu Mitha, 86, a famed educationist and renowned exponent of Bharatnatyam who now lives in Islamabad, has vivid memories of those days. Her mother was S P Singha’s cousin and her father, Gyanesh Chandra Chatterji, was a professor of philosophy at Government College, Lahore. (Indu Mitha’s husband, Aboobaker Osman Mitha, retired as a major general from the Pakistan Army and is credited to have founded its Special Services Group, the commando unit.)
“S P Singha, whom we called Purke Maamoon, one day called my father and told him that he had met with Mr Jinnah and told him that Christians were very poor and could not travel to India and that they wanted to live in Pakistan,” says Indu Mitha. “Jinnah assured Singh of full protection for the Christians.”
The military government of General Ziaul Haq – that took over power in 1977 – only expedited Christian departures.
Renowned Pakistani historian Ayesha Jalal records this turn of events in her book, Self and Sovereignty, albeit from a different perspective. “In their dress, poor economic status and religious beliefs, Christians in the Punjab were closer to the Muslims,” she wrote and quoted Singha as saying that Christians “trust the Muslim more.”
Right after 1947, Singha was removed as the speaker of the assembly through a no-confidence motion. Reason: He was not a Muslim. That turned out to be a symbol of how life was to change for Punjabi Christians in Pakistan.
Singha addressed the assembly on January 20, 1948 to highlight that change. “Kindly pay attention to the mess created by the Sikhs who, after living for centuries in this province, have at once left and have created a huge problem for [Christians]. The government may have better information but our estimates show that about 60,000 families or 200,000 people of our community, who worked as saipis (landless service providers) or atharis (farmhands), have become homeless after the commotion of Partition,” he said.
The lands vacated by the Sikhs were being allotted to Muslim refugees coming from eastern Punjab and these new owners of land either did not want Christian saipis and atharis due to religious reasons or they did not know them well enough to trust them with such jobs. “They hired us for a while but then they engaged their coreligionists,” says Nazir Masih who was about 13 years old at the time of Partition and was living in Harichand village in Sheikhupura district.
Residents at a Christian colony in Lahore | Arif Mahmood, White Star
In some cases, Christians were forcefully evicted even from places where they were tilling lands for the state institutions – such as in a few villages set up on the military farms. “Christians are being evicted from some of the villages reserved for them,” Singh said. “They are being replaced with [Muslim] refugees.”
Singha argued that Christians in Pakistan deserved protection from the government because they “have taken refuge in this House of Islam”. When no one listened to him, he suggested to the government to either place the homeless Christians in refugee camps or “bury them alive”.
The number of homeless Christians kept on increasing in the meanwhile. C E Gibbon, another Christian member of the Punjab Assembly, noted in his statement on the floor of the house in April 1952: “I beg to ask for leave to make a motion … to discuss a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely, the grave situation arising out of the policy of the government in respect of the wholesale eviction of Christians … from their home holdings, thus rendering nearly 300,000 Christians homeless and on the verge of starvation, the consequences of which are too horrible to imagine.”
Earlier, in 1948, Singha had highlighted another problem. He described how young Muslim students were harassing Christian nurses, insisting that Christian women in Pakistan were like war booty and the Muslims possessed the right to use them whichever way they liked. “If this mindset continues, then I fear there will be no Christian nurses left in Pakistan,” he warned.
Also read: Brotherhood thrives in Karachi's religiously diverse quarters
Singha also talked about how Christians in Pakistan were viewed with suspicion. “… [the Christians] are ready to assure the government of Pakistan of our loyalty but sadly we are being accused of committing strange things. One group of people says we are spies and another says we are agents of Hindus.” He went on “to humbly state” that the government should “stop demanding” that Christians prove their loyalty to the state everyday as “Muslims are required to do in India”.
It was natural, says Michelle Chaudhry, 48, a Christian activist in Lahore, that “every Pakistani Christian was feeling low because they were always suspected of spying for India”. Her late father, Cecil Chaudhry, was a flight lieutenant in the Pakistan Air Force during the 1965 war and a squadron leader in the 1971 war. He and other Christian military officers earned official and public recognition for their courage and military exploits during those two wars. That stemmed the tide of anti-Christian sentiments to some extent, she says.
But only to some extent. “After the 1965 war with India, there were some reports of ‘reprisals’ against Christians in Pakistan,” noted Patricia Jeffery, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Edinburgh, in her book, Migrants and Refugees: Muslim and Christian Pakistani Families in Bristol.
The National Council of Churches Review, a journal published by the Wesley Press, noted in 1971: “It has become a fashion in West Pakistan to accuse Christians of espionage and they are being told to migrate to other countries, particularly Canada and the United States.”
Singha argued that Christians in Pakistan deserved protection from the government because they “have taken refuge in this House of Islam”.
Though S P Singha’s son, D P Singha, who was also a member of the Punjab Assembly, declared that those who “thought that Pakistani Christians had sympathy with India were wrong,” the Muslim perception of local Christians did not improve. The journal quoted the Bishop of Lahore, Inayat Masih, as saying the government exhibited a step-motherly attitude towards Christians.
In early 1971, all this culminated in what is perhaps the first mob attack against Christians in Pakistan. A Pakistani living in Manchester wrote to Lahore-based English daily Pakistan Times, “complaining about a book called The Turkish Art of Love in Pictures (first published in 1933), which he said … contained insulting assertions about the Holy Prophet.”
The publication of the letter led to large-scale attacks on Christians in Lahore. Churches were ransacked and liquor shops (which were legal at the time) were looted. Jeffery quoted one Christian woman as imploring during the violence that “Christians in Pakistan should be seen as ‘true Pakistanis’ and that there should be no stigma attached to being Christians.”
Nationalisation of education further heightened social tensions between Muslims and Christians. Christians were enraged when, on March 29, 1972, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – then working as chief martial law administrator of the country – nationalised private educational institutions, including those run by the Christian missionary organisations. Muslims were happy that Christians would not be able to use education to spread their religion.
A worshiper at the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta | Sara Faruqi
Angry Christians in Rawalpindi took out a protest procession against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s decision. They marched towards the Governor House to present a memorandum. In an attempt to stop them, the police opened fire on them – killing two people, Nawaz Masih and James Masih, on the spot.
Muslim protesters, too, came out against Christian missions. “There were protests by Forman Christian College Lahore students and others against foreign missionaries after which they hurriedly left the country,” says a Sri Lankan missionary who was working in Pakistan at the time. He wants to remain unnamed due to security reasons.
Soon a resolution was tabled in the National Assembly. Pauline A Brown, a former American missionary who worked in Pakistan between 1954 and 1988, recorded it in her 2006 book, Jars of Clay: Ordinary Christians on an Extraordinary Mission in Southern Pakistan. It reads: “…the resolution calls for the taking over by the government of all institutions known or running as missionary schools, colleges, hospitals, and nursing homes... The resolution also demands that foreign missionaries should leave Pakistan and no visas or any permission in future be granted to foreign missionaries to operate in this country.”
Also read: State of fear
By that time the exodus of educated Pakistani Christians was already well under way. “Most immigration took place for economic reasons,” says Victor Gill, who was a teacher of physics at the Forman Christian College Lahore in 1976 when he decided to leave Pakistan. “Higher education, sponsorship by relatives and theological training were few of the vehicles used for migration,” he says in a phone interview.
Gill went to Philadelphia which, according to him, has the largest Pakistani Christian concentration in North America after Toronto. The choice of the destination has its roots in Presbyterian missions’ activities in Punjab dating back a century. With its headquarters in Philadelphia, the Presbyterian Church had sent such prominent missionaries as Dr Samuel Martin (who founded a Christian-only village in Punjab), Andrew Gordon (after whom the Gordon College Rawalpindi is named) and Dr Charles William Forman (the founder of the Forman Christian College Lahore).
Nationalisation of education further heightened social tensions between Muslims and Christians.
Jeffery, too, found a sizeable Pakistani Christian community living in the English city of Bristol. They wanted themselves to be seen as Christians first and Pakistanis later, she noted. She also found out that Pakistani Muslim migrants maintained ties with their relatives back in Pakistan but “the Christians mix more with people who are not kin, including British people, and the ties which they retain with kin in Pakistan are very weak.”
That did not guarantee easy assimilation. Several Christians, she wrote, “complained that British people refuse to accept their claims to common [religious] allegiance”.
The military government of General Ziaul Haq – that took over power in 1977 – only expedited Christian departures. Many prominent Pakistani Christians, including Michael Nazir Ali, left Pakistan in those years to avoid religious persecution at the hands of a dictatorial regime that had the self-declared agenda of Islamising every part of public and private life in the country.
Ali was working as Bishop of Raiwind when he left Pakistan. “I was asked by the then Archbishop of Canterbury to leave for [some] time because of difficulties and threats to the family resulting from my work with the very poor, – especially in brick kilns – and in resisting some of Zia’s policies affecting women and minorities,” Ali says in an email interview. “Local extremists, vested interests and some related elements in our community were involved” in creating the circumstances that led to his exile. Ali now works as Bishop of Rochester in England.
Photography Essa Malik, White Star
Presbyterian missionaries from the West started setting up schools and colleges across Punjab during the last quarter of the 19th century. They set up Forman Christian College in Lahore in 1864, Gordon College in Rawalpindi in 1883, Murray College in Sialkot in 1889, St Stephen’s College in Delhi in 1881 (Delhi at the time was a part of Punjab province), Edwardes College in Peshawar in 1900, Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore in 1913.
The stated objective of these educational institutions was to educate the upper classes in the subcontinent and introduce them to Christianity. “A plan to build up a Christian community in Delhi became instead a plan to promote Christian influence among the non-Christian elite by creating Christian institutions to serve them,” wrote Jeffrey Cox, a professor of history at the Iowa University, in his book, Imperial Fault Lines: Christianity and Colonial Power in India, 1818-1940.
The British records in 1855 show there were no native Christians in Punjab at the time. But because of the huge missionary efforts, there were about 4,000 native Christians in the province by 1881. They were a scattered and diverse urban community.
The missionaries were also working simultaneously on converting the native villagers to Christianity. Mass conversions started at places in Sialkot district in 1870 and spread to adjacent districts of Sheikhupura, Lahore and Gujranwala. Because of the mass conversion, the Christian population of Punjab increased from about 4,000 in 1881 to 511,000 by 1941.
Also read: Why divorce is close to impossible for Christians in Pakistan
Patricia Jeffery noted in her book that this dramatic swell in the number of Christians also changed their educational composition: “According to the 1936 Gazetteer for Lahore District, 58.5 per cent of Christians were literate in 1901, while only 16.3 per cent were literate in 1931. In the interim, the number of Christians (in Lahore) had risen from 7,296 to 57,097.”
That explains why there always have been two distinct classes within Christians in this part of the world – a small educated urban community and a much larger population of illiterate, unskilled, landless rural folks.
“[Being] indiscriminately associated with the word chuhra has played havoc with the psyche, identity, self-image and well-being of Pakistani Christians.”
The United Presbyterian Church, which was also the church of the downtrodden back in the US, took the initiative to bring the most marginalised and oppressed caste of scavengers, described in missionary reports and British census documents as chuhras, into the fold of Christianity. The people belonging to this community were socially excluded, living outside villages and facing serious discrimination in their everyday lives.
Denzil Ibbetson, Punjab’s deputy superintendent in the 1881 census, who later also worked as the province’s Lieutenant-Governor, has written in detail about these converts. “They prefer to call themselves Chuhra,” he wrote. He also noted their occupations. “In the east of the Province he sweeps the houses and villages, collects the cow dung, pats it into cakes and stacks it, works up the manure, helps with the cattle, and takes them from village to village”. In other areas, they worked as “agricultural labourer” and “receive a customary share of the produce”.
Because of their landlessness, Ibbetson associated them with gypsies. “Together with the vagrants and gypsies they are the hereditary workers in glass and reeds, from which they make winnowing pans and other articles used in agriculture.”
Manu Smriti, or The Laws of Manu, the most authoritative Hindu scripture on the caste system, categorised them as executioners. “[You] shall always execute the criminals, in accordance with the law,” it said while assigning Chuhras their duties. The jail employee who tied the noose around Bhutto’s neck in 1979, Tara Masih, came from the same community as did his father who had executed the anti-British hero Bhagat Singh in 1931.
Henry Felix (centre)
Dr J W Youngson, a Scottish Presbyterian cleric, wrote in detail about these converts in James Hasting’s classical 1910 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics: “The Chuhras of the Punjab and Central India... were, until a comparatively late period, an unnoticed race; but the fact that many of them are becoming Christians has made them better known, and created an interest in their history and religion. It was observed by Ibbetson, in the Punjab Census Reports, that the religion of the Chuhras is nearer Christianity in its principles than any other religion in India. Briefly, these principles are as follows: There is one God; sin is a reality, man is sinful; there is a High Priest (Bala Shah), who is also a Mediator, to whom they pray; sacrifice is part of the worship of God; the spirit of man at death returns to God; there will be a resurrection of the body; there will be a day of judgment; there are angels, and there are evil spirits; there is heaven, and there is hell. The Chuhras have no temple, but only a dome-shaped mound of earth facing the east, in which there are niches for lamps that are lighted by the way of worship.”
A settlement for local converts to Christianity in what is now Nankana Sahab district is called Youngsonabad. It was set up to celebrate Youngson’s work among local Christians.
There has been an early realisation among the converts about the pernicious impacts of the word chuhra on their lives. Dr Azam Gill, who teaches English at a college in France, has written in an article that highlights the problem: “[being] indiscriminately associated with the word chuhra has played havoc with the psyche, identity, self-image and well-being of Pakistani Christians.”
They have been trying different things to get rid of the social stigma attached to the word. By the 1930s, they were being called Isai – after Isa, the Arabic translation of Jesus. In the 1961 census in Lahore, all those who had been categorised as belonging to chuhra caste in previous censuses were now classified as Isai, noted John O’Brien, a Christian priest who has written an exhaustive ethnographic account of the native Punjabi converts to Christianity.
The same 1961 census put the profession of Isais as sweepers. That association has turned the word Isai also as infected, generating an ongoing movement among Punjabi Christians to change their last names and their caste to Masih and Masihi, respectively. A heated theological debate rages on whether these words – which both refer to Christ – can be used for ordinary Christians, but that has not stopped Punjabi Christians from shedding Isai in the favour of Masih or Masihi.
Baba Sadiq is close to a century old. A tall man with sunken cheeks, he was born in a village called Nazir Labana in Sheikhupura district. He was one of the first people in his village to convert to Christianity. “We used to worship Bala Shah, a statue made of mud. There was no religious scripture or ritual, except that we bowed before the statue and distributed choori (crushed bread mixed with ghee and sugar),” he says.
His relatives – Maulu, Lahnoon, Kama, Kala, Sohan, Gahnoon – who lived in a nearby village, Taamkay, converted to Christianity and pressurised his family to also convert. “They brought religious preachers from Sialkot and converted my father Sundar who was head of our clan in the village.” Following Sundar, all members of his caste living in Nazir Labana – about 40 households – converted to Christianity.
Sadiq continued to live in the same village till Partition but then shifted elsewhere. He now lives in a Christian Colony in Lahore district’s Wandala village. His movement represents a larger pattern.
It was observed by Ibbetson, in the Punjab Census Reports, that the religion of the Chuhras is nearer Christianity in its principles than any other religion in India.
The United Presbyterian Church, Church of Scotland, the Salvation Army, Church of England and, later, the Catholic Church and Methodist Church set up about 20 villages in Punjab in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to bring together scattered local converts in order to improve their socio-economic conditions. Most of these villages are in Khanewal, Kasur, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura districts. Probably the most famous ones among them are Martinpur and Youngsonabad, both in district Nankana Sahib.
Martinpur was founded in 1898 by Dr Samuel Martin who belonged to the United Presbyterian Chruch. “Christians were brought from Sialkot and Gurdaspur to inhabit the village,” says Jehangir Fazal Din, whose great grandfather, Fazal Din, came from Jammu to Punjab to attend a missionary school and converted to Christianity. “His family excommunicated him due to his conversion so he settled in Sailkot with his wife and children. When Martinpur was founded, he came here along with his family.” The other inhabitants of the village worked as farmhands of Sikhs in their native areas.
Also read: Christmas in Pakistan
A 1911 report in Southern Workman, a Christian journal published by Hampton Institute, portrays Martinpur as a model settlement: “… it will serve as an ideal illustration to show what Christianity does for the pariah.”
Living up to its founding objective, Martinpur has produced several people who stand out for their educational and professional achievements. Jehangir, for instance, is working as a high court lawyer while his father, David Fazlud Din, retired as a district and sessions judge in 1960. Perhaps the most prominent native of Martinpur is Samuel Martin Burke. He was a diplomat (having worked as Pakistan’s envoy for Scandinavia and Canada) and the author of a number of books including Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: An Historical Analysis (1973), The British Raj in India: An Historical Review (1995) and Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah: His Personality and his Politics (1997).
The entrance to Youhanabad, Lahore | M Arif, White Star
Henry Felix is another major founder of Punjab’s Christian-only villages. A scholar on Tibetan studies, he arrived in Punjab in 1891 and founded the village of Maryamabad in Sheikhupura district in 1893. “[Felix] attracted to Maryamabad hundreds of untutored aborigines. He settled them on the mission lands, and taught them … how to earn an honest living. Living amidst the natives, far from the haunts of civilization, he came to speak and write Urdu and Punjabi,” an America-based Catholic journal wrote in 1912, with an unmistakable whiff of white man’s burden to civilize the darker races.
In 1900, the British government of India put land at his disposal for setting up another village. The new village, now in Faisalabad district, came to be called Khushpur — “happy town, Felix-Town,” as the journal noted. Shahbaz Bhatti, federal minister for minority affairs, who was murdered in early 2011 in Islamabad, was a native of Khushpur.
Around 1909, Catholic missionaries also encouraged Punjabi Christians to settle as tenants and peasants in the vast tracts of land given to the royal Indian army to grow cereals and produce dairy products for its internal consumption. “Father Felix brought Christians here from Sialkot including my great grandfather Labba Masih,” says Younus Iqbal. He heads one of the two factions of the movement that Okara military farms’ tenants are running, demanding ownership of the land their ancestors have been cultivating for more than a century.
These model villages were able to provide decent living conditions to a few thousand Christian converts. Still most of them remained dependent on Sikh landlords and worked for them as their hired hands. That changed in 1947 — only for the worse.
A woman weeps during service at St. Mary's Church in Quetta | Sara Faruqi
In Harichand village in Sheikhupura district, a well was reserved for local Christians. After Partition, a Muslim migrant from India came to the village and claimed the government had allotted him two acres of land around the well. When he stopped local Christians from using the well, they sought help from Christians in neighbouring villages. Together, they formed a fighting group armed with guns. The migrant was also helped by other migrants in the same manner. The two sides were on the verge of opening fire at each other when some men came on horses from nearby villages and urged them not to fight. A panchayat then went through the records and found that Christians had no valid claim over the well because it was built on land under collective ownership as shamlaat-e-deh.
“We had to leave the village,” says Nazir Masih, an old man who lived in a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore till two months ago when he died. The displaced Christians settled on unoccupied land in what would be Lahore’s first Christian katchi abadi, or slum, along Ferozepur Road near where Shama Cinema was later built. “Our houses would wash away every year with rains.”
After they landed in the cities, Christians had limited economic opportunities. They could work at brick kilns – that were springing up next to big cities to cater to the booming housing and construction sectors. Those who took up that option set themselves up for bonded labour for life.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the number of bonded labourers in different sectors of Pakistan’s economy could be anywhere between three million and eight million. A large portion of that number works as brick layers and Christians form one of the biggest groups within them. “Relative to their percentage of the total population, a high proportion of bonded brick-kiln workers in Punjab are Christians,” as is noted in Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Pakistan, a recent report by Human Rights Watch, a New York-based research and lobbying group.
The earliest Punjabi Christians in Quetta lived in two colonies established by the municipal authorities.
The other option was to take up menial government jobs as sanitary workers. Traditionally, low-caste Hindus worked as sanitary workers in the cities that became part of Pakistan but, in 1947, most of them went to India.
Alice Albinia in her book, Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River, described how the aftermath of anti-Hindu violence in early 1948 in Karachi, then the capital of Pakistan, underscored the problems created by these departing Hindus. “Within a month of the riots, the government realised, to its alarm, that something entirely unexpected was happening: among the fleeing Hindus were the city’s sweepers and sewer cleaners.” She wrote that the “outraged residents of Karachi … regretted, cajoled and complained” in letters they wrote to daily Dawn.The city “had become an unhygienic disgrace” where “streets were littered with stinking rubbish.”
According to Albinia, “there were enough jobs for two thousand cleaners, and not enough people to do them.”
The government thought Punjabi Christians would be happy to do that kind of work. When offered those jobs, however, they were anything but happy. “I have heard that Christians are refusing to work as sweepers,” S P Singha said in his 1948 speech. “One deputy commissioner complained to me that Christians do not want to do menial tasks and refuse to pick up cow dung and dead animals,” he added.
William Barkat (front left) offers prayers at St. Mary's Church | Sara Faruqi
He then told a tragic tale. In Nathain Khalsa village near Bhai Pheru (a town about 60 kilometres to the south of Lahore), Muslim migrants from India demanded that local Christians remove dead animals. The Christians refused. The migrants then cordoned off Christian houses and killed five of them, including a pregnant woman.
The story stresses the wrong stereotype that migrant Muslims had of local Christians — that by virtue of their dark skin and low social status, they should be doing the dirtiest jobs. Many, if not all, Punjabi Christians, however, only had the experience of working as farmhands and agricultural labourers. “We had never thought of picking up a broom and cleaning streets,” says Mehtab Masih, born in 1936 in a village in Sheikhupura district.
Yet, in 1952, he shifted to Mirpur Khas in Sindh along with his family and worked there as a sweeper for almost four decades. Scores of others now living with him in an exclusively Christian colony in Mirpur Khas have the same story.
Quetta’s Christian community is in mourning. Just a day earlier, on August 6, 2016, five young Christians from the city died when flash floods hit Zardalo area in Balochistan’s Harani district, about 110 kilometres to the east of Quetta, where they were picnicking.
The mood is somber at the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church, near the city’s railway station. The faithful – over a hundred in attendance on this Sunday, August 7, 2016 – are gathered to offer prayers for the departed. The pastor, Simon Bashir, is giving a sermon on the fruits of faith, knowledge and the gift of prophecy. His voice echoes across the worshippers, listening attentively as their children chase each other through the pews. When he finishes his lecture, two volunteers begin collecting alms and the choir, accompanied by a tabla and sitar, breaks into a hymn in Punjabi:
Oh Lord, our heavenly King
Thy name is all divine
Thy glories round the Earth are spread
And over the heavens they shine
In the first row of pews stands William Jan Barkat. A man with a slight built and approaching 70, he is rarely seen without a rosary in his hand. For the past 15 years, he has been a central committee member of the Pahtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) – a part of the provincial coalition government in Balochistan.
Although not affiliated with the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church, Barkat still comes here every Sunday for mass. His reasons are sentimental: his father – Barkat Masih who moved to Quetta from Daska town in Punjab – was once a pastor here. “I was born here. I grew up here,” he says, as he strolls along the church ground.
Pastor Simon Bashir leads Sunday Mass at the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church | Sara Faruqi
The church was originally built by American missionaries in 1888. Like everything else in Quetta, it was destroyed in the 1935 earthquake and was later rebuilt. Barkat explains how he is currently in the midst of renovating a memorial site dedicated to Christians killed during the earthquake. Almost buried among shopping plazas and various under-construction sites on Quetta’s Jinnah Road, the memorial is a piece of local heritage that can be easily overlooked.
When the British built Quetta, Punjabi Christians came along with them, working in the army, in hospitals, in schools and in menial municipal jobs. “Christians from Punjab started coming to Quetta much before Partition,” says Asiya Nasir, a Christian member of the National Assembly who lives in Quetta. “My maternal great grandfather was serving in the British army and he came from Gurdaspur (now in Indian Punjab) before the famous earthquake,” she says.
The trend continued. After Partition, many Punjabi Christians began moving to Quetta for employment or missionary work. Nasir’s father came to Quetta from Sialkot in 1965 as part of this wave of migration. There are, according to data put together by the church and community organisations, around 30,000 Christians in Quetta; another 40,000 to 50,000 of them live in the rest of Balochistan. But these figures are both old and disputed. Nasir, for instance, says there are more than 100,000 Christians in Quetta alone.
After they landed in the cities, Christians had limited economic opportunities.
Then there is also evidence that Christian migrants from other parts of Pakistan continue to shift to Quetta. One of these recent migrants is the pastor at the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church. Bashir moved to Quetta about eight years ago and is doing a PhD on early Christian arrivals in Balochistan. “In Karachi, there is so much competition and there are fixed and narrow views about Christians in Punjab,” he says as he explains the ongoing phenomenan of Christian migration to Quetta.
The earliest Punjabi Christians in Quetta lived in two colonies established by the municipal authorities. Over the years, as they grew in social status and became more educated, they moved out of these colonies. Some settled in neighbourhoods with mixed population. Others founded new Christian-only neighbourhoods.
Many Christians who retired as sanitation workers from the army once lived in the garrison area but they were asked to vacate their homes during General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s regime. “Most of them shifted to Nawa Killa (a village on the outskirts of Quetta). A small Christian colony, however, continues to exist within the cantonment,” Barkat explains.
Later the same day, a Sunday school is being held at the church’s ground. The children are re-enacting a Biblical story about Samson and Delilah. At the end of it, volunteers ask them to explain the lesson they have learnt. One of the older boys eagerly raises his hand: “From Samson’s story, we learn that we should never trust anyone.” He uses the Hindi word vishvaas for trust before one of the volunteers sternly corrects him. “Bharosa,” he says and smiles, slightly embarrassed, as his class-fellows burst into laughter.
Protectively watching them from the corner of the room is their teacher, Margaret James. “Have you seen the children’s work?” she asks as she points towards religious paintings on the wall. An elderly woman with a white dupatta wrapped around her, James has been teaching at the Sunday school for the past 20 years. She is a bit of an institution in the city herself, having been in the profession of teaching for over 50 years. She has taught the children of many prominent residents of Quetta, including the sons of Jamsheed Marker, a former senior diplomat who has represented Pakistan in many capitals as well as at important international forums. “Wherever I go, I meet an old student of mine,” James says in a clear, authoritative tone that indicates her sophisticated upbringing and education.
Sunday School teacher Margaret James | Sara Faruqi
Her grandfather migrated to Balochistan from Sialkot in 1902. A Muslim convert to Christianity, he worked as a librarian. After her father died, her mother was appointed as a tutor in 1945 for the children of the Khan of Kalat who headed a confederacy of Baloch chiefdoms before 1948 when it was merged with Pakistan. “He gave my mother a lot of respect: he sat with her, ate with her. When my mother would recite from the Bible in the morning, he would come and listen to her,” James recalls the Khan of Kalat.
Her mother also taught the children of various other Baloch chieftains, including the Raisanis and the Bugtis. “We lived among the Baloch. There was no discrimination. When Pakistan was created, the Khan of Kalat said no one would disturb the minorities in his kingdom,” says James. Even today, “we feel very safe in our places of worship and are provided sufficient security”.
So why is Quetta, a city known for suicide bombings, sectarian violence and deadly disturbances related to Baloch separatist politics, considered a haven by Christians?
Also read: The myth of freedom: What it means to be free in Pakistan
“Not a single case of blasphemy is registered against Christians in Balochistan,” says Nasir. “There are no incidents of forced conversion of women, and Christians enjoy equal economic opportunities.” Many of them are in civil service. Others are working in education and medical sectors.
Barkat, a Punjabi in a Pakhtun nationalist party, says this is because politics in Quetta is still largely ethnic and tribal (as opposed to religious) and the dominant political narrative remains secular (though there are many who doubt that). “The young ones in Balochistan still follow the ideologies of [such Baloch and Pakhtun nationalist leaders as] Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, Ataullah Mengal and Akbar Bugti,” Barkat explains. Religious minorities align themselves with either Baloch or Pakhtun groups and, in return, get their religious, economic and security problems attended to.
Kaleem Siddique, editor-in-chief of Urdu-language weekly Aftab, mentions a time when Punjabis |
planets, star clusters or nebulae,” says lead researcher Franck Marchis, from UC Berkeley and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, USA. “While regular adaptive optics provides excellent correction in a small field of view, MAD provides good correction over a larger area of sky. And in fact, were it not for MAD, we would not have been able to perform these amazing observations.”
MAD allowed the researchers to observe Jupiter for almost two hours on 16 and 17 August 2008, a record duration, according to the observing team. They were able to take a series of 265 snapshots. Conventional adaptive optics systems using a single Jupiter moon as reference cannot monitor Jupiter for so long because the moon moves too far from the planet. The Hubble Space Telescope cannot observe Jupiter continuously for more than about 50 minutes, because its view is regularly blocked by the Earth during Hubble’s 96-minute orbit.
Using MAD, ESO astronomer Paola Amico, MAD project manager Enrico Marchetti and Sébastien Tordo from the MAD team tracked two of Jupiter’s largest moons, Europa and Io – one on each side of the planet – to provide a good correction across the full disc of the planet. “It was the most challenging observation we performed with MAD, because we had to track with high accuracy two moons moving at different speeds, while simultaneously chasing Jupiter,” says Marchetti.
With this unique series of images, the team found a major alteration in the brightness of the equatorial haze, which lies in a 16,000-kilometer wide belt over Jupiter’s equator. More sunlight reflecting off upper atmospheric haze means that the amount of haze has increased, or that it has moved up to higher altitudes. “The brightest portion had shifted south by more than 6,000 kilometers,” explains team member Mike Wong.
This conclusion came after comparison with images taken in 2005 by Wong and colleague Imke de Pater using the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble images, taken at infrared wavelengths very close to those used for the VLT study, show more haze in the northern half of the bright Equatorial Zone, while the 2008 VLT images show a clear shift to the south.
“The change we see in the haze could be related to big changes in cloud patterns associated with last year’s planet-wide upheaval, but we need to look at more data to narrow down precisely when the changes occurred,” declares Wong
Source: ESOBETHESDA, MD—As she prepares to enter the "dog-eat-dog" business world this summer, computer applications major Lisa Milch, 22, said Monday that she is skeptical she'll be able to parlay her lifelong passion for data entry into gainful employment.
"I knew when I chose to work with computers that I'd be facing an uphill battle after graduation," said Milch, a senior at the University of Maryland, as she reordered a list in an Excel spreadsheet. "But when you love numbers and archiving information as much as I do, you have follow your heart and be willing to take a risk, no matter how far-fetched it may be."
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Milch said she's always fantasized about working 50 hours a week as a clerk in a medical records department, where the "big-time" information processing and retrieval opportunities are. However, she fears that setting her sights too high could set her up for disappointment in the real world.
"It's definitely a long shot, but I just know I'd regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't even try," Milch said. "It's something I have to do. I owe it to myself."
As early as age 8, Milch displayed an avid interest in quantitative measurement and numeric arrays. A star pupil in her high school business and typing courses, Milch said that a summer principles of information technology class at a nearby DeVry University first sparked her desire for a brilliant career in data entry.
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"I know I might be listening to my heart more than my brain here, but something inside me keeps telling me to go for it," Milch said. "I've never wanted to do anything else. I'll take low pay, I'll work under fluorescent light, I'll telecommute if I have to—just let me do what I'm meant to do."
Milch is not alone. Across the country, millions of seniors worry about the difficulties of transferring their personal interests into profitable careers.
Wesleyan University senior Frances Hardwick said she's concerned she won't be able to find employment as a personal assistant even after graduating in the top 10 percent of her class.
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"The only thing I've ever wanted is a life of service: taking phone messages, picking up dry cleaning, and getting coffee for the well-off," said Hardwick, who believes she will be in for a "rude awakening" once she is out on her own. "I'm not looking to get rich. All I need is just barely enough money to pay rent."
While these idealists continue to send out resumés and cold call dozens of potential employers, their futures remain uncertain, leaving each of them with the same question: Will the world find a place for my inner callings, or will it crush my deepest dreams?
And for Milch, the waiting game is almost too much to bear.
"Some days, I want to give up on data entry completely," she said. "I sit around wishing I'd win the lottery so I could just take one temp job after another forever."Extra Credits is an educational webshow that teaches viewers about issues important to video games and their studies, discussing issues such as video game development, the legitimacy of video games as art, amongst other things with the intent of creating discourse on important subjects within gamer culture.
For the few unfamiliar with Extra Credits, let me break down their approach to analyzing games media. There is some worth in this, even if you haven’t watched any of their videos. I’ll also be bringing up a few similar channels that do a much better job at delivering the same kind of critical content at the end, so please bear with me. I’m not only going to comment on their general style and approach, but also take a look at their history online, as well as critique points they directly made in some of their own videos. I also feel the need to point out that I will be linking directly to their videos, so if you do not wish to give them views, don’t click the links provided.
Extra Credits started as a series of two video presentations for college level history and media theory classes by Daniel Floyd. The series was “loosely based” off of Zero Punctuation, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that they would later push to have their series on the same website as that to make it abundantly clear what they were going for. After the two initial presentations, he teamed up with James Portnow, who became the main writer for the series. Allison Theus was added at the last moment to produce the art, and the three set their sights on making videos for The Escapist. Ironically starting with an episode titled “Bad Writing.”
It’s worth noting that Portnow worked for Zynga as a flavor text writer for FarmVille before creating this video. A game where the flavortext just come across as uninspired throwaway dialogue that most people will just click past without looking at. The episode was most likely written as a rallying call to tell himself it wasn’t his own fault that the job was as soulless as it turned out to be. Equally, Portnow’s characteristic hatred of the Call of Duty franchise very likely stems from his previous work on a canceled one. Whenever sites want to state how the Extra Credits staff are insiders with the know-how telling others how game development works, these are the examples of previous work stated. Considering texts like that are promotional in nature and try to fluff up the truth, that’s actually very sad. “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” comes to mind. Portnow tried and couldn’t, so he turned to teaching instead. His teachings are so bare-bones and pessimistic that it betrays a lack of passion for the industry. He just doesn’t have anything else going for him so tries to hang in there out of desperation.
I can understand if you think that I’m reaching with these claims, but I’m really not. When Extra Credits moved away from The Escapist they released a series of videos starting with Daniel Floyd saying there is no such thing as game addiction in the first video. A stance I actually agree with, for a lot of the same reasons as he brings to the table. The second video however, featured James Portnow complaining about how his gaming addiction and how it ruined his life. Considering the place they were coming from at the time, it’s understandable why the episode turned as damning as it did, but that doesn’t change that the feelings portrayed aren’t new or fresh. They’re old and deep-rooted problems that they couldn’t untangle to make a proper coherent video out of, and they’re feelings that still show themselves in the way they cover the subject material in their other videos.
As with just about everything that exists for the sake of “creating discourse”, most of their arguments are shallow, haven’t really been fleshed out, and provide little more than a few silent nods of agreement of people who just glanced through the material at hand. Occasionally making people feel informed about games they never played, but never really letting someone who experienced the subject matter themselves feel like anything was actually stated during the entire duration of the video. Extra Credits claims to be educational, but doesn’t actually teach anything. Something that doesn’t stop them from preaching anyway, which comes especially easy to them given the subject matter and audience they have. Of course preaching “Games are art!” to a group of gamers is going to be met with a round of applause. A half-hearted rallying cry isn’t going to bring in any non-gamers to share these beliefs though. You would need a more mature approach to get something like that across.
Seeking validation from Big Brother Traditional Media isn’t going to make them think you’re a big boy now, taking care of yourself for your own sake does. The lack of emotional maturity shining through these attempts at being validated makes it impossible to objectively cover the mechanics that make games good.
And you should be able to objectively cover the mechanics and unique tricks that gaming employs to prove what makes gaming unique. It’s those that things that make games matter beyond blind escapism. There’s that constant argument that you can’t objectively cover art, and while I do agree with that in terms of critiquing something along the lines of it being an entertainment product worth experiencing, an educational course about the elements that make games special, makes them work, should be able to do exactly this. Especially now that people have figured out how to record videos and properly critique videos, we see more and more people do exactly that because the old guard, the traditional route of paid authoritarian figures, have failed at properly providing this content.
This also brings me to my biggest problem with the presentation of Extra Credits. Simple stylized art and memetic internet images do not get your point across very well when you’re discussing complicated aspects of videogames and how they work. Games are a visual medium that uses a lot of sound engineering to make players pick up on traditional sound clues that have been there since the Game and Watch days. When covering the elements that build up games, show them. It gets the idea across much more cleanly than any amount of memes or soapbox preaching drawn characters can do. It also helps you dive into much deeper conversations as to why something works or doesn’t work, instead of relying on overly simple blanket statements that don’t really amount to all that much.
Extra Credits especially loves impartial language to invoke a neutral voice, without actually doing anything to maintain one. Just like the presentation not actually helping their arguments, their actual arguments themselves are worded so loosely that they end up not saying anything at all if you listen carefully enough. Even with the intent of sparking debate, it doesn’t really do much more raising the tiniest spark and promoting it as giant bonfire. They don’t give enough information for people to properly be able to have a back and forth because of their overly simplified back and forth. Even the PBS Idea Channel, while still overly simplified and full of strawman arguments to try to persuade people to a particular line of thought, does a better job at starting a conversation.
Despite all of this, I’m very doubtful that there’s any real malice behind their words. Looking at the second Game Addiction video, and cross-referencing it with the controversies they’ve stumbled their way through, I can’t think of them as competent enough to willingly do wrong. They really believe in their material, approach, and conduct, but that’s just a part of their own naivety.
One shining example of their lack of professionalism and their abundance of naivety is the gigantic mess that they created when they stopped working for The Escapist. The story itself is a gigantic mess, much like the situation itself, but the general gist of it is easy to summarize.
Escapist mentioned money being tight. James Portnow said not to worry about it, pay other contributors first.
Extra Credits starts crowdsourcing to pay for surgery for their artist. Escapist helps promote them through their platform, gives out tshirts and Escapist premium subscriptions to donators.
Much larger amount of money is donated than needed.
Extra Credits plans what to do with this money. Doesn’t consider contacting their employers. Rallies people into agreeing with them creating “Extra Credits LLC” so hold the IPs for future indie games.
Escapist wants a cut of the overflow to pay for the subscription and tshirts that they handed out despite being in a terrible monetary position
Extra Credits guys make a huge stink about not being paid for months, about Escapist wanting to take all of the money raised, about their terrible treatment in general, decides to cancel their contract and leave.
While it’s very easy to rally the underdog, the small independent group of artist being wronged by the larger greedy media company over a financial dispute, the way that the entire situation gave them the biggest amount of publicity and ensured they’d find another home makes me scratch my head about the way it was all handled. No, I don’t think The Escapist handled the situation correctly, but neither did the Extra Credits crew. They were evasive during the proceedings while sitting on a large sum of money. The kind that they likely never had to think about previously, which is why they were so desperate to keep it. Especially in combination with the Game Addiction videos, it sounds like it was a life changing sum of money that made them change their view on what they were making these videos for.
Some time after that they were picked up by Penny Arcade. Only to be dropped alongside of Ben Kuchera of all people.
Lately, Portnow has been going after TotalBiscuit. Making entire arguments out of false assumptions about the GamerGate hashtag, because grasping at straws is about all the pull they have within the industry. The most interesting thing to note about this mess is that, going by their very own “Facing Controvery” video, they should actually agree with most of the things at the core of GamerGate. But when push comes to shove, they’re not interested in actually following through with what they preach. This video, a mashup of their Facing Controversy video and a lot of recent statements from within the games media, really drives home how quickly they turned away from their own teachings when it was convenient to them. Extra Credits vs #GamerGate. Naming the video in case it gets pulled because of a false DMCA claim, someone will most likely have reuploaded under the same name it if you dig around enough.
So, who cares about all of this background stuff if the content of the videos is actually good, right? At least they’re making people think about aspects of game design! They’re doing good! Because games matter! You’re just an anti-intellectual who is afraid of your games being given criticism!
First off, no I’m not. If games matter, and they’ll only improve in substance when customers start demanding this from their products, then shouldn’t the reasoning behind the demand also stand up to inspection? If criticism of games media helps gaming evolve to whatever the next step in its evolution is, shouldn’t the criticism be expected to have merit upon closer look?
Their video series is a presentation of simple facts most people are already aware of under the guise of teaching people new information so that they feel clever about having already understood these facts. At least, in the cases that their statements are actually facts. They’re often incredibly wrong about a lot of the things they make videos about, as you’ll see in the following segments.
Sexual Diversity
Kanji Tatsumi is gay. The developers stepped back from stating this outright in the English version of the game. They even went on record for saying they made things “more subtle” for the English release. A choice that doesn’t do our industry credit, but it’s not what we’re here to talk about today. This has led some fans to justify that Kanji isn’t actually gay, perhaps because his sexuality made some of them uncomfortable. There’s a great interview with Troy Baker, the voice actor for Kanji. In the interview, Troy talks about Kanji and the direction he received from people at Atlus who in short, told him that Kanji was gay.
Maybe the reason that Atlus didn’t outright state Kanji is gay in Persona 4 is because he isn’t gay. One of the main key themes of Persona 4 is that all of the characters have impulses and complexes that they don’t want to admit to, but that makes them who they are. Every cast member in the game has similar story arcs. Chie has an inferiority complex that makes her want to manipulate Yukiko for her own self-esteem. Yukiko is afraid of being stuck inheriting her family’s inn and wants to travel and be free instead. Kanji is a sensitive and nurturing person who enjoys a lot of activities typically considered girly and has self-esteem issues because of gender roles enforced by society, leading him to doubt his sexuality. Rise is stuck between her own professional self and the way the media portrays her as an idol. Naoto’s pursuit of being a detective leads her to adopt male normative gender roles without even realizing it to a point of being confused with her own identity.
What makes Persona 4 interesting is that the characters overcome these problems by accepting their inner thoughts as part of themselves. There’s nothing ambiguous about it. That’s why Kanji says that the Other “him” is still him. All of the characters say similar lines throughout the game. People hoping Kanji is gay or Naoto is trans tend to get frustrated with the portrayal of these issues because the issues actually aren’t being addressed. They’re trying to impose their own problems on characters that aren’t fit to hold that burden because it’s not their struggle. Persona 4 is not that deep a game, and rightly doesn’t attempt to cover these issues because it’s not their playing field.
This doesn’t mean that the game is better or worse for it. The underlying message is that Kanji is Kanji, no matter how people perceive him.
But hey, we don’t take much stock in authorial intent her at Extra Credits anyways, so who cares what the developers say his sexuality is? What is important here is that Kanji’s sexuality is what makes him interesting. It’s a key part in making him a compelling multi-dimensional character.
Except for the part where you’re reading too far into dialogue to see him as something he is not, despite the entire game being forward about this subject. It really makes me wonder if these lines in the EC video were written with full understanding of the game’s content. Kanji even develops a love interest with one of the female cast members later on in the game. Now, I might be wrong here, but I think this means that he might not be gay. Bisexual, maybe. But not gay. If he was, you would’ve been able to romance him.
So, would Persona 4 have been a better game if it didn’t accept sexual diversity? Would it have been anywhere near as good if the developers had been complacent and written another story about a heterosexual white or asian male? No. It would’ve just been another JRPG.
Because one character in the entirety of an 80 hour game doesn’t meet the diversity quota, the entire game goes from fantastic and original to “just another JRPG.” Those sure are words of love towards a gaming genre from people enthused about the media format. Not the words of a jaded soul at all.
Forgetting that the things that really set Persona 4 apart from the rest of the genre at the time were the modern setting, J-pop soundtrack, time management elements, approach towards missable content, feel-good aesthetic, and dating sim elements that were very much unlike most other JRPGs out at the time, that really would’ve made it just like all the other games. Just because one character’s sexuality isn’t what you want it to be. That’s awfully narrow-minded.
It’s also worth noting that the same video started with this pearl:
Who cares if you’re playing an Italian Plumber or Grave Robbing Bimbo?
Now, I’m not the one preaching the plight of gender norms here, but that sounds like an awfully sexist way to describe a character.
Spectrum Crunch
We’re running out of bandwidth in the air.
I don’t even know where to begin with this. We are not running out of bandwidth. There’s a limited amount of IP numbers available. Every time we run out of possible IPs, we upgrade our numeric system. We’re at IPv6 now. We’ve faced this problem six times total now. We’ll run into it again. We’ll increase the numbers of IPs again. Problem solved. There is no need for this level clickbait style of fear mongering.
According to this video, we’d have run out of bandwidth by 2014. I’m writing this in 2015. Internet works just fine. Nothing happened.
Roguelike Returns – How to Revive a Genre
This video is such a terrible constructed rambling piece, that it’s actually very hard to properly address the problems. The points addressed go all over the place without saying anything meaningful, even contradicting themselves within the same minute they were brought up.
So let’s get a couple of facts straight, and then you can go watch the video and see how little research they did.
Roguelikes never went away, even during the years of “downtime” there was a very popular spinoff series following most of the true Roguelike elements, barring perma-death. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. This franchise was actually a cross-over with the Mystery Dungeon series, which a lot of people really into the genre will know because of the excellent Shiren the Wanderer on the SNES, which later was ported to the Nintendo DS. On the PC end, a lot of Roguelikes quietly lived on. Elona RPG, Dwarf Fortress, Nethack, Stone Soup, the list goes on. Most of them weren’t in the public eye at first, even Spelunky largely went under the radar as a freeware title for being too difficult and obtuse for most players until the later remake. By then the list of indie developers citing the game as a major influence was long enough for the game to rise to popularity.
The game that really kicked off the big modern Roguelike hype was The Binding of Isaac. The first major success that cited Spelunky as a source of inspiration. It’s because of the rogue mechanics prevalent in The Binding of Isaac that most games presenting themselves as Roguelike have the gameplay mechanics they now associate with the genre, even if they’re not inherently part of it. The randomly generated secret rooms, ability to kill the shopkeepers, persistent unlocks, focus on boss fights, random effect pills, these are all things that by and large, The Binding of Isaac popularized. A lot of them already existed since the original Rogue, but not in the form that they’ve been presented in since The Binding of Isaac.
Interestingly enough, Extra Credits suggests people come to the genre for a sense of familiarity, not wanting to be confused by hard to understand game mechanics, but then immediately contradict themselves by saying that people love these games because of the way they have to learn these hard to understand game mechanics. It’s like they based the entire video on a couple of wikipedia page without any prior understand or experience with the genre itself.
Also, the main reason so many roguelikes have been coming out recently has less to do with their popularity as it’s only the rare few that actually reach memorable heights. The reason so many developers insist on making roguelikes is because random generation is a very good reason to not learn about basic map design. Who even needs to waste their time carefully crafting areas and locations for players to explore when you can just create a system that automatically generates a new one? It’s why so many of the modern ilk of roguelikes called uninspired and bland, and why there is such a push against the term, despite popular ones still coming out, often beloved by the same people saying they’re sick of a lot of the terrible games released under the label.
Microtransactions
I was about to write about this, but then realized LordKat covered the same subject matter in a better way than I could. Mostly because he’s got a better understand of the nature of Eve Online, a game I never played. So please read his article instead.
From their Steam Curator’s profile:
Let me just respond by saying the following:
Wolfenstein New Order
Prisoner of War
To keep it Japan-focused. Lloyd practically lived next door to a concentration camp at the start of Tales of Symphonia. There’s also that unsuccessful Ayuschwitz-based Wolfenstein mod that kept attracting controversy years ago. One minute of thinking and a simple Google search gave me four games besides Valkyria Chronicles already.
The series of videos about difficulty levels in videogames:
Call of Duty 4 isn’t a straightfoward shooter.
Simon Says is complex.
Tutorials should have the feeling of danger without posing any real danger, and completing it should make the player feel accomplished, using Demon’s Souls as a prime example, in spite of killing off the player early in the tutorial and leaving most of the actual gameplay mechanics (What do stats do? How do you get special items? Should you use those demon souls after boss fights or save them?) up for the player to learn by themselves afterwards, with the ability to fuck yourself over during your run.
Dark Souls II is amazing for letting players decide their own difficulty setting by doing things other major modern games do and it’s special for doing this because of reasons. Weapon choices, class choices, upgradeable items, and online co-op or not new or exclusive to this game. Here’s a quick GameFAQs style guide to min-max the game because we only just figured out these guides exist.
Games need to follow their own rules, but we’re not going to explore what the difference is between what the viewed rules and the actual game’s rules are. Which is where most people go wrong when it comes to exploring their understanding of videogames. Their problems with Super Mario Bros 3 and Fire Emblem: Awakening especially underline that there’s a large gap between their understanding of the rules that they ended up made up for the game through confirmation bias, and the actual rules the game plays by. There is no effort to obfuscate the ruleset, just a lack of attention played at the way the game teaches its own internal logic.
Using Dark Souls as a positive example seems especially odd in this, because of how many times Dark Souls seemingly breaks its own internal logic to rely on the online messaging system instead. Forcing players to communally relay information to the next group of players.
I’m not slamming the Souls series by the way. I fucking love Demon’s Souls, but their points made across three separate videos make it abundantly clear they have no real idea of the underlying logic of these games. They’re meant to be obscure and punishing in all the ways they don’t want games to be, relying on the community to interact with one another to convey solutions to problems that they came across with each other. This isn’t even touched upon in any of the videos because they’re likely not even aware of these facts, instead min-maxing their way through the games using guides.
Speaking of a failure to understand communities surrounding the games:
The Fighting Game Problem – How To Teach Complicated Mechanics
A genre entirely dedicated around playing with people, thus wanting you to learn with others are bad because the games aren’t focused on single player.
The entire solution to the problem is to sit down with a fighting game loving friend and opening up the tutorial mode with them, and having them teach you in an environment where you cannot take damage and play endlessly. Playing against the AI actually make you a lesser player because the entire basis of the genre relies on anticipating players and their habits. Playing against people with terrible habits teaches you bad habits in return.
Again, a video about a genre without any real understanding of what makes it appealing to people who enjoy them. Getting to the top level of anything requires patience and practice, especially in a competitive field. It’s not for everyone, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s perfectly acceptable for games to lock players out who don’t want to sit down and learn the intricacies about them. This is not an elitist stance, I just don’t agree that everything needs to appeal to everyone and people need to stop pretending like going for the broadest audience is the only way for something to be considered good. Games like chess require you to do a combination of study and play in order to really grasp the theory behind it, so why is it a bad thing when a game wants you to do something similar, especially when you readily compare it to the inner working of chess yourself?
After looking at nine individual pieces from their content, I hope I’ve made my message clear. Extra Credits is not an educational series.
They barely know what they’re talking about.
The statements they make tend to border between ridiculous and too unclear to have any worth.
They have a tendency to speak about concepts they don’t have a real understanding about, often basing their assumptions on information that’s even less than a Google search away.
Worse yet, they tend to speak in broad terms, but then focus on one single example in one single game, rather than giving multiple examples to give a clear idea of why they’re talking about these things beyond “So, I played this one game last week…” It would’ve been much better if they’d narrow their focus on the singular mechanic or narrative trick they wanted to talk about instead of speaking in grand terms, but I guess this would also highlight the underlying problems of unclear phrasing and lack of research that are already present.
Instead of listening to anything Extra Credits has to say, I’d consider more well-reasoned and focused channels on YouTube that do a much better job of delivering the same kind of content. There’s quite a few of them out there. Here are some personal recommendations:
AdvertisementsA replica of an ancient Chinese stick incense clock
The incense clock (simplified Chinese: 香钟; traditional Chinese: 香鐘; pinyin: xiāngzhōng; Wade–Giles: hsiang-chung; literally: 'fragrance clock") is a Chinese timekeeping device that appeared during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and spread to neighboring East Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. The clocks' bodies are effectively specialized censers that hold incense sticks or powdered incense that have been manufactured and calibrated to a known rate of combustion, used to measure minutes, hours, or days. The clock may also contain bells and gongs which act as strikers. Although the water clock and astronomical clock were known in China (example: Su Song), incense clocks were commonly used at homes and temples in dynastic times.
History [ edit ]
In addition to water, mechanical, and candle clocks, incense clocks were used in Asia and were fashioned in several different forms.[1] Incense clocks were first used in China around the 6th century; spread to Japan, as one survives in the Shōsōin.[2] Although popularly associated with China the incense clock is believed by some to have originated in India, at least in its fundamental form, if not function.[3][4] Early incense clocks found in China between the 6th and 8th centuries CE all seem to have Devanāgarī carvings on them rather than Chinese seal characters.[3][4] To explain this, the American historian and sinologist Edward Schafer asserts that incense clocks were probably an Indian invention, transmitted to China.[3] American historian Silvio Bedini on the other hand asserts that incense clocks were derived in part from incense seals mentioned in Tantric Buddhist scriptures, which first came to light in China after those scriptures from India were translated into Chinese, but holds that the time-telling function of the seal was incorporated by the Chinese.[4]
Types [ edit ]
Several types of incense clock have been found, the most common forms include the incense stick and incense seal.[5][6]
Stick incense clocks [ edit ]
An incense stick clock uses incense sticks that have been calibrated to known burning rates.[6] Most of these clocks were elaborate, sometimes having threads with weights attached at even intervals. The weights would drop onto a platter or gong below, signifying that a set amount of time had elapsed. Some incense clocks were held in elegant trays; open-bottomed trays were also used, to allow the weights to be used together with the decorative tray.[7][8] Sticks of incense with different scents were also used, so that the hours were marked by a change in fragrance.[9] The incense sticks could be straight or spiraled; the spiraled ones were longer, and were therefore intended for long periods of use, and often hung from the roofs of homes and temples.[10] In fact one of the side jobs of the time keeper in ancient Chinese cities was to mark calibrated incense with individual lines, to denote length of a burn for sale to the public. This was done to supplement the individual's often meager incomes.[11]
In Chinese medicine doctors would make multiple partial breaks on an incense stick as instructions to the patient such that the patient would take a dose of medication every time the incense has burned to one of these breaks. In Japan, a geisha was paid for the number of senko-dokei (incense clocks) that had been consumed while she was present, a practice which continued until 1924.[11]
Powdered incense clocks [ edit ]
Incense seal clocks are essentially specialized censers, that work through burning lines of powdered incense seals (香印 xiāng yìn in Chinese; 香時計 ko-dokei in Japanese). They were used for similar occasions and events as the stick incense clock. While religious purposes were of primary importance,[5] these clocks were also popular at social gatherings, and were used by Chinese scholars and intellectuals.[12] The seal was a wooden or stone disk with one or more grooves etched in it[5] into which incense was placed.[13]
These clocks were common in China,[12] but were produced in fewer numbers in Japan.[14] To signal the passage of a set amount of time, small pieces of fragrant woods, resins, or differently scented incense could be placed on the incense powder trails. Different powdered incense clocks used different formulations of incense, depending on how the clock was laid out.[15] The length of the trail of incense, directly related to the size of the seal, was the primary factor in determining how long the clock would last; all burned for long periods of time, ranging between 12 hours and a month.[16][17][18]
While early incense seals were made of wood or stone, the Chinese gradually introduced disks made of metal, most likely beginning during the Song dynasty. They were often made of paktong in the form of multileveled small boxes with patterned perforated tops. Gold and silver powder incense clocks are considered quite rare. This allowed craftsmen to more easily create both large and small seals, as well as design and decorate them more aesthetically. Another advantage was the ability to vary the paths of the grooves, to allow for the changing length of the days in the year. As smaller seals became more readily available, the clocks grew in popularity among the Chinese, and were often given as gifts.[19] Incense seal clocks are often sought by modern-day clock collectors; however, few remain that have not already been purchased or been placed on display at museums or temples.[14] Although they are no longer used formally for time keeping, such incense clocks are still used by scholars and monks in the East for evoking moods and for aesthetics.
Using incense seal clocks requires a period of preparation. A fine layer of damp white wood ash is first laid down in a small container, flattened, and lightly compacted. Seals that were in the form of patterned metal stencils were simply laid down on the ash while the incense powder was poured over it. After a light compaction of the incense powder by a tamper, lifting up the metal seal forms a long trail of incense powder that has been masked onto the ash. Other seals have a protruded pattern that creates a negative indentation in the wood ash. The incense powder is carefully spooned into the indentation in the ash and then recompacted again with the seal.[20]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]According to a report released today from the independent consulting firm Ernst & Young, the price of solar energy per watt is expected to fall to $1 by 2013, down from $2 in 2009. The association says in a recent report that the price per watt of solar energy is already down to $1.50 in 2011 and should continue to fall in the near future reflecting reductions in the cost of materials and advancements in efficiency. The report notes that though the price of solar power may be high right now, if governments around the world invest in the infrastructure to support solar power they will be ready to take full advantage of the sun’s energy by the time it becomes more affordable.
Though the report was compiled specifically by Ernst & Young for the Solar Trade Association (STA) and mostly reflects trends for solar energy in the UK, it holds promise for other solar-focused countries as well. The report notes that solar energy should attain grid parity — meaning it will align in cost with other traditional forms of energy — by 2020 in the UK and that is all without taking into account any future subsidies the government might set in place.
It seems that STA asked Ernst & Young to compile the report in response to a decision from the Committee on Climate Change which said that government investment in solar energy did not make sense because of the current high price of solar. Today’s report from Ernst & Young all but negates their statement by saying that though it may be expensive now, the cost will come down and any government that doesn’t assist in its installation will fall behind. “Being a laggard has never been very successful in terms of capturing the greater share |
and put the nail in Operation Barbarossa's coffin. Nevertheless, by early in January 1942 most of the initial Soviet counterstrokes had fizzled to a halt, and for good reason.
In just over six months of warfare the Soviet Union had lost control over 40 percent of its population, a third of its heavy industry, and staggering military losses reaching nearly 5 million men, 20,500 tanks, 101,100 guns and mortars, and 17,900 aircraft; representing 229 divisional size units wiped from the Red Army’s order of battles. Other leaders likely would have sought to dig in after having won some hard fought breathing space. Not Josef Stalin. He aggressively authorized another offensive. The Red Army however lacked striking power in spite of fielding 43 armies and 4.2 million men. The December counterattacks near Moscow had shattered the best of the Soviet reserves. The Red Army of January 1942 was a far cry from the sophisticated mechanized practitioner of Deep Operations it would become by 1943. Consequently Soviet architect of the December counter-offensive, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, initially approved of a more concentrated attack on Army Group Center, as Zhukov feared his forces lacked enough strength to achieve broad results. Events would prove Zhukov’s analysis correct. He nonetheless gradually adjusted his position to one more in line with Stalin’s more expansive goals. Zhukov finally agreed that multiple offensives across the front’s breadth could pay substantial dividends if at least destroying some German armies.
Stalin launched his massive thousand mile front wide offensive on January 7, 1942. Nine Front’s led the campaign running from north to south as follows; Leningrad Front led by Khozin, Volkhov Front led by Meretskov, Northwestern Front led by Kurochkin, Kalinin Front led by Konev, Western Front led by Zhukov, Briansk Front led by Cherevichenko, Southwestern Front led by Timoshenko, Southern Front led by Malinovskii, and finally the Caucasus Front led by Kozlov.
In the Eastern Ukraine Army Group South’s 6th and 17th Armies were hammered by the Soviet 6th, 9th, and 57th Armies in an offensive beginning on January 18, 1942. By the 21st the Red Army had broken the German front in two locations near Izyum. By January 23rd Soviet forces had blown open a 50 mile breach in German defensive positions on the Donets River. Unfortunately, for the Red Army, even as its shock armies penetrated into the German operational rear, they lacked the logistical support, mobility, and reserves to really do anything with their success. The 1st Panzer Army led the German counterattacks and battered the Soviet attackers back into what became a bulge in the German lines near Izyum. By early March the front had largely stabilized. Meanwhile, Manstein’s 11th Army in the Crimea also fought a desperate struggle during the early part of 1942, battling against amphibious landings not only near Feodosiya and Kerch but also near Eupatoria north of Sevestapol in a Soviet operation launched on January 5, 1942. Manstein defeated the Eupatoria landing, and for the most part confined Soviet gains to the Kerch peninsula denying the Red Army her sought after link up with Sevastopol’s embattled defenders.
Further north, Konev’s Kalinin Front wreaked havoc along the German front as the Soviet 4th Shock Army, 29th Army, and 39th Army drove far behind Army Group Center’s front lines. On January 5th the 3rd Shock Army split Reinhardt’s Third Panzer Army from Ninth Army’s VI Corps at Rzhev. Hitler allowed the bulk of Army Group Center to withdraw on January 15th though inexplicably Kluge was tardy in relaying the order. But Hitler had also demanded Rzhev held and Ninth Army, now under General Walter Model, successfully checked the Russian advance on January 21st. At the same time Belov’s 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, supported by the airdropped 4th Airborne Corps’ three brigades as well as partisans, roamed behind the Third and Fourth Panzer Army’s creating further chaos across a front that had dissolved in any meaningful sense. For instance neither Army Group North’s Sixteenth Army nor Army Group Center’s Third Panzer Army held a front line. Instead, Third Panzer Army’s divisions fought in hedgehog defensive positions mostly centered on the towns of Velikie Luki, Velizh and Demidov linked with each other by screening forces. Just to the north Sixteenth Army’s southernmost defensive position centered on the town of Kholm, but an epic struggle played our near Demyansk.
In the snow blanketed forests and fields near Demyansk, Kurochkin’s Northwestern Front had surrounded 70,000 German soldiers from Colonel General Ernst Busch's 16th Army. Down to only 11 divisions by late in December 1941 those men represented a significant chunk of the German 16th Army. Though surrounded in a 35-mile wide kessel Busch's men held out for the remainder of the winter, led by the efforts of the murderous Totenkopf SS Motorized Division which fought maniacally in defending the pocket, before relief arrived in April. The relief effort led by Lieutenant General Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach actually lasted from March 20th to April 21st. It featured a specialized force of five divisions that included two veteran reinforced Jaeger divisions. The Jaegers, German light infantry, normally worked as specialists in mountain warfare, but increasingly provided the model for the lean German infantry formations filling out the eastern army.
Although Seydlitz’ men successfully reestablished contact with the surrounded soldiers, the encircled men had lasted until relieved primarily through aid provided by Luftwaffe supply drops. The ability of such a large force to hang on when surrounded created an unfortunate precedent in Hitler’s mind. Hitler regarded the survival of the army near Demyansk as predictive of future events; even normative. Hitler’s conclusions from Demyansk exacerbated the need for German units to hold dangerous salients and isolated pockets of resistance time and again in the future. Incredibly German forces never evacuated the pocket completely, and the battles around Demyansk dragged on for a full year. As it was the Luftwaffe lost over 265 Ju-52 transport aircraft over Demyansk; destroying the cream of the German air transport arm.
Long before events near Demyansk finished playing out however, and by February 1942, the Soviet offensives had ran out of steam. Both the punch drunk Wehrmacht and Red Army staggered to replenish and refresh their forces for the pivotal summer campaign season to come.
Recommended secondary sources for readers further interested in this important period during the Second World War:
Rodric Braithwaite, Moscow 1941 A City and Its People At War, (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006)
David M. Glantz, Barbarossa, Hitler’s Invasion of Russia 1941, (Tempus Publishing Inc. 2001) David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, The Red Army on the Eve of World War, (University Press of Kansas, 1998) David M. Glantz, The Soviet-German War 1941-1945: Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay, A Paper Presented as the 20th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture at the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs Clemson University, October 11, 2001 (Clemson, South Carolina) John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, (Harper & Row Publishers, 1975)American Family Radio’s Bryan Fischer has been a vocal supporter of Roy Moore in his campaign for a seat in the U.S. Senate from Alabama, declaring that Moore’s race is “a referendum on the Constitution” and that “we as Christians and as social conservatives must unapologetically defend Moore whenever and wherever we can.” In the wake of reports that Moore pursued sexual relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s, Fischer doubled down on his defense of Moore and lashed out against Republicans who have withdrawn their support and urged More to drop out of the race.
Fischer was on the air yesterday when another accuser came forward, recounting an incident in which Moore allegedly sexually assaulted her when she was 16. While Fischer had not seen the press conference, the American Family Association’s president, Tim Wildmon, did watch it and he appeared on Fischer’s show to rather somberly report that this latest accuser seemed credible and her claims about Moore were “very believable.”
In the wake of that news, Fischer’s defense of Moore changed and he started insisting that nobody can condemn Moore because the biblical standard of proof had not been met and so everyone “must withhold judgement” regarding the multiple allegations against him.
“The Bible is very, very clear that you never condemn anybody on the testimony of one witness,” Fischer said. “If there is a crime that has been committed and you only have one witness, you do not convict on that basis. Now what we’ve got here is four people that claim a crime of some kind, or something inappropriate happened, but in each case, there is only one witness. We don’t have two witnesses to any of these accusations to this point, which means from a standpoint of biblical justice, we have to hold our fire, we have to withhold our judgment, we have to wait and see if more information comes out.”
“Until there is a second witness, then we have to say that, biblically, the standard of proof has not yet been met,” he added. “If the standard is innocent until proven guilty, then Roy Moore has to be considered, conceived of in our minds, as somebody who is being falsely accused.”
“These five accusers now, all of them have no corroborating witnesses,” Fischer continued. “What it means, from our standpoint, [is] we don’t have enough evidence yet to be able to reach a conclusion about whether they are telling the truth or not, which means we must withhold judgment.”Podcast Summary
Sean and Ryan welcome on comedian and die hard Warriors fan Cornell Reid (@CornellReid). The guys recap game three of the NBA Finals and preview game four. How are the Cavs winning without Kyrie? Can Golden State figure out an answer for Tristan Thompson and Mozgov? Was Steph Curry’s fourth quarter shooting enough to get their momentum back for the series. Does Mike Miller have some special connection with star players?
Did LeBron get a haircut? He looks different for some reason. #NBAFinals A photo posted by @seantgreen on Jun 9, 2015 at 6:40pm PDT
Eli Manning
Eli Manning does the unthinkable and big times the creator of Entourage by bailing on a scheduled cameo.
Hope Solo
More information on Hope Solo beating the crap out of her family is released and Keith Olbermann is pissed.
Rec League Star
Cornell and Ryan give Sean shit about his rec league game.
NBA Finals Odds
Game Four
Thu 6/11 GS WARRIORS -2½ -110 -140 Over 193 -110
6:00PM (PST) CLE CAVALIERS +2½ -110 +120 Under 193 -110
Series Price
Thu 6/11 CAVALIERS SERIES +105
6:00PM (PST) WARRIORS SERIES -125Despite the pneumonia diagnosis, Clinton attended a $100,000-per-ticket fundraiser at the home of prominent attorneys Mary and David Boies in Armonk, New York on Saturday night.
And yet hours later her campaign revealed that Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday in a statement from her physician Dr. Lisa R. Bardack. "Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during follow up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely."
"Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremony for just an hour and thirty minutes this morning to pay her respects," her campaign said in a statement. "During the ceremony, she felt overheated so departed to go to her daughter's apartment, and is feeling much better."
Clinton's woozy moment in hot, humid downtown Manhattan was captured on video. The Democratic nominee is seen looking unsteady, and being helped into a black vehicle by her aides.
Hillary Clinton appeared unsteady and and had to be helped to a waiting van during a memorial ceremony for victims of 9/11 in New York City on Sunday, giving her Republican opponent the ammunition he needed to continue his recent line of attack: that the former Secretary of State isn't healthy enough to serve as president of the United States.
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Hillary Clinton appeared unsteady and and had to be helped to a waiting van during a memorial ceremony for victims of 9/11 in New York City on Sunday, giving her Republican opponent the ammunition he needed to continue his recent line of attack: that the former Secretary of State isn't healthy enough to serve as president of the United States.
Clinton's woozy moment in hot, humid downtown Manhattan was captured on video. The Democratic nominee is seen looking unsteady, and being helped into a black vehicle by her aides.
"Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremony for just an hour and thirty minutes this morning to pay her respects," her campaign said in a statement. "During the ceremony, she felt overheated so departed to go to her daughter's apartment, and is feeling much better."
And yet hours later her campaign revealed that Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday in a statement from her physician Dr. Lisa R. Bardack. "Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during follow up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely."
Despite the pneumonia diagnosis, Clinton attended a $100,000-per-ticket fundraiser at the home of prominent attorneys Mary and David Boies in Armonk, New York on Saturday night.
The incident follows intensifying rumors about Clinton's health in recent weeks, fueled largely by the Trump campaign and its surrogates. Just last week, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani stoked those rumors after Clinton had a coughing fit at a campaign event in Cleveland, Ohio. "I have seen eight times online since January in which she's had massive coughing fits in which she couldn't complete her speech," Giuliani told MSNBC's Hardball, but was unable to give specific examples to prove his argument.
The health of both candidates, physical and psychological, have emerged as campaign issues – spurred by their reluctance to release recent medical reports.
Last summer, Clinton released a doctor's note demonstrating her good health, which noted that she suffers from seasonal allergies and an under-active thyroid. In 2012, reportedly while battling a stomach virus, Clinton fainted, hit her head, resulting in a concussion and brain blood clot. A test the following year showed the blood clot had disappeared.
Trump has publicly questioned whether his opponent was suffering from early onset dementia, or the aftermath of a stroke – and has used clips of her forgetting what she was saying mid-sentence or jumbling up her words at events. His claims were fortified by an apparently fraudulent letter from Clinton's doctor which did the rounds online, saying his patient suffers from worsening seizures and dementia.
The letter was "not written by me and are not based on any medical facts," Dr. Bardack wrote in response. "To reiterate what I said in my previous statement, Secretary Clinton is in excellent health and fit to serve as President of the United States."
Trump, 70, has been subjected to similar speculation from the Clinton camp. Clinton and her supporters have described the Republican nominee as "a dangerous demagogue " and "unhinged" who shouldn't be trusted with the country's nuclear codes.
Trump released a brief one-page health report from his doctor dated December 2015. Politifact noted that the language of the letter was "a bit unusual because it sounds like parts could have been dictated by Trump himself." The doctor described Trump's blood pressure as "astonishingly excellent," his stamina as "extraordinary" and his physical examination showing "only positive results." Trump takes baby aspirin and a drug to prevent heart disease – not unusual for a man of his age.
Clinton and Trump aren't the first presidential candidates to battle rumors about their health. Franklin D Roosevelt, who had been paralyzed from the waist down because of polio, carefully choreographed media appearances to avoid being photographed in his wheelchair. John F Kennedy reportedly suffered from Addison's disease, an adrenal gland disorder, but concealed his illness from the public until after he was elected. Thomas F Eagleton gave up the Democratic vice-presidential nomination after he was forced to acknowledge that he had received shock therapy for depression. Since Reagan's nomination in 1980 at age 69 – the oldest candidate to date – the health of presidential candidates has received increased scrutiny.
Trump's campaign did not respond to VICE News request for comment.For the third time this season, Auburn's plan at quarterback could be pivoting.
Following a 29-16 loss to No. 17 Texas A&M in which coach Gus Malzahn repeatedly cited inconsistency on offense, the Tigers have another quarterback controversy on their hands. Sean White started the game against the Aggies and had a strong start, but as Auburn's offense stagnated for much of the game, Malzahn decided to make a change, inserting John Franklin III at quarterback at the start of the fourth quarter.
"We felt like we just needed a shot in the arm, so we gave John Franklin a shot and he did a good job moving the football," Malzahn said. "We got the chains moving. We'll talk about things next week, but that was really what happened: We needed a shot in the arm."
White started the game 6 of 6 passing and led Auburn on a touchdown drive during its second possession of the night. After that, however, the Tigers began to stall, punting on four of their final six first-half possessions. The other two drives ended in a fumble and a Daniel Carlson field goal.
The struggles continued through the third quarter as Auburn punted on all four of its drives in the period, including two three-and-outs. In the third quarter, Auburn ran 21 plays and totaled just 35 yards.
At that point, White was 18 of 27 for 126 yards -- his final line -- and was sacked three times while Auburn faced a 19-10 deficit. Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee approached White on the sideline between quarters and told the redshirt sophomore they were going to give Franklin a chance to ignite the offense. The change, Malzahn said, wasn't because White was playing poorly but rather as a means of giving the offense a needed boost late in the game.
"We were honest with him," Malzahn said. "We told him we needed a shot in the arm and were gonna give (Franklin) a shot. That's all you can be. You can be honest with them and tell them what you're going to do."
Franklin came in the game and led three fourth-quarter drives, two of which ended in turnovers on downs and the other culminating in a touchdown by Kerryon Johnson out of the Wildcat. Still, Auburn's offense had success moving the ball with Franklin behind center, gaining 159 yards in the quarter.
"I thought he did some good things," Malzahn said. "He created some things in the passing game when it broke down, made a couple good throws, couple zone-read runs. He's still learning, still learning the offense, but I thought he gave us a spark."
Franklin finished 4 of 8 passing for 37 yards, with two of his completions picking up first downs. He added 47 yards rushing on nine carries, but had four runs of at least 10 yards, including a long of 16 to pick up a first down on the Tigers' late scoring drive.
"John brings a little something different to the table, so when they see him come in they think Wildcat or whatever," running back Kamryn Pettway said. "That's what made that go when he came in."
Although the end results were mixed, the fact that Auburn had relative success moving the ball with Franklin in the game late presents Malzahn and the offensive staff with another conundrum at the quarterback position between White and Franklin, neither of whom were made available for interviews after the game.
White was named the starter before the season, but in the opener Malzahn used an ill-fated, three-quarterback approach on offense that saw the Tigers use all three quarterbacks on one play, two of them on the field at once on multiple occasions and a seemingly random rotation that varied from play to play. After that experiment failed, Malzahn decided to stick with White as the No. 1 guy, with Franklin as his backup.
White enjoyed his most effective game of his career in a lopsided win against Arkansas State last week, but following the quick start against Texas A&M, the offense's inconsistency became a glaring issue and Franklin performed well when given his first real opportunity to lead the offense this season.
"It's not that we just felt like Sean you're not doing a good job, it was more of let's get John in there and see if we can get a spark," Malzahn said. "That was the thinking. It wasn't so negative from Sean. Sean did some good things."
Just not enough to warrant any assurances about his status as the team's starting quarterback.This Venture Bros. article was first published in the Den of Geek NYCC Special Edition Magazine. You can find out about that issue and everything else in it by clicking here.
“This [season] is everybody stumbling around.”
The Venture Bros.’ sixth season is finally happening and it sounds like it could be well worth the wait. This is a show that truly pushes that expression to the limit. Since the Adult Swim cult series debuted in 2003, there have only been five seasons (and the occasional special). Series creators Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick acquired a perfectionist reputation along the way, not unlike that of Dan Harmon or Aaron Sorkin. Still, fans are willing to wait long spans for small bursts of episodes because of the universe they’ve created.
Beyond writing and directing every episode of the series, Hammer and Publick take on an unheard of amount of responsibilities as nearly everything, except for what is animated overseas, falls on their backs. The series that began as a humble Johnny Quest and Hardy Boys homage has slowly transformed into an insanely intricate show with a respect for continuity and serialization that’s as deep as what you see in Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad. Ahead of the anticipated 2016 premiere of season six, we spoke with Hammer and Publick about the future of Venture Bros.
DEN OF GEEK: It's certainly not a reboot or anything, but this season feels like it has a new energy with the regime change happening at the Guild now, Rusty's fortune, and everything else. Did the series feel fresh in a lot of ways?
JACKSON PUBLICK: Yeah, we did consciously cleanse the palette and we were excited going into sort of--unofficially--reboot the show.
DOC HAMMER: We didn't do it in a calculated, "let's reboot the show" way, but we just came up with these stories, and said won't it be fun to take these stories in a new direction? And a side benefit is that it's sort of like a weird reboot.
DEN OF GEEK: The show has certainly ballooned and turned into something different over the years, too I think the series has one of the deepest wells of continuity out of any series of television, and it pays respect to it wonderfully. There are so many different factions on the show now between everything. Did you ever think this universe would get so thorough when you began?
DOC HAMMER: No. Did you, or no?
JACKSON PUBLICK: No, I mean not to the extent that it has. I knew, probably both of our natural inclinations were to keep digging deeper.
DEN OF GEEK: Building more and more.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Yeah. To keep continuity going. We were never interested in a sitcom "everything goes back to zero every episode” kind of thing. But it got pretty convoluted and that's part of the reason why we did the "Gargantua" special, to kind of clear the decks and go in a new direction. We realized we just had a lot of complex stuff to wrap up. We just wanted to clean up. Yeah, it's like a house you've been building additions on for ten years, and then you go, "let's just knock it down and build one that makes sense." Why don't we just paint over these not-level floors?
DOC HAMMER: But our inclination is to make this kind of storytelling. So I think when we cleared down the house and built up another one, we kept putting doors in there. So it's not like you're getting a brand new Venture Bros. A lot of the old stories are still in play, and many new ones are in play.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Some of it will always be this unending Winchester mansion of a show, but things got a little cleaner and more focused. All the old is still a part of these characters’ lives, but there aren't as many unanswered stray things going on throughout their lives. There aren't characters who are walking around that we haven't figured out their motivations, or fully explained their situation.
DEN OF GEEK: As a result of building the main cast so well, you've also really fleshed out the supporting characters of your series, too. I loved what you did with Ghost Robot in "Bot Seeks Bot" for instance. Who's been your favorite to really dig into with the supporting cast, or someone even more ancillary than that?
JACKSON PUBLICK: He's about as deep cut as you can get, when you give him some lines of dialogue. That episode was like a little walk in the park for two of those characters, because Vendata was the other one who we had a lot of jokes for between us, but there was never a reason to put them in an episode. I don't know, who do you got, Doc?
DOC HAMMER: Fleshing out, I've always enjoyed fleshing out Red Mantle Dragoon, the two-headed old Guild member. I love writing for them, and I also like fleshing out Shore Leave.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Well, Old Team Venture too, right?
DOC HAMMER: Old Team Venture--you love fleshing out Old Team Venture, and we both always want to flesh out Z, but we never get around to it. I got a little bit in this year. He is fascinating because he is that kind of Johnny Quest mold. It's like playing with a toy from your childhood.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Yeah, yeah.
DOC HAMMER: With a lot of the other characters...
JACKSON PUBLICK: A Fun Toy from China.
DOC HAMMER: Like the Chinatown version of a Hulk that has a likeness chest. You could do some Hulk adventure, but you'd have to talk about the likeness chest, and the fact that his packaging says Fun Toy instead of Hulk.
JACKSON PUBLICK: "Says 'Hulking Monster'" (Laughter)
DEN OF GEEK: What would a solo Brick Frog episode look like?
JACKSON PUBLICK: That'd be about thirty seconds long.
DOC HAMMER: Brick Frog shows up again!
JACKSON PUBLICK: You could do a day in the life of Brick Frog. You know, going to collect his Guild unemployment check, going to the bar, visiting his kid--watching kids from across the street because he's not allowed to visit his ex-wife. Yeah, I think it would be a pretty sad "day in the life" episode.
DEN OF GEEK: Oh definitely, he doesn't seem like the most noble character to begin with.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Although, he could turn it around at any time, you know?
DOC HAMMER: Yeah. He could be like one of those great Marvel villains that becomes a good guy after awhile.
DEN OF GEEK: I could see that. He has it in him, I think. This season you have the Ventures headed to New York and spreading the walls of your sandbox even further. Living there yourself, does this add anything at all to the season since it's now in your backyard? Can we expect to see Rusty returning to his musical aspirations, or maybe another appearance from the Brown Widow?
DOC HAMMER: It's been tough having them in New York, because Jackson and I are New Yorkers, which meant we had all these little jokes and incidents that were very New York that we wanted to get into the show, but we could never get them in. It became a burden--we wanted to lampshade all of these funny things that happen to New Yorkers, but you get so involved with your new characters, you get so involved with your plots, we just kept pushing these great subway jokes, and Jew jokes--It's more of a burden! There's so much to say about the city that's already been said.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Here and there, we manage. Yeah, it's been great location scouting for just interesting places to set up that are just quintessentially New York. I didn't get to do as much as I wanted to, because the stories took over, and you're like, well they're just in the penthouse the whole time...I'll tell you this about New York though: it's hard to draw, and it's full of people.
So that's been a bit of a production nightmare because it's such a complex place to take on. And any time you're outside, you're like, well we need fifty extras walking around. And oh, by the way, there are cars in New York. Those have to be in the background, moving around, stuff like that. Organizationally and design-wise, it's been really, really hard. It's one of the many reasons we're a bit behind schedule, but it's also great and I hope we get to do some of the stuff that we didn't get to do in the fifth season.
DEN OF GEEK: You've spoken about some setbacks in the production this season. Has it mostly been in relation to that New York aesthetic of it all, or has it been more than that?
JACKSON PUBLICK: It kind of happens like every other season--we just get a rough one--the timing is bad where we get a little behind schedule on scripts, or we can’t get all the artists that we need. This year we just happened to hit a perfect storm. Every season a couple of things go wrong, and you make up for it. But this year like four departments just had the rug swept out from under them. There were kind of too many things going wrong at once. It's all coming out really great.
DOC HAMMER: Yeah, nobody's going to notice this, but they will notice how long it took.
JACKSON PUBLICK: It's been a ton of work and it's been really challenging, and we've had to make more with fewer people. Everyone's just been working their asses off and that just grinds you down after awhile. You hit other snags, and you have to take a break.
DEN OF GEEK: It's kind of glorious that Adult Swim has never kept you to firm deadlines or dates. They've given you a lot of freedom in that respect at least, haven't they?
DOC HAMMER: Yeah. They try to keep us to deadline, but they're very forgiving.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Yeah. We may have pushed that forgiveness to the absolute limit this season, and I hope that we never do that again. It was a weird one. It got away from us. It was a very ambitious season.
DOC HAMMER: It looks beautiful. We just watched some of the episodes last night.
JACKSON PUBLICK: We were trying to figure out and cut together some sort of promo reel or something for the conventions that are coming up. We were looking at some of the older ones and I realized, oh every shot this season looks better than every shot we put in the promo over a season ago.
DEN OF GEEK: Awesome. Do you have any idea when we can expect season six?
JACKSON PUBLICK: I don't know officially, but my guess--I mean I know in terms of--
DOC HAMMER: We can tell you when it's delivered, but not when it's going to air.
JACKSON PUBLICK: I would say the earliest that you possibly get it on would be January. And I certainly hope that we can put it on then. But I haven't talked to Adult Swim in an official capacity about--they've got to plan their scheduling.
DEN OF GEEK: Of course, it's out of your hands to a degree.
JACKSON PUBLICK: But maybe we'll get a sweet spot! It really depends on what else is going on, but January is about the earliest because we have three episodes that won't even come back from Korea until September/October/November.
DEN OF GEEK: Okay, so January makes sense. The idea of digging into the past has always been present in the series--usually through the conduit of Jonas--but it's felt even more built into the show now with the changes that have happened. Why does now feel like the right time to be getting into this sort of material?
JACKSON PUBLICK: I think this season because there's so much new, it's good to have one foot in the past, particularly when a theme of the show is that you can't escape from your past no matter what. That there's almost a destiny to people like Rusty. They were born into this world, no matter how much they try to get out of it--and sometimes people who try to get out of it get punished in a weird way. In my mind, Jonas Jr. had to die because he refused to be a part of the game, you know? So I think when you're bringing a bunch of new elements in, it's good to dredge up the past to see that it's all the cycle of this lifestyle and world.
DOC HAMMER: Doc has always been haunted by ghosts more than he has real people, so to turn Jonas Jr. into one more ghost from his past, it fits on him much better now that he's dead. He still has to live up to his past.
DEN OF GEEK: You guys must be pretty ecstatic that there's going to be a whole litany of new Star Wars references that you'll be able to pepper through the series now.
DOC HAMMER: We have to watch the movies first. We have to wait 25 years until they become a part of our conversations, and then we can put them into the show.
JACKSON PUBLICK: We have to be seven years old when we watch them, and then just never forget.
DEN OF GEEK: I think something that the fans really love about the series are the niche properties that get indulged in, whether it's Totally Spies, or Sabrina the Teenage Witch, or The Eiger Sanction...
DOC HAMMER: The monster hid the Eiger Sanction!
DEN OF GEEK: Oh my God, The Eiger Sanction is insane. I love it so much. Did you know that Archer did a big thing on it last year? I'm just happy that it's slowly making its way into the public consciousness.
DOC HAMMER: Oh did they do a little thing on The Eiger Sanction?
JACKSON PUBLICK: Did they? I didn't see that one. But I think Doc Hammer and I can take full credit for any Eiger Sanction renaissance.
DEN OF GEEK: I think so! I saw it through your commentary track.
DOC HAMMER: If you've seen The Eiger Sanction, then you can thank us. I promise you, nobody was watching that weird rape-y film until we started mouthing off about it.
DEN OF GEEK: It's crazy. Are there any references like that that you've tried to work into the show but have been unable to?
DOC HAMMER: We just put them in and then forget we do! It's the way that Jackson and I think. We're so deeply mired in anything that's ever happened to us, so when we make a reference to it it's not something we're doing with research or intention, it's just comes out.
JACKSON PUBLICK: It's part of our vocabulary.
DEN OF GEEK: It's how you talk.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Those are our cultural touchstones, as much as Johnny Quest or Star Wars are--some of them even more so because they hit some weird pocket in your adult mind where you're like, “That thing's stupid. I've got to talk about that!”
DOC HAMMER: We'll reference Degrassi, and we're not really thinking about it. We just reference it because it's a weird portion of your life.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Well you did invest heavily in a pretty deep cut in your first episode this season.
DOC HAMMER: Yes! I did.
JACKSON PUBLICK: You built the whole story around it!
DOC HAMMER: I made the entire story around one object in one moment of the video.
DEN OF GEEK: Oh man, that's great.
DOC HAMMER: We talked about it!
JACKSON PUBLICK: Yeah, no, we talked about that. We talked about doing that.
DOC HAMMER: Yeah Jackson, we talked about doing that for a really long time, so it's not like I just pulled that out of my ass. That was an obsession of ours for a long, long time.
JACKSON PUBLICK: Yeah, yeah. With even heavier reference and payoff.
DOC HAMMER: Oh yeah! It's not like we're not going to do that. I promise you.
Laughter.
DEN OF GEEK: You're both still very deep into Venture Bros., but do you still have any other ideas that you'd be interested in turning into a show post-Venture Bros., or are you just too focused on this right now to think about anything else in that capacity?
DOC |
which they asked the help of the public in identifying the perpetrator. The lady was wearing a white cap, red shorts and a black bikini top. Witnesses in the area, the sheriff said in a statement, took photographs and contacted police.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that police quickly called a news conference and described the gathering as "slightly surreal in its gravity."
The paper adds:
"Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri held a news conference to decry the alleged abuse of an animal he called 'a huge part of our culture here in Florida' and 'a very integral part of what Florida is about.'... "'Go ride a Jet Ski. Don't use animals,' the sheriff said. 'She needs to be held accountable for her actions.'"
Under Florida law molesting or annoying a manatee is a second degree misdemeanor. Having grown up in the state, I can attest manatees are pretty much sacred. They're endangered and without any natural predators the sea cows are not afraid of humans.
"It's a wild animal. It's not something to be ridden," Susan Butler, a manatee expert with the U.S. Geological Survey in Gainesville, told the Times. "I can't say that as a biologist I would ever, ever condone that, or say that (the manatee) wanted them to do that."
But fear not, the public relations blitz yielded results. The sheriff's office said that hours after releasing the pictures to the public, 52-year-old Ana Gloria Garcia Gutierrez turned herself in to police.
"Deputies met with Gutierrez at her residence and questioned her regarding the reported events," the sheriff said in a statement. "Gutierrez admitted to the offense claiming she is new to the area and did not realize it was against the law to touch or harass manatees. Deputies further explained the law regarding manatees and the possible penalties for violating such laws."
The charges have been referred to the state attorney's office for prosecution.Java type inference, a proposed Java feature that will allow developers to replace the explicit type declaration of variables with a var keyword, won't support a keyword to differentiate immutable from mutable variables, due to lack of consensus within the community regarding how this should be implemented, recent communications show. Some of the proposed choices for immutable variables included val and let. Also, to prevent a long debate about corner cases, a number of such cases will be ruled out for simplicity. Although the JEP doesn't indicate a target version, Java 10 seems likely.
After a series of proposals and consultations to fully define the scope of JEP 286, Brian Goetz, Java language architect at Oracle, noted that there was sufficient consensus to implement a new feature to infer the type of a local variable (and avoid the ceremony if explicitly indicating the type), and that such feature should use the word var. In addition to this, the community also highlighted their desire to differentiate between mutable and immutable inference in the same way that other languages like Scala, Kotlin or JavaScript do. However, while there was agreement on this being a useful feature, there wasn't agreement on how this differentiation should be implemented, with strong supporters and opposers to var/val, var/let, and (raw type)/var. To prevent this debate delaying the type inference aspect of things, the feature leaders decided to reduce the scope back to simply inferring type for local variables, leaving the differentiation of mutability out of the picture. Despite this, the type of immutable local variables will still be inferrable, albeit with the slightly longer construct final var.
var s = "hello"; // type of s is String var keys = map.keySet(); // assuming map is of type Map<K, V>, type // inferred for keys will be Set<K> final var MAX_COUNT = 100L; // MAX_COUNT will be immutable long
The update was also used to remind the extent of inferrability. On one side, only initialisation information will be used to infer the type of the variable; this means that variables that aren't initialised when declared will need explicit typing, although it will also help prevent some potentially obscure errors (like the wrong type being inferred for something that happens to the variable far down the code). On the other side, only local variables will be type-inferrable, excluding fields and methods, based on the assumption that these are part of the public interface of a class and therefore need to be explicitly defined by the programmer. Other cases where type inference won't work are initialisation expressions that imply some type guessing of their own like the following:
List<String> list = new LinkedList<>(); // type not indicated in // initialisation, but inferred // from variable declaration var list = new LinkedList<>(); // error, impossible to infer a type for // the contents of the list Function<String, Integer> f = s -> s.length(); // type of s and length // inferred from // declaration var f = s -> s.length(); // error, type of s unknown, return type of // length unknown int[] array = {1, 2, 3}; // 1, 2, 3 interpreted as integers var array = {1, 2, 3}; // error, poly expressions not supported // (see below) // Use Integer.valueOf(int) Function<Integer, Integer> intFunction = Integer::valueOf; // Use Integer.valueOf(String) Function<String, Integer> stringFunction = Integer::valueOf; // error, ambiguous initialisation var function = Integer::valueOf; // unable to know which overloaded // version of valueOf should be used
It is unclear at this point whether some specific subcases of the above will be supported or not. As Goetz says, "we derive the type of the variable by treating the initializer as a standalone expression, and deriving its type. However, array initializers, like lambdas and method refs, are *poly expressions* [...] [s]o they are rejected". Poly expressions is a concept introduced in Java 8 with lambdas, and differ from ordinary expressions in the way their type is calculated. For ordinary expressions, the type can be obtained at compile time by checking the contents of the expression; poly expressions, on the other hand, need also the target type (i.e. the type of the variable the expression will be assigned to) to calculate the type. This means that poly expressions already imply some type inference of their own and, therefore, attempting to infer a type of a poly expression might be very hard or even impossible. However, there are some scenarios that fit into this category but seem to provide enough information to infer an appropriate type, and that might be considered for inclusion in the future:
var a = {1, 2, 3}; // could infer type int[] var f = (String s) -> s.length(); // could infer type // Function<String, Integer>
Despite its limitations, it looks like local variable type inference can help shrink the gap between Java and other JVM languages, reducing boilerplate for Java programmers. And, in the same way that lambdas are now being expanded with additional functionality, it could happen that type inference is improved after this first version. This would confirm the unofficial dynamics of JVM languages acting as an experimentation ground for new features, with the most popular ones being eventually imported to Java.You know, if I had all the money in the world, I would have a fleet of jets including the F4 Phantom. It’s just a bad ass plane. But I don’t have all the money in the world, so *I guess* I’m just going to have to settle for the Phantom Bar instead.
Actually, I can’t afford the Phantom Bar either. Nope. It costs $225,000. But for that cash, at least you get real Martin-Baker Mk7 ejection seats from an F4 Phantom that have been restored to museum quality. The jet packs have been removed unfortunately. I just wish that the company would put better pics on its website. I mean, if I’m going to drop $225k on something, I kind of want to know what it looks like, right?Will the old Star Wars gang be back for Episode 7? (Picture: Lucasfilm)
A full-scale replica of the Millennium Falcon is reportedly under construction at Pinewood studios for Star Wars Episode 7.
According to Den Of Geek, a model of the spacecraft is being built for the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster.
The site reports: ‘There’s been a security clampdown in the prop shop at Pinewood Studios, but we now understand that work is afoot on building a full, scale Millennium Falcon there.’
JJ Abrams is directing Star Wars Episode 7 (Picture: Getty)
A picture of what looked like the Millennium Falcon was spotted in the first glimpse of concept art for the new JJ Abrams movie.
Den Of Geek are also reporting that model makers have been hired on seven-year contracts, which would include three sequels and three spin-off films.
Star Wars Episode 7 is out on December 18, 2015. MORE: First look at Star Wars Episode 7 concept art? Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are rumoured to be reprising their roles in the new film although nothing has been confirmed yet.The ICM poll on 'What British Muslims Really Think' shows clearly that widespread support for Islamic theocracy, not terrorism, is the real, long-term threat to British society, argues Benjamin Jones.
Much of the discussion about the "What British Muslims Really Think" ICM poll, presented for Channel 4 by Trevor Phillips, has revolved around how many British Muslims sympathise with or support terrorism – but this is far from the greatest danger.
While 4% are willing to admit to having some sympathy with suicide bombers (more than 100,000 people if the poll is perfectly representative) and only 34% would report a friend who supported terrorism overseas, the real, existential threat to any kind of cohesive society is not from violent extremism. Terrorism poses no existential threat to the Western nation state, whereas a splintered society undermines the legitimacy of the state. Unless struggled with now this situation will be insoluble.
23% of British Muslims would support the imposition of sharia law in the UK, but more than half would impose their religion on the rest of society by criminalising same-sex relationships. Nearly half think gay teachers shouldn't educate their children. 78% say there should be no right to publish images of Mohammed. As many British Muslims support the right to publish pictures of Mohammed (including non-critical, inoffensive ones) as sympathise with suicide bombers: 4%.
Muslims have an incredibly young age profile, the Muslim population is growing rapidly – nearly doubling in ten years, and Islam is passed on with a very high rate of success from parents to children. What's more, while younger Muslims are slightly less likely to want to criminalise homosexuality than older Muslims, a vast number of British Muslims are clearly still in thrall to these innately illiberal and theocratic ideas.
In 2009 a poll came out which found that there was "zero tolerance" of homosexuality among British Muslims. That poll was asking about the morality of homosexuality. It could have been hoped (however naively) that respondents held illiberal views, but wouldn't impose them on society – that they thought homosexuality morally wrong, but that they wouldn't criminalise it. But the 52% figures blows that argument out of the water and Trevor Phillips has now admitted what has been obvious to many people for years; that Islam isn't just 'another religion'.
The left-wing media have been trampling over each-other to denounce the latest poll. The Guardian used an interview with five British Muslims to argue that the poll of 1000 British Muslims was unrepresentative, and there has been endless commentary in this vein about the methodology.
If a poll of 1000 UKIP members had found majority support for criminalising homosexuality, would anybody on the left be quibbling about the methodology of the poll? If poll after poll kept suggesting that a sizeable block of UKIP's 3.8 million supporters wanted to ban homosexuality, it is inconceivable that this would not be a cause for serious concern and scrutiny. The criticism would be totally unrestrained.
Even if there was a gigantic margin of error of 20% in the ICM poll, that could still leave one-in-three supporting criminalising homosexuality. So whether the poll is perfectly accurate and transferrable to the entire British Muslim population is totally irrelevant. Whatever the exact figure, there is an extraordinary split in values, and there is a "chasm" in our society.
Most British Muslims feel British. Great. But would anybody else want to live in a Britain governed by the values and beliefs of the Muslim majority found in this poll?
The 52% figure represents a significant rejection of liberalism, and the nucleus of support for rule by religion.
The danger isn't from suicide bombers, but from this mass of support that exists for fundamentally changing what Britain means.
It has taken centuries to make Britain what it is today. All of that progress is reversible. There is nothing that ordains or guarantees progress, stability, social cohesion or order. There can be no social contract if a sizeable section of society believe the state should enforce their moral preferences.
There is no single solution to any of this. But action can be taken. Councils need to stop making excuses and start doing the work to identify illegal religious schools. Those institutions need to be shut down. Legal independent schools should face rigorous inspections. There should be no hiding place for bigotry or separatism in the independent schools sector. The Government should (at a minimum) put a moratorium in place on new state-funded faith schools.
Trevor Phillips offered some partial suggestions about breaking up ethnic segregation in schools, but why would any non-Muslim want to send their child to an Islamic faith school? Diversity cannot exist in schools designed around one religious ethos to the exclusion of all others. We cannot continue with a faith-segregated education system.
Politicians must stop paying lip-service to integration and actually start doing the things necessary to promote it.
We can't afford to be naive or unduly optimistic about the strength or influence of reforming voices within Islam: The torrent of abuse, death threats and murders faced by 'heretics' within British Islam keeps many would-be allies of this project silenced. They need the support of wider society, however it can be offered. And ex-Muslims must finally be listened to by those on the left who have ignored and silenced them.
If there is to be an 'us' versus 'them', it must not be between Muslims and non-Muslims, but the secularists of all religions and none against those who would impose Islam by violence or political means on others.
Society needs to set a much higher standard than simply 'feeling British' and being 'peaceful'. Almost all British Muslims meet this standard; yet many more live in fear of expressing more liberal views than this. This, not the battle against terrorism, is the real generational struggle.
Benjamin Jones is the communications officer of the National Secular Society. Follow him on Twitter: @BenJones1707. The views expressed in our blogs are those of the author and may not represent the views of the NSS.But at 2:29:35, after a brief interlude of static, the tape cuts back to WSNS 44, just in time to see Steve Dahl riling up the audience, asking, “How ’bout Donna Summer?” to an overwhelming chorus of boos. It’s an all-star Chicago lineup: WLUP spokesmodel (and Rocky Horror Picture Show l ip model Lorelei Shark is there, but weirdly, Bulls announcer Tommy Edwards is out on the field with Dahl too. At least, it seems to be Edwards—it’s hard to imagine who else Dahl would have called “ Little Snot Nose,” even if he was at rival station WLS at the time. Edwards leads the “Disco Sucks” chant as Dahl goes to set off the unconvincing explosions, and half-heartedly joins in Dahl’s tuneless “ Do You Think I’m Disco ” sing-along. Then, at 2:39:00, all hell breaks lose as fans stream onto the field and the riot begins. Jimmy Piersall’s immediate reaction is priceless: “This garbage of demolishing a record has turned into a fiasco!” Piersall goes on to make the case that Steve Dahl is a symptom of national decline, telling Bill Gleason, “We have become followers. So many people, insecure, don’t know what to do with themselves and how to have a good time—they follow someone who’s a jerk!” But it’s Gleason’s “a few bad apples” argument that really reminds you how long ago 1979 was:Ramesh Velauthapillai, owner of Rocky Montana.
The sparse shop is a skeleton of what it used to be.
Ramesh sharing the certificate he received from the NDG food depot, an important local community food centre. They ran a ‘Zero Waste initiative’ for a few years, picking up edible yet ‘unsellable’ produce from grocery stores like Rocky. Ramesh consistently set aside food to donate, helping to offset his food waste.
Rocky always had the cheapest prices, providing affordable produce to the community – despite the rising food prices.
Many of Ramesh’s customers asked to be contacted if he opened another shop – proof of the human connection built into this business.
Ramesh spared the customer 25 cents on his purchase, simply saying ‘next time’, without hesitation.
This sign was made by Ramesh’s upstairs neighbour Lori, the kind woman who had informed me of their closing.
She had read my article on Dad’s Bagel (see here), another family-run NDG store that sadly closed last year, and wondered if I would be interested in writing about Rocky Montana. Of course, I was very grateful for the opportunity! (photo by Lori)
For 25 years, Rocky Montana has been a fixture on Sherbrooke Street West, in Montreal’s N.D.G, but sadly, they are closing their doors this month. Owned and run by Ramesh Velauthapillai aka Ramesh, and his wife, Rocky Montana was a special food shop that supported the local community. Committed to offering the lowest prices possible, Ramesh provided healthy fresh food, including plenty of organic items, to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds in the city. News of Rocky’s shutting hit close to home, as I had frequented the grocery store for many years, having grown up just a few blocks away. I have fond memories of shopping there with my mother, listening to the colourful Sri Lankan music they played, and enjoying the Buddhist art on the walls. After learning that they were closing, I went to visit Ramesh at the store, for the last time, to get the backstory from him directly.
Ramesh explained what was an unfortunate series of events, that ultimately led to the financial collapse of his business, and the tragic loss of his home. They endured huge, expensive, building repairs, costly challenges with contractors, and issues with city – that caused logistical issues in running the business. I also took the opportunity to ask Ramesh about his early days in Montreal, and how he started Rocky Montana. Ramesh generously shared his story, about how he moved to Canada from Sri Lanka in 1986, alone, when he was just 17 years old. His first job was working at a supermarket in the Decarie Square, and after a few years, he decided to open up his own shop. While Ramesh started with nothing, he built up a thriving grocery over time, that lasted over two decades. Now, Ramesh, his wife and their three children, must start fresh. When I asked Ramesh, a soft-spoken man, how he felt about Rocky’s closing, he expressed with sadness, how he would miss his loyal customers. He said his clients were like family, people he had known for many years. Ramesh told me how his regulars were just as emotional about the closing, after seeing the empty shelves, and realizing that Rocky Montana would no longer be part of their lives.
To me, small family-run businesses like Rocky are an important and healthy part of our neighbourhoods, local economy, and community. As urban dwellers, buying our food from a grocer we know personally, brings us one step closer to our food source. Shopping at a fruiterie like Rocky, is a completely different experience from a large sterile supermarket or box store like Costco. These corporate entities can easily absorb the overhead costs that come with owning a business, unlike the little guys like Rocky Montana, who easily sink when facing unforeseen expenditures. Running an independent business in this day and age is challenging in many ways, and too many family-run stores like Rocky struggle to keep up. As a tribute to Rocky’s long run and positive impact, I wanted to dedicate this post to them, in celebration of the wonderful grocery store that so many of us Montrealers loved! Thank you for your hard work Ramesh, and all the people who worked at Rocky Montana over the last 25 years.
If you wish to help support Ramesh and his family at this difficult time, feel free to contribute to the YouCaring crowdfunding page HERE.Mar 16, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen (44) takes the ice before playing the Pittsburgh Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Flyers won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia Flyers: The Last Straw May Have Been Picked
Philadelphia Flyers: The Last Straw May Have Been Picked by Steven Smith
Just about an hour ago it was reported that Kimmo Timonen had been dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks.
BREAKING: #Flyers have traded Kimmo Timonen to CHI for a 2015 2nd-round draft pick & a 2016 conditional draft pick → http://t.co/tP8q59fyhx — Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 28, 2015
Considering that every Flyers fan was anticipating his glorious return to the ice this Saturday, this came as a shock too many.
Immediately, Flyers twitter began memorializing the best defenseman the Flyers have had since Eric Desjardins.
on the edge of a breakdown. weird. when the lindros stuff happened, i was too young to be moved like this. now? timonen is everything. — collin mehalick (@collin) February 28, 2015
Thank you for everything, Kimmo Timonen. You deserve a shot at the Cup before you retire. Always and forever a Philadelphia Flyer. — Tom Foti (@TomFoti) February 28, 2015
It’s very bittersweet. Was hoping to see Kimmo tomorrow night, but he wasn’t going to win a Cup as a Flyer. Hockey Gods, give Kimmo love. — jsaquella (@jsaquella) February 28, 2015
I’m forever yourrrrrrrrssssss, Kimmo. Faithfully. Goodbye old friend. https://t.co/iaz2dVuDw2 — joe м (@dr_pizza_MD) February 28, 2015
It’s hard to describe the feelings I had upon learning of this. Personally, it was a confused mix of anger, frustration, and genuine sadness.
I’m angry because he’s gone, frustrated that he didn’t get to win a Stanley Cup in Philadelphia, and sad he will never don the orange and black ever again.
It seems silly to feel this way, especially because I have never met Kimmo. However, seeing the outpouring of emotions on twitter helped me justify all these feelings that I had.
There exists a strange relationship fans have with certain players. We talk about players like Timonen as if they are a family member. Even if that’s completely ludicrous, it feels natural for those of us who are emotionally invested in our teams.
But, in addition to all these feelings of general shittiness, I’m happy that he’s gone to a team that has a shot to give him a Stanley Cup that he so rightfully deserves.
In situations like this, you hear a lot of people describe the player leaving as a great teammate, a good person, and someone who played the game the right way. While it seems cliche to continue this time honored tradition, Kimmo Timonen was all of these things.
I will look back on these past eight years fondly. It has been a great pleasure to see him play hockey and he will be sorely missed.
This city loved Kimmo Timonen and I’d like to think he loved us just as much.
So long old friend.
#KimmoForeverDUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Monday accused Iran of making threats against Riyadh’s ally, Bahrain, which he said showed that the Islamic republic was harboring hostile designs against its Middle Eastern neighbors.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir speaks during a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Amman, Jordan, July 9, 2015. REUTERS/Majed Jaber
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had raised the issue with her.
He said the comments showed that Tehran was intervening in its neighbors’ internal affairs.
“It does not represent the desire of a state for good neighborly relations but that of a state which has aspirations in the region and which carried out hostile act like this,” he added.
Jubeir did not clarify who made the comments or when, but he said they could be linked to the terms of the agreement with world powers on its nuclear program or to setbacks suffered by Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria.
“I don’t know, but we reject their comments and reject the hostility they show towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the countries of the region,” he said.
Bahrain on Saturday said it had foiled an arms smuggling plot by two Bahrainis with ties to Iran and recalled its ambassador to Tehran for consultations after what it said were repeated hostile Iranian statements.
Relations between regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Muslim rival Iran have long been sour, with Riyadh accusing Tehran of trying to expand its influence to its Arab neighbors and allies.
Western-allied Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, is currently leading an Arab coalition in a campaign against the Houthis in Yemen.
Gulf Arab states are concerned that the nuclear accord will hasten a rapprochement between Tehran and Washington that could embolden Iran to increase support for paramilitary groups across the Middle East.
Mogherini was due to travel to Tehran on Tuesday, where she will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and other senior officials.In software development, you’ll find two kinds of arrows that are essentially universal: control flow and information flow. The examples of poorly written software rooted in forward-pointing control and information flow are countless: complex, unmaintainable, incomprehensible software where every cog in the system acts on other cogs instead of being acted on. Components taking control when instead they would better left being controlled, components talking when instead they should shut up and listen. The first arrow reversal I would like to explore is therefore Inversion of Control (IoC), also known as the Hollywood Principle — “Don’t call us, we’ll call you!”
Reversal in object hierarchies
One of the earliest recollections I have of reversing arrows to solve a programming problem in some structured way is the Template Method Pattern. In class based Object-Oriented Programming, subclasses often specialize their superclasses by overriding their behavior. In my programming rookie days, I’ve been guilty of writing despicable code like the following:
class A {
void performSteps() { // do A specific things }
}
class B extends A {
@Override void performSteps() {
doFirstThing();
super.performSteps();
doLastThing();
}
private void doFirstThing() {... }
private void doLastThing() {... }
}
What’s happening here is that B is “decorating” A’s behavior by first unhinging the inherited method by overriding it and then wrapping extra steps around it. While this might look harmless at first, it quickly leads to code that is difficult to understand or even misbehaves, since it’s subject to subtle call ordering issues. Worse, imagine if we make the super call conditional and A’s behavior can suddenly “disappear” based on changes in program state. The crux of the matter is that B is trying to take control over A. We can instead arrive at more solid, more readable, more maintainable code by applying the template method pattern:
abstract class A {
final void performSteps() {
onStart();
// do A specific things
...
onFinish();
}
protected abstract void onStart();
protected abstract void onFinish();
}
class B extends A {
@Override void onStart() { // do first thing }
@Override void onFinish() { // do last thing }
}
That is, we inverted the arrow by yielding control flow back to the superclass that defines the algorithm. The subclass instead becomes a passive actor — it’s not calling anymore, it’s being called. This is an example of control inversion.
Reversal of Dependencies
One of the most well known applications of IoC is the dependency inversion pattern, better known as dependency injection (DI). I was first introduced to the idea as part of a practical course during my Software Engineering curriculum at university ca. 2004 in form of the Spring IoC container (anecdotal fact: dependencies were then wired via XML files, believe it or not.) Let me stress, however, that it is a common misunderstanding to equate DI with a particular framework or library. In fact, no tooling other than your programming language of choice is required to practice DI. All you need is to do is understand the arrow of this problem space: you don’t create objects, they are provided to you.
Before the wide spread recognition of DI as a good practice, it was commonplace to “pull in” dependencies directly at the call site. In its mildest form this meant directly allocating a collaborating object, at its worst it meant reaching out to global state (that includes singleton objects, which are just global state in disguise.) In both cases we are coupling ourselves to the execution context in which we act. If our collaborator is an object that performs expensive side effects (such as network or disk I/O), we lose the ability to take the caller out of its “natural habitat” and into, say, a test or staging environment instead. Violating dependency inversion therefore erodes modularity and increases coupling across your entire system.
We can easily solve this problem by reversing the control arrow from defining dependencies to declaring them. When practiced rigorously, DI means that every single module in your system attempts to push the responsibility of provisioning collaborators to its owner, so long until there is no more owner, i.e. you’ve reached the root of your object graph. There are different ways of how this can be achieved, largely dependent on language idioms, but constructor injection, method injection, the cake pattern and function composition are some that come to mind.
The Law of Demeter
Staying in the object world a while longer, I cannot leave the Law of Demeter (LoD) unmentioned as an example of arrow reversal that has a profound effect on the readability and maintainability of code modules. The LoD is sometimes referred to as the “Tell, don’t ask” principle of object-oriented programming. In a nutshell, it attempts to minimize the distance information has to travel over a series of method calls. Consider the following code snippet:
obj.a().b().c()
Here, obj wants to invoke the behavior of a method c, by traversing the graph of collaborators obj’ (defining a), obj’’ (defining b) and obj’’’ (defining c). This is sometimes called “train wreck” code due to the shape of the invocation chain.
The problem here is that obj accidentally assumes knowledge of the entire span of methods exposed by its direct and indirect collaborators. In other words, the influence of obj increases rapidly with the distance of the behavior it summons. LoD therefore demands that behavior and data are to be co-located with the object that requires it, either by defining it on obj to begin with or by keeping it in a collaborator that is in direct reach.
Obeying the LoD is a form of arrow reversal. Instead of moving forward along a dependency graph, we reverse the arrow and move the required functionality closer to the place where it is required.
Event driven programming
So far we’ve been looking at control arrows. Let’s turn our attention to information arrows, specifically event driven programming (EDP). In its simplest form, EDP can be practiced by applying the observer pattern, a prime example of the “Hollywood Principle”. Without events, any code module must ask for the data it requires, potentially blocking on a function call until that data becomes available. This model quickly falls apart when blocking is simply not an option, such as in user interface programming, where we must not stall the rendering thread.
We can solve this problem by pushing data as events instead of pulling it from the source. This is sometimes called the Publish/Subscribe model, or pub/sub for short. The arrow kind here is therefore one of data flow direction. Pub/sub completely decouples us from making decisions about when an event source is ready to send more data. This is of paramount importance in asynchronous or distributed systems, where this is difficult to control or predict.
There is another interesting relationship here that I wouldn’t want to leave unmentioned: the relationship between events and application state. With pub/sub, an event is typically sent as a result of mutating application state to inform observers of the change. You can turn this relation on its head by reversing the arrow and derive application state from events instead. This can be achieved by modeling every state transition in your system as a persisted additive event, thus obviating mutable storage of state. In case of state loss or when retrying failed events, this log of events e’, e’’, … can be replayed onto your application to partially or fully reconstruct a particular state sk:
e' => s'
e'' => s''
...
ek => sk // replaying [e'...ek] yields sk
ek' => sk'
...
This practice is called event sourcing and it’s one of the most ingenious arrow reversals I’ve seen. It leads to highly predictable, reproducible, and fault-tolerant systems and can be combined effectively with other architectural patterns such as Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) to obtain systems with high cohesion and low coupling.
Reactive programming
If one takes the idea of EDP to its ultimate conclusion, one arrives at the concept of reactive programming, data flow programming, or stream programming. In reactive systems the result of expressions is evaluated lazily so that state changes are never polled for, only pushed. This is in stark contrast to traditional imperative programming styles advertised by languages such as those of the C family, where you always have to ask for the value of something. RP is best explained with a very simple example:
x = 1
y = x + 1
x = 2
return y
What would you say is the value of y by the time we return? If you answered 2, then unfortunately your intuition has been successfully undermined by years of programming in imperative languages, because every mathematician would tell you the answer is 3. The trap into which you fell is that imperative languages make you think in instructions, not in relationships, because instructions are really all a computer understands. But when we think in relationships, then what this code really says is that y is completely dependent on the value of x, so when we look at y, it needs to either lazily evaluate x or have been updated accordingly by the time we changed x. That’s why in any reactive programming environment, 3 is returned.
This constitutes a reversal of arrows, since we completely changed the direction in which things evaluate. In imperative programming we only see change when we ask for it. In reactive programming we never ask: we declare functional relationships and let state changes trickle through the system, updating all dependent bindings in the process.
In the ReactiveX family of libraries, this pattern is implemented in the Observable type, which is the conceptual dual to iterators. When I first learned about reactive programming in December 2012, I thought the idea so radical and appealing, our team and I immediately started to migrate the SoundCloud Android app to an Rx driven architecture. We haven’t looked back.
Typeful programming
I would like to conclude this post by shifting perspective just a bit. We’ve been talking about design and architectural patterns a lot, and how arrow reversal can help us solve problems in surprising and powerful ways. However, we were just enumerating examples and naming things is not knowing things.
That said, I think the best way to get to familiarize yourself with “arrow based thinking” is to practice typeful programming. Type systems are deeply connected to category theory, the field of mathematics which attempts to discover and formalize relationships between structures in mathematics itself. Or simply put, it studies arrows and how they connect objects in some interesting way. This is extremely useful when reasoning about relationships between types, which is what compilers spend much of their time on.
In the recent years, more and more higher-level languages have started to make these “objects” and “arrows” available not just to the compiler, but to the programmer. If this sounds too abstract and you’re wondering why this is useful, consider this function in Scala:
def parseInt(s: String): Option[Int] = {... }
Here we have a function that takes a String and knows how to convert it to an Int; however, the string might not actually be a number so this operation can fail. This is expressed in the return type Option, which is either Some(x) or None. The task is to produce from a list of strings a new value that is
a) Some(list) of all the numbers, if all strings are numbers, or
b) None, if at least one string is not a number.
This is not a contrived example; in fact, I had to write code like that just the other day in order to validate a list of HTTP request parameters. If you’re already thinking of how to traverse lists in loops and what not, let me stop you right there: category theory already solved it for you. Here’s how it’s done using typelevel’s cats library (I borrowed the example from the docs):
List("1", "2", "3").traverse(parseInt)
res0: Option[List[Int]] = Some(List(1, 2, 3))
List("1", "two", "3").traverse(parseInt)
res1: Option[List[Int]] = None
So what is this magical function traverse? You might think it has been written specifically for turning lists of strings to options of lists. Nothing of the kind. In fact, we can use it with any applicative functor; because that’s what List and Option are, and there are well known arrows that connect these structures. This is an example of how studying the relationships between things can ultimately safe you time.
Conclusion
I hope I could demonstrate how understanding arrows between things can be extremely useful and exploited to your benefit. While it’s not our default modus operandi to think backwards, it can be a powerful problem solving tool. There is |
if you reverted you'd use the (old) Thunderbird 2 versions of those files. Thunderbird 3.0 uses Gecko 1.9.1 while Thunderbird 2.0 is based on Gecko 1.8.1, which in general appears to be transparent to the user.
The Thunderbird 3 Planning document proposes a number of significant changes such as roaming support, changing how accounts are added, using MozStorage for address books, eliminating RDF files, and bundling Lightning into the installer. So far, it is unclear to which extent architectural changes will be included in a future 3.x release, and which effect those would have on the compatibility between 2.0 and 3.x profiles.
Note: There has been a report that 3.0 may grab the default e-mail client association from 2.0 on Mac OSX despite canceling the respective dialog, thus invoking 3.0 instead of the 2.0 release version when opening links from a browser.
MozStorage
If the backend is switched to using MozStorage (SQLite) instead of Mork for the message summary database, that shouldn't cause a problem since Thunderbird 2 will automatically rebuild the *.msf files if they're missing. Switching to MozStorage for the address books would cause a problem, but you could export your address books as.ldif or.csv files. In comparison, Firefox 3.x enables journaling, but doesn't provide a way to use it to recover data from damaged SQLite files. That's why there are JSON backups of the bookmarks, but there is no similar backup for the history. If Shredder/Thunderbird used SQLite for address books you'd probably run the same type of risk.
Saved Passwords
The passwords are stored at a new location now. Thus, when going forth and back between 2.0 and 3.0 versions, your password lists do not get updated.
Main Toolbar
Note that Thunderbird 2.0 uses mail-bar2 in localstore.rdf for customizations, whereas 3.0 now uses mail-bar3. Consequently, customizations done for 2.0 will not affect those in 3.0 if a profile is shared.
Lightning
"There isn't a stable Lightning release for Thunderbird 3 test builds" [145]. In the interim use a Lightning nightly trunk test build. "The current plan is to work with the Lightning Add-on community to make a version of it available as an add-on to Thunderbird 3 after we ship later this year. This is a change from our initial plan of integrating all of Lightning into Thunderbird by default."[146], [147]
Lightning is expecting the 1.0 beta 1 release shortly, which will be compatible with Thunderbird 3.0 [148]. For the time being, you can use the nightly builds [149], which may be unstable though.
System Requirements
The system requirements match those of Firefox 3.5 now. This means that Windows versions earlier than Windows 2000 are no longer supported, and Mac OSX 10.4 is needed as a minimum. For Linux, most non-enterprise versions for which the distributor provides current patches should work, e.g., Gtk 2.10 and other more recent libraries are required.
There is a known issue running 32-bit builds on 64-bit Debian or Ubuntu distributions (and their variants), where a library issue prevents network connections [150], [151]. The workaround is to set network.dns.disableIPv6 to "true" or to install the correct version of the lib32nss-mdns package.
See also
Thunderbird 3.0 - New Features and Changes/Themes - new default themes and collected userChrome.css examples.
Thunderbird 3.0 installation issues - a shorter list of most frequently met problems for new and migrating users.
External linksGerman beekeepers face a tough legal battle
(NaturalNews) Nearly 100,000 German beekeepers are calling for a nationwide ban on the cultivation of GMO crops. The beekeepers are represented by the German Beekeepers Association (DIB), which is pursuing the ban after the introduction of legislation allowing member states to opt out of GM planting schemes that have been approved at the EU level.The new law allows a member state to ban GMO agriculture in all or part of its territory. The legislation is strongly opposed by GM proponents and has become a controversial issue throughout the EU.The DIB is urging Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt (CSU) to enact a ban throughout the entire country, but the minister is calling for each state or region within Germany to decide on an individual basis.The beekeepers argue that this will not be an effective solution because of the range that bees travel to collect nectar. The DIB maintains that such a "piecemeal" approach involving some areas that are GM-free and others that are not is "environmentally and agriculturally unacceptable," adding that "bees have no borders."The threat to the honeybees created by GM agriculture comes from the widespread use of certain pesticides by the industry that contain neonicotinoids, which have been proven to be toxic to bees and other forms of life.reports:Many experts believe that these pesticides are at least partly responsible for the continuing deaths of millions of bees due to what has been termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). In 2014, 37 million bees in Canada suddenly dropped dead after nearby cornfields were planted with GMO crops.GM supporters and apologists rushed to explain that the bees were not killed by the GMO corn, but experts believe that the deaths were due to the neonicotinoid pesticides used by the industry. Although the bee deaths were perhaps not directly due to the effects of GM plants, there is ample evidence indicating that they were indeed killed by the pesticides used in conjunction with the GM corn cultivation.Even though the new legislation allows member states to ban GMO crops in part or all of their territory, legal experts say that Germany will face an uphill battle in having a nationwide ban approved.If the GMO industry challenges such a ban, which it almost certainly will, the European Court of Justice will be called on to make a decision. The ECJ "has a presumption in favour of the EU single market," according to GMWatch.org.It will be very interesting to see what happens in Germany because the case could set a precedent for the rest of the EU. It is hoped that the beekeepers will be able to force the implementation of a nationwide ban. GMWatch also reports that the "GMO industry may go down in history as having broken apart the European Union and set one sector of the food and agriculture industry against another."She woke up naked and unnerved. Her professor, her mentor at Berklee College of Music, was groping her as she tried to push him away while fighting off waves of nausea. Jeff Galindo, a popular jazz musician and instructor at the school, had walked her home from a party the night before to make sure she arrived safely because she was so drunk.
All she wanted was to banish memories of that nightmarish experience in the spring of 2012. But weeks later Galindo, who had been on tour much of the time since that night, begged forgiveness from his student in a series of bizarre texts.
“I’m truly sorry for hurting you. I promise I will never again,” Galindo said in texts shared with the Globe by the woman, then a junior and one of the few female students in her department. “By the way, just to let you know, we never [had intercourse],” said another text in the mea culpa. “I never got it up. I was too drunk. It doesn’t excuse anything, but I thought I’d let you know what a loser I am.”
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A Globe investigation has uncovered a culture of blatant sexual harassment at Berklee with at least three male professors, including Galindo, allowed to quietly leave since 2008, after students reported being assaulted, groped, or pressured into sex with their teachers, according to court documents and interviews with more than a dozen people. Administrators at the renowned music school tolerated lecherous behavior, former Berklee students and employees said, and often silenced the accusers through financial settlements with gag orders attached.
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Berklee administrators defended the school’s track record, saying in a statement that Berklee has rigorous policies and procedures to deal with claims of sexual harassment.
“Although we do not discuss specific matters publicly out of respect for all involved and limitations on what we are legally permitted to share, we take matters that impede the learning or working environment of our students, faculty, and staff seriously and act promptly to address them,” the school said.
The allegations against the Berklee professors come at a time of heightened attention to sexual harassment following revelations about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who faces accusations of groping, raping, and harassing women for decades. Since the scandal became public last month, women have felt empowered to speak up about alleged abuse, especially when they believe their abusers remain free to victimize others.
The woman who reported being assaulted by Galindo said that when she initially spoke with Berklee administrators in 2012, they discouraged her from pressing forward with a court case because, she said, they assured her Galindo would never work at another school.
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Yet Galindo went on to teach at the New England Conservatory in Boston. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous because she fears professional reprisals, was horrified to discover in 2016 that Galindo was teaching again and notified the conservatory. His contract there was not renewed, according to the school. But he continued working at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge until last week, when the woman found out he was employed there, contacted administrators, and the school severed ties with him. Galindo had worked there since 2009.
Jeff Galindo in 2010.
“If I didn’t report him [to other schools], it would be on me if he did this again,” the woman said.
Still, Galindo has continued teaching. He is listed as a part-time faculty member at the Rivers School, a college prep school in Weston. Christine Martin, a Rivers spokeswoman, said Tuesday that Galindo has been affiliated with the school since 2015, and that he arrived with positive references. She was unable to say who had provided those references. On Wednesday, another spokeswoman called the Globe after this story was published online to say that Galindo had been terminated, effective immediately.
Berklee, in a statement, said one institution requested a reference regarding Galindo and “we provided the termination letter which included an explicit statement that explained the reasons for his departure from the college.” A Berklee spokesman declined to say when that correspondence happened or which institution requested the information.
On Wednesday, within hours of this story going online, a student-led change.org petition had already gathered more than 290 signatures demanding Berklee “properly address” these types of allegations.
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Galindo did not return calls and text messages from the Globe seeking comment.
‘I am not an idiot’
But another former Berklee professor accused of sexual misconduct, prominent jazz saxophonist Greg Osby, did speak with the Globe. A woman accused Osby in 2012 of pressuring her to have sex while she was a student at Berklee. The woman, who also asked to remain anonymous, had graduated several years earlier and established a successful music career, but later reported him to Berklee administrators after growing concerned he might still be preying on students.
“I could not bear the feeling that I had a responsibility to do something about this,” said the woman about her decision to finally contact Berklee.
Osby, in an hourlong interview with the Globe, disputed the woman’s claims. He also said that he received a severance package from Berklee that included a gag order.
“Only an idiot would sleep with students, and I am not an idiot,” Osby said. “I would not do that. But after they graduate, it’s open season.”
Osby said Berklee did not give him a chance to defend himself against the claims, but he decided not to contest the charges because he was burned out teaching there.
“Bottom line is, and this is a bit harsh, if anyone saw my girlfriend at that time and saw [his Berklee accuser] that would probably end the argument,” Osby said. “Why would I jeopardize my career for somebody like that?”
The statement issued by Berklee said the school is committed to a “fair and thorough process for both complainant and respondent,” and that not every case leads to a finding.
“As evidenced by our past practices, where an investigation reveals a serious violation of our sexual misconduct policy, we act swiftly and decisively to remove the individuals from our community,” Berklee said.
Complaint filed with MCAD
Yet a case filed earlier this year with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, or MCAD, raises questions about Berklee’s commitment to address the issue.
Chitose Suzuki for The Boston Globe/File Greg Osby at Berklee College of Music in 2010.
A 2012 Berklee grad who was hired to run the school’s audio production lab accused a male co-worker of predatory behavior, according to a complaint she filed with MCAD in January. She described unwanted sexual advances by her co-worker toward female students in the lab in mid-2015 and then retaliation against her — leaving condoms in the lab and suggesting sexual liaisons — when she reported his behavior to their boss. But Berklee administrators waited weeks to act, and then failed to monitor the co-worker, who repeatedly violated an order they issued for him to stay away from her, the complaint states.
The woman also accused Berklee of brushing off her concerns about inappropriate sexual behavior by a professor in the school’s music production department last year.
She “continued to observe and experience a pattern, practice, and pervasive culture of tolerance of sexual harassment at Berklee,” according to the MCAD complaint.
Berklee settled the case in April, and that settlement is sealed, too. The woman and her attorney, North Reading lawyer John W. Davis, declined to comment.
The former student who accused Galindo of assaulting her when she was too drunk to fend him off said she worked up the nerve to report him to Berklee administrators about six months later. He was let go shortly after. There was no notice to students, no apology to the woman, and no financial settlement.
The woman, who was receiving a partial scholarship, said she was afraid even to apply for additional financial aid from Berklee after she reported the assault because Galindo accused her of concocting the story to gain more scholarship money.
“I wanted to be believed so bad,” the woman said. “I thought if I ever said anything about money, no one would ever believe me.”
Instead, she sought and received private therapy, paid for by Berklee, to help her deal with the trauma. She showed the Globe e-mails from Angela F. F. Davis, then Berklee’s associate dean of students, authorizing these payments. Davis, now an executive director in the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, recently led the agency’s initiative to secure funding for preventing violence against women. She declined to comment.
One of the student’s former professors, Tom Plsek, now chair emeritus of the brass department at Berklee, also confirms the woman’s story.
“She confided first in a female faculty member... and then I found out about it from that female faculty member,” Plsek said. Galindo “was made to take his things and go. I don’t know the exact process, but he was gone [from Berklee] in a few days.”
Plsek retired as department chair in 2013 but still teaches a few courses.
Another account
His wife, Stephany Tiernan, a professor and chair emerita of the school’s piano department, has also borne witness to sexual harassment allegations. In one case, a freshman alleged her keyboarding professor, Aruan Ortiz, decided she needed more help with her technique and phoned her late one evening in February 2008, asking to come over to her apartment and offer instructions.
The woman had a friend staying with her and “therefore felt safe, and otherwise did not wish to refuse assistance from an instructor,” so she agreed, according to a 2009 lawsuit filed in US District Court in Boston.
Jimmy Katz Aruan Ortiz.
But that instruction quickly turned sour, as soon as the woman’s friend left the room, the suit states, with Ortiz licking the woman, grabbing her, and repeatedly attempting to kiss her. The woman freed herself and ran to her friend in the bathroom.
Ortiz then acted as if nothing happened but repeated the behavior as the woman walked him to the door and asked him to leave, according to the lawsuit.
She went home to Ohio to tell her parents, but came back a week later only to find a voice message from Ortiz asking her if she was free that evening. That’s when the woman reported his behavior to Berklee administrators. They waited two weeks to start investigating — and only after two of the woman’s instructors urged them to act, according to the lawsuit. It took another two months for Berklee to hold a meeting with Ortiz and the student to review the allegations. Tiernan, who attended that meeting, according to the lawsuit, declined to comment for this story.
In that meeting, Ortiz admitted to grabbing the woman’s face, attempting to kiss her, and blowing in her ear. He claimed “it was simply part of his [Cuban] culture,” according to the lawsuit.
It would take Berklee another two weeks — after classes had ended for the semester — to inform the woman Ortiz would no longer be teaching at Berklee. The lawsuit, which alleged civil rights violations, and assault and battery, was settled in 2010. The woman, citing a gag order on the settlement, declined to comment. So did her Boston attorney, Paul F. Wood.
But Woburn attorney David Fried, who initially represented Ortiz in the case, said in a statement to the Globe that a “single clumsy attempt at a kiss, although certainly improper from a teacher to student, was not ‘sexual harassment’ within the meaning of any relevant statute.”
Fried said that Ortiz hired him because Berklee’s insurance company initially declined to represent him.
“Eventually they stepped up to the plate, probably because they wanted to settle the whole thing, and I withdrew in their favor,” Fried said. The case was then settled, with terms confidential.
The woman who reported Galindo’s alleged assault to Berklee said it took her several years to come to terms with what happened. She is now in her late 20s and a full-time musician.
“I came to a point where I could let this ruin my career or just move on,” she said.
But there is one constant reminder of that dark experience — her school loans for tuition at Berklee.
“I got [screwed] in every way and will be paying Berklee for the next seven years,” she said, but Galindo was allowed to walk away.
Kay Lazar can be reached at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKayLazar"We do not agree on the different measures that recently were stated by the government of the United States (that) affect Mexico," Osorio Chong said.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were in Mexico to try to smooth the relationship and address some of the differences that have emerged between the United States and its neighbor.
Their visit to Mexico City follows months of charged rhetoric from President Donald Trump and US immigration measures announced this week that have dramatic implications for the country, including potentially sending significantly more migrants back over the southern border.
"We have expressed our concern about the increase of deportations," Osorio Chong said of meetings he and other Mexican officials had Thursday with Kelly and Tillerson.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, speaking ahead of Osorio Chong, was also quick to raise some of these tensions, telling reporters that there was a perception in Mexico that the Trump administration was pursuing "policies that might be hurtful for Mexicans."
Pointing to the issue of illegal migration, he said, "Our concern, to respect the rights of Mexicans living in the United States more, specifically the human rights."
He added that it would be "a long way to go" to be in agreement with the United States and that "facts" were needed in order to "overcome the negative feelings that are prevailing now."
Tillerson, for his part, noted that "two sovereign countries from time to time will have differences."
Standing with Videgaray, however, he focused more on shared concerns in his public comments.
"We listened closely and carefully to each other as we respectfully and patiently raised our respective concerns," he said.
"There's no mistaking that the rule of law matters on both sides of our border," Tillerson said, pledging to work with Mexico to stem the flow of cash and weapons from the US.
But his message in meetings, according to a senior administration official speaking after the top US diplomat's arrival in Mexico Wednesday night, was a little more forceful.
"Tillerson will make, he will acknowledge this, that if we are gonna to have a relationship that works, on border that works, it goes both ways," the official said.
Ahead of their remarks, President Donald Trump said Thursday that he told Tillerson the visit to Mexico was "going to be a tough trip."
Trump, speaking to manufacturers at the White House, said the trip would be difficult "because we have to be treated fairly by Mexico."
As Tillerson arrived Wednesday, Videgaray said publicly that he wanted to "make it clear, in the most emphatic way, that the Mexican government and the people of Mexico do not have to accept measures unilaterally imposed on a government by another government."
US administration officials said Kelly and Tillerson's trip was meant to allow the new Cabinet secretaries to establish relationships and coordinate on bilateral issues that range from counterterrorism, border security and trade amounting to $1.5 billion a day.
They also met with President Enrique Peña Nieto and Mexican military officials.
JUST WATCHED Kelly, Tillerson visit Mexico amid strained relations Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Kelly, Tillerson visit Mexico amid strained relations 04:12
But the top US officials make their Mexican debut under a cloud, as Trump has introduced policies meant to back up campaign rhetoric that painted Mexico and Mexicans as a security threat and economic drain on the US.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration issued guidance that broadens the scope of deportations from a previous focus on criminals to apply to every undocumented immigrant in the US. It also enables state and local law enforcement to act as immigration officers.
Another change to asylum procedures would make it easier for immigration officers to send non-Mexican migrants to Mexico if they came through the country on their way to the US. The change could potentially send tens of thousands of Central Americans fleeing violence, gangs and drug cartels back into Mexico.
A Mexican official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters ahead of Thursday's meeting, told CNN that Kelly and Tillerson would hear from Pena Nieto, Videgaray and other officials that Mexico would not take deportees who are not Mexican nationals. A second official pointed out that no bilateral agreement requires Mexico to take these immigrants and that Mexico isn't bound by any US presidential order. There is nothing the US can't do to force the matter, this official said.
And Mexico has some leverage, the second official said. The country has been stopping Central American migrants before they reach the US for more than two years, the official said, adding that if Trump doesn't stop his "orders," it will make it more difficult for Mexico to continue this cooperation.
Trump may be trying to figure out his own ways to apply pressure to get Mexico to pay. He has suggested putting a 20% tariff on Mexican goods entering the US and his campaign has floated the idea of seizing remittances from Mexicans in the US sending money home.
The President has also ordered Cabinet agencies to inform him of the total direct and indirect aid the US gives Mexico, a move that some see as an attempt to amass some leverage in the debate over the border wall that Trump insists will be built and that Mexico will pay for. Mexican officials have repeatedly said they will do no such thing.
Under the Merida Initiative, the State Dept has given Mexico $2.6 billion since 2008. That's to strengthen rule of law, counter narco-trafficking, support judicial reform and police professionalization. It doesn't include aid from other State Department programs. Mexico also gets funding from the departments of Defense, Energy, Labor, Health and Human Services, Interior, the Peace Corps, the US Agency for International Development and DHS.
Kelly distributed an implementation memo on February 21 asking his staff to calculate how much direct and indirect aid DHS gives Mexico. That process is still underway.AP Climate change has been 'disproved' and polar ice is 'increasing'
John Coleman, who co-founded the Weather Channel, shocked academics by insisting the theory of man-made climate change was no longer scientifically credible. Instead, what 'little evidence' there is for rising global temperatures points to a 'natural phenomenon' within a developing eco-system. **CLICK HERE TO SEE STUNNING ICEBERG IMAGES** In an open letter attacking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he wrote: "The ocean is not rising significantly. "The polar ice is increasing, not melting away. Polar Bears are increasing in number. "Heat waves have actually diminished, not increased. There is not an uptick in the number or strength of storms (in fact storms are diminishing). "I have studied this topic seriously for years. It has become a political and environment agenda item, but the science is not valid."
AP Man made climate change is a myth according to Coleman, inset
I have studied climate change seriously for years. It has become a political and environment agenda item, but the science is not valid John Coleman, co-founder of the Weather Channel
Mr Coleman said he based many of his views on the findings of the NIPCC, a non-governmental international body of scientists aimed at offering an 'independent second opinion of the evidence reviewed by the IPCC.' He added: "There is no significant man-made global warming at this time, there has been none in the past and there is no reason to fear any in the future. "Efforts to prove the theory that carbon dioxide is a significant greenhouse gas and pollutant causing significant warming or weather effects have failed. "There has been no warming over 18 years."
The IPCC argue their research shows that man-made global warming will lead to extreme weather events becoming more frequent and unpredictable. US News and World Report noted that many of the world’s largest businesses, including Coke, Pepsi, Walmart, Nestle, Mars, Monsanto, Kellogg, General Mills, Microsoft, and IBM, "are now engaged and actively responding to climate science and data." Mr Coleman's comments come as President Barack Obama came under fire from climatologists as federal data revealed The United State's energy-related carbon pollution rose 2.5 per cent despite the President's pledges to decrease it. President Obama told 120 world leaders at the United Nations climate summit last month that America had done more under his watch in cutting greenhouse gases than any other country. Despite this, the Energy Information Administration's Monthly Energy Review showed an increase in the use of energy from coal.
World leaders have pledged to keep the global average temperature from rising two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to prevent the worst consequences of climate change. The US, along with the UK and other developed countries, is expected to pledge further actions on climate change early next year.
GETTY There has been no recorded global warming for 18 yearsFrom blowing water rings to the infamous pull-my-finger gag, SCUBA divers are always finding inventive ways to have fun underwater.
But this trick warms our nerdy hearts.
The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) produced the above video to show just how strong a force pressure is underwater. BIOS Dive Safety Officer Alex Hunter and filmmaker Dean Lee crack an egg 60 feet below water. The surrounding water assumes the role of the eggshell itself, exerting enough inward pressure to keep the yolk and egg white in tact -- and allowing Hunter to play with it like a celestial yellow orb.
“When you break an egg in a glass of water, the yolk spreads everywhere," Hunter explains. "When you are down in the ocean, the pressure holds it together. It is fascinating.”
And trippy.Radical new technique promises a cheaper and more secure method of burying CO2 emissions underground instead of storing it as a gas
Carbon dioxide has been pumped underground and turned rapidly into stone, demonstrating a radical new way to tackle climate change.
The unique project promises a cheaper and more secure way of burying CO2 from fossil fuel burning underground, where it cannot warm the planet. Such carbon capture and storage (CCS) is thought to be essential to halting global warming, but existing projects store the CO2 as a gas and concerns about costs and potential leakage have halted some plans.
The new research pumped CO2 into the volcanic rock under Iceland and sped up a natural process where the basalts react with the gas to form carbonate minerals, which make up limestone. The researchers were amazed by how fast all the gas turned into a solid – just two years, compared to the hundreds or thousands of years that had been predicted.
“We need to deal with rising carbon emissions and this is the ultimate permanent storage – turn them back to stone,” said Juerg Matter, at the University of Southampton in the UK, who led the research published on Thursday in the journal Science.
Matter said the only thing holding back CCS was the lack of action from politicians, such as putting a price on carbon emissions: “The engineering and technology of CCS is ready to be deployed. So why do we not see hundreds of these projects? There is no incentive to do it.”
The Iceland project has already been increased in scale to bury 10,000 tonnes of CO2 a year and the basalt rocks used are common around the world, forming the floor of all the oceans and parts of the land too. “In the future, we could think of using this for power plants in places where there’s a lot of basalt and there are many such places,” said Martin Stute, at Columbia University in the US and part of the research team.
Testing has taken place in the Columbia River Basalts, extensive deposits in Washington and Oregon in the US. India, which has many polluting coal power plants, has huge basalt deposits in the Deccan Traps.
One potential challenge for the new technique is that it requires large amounts of water: 25 tonnes for each tonne of CO2 buried. But Matter said seawater could be used, which would be in plentiful supply at coastal sites. Another is that subterranean microbes might break down carbonate to methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, but this was not seen in the Iceland research.
The research, called the Carbfix project, took place at Iceland’s Hellisheidi power plant, the world’s largest geothermal facility. The plant pumps up volcanically heated water to run electricity-generating turbines but this also brings up volcanic gases, including carbon dioxide and nasty-smelling hydrogen sulphide.
The researchers re-injected 230 tonnes of the gas, which was dissolved in water to prevent it escaping, down into the basalt to a depth of 400-500m. They used tracer chemicals to show that over 95% of CO2 was turned into stone within two years, “amazingly fast” according to Matter. Edda Aradottir, who heads the project for Reykjavik Energy, said: “It was a very welcome surprise.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Members of the CarbFix science team handling rock core recovered during drilling at the CO2 injection site. Photograph: Juerg Matter/Science
The Iceland project has now begun scaling up to bury 10,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, plus the hydrogen sulphide which also turns into minerals. The Columbia University group are also investigating another rock type, found in Oman, which may be able to turn CO2 into rock even better than basalt.
In conventional CCS, the CO2 is stored as a gas in sedimentary rocks such as exhausted oil fields under the North Sea. Unlike basalt, these rocks lack the minerals needed to convert CO2 into stone. Such sedimentary reservoirs could potentially leak and therefore have to be monitored, which adds to costs.
They have also raised concerns from the public and projects on land in the Netherlands and Germany have been halted as a result. “In Europe you can forget about onshore CCS,” said Matter.
Conventional CCS also requires the CO2 to be separated from the mix of gases emitted by power stations and industrial plants, which is expensive. But the basalt-based CCS does not require this. However, Matter said there would still be a role for conventional CCS in places where power plants are close to good reservoirs.
Stuart Haszeldine, professor of CCS at the UK’s University of Edinburgh and not involved in the new research said it was promising: “This is terrific. It may well provide a low-cost and very secure remedy for parts of the world where the suitable rocks exist. [But] this needs to be used as well as all the existing propositions, because the problem to be solved of thousands of million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year in the world is immense and no single remedy is anywhere near big enough or fast enough.”
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that CCS is hugely important to tackling climate change in the most cost-effective way. Without CCS, the costs of halting global warming would double, the IPCC said, an assessment with which the UK government’s advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, agrees.
However, the UK government cancelled a pioneering £1bn CCS competition in November. Globally, CCS has not developed as quickly as hoped, although some companies are using CO2 injection to drive more oil and gas from older fields. Haszeldine said there have been over 100 injections of CO2 gas in different countries worldwide since 1972, none of which are known to have leaked.
Other innovative approaches to CCS are being explored, including an ExxonMobil-backed project using fuel cells to make capturing CO2 cheaper and one from Ford which uses CO2 to make foam for use in their vehicles. Groups are also working on chemical advances to capture CO2 more easily.Hello,
It’s been a while since I have posted here again, but I have been working on my CHTM reinforcement learner all along! I got it to perform pole balancing based on vision data of the pole alone recently, but only for a few seconds at a time. But that is a topic for another post. In this post, I want to discuss the changes and improvements that have occurred in CHTM – land.
For those unfamiliar, CHTM (continuous hierarchical temporal memory) is a generalization/simplification of the standard HTM developed by Numenta that uses familiar concepts from deep learning to reproduce the spatial pooling and temporal inference capabilities of standard HTM. The main change is that instead of using binary values for everything, we now use real-valued numbers for everything. This makes it simpler to code, and also provides some extra capabilities that the original did not have.
First let’s lay down the data structures we will be using in pseudocode.
struct Layer { Column[] columns; }; struct Column { float activation; float state; float usage; Cell[] cells; Connection[] feedforwardConnections; }; struct Cell { float prediction; float state; Connection[] lateralConnections; }; struct Connection { float weight; float trace; int sourceIndex; };
A layer consists of a 2D grid of columns. Each column has feedforward connections to an input source, taking a subsection of the input source (within a radius of the column). Each column also has a number of cells in it, which have lateral connections to other cells in the same layer within a radius.
CHTM, like the original, has two parts to it: Spatial pooling and temporal inference. Let’s start with spatial pooling. I will use the notation _(t-1) to describe values from a previous timestep.
In spatial pooling, when want to learn sparse distributed representations of the input such that the representations have minimal overlap. To do this, we go through each column (possibly in parallel) and calculate the activation value of each column:
void calculateActivations(Layer l, float[] input) { foreach (Column col in l.columns) { float sum = 0; foreach (Connection con in col.feedforwardConnections) { float difference = con.weight - input[con.sourceIndex]; sum += difference * difference; } col.activation = -sum; } }
Essentially what we are doing here is getting the negative distance between the input region and the feedforward connections vector. So the closer the column’s feedforward connections are to the input, the higher its activation value will be, capping out at 0.
The next step is the inhibition step:
void inhibit(Layer l, Radius inhibitionRadius, float localActivity, float stateIntensity, float usageDecay) { foreach (Column col in l.columns) { int numHigher = 0; foreach (Column competitor in inhibitionRadius) { if (competitor.activation > col.activation) numHigher++; } col.state = sigmoid((localActivity - numHigher) * stateIntensity); col.usage = (1 - usageDecay) * (1 - col.state) * col.usage + col.state; } }
Here column states are set such that they are a sparsified version of the activation values. Along with that we update a usage parameter, which is a value that goes to 1 when a column’s state is 1 and decays when it is below 1. This way we can keep track of which columns are underutilized.
Next comes the learning portion of the spatial pooler:
void learnColumns(Layer l, float learningRate, float boostThreshold) { foreach (Column col in l.columns) { float learnScalar = learningRate * min(1, max(0, boostThreshold - col.usage) / boostThreshold); foreach (Connection con in col.feedforwardConnections) con.weight += learnScalar * (input[con.sourceIndex] - con.weight); } }
Here we move underutilized columns towards the current input vector. This way we maximize the amount of information the columns can represent.
Next up: The temporal inference component!“God shows no partiality”, contended Paul of Tarsus in his epistle to the Romans (2:11). Paul explained that the righteous and holy judgment of God falls on those who do not see fit to acknowledge Him1. God will render to all, first to Jews and then Gentiles, according to what they deserve (2:6).
Gruesomely, the whole world is held accountable because all, both Jews and Gentiles, are under sin. “None is righteous, no, not one,” Paul quoted Psalms 14:1-32, “no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless” (Rom. 3:10-12 ESV). N. T. Wright sum it well, “[t]he whole world is accountable to God: all people are obviously guilty, and must now face God as |
Belsham three times over his reporting – reporting, it’s worth noting, which Belsham repeatedly acknowledged was good. A feature on the second meeting between the two will be ready as soon as possible – while it requires significant fact-checking and legalling before it can be published, it proves irrefutably that Ross was gagged.
Speaking of gagged, there are almost 2,000 journalists employed at the ABC – it’s simply inconceivable that not one of them has considered Thursday’s revelations newsworthy. The ABC hasn’t even published a defence of the revelations, let alone explored the claims.
Suspicious minds might suggest a circular has gone around the national broadcaster from management directing staff not to report the story. Of course, that’s ridiculous – they’re never that overt. But what’s most concerning is that, apparently, a directive doesn’t need to be sent around by management. Staff at the ABC apparently seem to already understand that the story must not be reported.
If you were already concerned about the capacity of ABC journalists to operate fearlessly and without favour, then it’s the ABC’s collective reaction to this story that speaks loudest.
Fearless, independent journalism means publishing the truth, regardless of the ‘political environment’ in which you operate. At New Matilda, I believe we do that consistently and ethically.
Our editorial process has two steps: 1. Is it true? 2. Is it in the public interest. If a story passes those two tests, it get’s published, albeit sometimes with a lengthy delay.
The fact is, we have bugger-all resources – most of our staff aren’t even paid for their work, me included. And on that front, you can assist our work, in this order of importance: 1. Share this story with family and friends, and social media; 2. Support our Pozible fundraising campaign here; 3. Subscribe to New Matilda here. We’re done being coy about fundraising – New Matilda needs your help to survive.
But if we can do it, and if the similarly resourced Independent Australia and the only slightly better resourced Crikey can weigh in, why can’t a billion dollar taxpayer funded media organisation?
No-one ever suggested that working for the national broadcaster was going to be easy. In Melbourne recently, staff were warned not to wear their lanyards outside the building, after new threats of violence. That’s an appalling situation which has been created and fanned by people like Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz, and by media commentators like Andrew Bolt and Tim Blair.
But it’s also no excuse for not doing your job. Journalists at the ABC have a clear duty – if they can’t perform it, they shouldn’t be there.
There’s other cowardice to consider in all this as well. As usual, the Labor Party has been found wanting. They haven’t made a single statement about the Ross-Belsham allegations either. You do have to wonder about the state of the Opposition when, presented a gift horse like this, they simply stand there and look it in the mouth.
And then there’s the response on social media. While New Matilda has obviously received substantial support from our readers (and new readers), which we appreciate greatly, the usual suspects – the ‘mean tweeters’ – are determined to keep the focus on the whistleblower. Quite a few of these people work within the media, and they’re in overdrive trying to help divert a discussion away from their own prior conduct, and that of their ‘mates in the media’.
It’s no secret I have little regard or respect for organisations like News Corp and Fairfax (with some obvious journalistic exceptions in both organisations), but I’ll take the collective indifference of those companies over the sycophantic cowardice of some others any day.
But back to the ABC. If Aunty cannot even concede that Bruce Belsham did anything wrong, let alone breached the ABC charter, then how can anyone expect the organisation to engage in the broader debate about its own capacity to report fearlessly and independently.
And why should anyone trust anything the ABC has to say in future?
This is the greatest shame of this story. There are many Australians, myself included, who deeply value the work of the national broadcaster. While the ABC has occasionally perpetrated some of the worst journalism in the history of Australian reporting, it has also, much more consistently, produced some of the best. That is undeniable, as even the briefest scan of the Walkley Awards will attest.
And that’s one of the reasons why the standard expected of the ABC is so much higher, and rightly so. Bad journalism happens – no media outlet is immune from it, because we’re staffed by humans. So it’s the response to bad journalism that really matters, and the ABC’s response on this occasion – and others – has been to spin and lie.
The gutting and gagging of the ABC, at least at this juncture, appears complete.
Finally, when New Matilda published this story, there were a few things that were very clear to us. Firstly, it would put us in breach of the NSW Surveillance Devices Act.
We had one option that might have provided a defence under that Act: to simply print the allegations against Bruce Belsham without reference to the tape recordings, and then allow him and the ABC to go out into the public domain and ‘deny, deny, deny’, before springing the tape on them a few days later. That strategy would have potentially triggered a defence for New Matilda under the Surveillance Devices Act – namely that we were only revealing the existence of the tape to protect our legal (professional) interests.
It was a strategy we considered in depth prior to publication. Indeed, when we initially put the allegations to Mr Belsham, he did lie, denying any such conversation took place. But in the end, we decided to publish the story without hiding the existence of the tapes.
We did so primarily because we were concerned that Mr Belsham’s reputation would already be damaged enough by the revelations, let alone a few days of publicly denying their contents, only to be exposed as a gargantuan liar. Every public protestation would have been another nail in Mr Belsham’s reputational coffin.
In hindsight, given the conduct of Mr Belsham and the ABC in denying the story, and then heading to ground when it could no longer be denied (we’ve put additional questions about other meetings between Mr Belsham and Mr Ross to the ABC and Mr Belsham, which they are now refusing to answer) we should probably have adopted a more self-serving position, and let Mr Belsham and the ABC dig their own graves.
The second major issue we considered before publishing was how this story would be received. On the one hand, it would challenge the left: here is the smoking gun that their beloved ABC does not operate the way in which it says it does, and the way in which it should. It is neither fearless, nor independent.
On the other hand, the story would challenge the right: They’ve long maintained that the ABC is biased against the Coalition – a ridiculous argument, particularly in light of these latest revelations.
So we knew the story wasn’t going to win us many friends. We knew that we would be attacked. We knew there was a real chance of serious prosecution, a chance that endures. I am facing up to five years jail for publishing the story; so are my colleagues. We all face substantial fines, and New Matilda as a corporate entity does as well.
And yet, we published regardless. That’s because (a) the story is true; (b) because that’s our job; (c) because we genuinely believe in journalism without fear or favour; and (d) because there is a clear, undeniable public interest in this story.
It just turns out that the mainstream media has decided it’s not a story the public will be interested in. Which, of course, is not the reason at all why they remain silent. The media is a club, and while there’s room in that club for navel gazing and self-reflection, there are acceptable limits. The bigger the stakes, the greater the limits.
As a result of the continuing lack of broader media interest, there are some likely outcomes to this disgraceful saga. Top of the list is that Bruce Belsham will likely receive no sanction whatsoever for his conduct. Meanwhile, Nick Ross’ career and reputation is in ruins.
Having endured two and a half years of silence, unable to defend his own reputation through substantial misreporting by media, Ross now continues to be mocked on social media, in particular by journalists (including from within the ABC) who seem to think that memes and the casting of whistleblowers as mentally unstable is an acceptable way to engage in an important story.
Belsham, by contrast, will likely remain on his substantial salary and at worst simply be moved quietly from the position of Head of Current Affairs when the stink dies down. Any other course of action from the ABC would involve acknowledging that a wrong has occurred, and at this juncture, that admission looks highly unlikely. Far easier to hang Nick Ross out to dry instead.
That prospect is deeply disturbing.
And so, my final message is to ABC employees directly: If you really care about your organisation, if you care about journalism in this country, and if you care about your colleagues, then you’ll speak out. You’ll do your job.
Nick Ross is the living testament to what might happen to you if you do. And that in itself should be motivation enough for you to act, because not only is it the right thing to do, but you could be next.
If you can’t act, then can I respectfully suggest you go and find a job in public relations. I hear the Coalition is hiring.I’m already steeling myself for the inevitable fallout from this post. If the amount of flack and incensed comments I’ve received from my posts deriding the Redd’s family of “ales” is any indication, I’m bound to suffer a deluge for the denigration I’m about to level on Big Beer’s attempts at Belgian White Ales. My targets this time are Blue Moon and Shock Top – those “approachable” and “gateway” brews that anyone wearing an MCI or ABI hat likes to foist upon unsuspecting drinkers. This time, however, I’m armed with more than my opinion. This time I’ve got science on my side – or at lasts semi-rigorous testing and experimentation.
If you’re a craft beer lover, you no doubt already think that Blue Moon and Shock Top are far below the par set by American craft brewers and international breweries devoted to recapturing the magic of the hazy-and-spicy Belgian Wit. Read on to discover the surprising (to me at least) results of a blind witbier tasting that I hosted recently.
Admittedly, I dissed Redd’s without trying the brew. I’m ok with that. It isn’t like I pretended that I’d tried it; I disclosed that i was writing the post as a response to a request from a relative who said Redd’s Apple Ale was so bad that she couldn’t finish one bottle of it, let alone the whole sixpack that she’d purchased. I was surprised by the passion that the Redd’s supporters showed in their defense of the awkward beverage. I knew that if I was going to take on the darlings of the “crafty” world, I’d need ammunition beyond opinion.
It was actually Julie’s idea to hold a blind tasting that would pit the Miller and AB pretenders against a line-up of some of the world’s best witbiers, and we were finally able assemble a line-up of six craft examples (in addition to the two macros) and convene a tasting panel to try them all. The methodology was simple – the panel would taste through two flights of four beers each without knowing what beers were being sampled. They were briefed on the history of witbiers and we briefly discussed the characteristics of the style and then started tasting. I facilitated the tasting and the discussion, and while I sampled the beers as well, my opinions did not make it into the final data.
The Panel
Our four person panel was made up of tasters with varied background and Palates:
Julie – Cofounder of Beer of Tomorrow and my partner in all things, Julie likes a good witbier, and it was once among her favorite styles (though now her tastes usually lean towards more full-flavored brews).
– Cofounder of Beer of Tomorrow and my partner in all things, Julie likes a good witbier, and it was once among her favorite styles (though now her tastes usually lean towards more full-flavored brews). Jenny – A long-time friend, and perhaps the biggest fan of the witbier style that I know. Wits are her go-to beers, and she is particularly fond of the witbier’s refreshing qualities after a long run. Or for brunch. Or when it’s hot out. She likes wits a lot.
– A long-time friend, and perhaps the biggest fan of the witbier style that I know. Wits are her go-to beers, and she is particularly fond of the witbier’s refreshing qualities after a long run. Or for brunch. Or when it’s hot out. She likes wits a lot. Sean – A beer blogger with a tuned and practiced palate. He enjoys the occasional wit, but he prefers other Belgian styles over the lighter witbiers
– A beer blogger with a tuned and practiced palate. He enjoys the occasional wit, but he prefers other Belgian styles over the lighter witbiers Sarah – A casual beer fan who enjoys experimenting with new styles and discovering new flavors. She tends to gravitate to British styles and pale ales over wits.
The Line Up
I tried to assemble a mix of craft wits from local breweries, regional breweries, and international brewers, and I was particularly careful (as I always am) to buy only the freshest examples I could find. After collecting the eight brews, I randomly assigned each to a flight. Here’s what we ended up with.
Flight One:
Shock Top
Ommegang Witte
Allagash White
Eagle Rock Brewery Manifesto
Flight Two:
Blue Moon
Saint Archer White
St. Bernardus Wit
Avery Brewing White Rascal
The Methodology
After an palate-awakening glass of pilsner, the panel sat down to the first flight and was immediately struck by beer #1’s bright orange color and intense, overly orange scent. Julie’s fear that the macro brews would give the craft examples a close-race went immediately out the window as the panel looked, sniffed, and tasted through the first flight. After the first flight was finished and we’d discussed the panelist’s opinions, I served an intermission glass of Oskar Blues Old Chub – a Scottish Wee Heavy style now available in nitro cans. This beer was the furthest thing from a witbier that I could think of that wouldn’t leave the panelists palates in shambles for the second flight.
Flight number two went similarly to the first with the macro-brewed beer being an obvious outlier to the other three examples. As we tasted and talked it became obvious that each panelist looks for something a little different in their witbiers. Some like the spices to be added with a heavy-hand while others found the crispness of the brews to be the biggest draw.
After tasting and discussing the second flight we turned the discussion to over-all favorites and what characteristics of each the tasters liked best. I then poured everyone a celebratory glass of Firestone Walker Stickee Monkee (palates be damned at this point) and asked them all to rate their four favorite brews from the tasting.
The Results
Each taster rated their top four brews, and I assigned each beer points for the votes. A first place beer was awarded 4 points, while the fourth place brew received a single point. The points were tallied, and not only was there a clear winner, it was a beer that I’d not expected to make the top four. But before I get to the winning brews there are two points I’d like to make:
Neither Blue Moon nor Shock Top received a single vote nor a single point. In fact, every taster had Shock Top firmly in last place, and Blue Moon in 7th place. Blue Moon is far, far better than Shock Top. Each taster remarked that Shock Top was terrible and that they’d prefer to never drink it again, and each taster said that the gulf between Shock Top and Blue Moon was very wide – Blue Moon was an absolutely serviceable wit bier, but it was far, far below even the 6th place craft option.
First Place
That out-of-the-way, the winning beer with 11 points was Avery Brewing White Rascal!
Tasters called it “balanced”, “zippy”, and “bright.” It was deemed the most refreshing of the line-up, and the brew had a beguiling peppery character and a little more hop bitterness than most other contenders. However, even though White Rascal was the points-winner no taster picked it as their favorite beer! It received three 2nd-Place votes and a single 3rd-Place vote for a total of 11 points.
Each panelist actually chose a unique beer for their favorite: there was one 1st-Place vote for each of Ommegang Witte, Eagle Rock Manifesto, Allagash White, and St. Bernardus Wit.
A Tie for Second Place
The second place award was a tie between local favorite Eagle Rock Brewery’s Manifesto and the classic Belgian import St. Bernardus Wit with each beer scoring 9 points (one each 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-place vote). This was a surprising – but delightful – result in my eyes. Not only did a locally brewed beer that I love to recommend to craft drinkers score so well, the Beer Advocate #1 rated Wit Bier scored predictably high in our rankings (which feels like an endorsement of our methodology).
Even the 6th-Place finisher – the new San Diego brewery Saint Archer’s flagship canned White – was well-liked by the panel and that brew received two 4th-Place votes. It just didn’t have the vibrancy or depth that the winners displayed.
Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was Allagash White coming in 4th Place. I’ve long considered this to be the unrivaled example of the American Wit that showcases a deft balancing of wheat-character, spices, and hops. The beer did score a single 1st-Place vote, but only two others cast a vote for it (both as their 4th-Place finisher). Even I was swayed by the brightness of the St. Bernardus and Avery brews over my favorite Allagash.
This experiment showed me the importance of unbiased tasting and testing, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Don’t Drink That, Drink This:
How about instead of drinking Blue Moon or Shock Top, drink any other craft-brewed option. You can’t go wrong, especially in comparison to Shock Top. In fact, if you find yourself marooned at some chthonic bar that only served macro brews you’d be far, far better off with a Blue Moon than many other Macro-brewed options. It’s a remarkably mediocre wit.
But if you want the best – look for the widely-available Avery White Rascal (in cans and bottles). If you want a local option from Los Angeles, you can’t beat Eagle Rock Brewery’s Manifesto, and the St. Bernardus Wit is an excellent, slightly restrained imported example of the Belgian-native style.
And finally I’d like to thank my panelists for spending a Friday evening on as geeky a pursuit as a blind beer tasting! You guys are awesome, and made hosting the tasting and writing the coverage a joy. Cheers.Lithuania’s Jewish community isn’t immune from the broader issues facing Jewish existence in Eastern Europe and the same problems of Jewish identity that crop up in Russia, Bulgaria, Poland and elsewhere are prevalent. And just as there are Christian Evangelicals and others who support the policies of the right-wing in the State of Israel and elsewhere in Europe, there are those same voices among Lithuanian politicians and public figures.
What is perhaps different in Lithuania than elsewhere in Eastern Europe is that this Gentile support for Zionist ideals doesn’t translate into support for the surviving local Jewish community or contribute to a profounder and more sympathetic understanding of the Holocaust.
Visitors to Vilnius will see any number of plaques dedicated to famous Jewish residents of Vilnius and several dedicated to the Holocaust. Those who look a little deeper under the surface might find there are a number of agencies, organizations and institutions operating in Vilnius which seemingly are aimed at promoting Jewish history, language and culture. In fact, both the plaques and monuments, and the majority of these “Jewish” organizations, serve as little more than window-dressing and display show-cases that the Lithuanian government rolls out as exhibits evidencing Lithuanian sincerity in addressing the incomparable atrocity of the Holocaust.
Exhibit A at the current time is the bill passed by the Lithuanian parliament to provide restitution for Jewish communal property seized and nationalized, in some cases four or five times, first by the Soviets, then the Lithuanian Nazi puppet regime, then the Nazis, then the Soviets again, and finally by the Lithuanian state that emerged in 1990-1991. One senses almost immediately that there are serious problems even with the modest restitution package, since the US embassy in Vilnius, which has been gently nudging Lithuania for the last 20 years to make some sort of restitution, calls the law “a good first step,” while the legislators who drafted and passed the law continue to call it the last and final offer, after which all claims will be null and void. Moreover the law takes in victims of Soviet crimes as a nod toward Double Genocide, and a clause to be used in the service of that nefarious cause further down the line.
It is rumored that many of the decorative “Jewish” organizations in Vilnius and Lithuania will be taking a share of the loot, modest though it be. Therefore, now might be a good time to survey some of these Jewless Jewish orgs.
First, and closest to the Vilnius train station (which was the first location in Vilnius to post a sign in 1941 declaring itself “Judenrein”), is the Jewish Cultural and Information Center. You might miss it if you blink, but this operation is located in what is supposedly a “restored fragment of the historical Vilna Jewish quarter,” mandated by the parliament almost twelve years ago now. It is a location with some history, right along Jatkowa ulica (Yiddish: Yátkever gas), now MÄ—sinių, or Butchers’, street, and many collections of pictures from pre-war Vilna include at least one view up this street which then featured an archway between opposing buildings set somewhat back from the main street, Deutschegasse (Yiddish: Dáytshishe gas), now VokieÄių or German, street.
If you don’t manage to find the sign with the official name of the organization, do not worry, for there are also inscriptions in English and Hebrew announcing that it is, in fact, the Shofar Gallery.
And it is a gallery.
You walk in and are treated to exhibits of artworks, one recent memorable exhibit being composed exclusively of Catholic churches in Vilnius painted on glass.
Off in a dark corner there is a counter, behind which some sort of Jewish books are allegedly for sale.
In a somewhat brighter location are the amber trinkets for sale to tourists, bearing the words Kaunas, Vilnius and other cities, in Lithuanian orthography with no reference to the beloved Jewish names known to Litvaks and their progeny around the world.
Next to the book counter there is a table with pamphlets and fliers, the most prominent being English and Lithuanian leaflets for the Museum of Genocide Victims, also in Vilnius. The Genocide Museum, as it is known for short, is one of the most antisemitic state museums on the planet, featuring 1950s “Forest Brother” antisemitic caricatures with no curatorial comment, and glorification of the LAF Holocaust perpetrators of 1941.
This is the “genocide” museum that refused to mention Jews for twenty years, but which finally capitulated to international and domestic pressure by opening a very small Holocaust room, which, strangely enough, features a stained-glass, Catholicized Star of David, and sings even more praises of the Lithuanian Activist Front which is credited in the room with restoring order (!) in the country in the time between the Soviets’ exit and the setting up of the Nazi administration in 1941.
The next Jewless “Jewish” organization is located between the fake Genocide Museum and the only real Holocaust museum in Lithuania, the Green House.
The Center for the Study of Eastern European Jews is located above a Maxima chain supermarket with no real signs for the guidance of passers-by.
The Center’s webpage lists four women, all with Lithuanian names, as the complete staff. The website also avoids using the ineffable word “Holocaust” with this circumlocution, implying some vague, indeterminate, unknown, across-the-board sense of all-around loss:
“the loss of the complicated last century.”
The logo from the website appears on an A4 printout near an upstairs office door that is locked. Appreciable build-up of dust seems to indicate the door has not been opened in the recent past. According to rumor on the “Vilna Street” this outfit is actually funded by the Russian-Jewish —now Israeli—tycoon Leonid Nievzlin. Hard times?
They appear to engage in historical studies involving Jews and to attend international conferences to deliver papers, while studiously avoiding anything connected with the Holocaust. Presumably the staff is composed of Lithuanian historians, which is the director’s background. Their website was last updated in November, 2011, to announce the completion of a project on Lithuanian museums.
Just a hop away is the Jewless Vilnius Jewish Public Library. Again, the signs seem more intended to keep people away than to bring them in. A small sign in Lithuanian is located among the names of various businesses inside an alleyway off Gedimino, Vilnius’s main street. If you happen to be able to read Lithuanian, you’re in luck, because you have to now find another sign in Lithuanian back in the courtyard fronted by multiple buildings telling you that the library is located on the second floor behind one locked door. You are instructed in Lithuanian to push a certain digit (9) on a keypad in order to be allowed in to the public library.
Upstairs you pass through an electronic library theft-prevention alarm gate to enter a room with shelves, a counter, but no librarian. Depending on the time of year, one of two overall Lithuanian staff will be found in an adjoining room. The books are all in English and are housed in the first room. The other room with the librarian and the computer has empty shelves. Behind that there is some sort of a conference room with a screen and lots of chairs.
I asked the librarian if they had a library catalog. She said they did, but you had to search from the webpage of their parent library, which doesn’t have an English page. What about the signs below, would they be hanging up English versions any time, since all of the books were in English and presumably the clientele would be English speakers? Yes, that must be done, she agreed. The problem, she explained, was too little funding. The Jewish Public Library is funded from the national budget through the Ministry of Culture, but isn’t a high priority, she said. Most of the books hadn’t been cataloged yet and were in storage, and she gave the impression it might be a long time before they were sorted.
So the Ministry of Culture isn’t intending to expand the collection, I asked, through book purchases? No, no, these are all donated books, donated from all over the world. What about other Lithuanian libraries, would there be trades or movement of books between the “Jewish” library and the others? No, Lithuania does not really have this tradition, she explained. I looked over the meager collection in the “stacks,” all four shelves, and saw a few things I’d read before, including Black’s IBM and the Holocaust, with a shiny dust cover, looking as if it had never been opened. Not only is the Vilnius Jewish Public Library Jewless, it’s patron-less as well, and only “public” in a very liberal interpretation of the meaning of that word.
There are more Jewless Jewish organizations in Vilnius. There is a Yiddish institute which does have a Jewish staff member but no Yiddish speakers or Jews among its academic staff during the academic year (in fact, 11 months a year outside the profitable summer course than finances many political excursions on behalf of the government the rest of the year).
There is an “international” Lithuanian commission to popularize the notion of Double Genocide. There is even a Kabbalah school of some sort run by non-Jewish people with non-Jewish students—but you begin to get the picture already.
Just as the Rosenberg Task Force was engaged in “Judenforschung ohne Juden” and the Prague Ghetto was slated to become a Jewless museum to Jewish culture in a Jewless Europe, so do a number of organizations today in Lithuania pursue the study of an extinct culture, usually at Lithuanian government expense.
The problem is, Litvaks aren’t extinct, not even in Lithuania.
What is the psychological mechanism that makes it possible for us to cry for the dead while denying the evidence of our own eyes that the dead live and walk before us?
Once upon a time a German writer decried the death of the last speaker of Old Prussian. Closer to our own time Americans have looked back with sorrow and nostalgia for the loss of Native American cultures, even as members of those cultures survived, mainly in poverty, but were of no real interest to those same Americans. This year, 2012, has seen a lot of discussion of the Maya calendar and has again brought to the fore the idea of declaring extinct people who still exist. Maya writing was only deciphered with the help of the living Maya languages, and yet people who ought to know better are still speaking publicly of the lost Maya civilization which allegedly died out in the 1200s. This insistence that the living are actually dead held back progress on the Maya script for a hundred years.
One is tempted to say that the mechanism by which the living are declared dead and mourned is in fact nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of the mourners, who inevitably belong to the same dominant ethnic group engaged in exterminating the said living.
“Judenforschung ohne Juden” in Lithuania represents more than just this mechanism because of the origins of the Lithuanian state in the Middle Ages. One of the mottos of the early nobles in Lithuania and Poland was “nothing about me, without me.” As the historian of Poland Norman Davies has pointed out, the nobility franchise was extended rather broadly in Poland, and of course the same held true in Lithuania as part of Poland, where, for example, Tatar refugees were officially recognized as nobles.
When the Nazi puppet organization calling itself the Lithuanian Activist Front sought power for itself in a Nazi rump state in 1941, one of the statements they issued was that the rights of settlement Vytautas the Great granted the Jews in perpetuity were null and void. This represented a real break both with the Republic, the model independent Lithuania chose for itself in 1918, and with the traditions of the Grand Duchy. Likewise, “Judenforschung ohne Juden” (Jewish studies sans Jews) represents a real break with the noble tradition of the right of reply, “nothing about me, without me.”
The Lithuanian Jewish Community, which will be one of the main parties in deciding how to divide each year the annually distributed restitution funds, will have to confront the problem of Jewless Jewish organizations seeking funding, and will have to walk a fine line between allocating money for sustaining the actual Jewish community and not alienating nominally Jewish but Jewless organizations who might or might not serve as dupes and lackeys of the government in its world-wide promotion of Double Genocide.
This article originally appeared on www.defendinghistory.com.And the Washington-based progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies has honored two Latin American groups and a US labor group with the annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award. The Honduran Platform on Human Rights was cited in the international category for its work documenting and investigating abuses since the June 2009 coup that overthrew Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Bertha Oliva de Nativi of the Committee of Family Members of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras accepted the award on behalf of the five other groups that comprise the Platform.
Bertha Oliva de Nativi: “Nothing is normal in our country since June 28. A coup does not mean more power for the people. It means police and military violence, more repression, and only makes the victim count increase every day. So with this award, I want to ask that we unite and demand that the United States stop financing the police and military forces in our country.”
The Guatemalan National Police Archives also received special recognition for its work unearthing human rights abuses during Guatemala’s thirty-six-year internal conflict. In the domestic category, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network was honored for fighting to improve working conditions for day laborers in the United States. Pablo Alvarado accepted the award.
Pablo Alvarado: “In the face of indignity, exploitation, humiliation, hatred and bigotry, stigma, fear, and in some places, terror, like in Maricopa County, Arizona, there is courage, courage to peacefully resist, courage to defend and protect ourselves and, yes, even courage to love our detractors.”
The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award is named for the Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, who were murdered in Washington by agents of the US-backed Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet in September 1976.Earlier this year, List Universe published a fine list of 10 great post-apocalyptic novels. The list below is along the same vein, but examines ONLY works published between 1805 and the start of the nuclear age in 1945. Quite possibly only three or four of these works will be familiar to anyone who is not an aficionado of this wide-ranging genre, though people may recognize many of the authors.
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic literature involves any of the following: alien invasions, pandemics, severe natural disasters, the fall of civilization, the end of the world (“dying earth”) and massive wars. Most of the following works were influential to some degree, whether they influenced other authors or the wider genre in general. Most of these works can be found in most public libraries and at online literature sites such as Project Gutenberg.
PLEASE NOTE: This list goes in chronological order. Also, my cutoff date is technically July 1945, when the nuclear age began; therefore, novels such as 1949’s Earth Abides don’t belong on a pre-nuclear age list. So, please check publication dates before you say, “What about X, Y and Z?”
1 Le Dernier Homme (The Last Man) Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville, 1805
The Earth of the far future is dying, and men are sterile. The last few men are found in Brazil, where one of their number attempts a horrific experiment. Grainville’s novel is generally considered the first work of fiction in the “last man on earth” genre.
2 The Last Man Mary Shelley, 1826
Despite a similar title to Grainville’s novel and a similar “last man” theme, Shelley’s The Last Man is quite different. She tells the tale of the last man to survive a plague in the late 21st century. Shelley based many of the characters on her contemporaries who had passed away; her protagonist, Lionel, is supposedly Shelley’s autobiographical image of herself. Critics verbally demolished the 3-volume novel when first published and it didn’t see daylight again until the 1960s. Nowadays The Last man is considered a true classic of the genre.
3 After London Richard Jeffries, 1885
In After London, or, Wild England, an unstated cataclysm kills most people in England. In the first part, a historian looks back on the fall of civilization. The descriptions of things returning to nature are echoed in 1949’s “Earth Abides” by George Stewart, the current competing History Channel and National Geographic Channel programs “Life After People” (HC) and “Aftermath: Population Zero” (NGC), and Alan Weisman’s intriguing speculative work, The World Without Us. In the less popular part 2, Jeffries explores the return of feudalism in England.
4 Caesar’s Column Ignatius Donnelly, 1890
This intriguing, politically motivated novel is classified many ways; it is sometimes considered apocalyptic because of the massive destruction in one scene. Donnelley was an agrarian populist, and his novel is a utopian/dystopian critique of the then-modern world. His farmer hero travels to New York and beholds many wonders, such as broadcast newspapers, illumination powered by the Northern Lights (figure that one out), transparent sidewalks, airships, etc. But the city of wonders hides dark secrets of massive oppression.
5 The Time Machine H.G. Wells, 1895
No “best-of…” science fiction list can fail to include at least one work by H.G. Wells, one of the most critical authors in Western civilization. Wells makes his first appearance on this list with The Time Machine. The tale is long-since familiar: A man in Victorian London builds a time machine and travels hundreds of thousands of years into the future, where he meets up with both the docile and the savage descendants of humanity. The Time Machine was twice translated to the big screen. (Because of its various components, The Time Machine fits into the genres of general sci-fi, time travel, apocalyptic and dying earth.)
6 War of the Worlds H.G. Wells, 1898
People will most likely be more familiar with this seminal work than any other. Indeed, rare is the list of “great works” of apocalyptic literature (or alien attack or great sci-fi in general) that fails to mention this fantastic tale of alien invasion. It’s been retold on radio (which caused a panic in 1938), on the big screen and TV, and in numerous books. It’s been re-imagined in even more books and influenced such movies as Independence Day (which is really just a fancy |
. If we stop businesses from hiring illegal aliens, more Americans can get and maintain work,” Jones wrote.
In a recent interview with Fox Business, Jones was asked how popular his stance on immigration is in Butler County.
In case you missed it. Check it out.https://t.co/6ICqKcoHzO — Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) March 31, 2017
“It’s very popular, it’s very popular in our state. Trump won the state of Ohio even with the Governor of Ohio working against him, and never supported him,” said Jones during the interview.
When the host insinuated that what Jones is doing could be considered “nasty,” Jones fired back saying, “Hey, it’s not for sissies.”
Ryan Saavedra is a contributor for Breitbart Texas and can be found on Twitter at @RealSaavedra.We live in a globalized world that is shaped by an increasingly complex economic system. Hence, it has become more and more important for people to know what is going on around them. However, finding and processing the relevant information to do this has become more difficult as well, due to the increased complexity and information overload. I n reaction to this issue, we have been working on a series of infographics that illustrate the most important facts and figures about the economies of various countries all over the world.
The next infographic shows the German economy at a glance. It is Europe's largest economy and the worlds fifth largest (in PPP terms). Thanks to a highly skilled labor force and high quality products such as machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and household equipment, Germany has become the 3rd largest exporter worldwide. As a result, employment is projected to reach an all-time high in the near future. Take a look:Faculty Guidelines for Requesting a Digital Collection
The Digital Collections Department would like to work with faculty on projects that are important to their teaching and research. We, however, must balance the work of a small staff among many projects. Faculty can assist by working with the department to define reasonable timelines and where possible provide funding for staffing.
Working with University Libraries' Digital Collections ensures the digitized materials will remain in a stable environment for long-term access and will be made accessible through a reliable, trustworthy and credible source.
If there are materials (preferably a “collection” of materials as defined by the library) in the Columbia campus Libraries’ special collections that a faculty member would like scanned and made available online for either pedagogical or research purposes, the Digital Collection team requests that:
Faculty contact the relevant special collections unit directly and propose the digital project at least nine months in advance of the project completion date.
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of the project will look like before the project is begun. If a grant proposal is involved, please contact Digital Collections and the special collections unit early in the grant writing process, so they can add necessary funds to the budget for scanning, metadata, preservation and any needed conservation for the materials.
Once the project is defined, Digital Collections will scan the materials, create the metadata following national standards, and load the materials to the library’s digital repository.As progressive and post-Mormons continue to leave the LDS church in increasing numbers, many former LDS church members miss the sense of community that they once enjoyed as active Mormons.
Oasis is a network of secular communities that meet weekly (on Sundays), organized according to the following values:
1) People are more important than beliefs.
2) Reality is known through reason.
3) Meaning comes from making a difference
4) Human hands solve human problems.
5) Be accepting and be accepted.
Currently the Oasis Network has two thriving communities:
Houston Oasis: http://houstonoasis.org
Kansas City Oasis: http://KCoasis.org
Also, a new Oasis community is under development in Boston: http://bostonoasis.org.
In this episode we interview the two founders of Oasis: Mike Aus of Oasis Houston, and Helen Stringer of Oasis Kansas City.
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commentsPresident Donald Trump said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping about his decision to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Syria while the men ate dessert at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, last week.
During the interview, Trump seemed to dwell on the fact that the two world leaders were enjoying some delicious cake.
“I was sitting at the table. We had finished dinner. We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen, and President Xi was enjoying it,” Trump recalled in an interview with Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo that aired on Wednesday.
“And I was given the message from the generals that the ships are locked and loaded, what do you do?” Trump went on. “And we made a determination to do it, so the missiles were on the way. And I said, ‘Mr. President, let me explain something to you.’”
“So what happens is, I said, ‘We’ve just launched 59 missiles heading to Iraq and I wanted you to know this.’ And he was eating his cake. And he was silent,” Trump added.
.@POTUS tells @MariaBartiromo he told President Xi about the Missile strikes over "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake." pic.twitter.com/vPLu7ZhxbR — FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) April 12, 2017
Bartiromo then quickly interjected by noting the strikes were launched against Syria, not Iraq.
“Yes. Heading toward Syria,” Trump affirmed. “And I want you to know that, because I didn’t want him to go home. We were almost finished. It was a full day in Palm Beach. We’re almost finished, and I — what does he do, finish his dessert and go home and then they say, ‘You know, the guy you just had dinner with just attacked a country?’”
“How did he react?” Bartiromo asked.
“So he paused for 10 seconds and then he asked the interpreter to please say it again. I didn’t think that was a good sign,” Trump said. “And he said to me, ‘Anybody that uses gases... but anybody that was so brutal and uses gases to do that young children and babies, it’s OK.’”1st 2nd 3rd Minnesota 15 23 18 Stanford 25 25 25 0
3
Team Stats
MINN STAN • Kills 37 37 • Assists 36 33 • Digs 39 43 • Blocks 8.0 15.0 Individual Leaders • Kills Santana (13) • Hitting% Lohman (.600) • Assists Seliger-Swenson (33) • Digs Rosado (9) • Blocks P Tapp (5 BA) Gopher Volleyball Online • Volleyball Home |
• Twitter: @GopherVball |
• Gophers on Facebook
Final Stats
The University of Minnesota fell to No. 2 Stanford today, 25-15, 25-23, 25-18, in Stanford, Calif. Minnesota drops to 0-2 this season, while the Cardinal improves to 2-0.
Daly Santana had a match-high 13 kills, while Paige Tapp had 10 kills, followed by Hannah Tapp with nine. Paige Tapp also led the Gophers with five block assists. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had a match-best 33 assists, while Dalianliz Rosado added a team-best nine digs. Stanford hit.253 and had 15 blocks, while holding the Gophers to.095 and eight blocks.
Minnesota travels to Louisville, Ky. to compete in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Sept. 4-5. The Gophers compete against host Louisville Sept. 4, at 6 p.m. CT, followed by No. 7 North Carolina, Sept. 5 at 3:30 p.m. CT.
Set Breakdown:
Set 1: The Cardinal took the first set on a 25-15 win. Stanford opened up the contest with a 7-3 lead to force Minnesota to call a timeout. Minnesota, however, put together a four-point run and tied the set at 12-12, capped off with a block from Paige Tapp and Alyssa Goehner. The Cardinal responded with a five-point run to hold a 17-12 lead, as the Gophers used their second timeout. That would be all Stanford would need to cushion the set win as the Cardinal finished off with a 25-15 win.
Set 2: After 15 tie scores and seven lead changes, Stanford won the second, 25-23. The two teams exchanged points to start the second set until the Gophers took a two-point lead at 11-9 on a kill from Hannah Tapp and Lohman. After a three-point lead from the Gophers, the Cardinal tied it at 12-12. The two teams continued to trade points until 17-17. Stanford added back-to-back blocks to force the Gophers to take a timeout as they trailed 19-17. The Cardinal pushed it to 20-17 with a kill before Santana responded with a point to end the run. Santana added a kill and an ace to bring the Gophers within one at 20-19. A kill by Paige Tapp put the Gopher deficit to 23-22, but the Cardinal closed out the set with a 25-23 second set win to go up, 2-0.
Set 3: Stanford finished off the match with a 25-18 third set win. They opened the third set with a 7-5 lead as the Gophers used their first timeout. With a 13-8 lead, Minnesota put together a run, trailing just 13-12. The run forced Stanford to call a timeout. Stanford would later take a 17-14 lead as the Gophers used their second timeout of the set. Stanford pushed the lead to 22-15 on a 7-1 run before it was ended on a kill from Lohman. The Cardinal finished off the set and the match with three kills to win, 25-18.Dear Steph,
I am a Dubs fan. Always have been, always will be. I pass by Oracle Arena every day to and from work. Traffic is so bad on 880 I often get to admire, at length, the giant hanging posters adorned with your face and the gaudy playoff decorations in blue and gold. Those also happen to be the school colors of the high school nearby where I teach. I have a Baron Davis jersey from We Believe, I grew up watching Run TMC. I giggled each and every time Manute Bol drained a three. When I was a wee lad one of my favorite things to say over and over was Sarunas Marciulionis. I am a Bay Area native, and the Warriors are my team.
And I love you. You would be my favorite player except for I have a soft spot for emotionally unstable crazies, and so I really love me some Draymond Green. But you are amazing and I also give you credit for being an amazing person off the court as well.
But I have to ask you to do me a solid and make sure you don’t ever come visit my high school.
I know the NBA does great things in the community, and I realize the Warriors are no exception. Your boy Klay Thompson is a finalist for the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for having such an impact in and around Oakland this year. The NBA Cares campaign continually shows the league is committed to getting out in the community and helping those in need. When you get involved in soup kitchens, wrap Christmas presents for needy kids, and build homes for the homeless I am inspired. But where those kinds of civic-minded activities have clear benefits, I have to tell you something you probably haven’t heard: Coming to poor high schools like mine isn’t going to help any of these kids out, in fact, it might make things worse.
You see, Steph (I hope you don’t mind if I call you Steph), if you come to my school you will be your usual inspiring, humble, hilarious, kind self and you will say all the right things. But the reason I don’t want you to come has to do with what you won’t say.
You won’t say that since the day you were born you had a professional one-on-one tutor who helped you hone your skills on a daily basis. Your father Dell Curry was an NBA great just like you are after him, but you will not remind the poor kids at my school that they have never had such a wonderful instructor and they never will.
And if you do ever visit my school, you also won’t mention that along with your father’s success came all the monetary rewards NONE of my students have, like three square meals a day; a full sized court and hoop in the backyard; a sense of safety; a mother and a father; top schools, top peers, and community resources. I know you might not think of it like this, but you might as well have come from another planet. But you won’t say that, will you?
I mean, look at Klay Thompson. I wonder if anyone else finds it odd that the best shooting back-court in NBA history were both born with silver balls.
You also won’t talk about the fact that you are a giant man and taller than almost all of my students will ever be. Even though on the court you look like Peter Dinklage in high tops, when you are around real people you are very, very tall. Six-foot-three is nothing to laugh at, and if you did walk into my classroom, you might hit your head on the doorframe. You won the genetic lottery in addition to the monetary one, but you probably won’t be reminding my students that their size alone has already kept them out of competing in most American professional sports.
What you will do is shoot some threes, dazzle everyone with your dimples, high five the homies, and sign some autographs. It will be wonderful. At least, it will seem like that at first. But what you won’t see is the fact that most of these kids don’t have a backup plan for their dream of being you. If you ask the boys on my campus what they are going to be when they get older, the answer will involve a sport. They will claim they are going to play in the NBA or NFL, and seeing you there will make them think they can actually do it.
Because the worst thing you won’t tell them Steph, is that they can’t do it. You won’t tell them that will you? You won’t be able to bring yourself to tell them it is already too late. You won’t tell them about all those years when you were playing in top competitive leagues as a child. You won’t tell them that if they haven’t played organized basketball by the age of sixteen (twelve, really), they have no chance of going pro. You see, the kids I am talking about do not play year-round, they are not in a travelling league, and they have never even heard of a McDonald’s All-American; they just eat McDonald’s two meals a day and have Hot Cheetos in between.
Because by the time they are sixteen, boys in this country, if they have even a tiny, tiny chance of going pro, should already be on the radar of colleges and scouts. They should be the best player not just at their school but in their entire city. Probably their entire state. They should already be 6’3” and growing. You know this and I know this, but the kids who you will inspire with your presence will simply see you and think they too will be MVP one day, even though they don’t even play for our high school team. So instead of doing homework the night after your visit, they will grab their lopsided old ball and go play on the court with their little brother and shoot the ball badly, improbably thinking every time the ball actually does go in it means they are on their way to fame and fortune.
You see Steph, once you leave my school, the boys here are not going to run home and finish that essay, which is one thing they could do about their future that is in their control. Just like if Beyonce came here, the girls wouldn’t head back to their one bedroom apartments filled with two families and begin their science labs. When Beyonce tells them to make sure they pass Algebra, they look at her and ask “What for? Did Algebra help your voice?” Instead they will go home and look in the mirror and wish they were tanner and thicker and a better singer and dancer and they will cry into their mascara. Because that is what celebrity worship does, Steph, and we need these kids to do less of it rather than more. They are already very good at dreaming about being rich and famous, what we need them to do is get a little more realistic about what is in their control. We need less of an emphasis on sports and celebrity in high school, because it is hurting these kids too much as it is.
Really the more I think about it, the crazier it sounds to write to you and tell you NOT to come to my high school. I mean, you are such an awesome guy, you are a family man with a wife and daughter, with another on the way. That video your wife made is hella funny. You are humble, a leader, and clearly our young men need to meet a man like you. Maybe I’m wrong to write this letter.
Or maybe not. When I tell my students they are not going to be professional athletes, they like to say, “Won’t you feel stupid if one of your students does go pro?” And my answer is always the same: “No, because even if they do, that means I will still be 99.9% right. Right now I am one thousand for one thousand.” Steph, you and I know they have a better chance of winning the lottery, but no one seems to tell them these things but me. Would this letter make you feel better if I told you I discourage the California Lottery from giving inspirational speeches at my high school as well? If I wrote them a letter, would anyone think I was out of line? Probably not.
At risk of making Dub Nation mad at me, because I know how we can get, I don’t want you to think it has anything to do with you personally, or the team (I will be screaming every time you hit a three all throughout the playoffs). It’s me, not you. I mean, you are the man, and I am just a teacher–no one really. The truth is, every person on earth would probably get something out of meeting you in person. For you symbolize everything people in this country value most, you are the epitome of all we hold dear, you are the pinnacle of humanity: You are good at a sport.Portsmouth city council has become the second local authority in Britain to vote in favour of banning pro-life vigils outside an abortion clinic.
The motion, for the council to “do all within its powers” to prevent pro-life vigils outside a BPAS abortion clinic, was supported by 31 votes to one.
It follows a similar decision by the London borough of Ealing.
A daily pro-life vigil was held at St Mary’s Hospital Health Campus, Milton, for a week last month. It was attended by Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth, who tweeted: “Just back from 40 Days for Life vigil outside Portsmouth abortion clinic. Please pray for the brave participants and for an end to abortion.”
Lisa Butler, who organises the 40 Days for Life vigils, told Portsmouth News: “You don’t have to agree with us on abortion to stand up for our right to peacefully pray outside the hospital.”
According to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, (SPUC), the council heard testimony from Caroline Farrow, a Catholic writer, who described her experience at the clinic 20 years ago. “I was not informed about the basic facts of my procedure,” she said.
“I was angry at how I’d been misled and the reality of abortion glossed over by the clinic,” she continued.
In a statement, SPUC said: “We know from the witness of the many mothers who have been helped by pro-life volunteers that women often end up at abortion clinics because they feel they have no other choice. Why should volunteers be vilified for offering help to women in need?”
The council is now considering creating a “buffer zone” around the clinic; a public spaces protection order (PSPO) is one option. A PSPO is currently being sought by Ealing council for a Marie Stopes clinic in the borough.
More than 100 MPs – including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – have urged the Government to ban pro-life vigils outside abortion clinics across the country.Kyle Hendricks will have that same blank look on his face as 40,000 fans stand on their feet at Wrigley Field and the sea of people forms around Clark and Addison, waiting to explode in celebration when the Cubs win their first National League pennant in 71 years.
Hendricks is exhaustive in his preparation, creative with his variety of pitches and unpredictable sequencing and not at all intimidated by the idea of going up against Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night in Game 6 of this best-of-seven NL Championship Series. Even Kershaw – a three-time Cy Young Award winner – recognizes Hendricks as “the Greg Maddux of this generation.”
Hendricks will stand on the mound as a billboard for The Cubs Way, a mixture of the patience, natural talent, Ivy League intelligence and guts needed to reimagine this franchise and get to the brink of the World Series. It also took some luck, the kind of random bounce or happy accident you don’t automatically associate with the Cubbies.
What if the initial Ryan Dempster deal with the Atlanta Braves didn’t fall through and the Cubs wound up with an underwhelming reliever like Randall Delgado? What if the Dodgers – the team Dempster desperately wanted to join so he could play with Ted Lilly again – changed their minds at the last minute?
“It was bizarre,” general manager Jed Hoyer admitted. “I’ve never been a part of something like that.”
Just think about how much Wrigleyville has changed since July 31, 2012. The Cubs were in the middle of a 101-loss season that would be rewarded with the No. 2 overall pick in the next year’s draft, which became potential MVP Kris Bryant, a tanking strategy that helped create a 103-win team.
As the clock ticked down toward the trade deadline, Dempster hung out inside the team’s offices, playing Golden Tee in the lounge, kicking his feet up on a staffer’s desk and watching the coverage on MLB Network.
“He was quite comfortable,” Hoyer said. “Listen, (players with) full no-trades or 10/5 rights – they have power. And I think Ryan is very thoughtful and had very specific desires and the Dodgers are obviously a destination. But I think he understood by the end that we had an obligation to the Cubs to make the best trade we could. And we couldn’t make a trade we liked with the Dodgers.”
The pitching infrastructure that would eventually help Hendricks win 16 games and an ERA title this season first built up value for Dempster, who posted a 2.25 ERA in his first 16 starts in 2012, the final year of his contract. The Cubs had been focused on a group that included three pitching prospects – Allen Webster, Zach Lee and Chris Reed – who are no longer in the Los Angeles organization.
[SHOP: Buy a "Try Not to Suck" shirt with proceeds benefiting Joe Maddon's Respect 90 Foundation & other Cubs Charities]
“Listen, nobody knew how it would turn out,” Dempster said. “That’s the truth. No matter what trade you make with anybody, you don’t know how the trade’s going to turn out.”
President of baseball operations Theo Epstein understood all the risks and all the rewards, flipping one short-term asset after another and trying to collect as many potential building blocks as possible. During the Jeff Samardzija negotiations, the Cubs asked for Corey Seager so many times that it became a running joke with the Dodgers. The Cubs found another future All-Star shortstop in Addison Russell when they shipped Samardzija to the Oakland A’s in a blockbuster Fourth of July deal in 2014.
Dempster had been so fixated on the Dodgers that Cubs management finally told him: Fine, you don’t believe us? Talk to Ned Colletti yourself. Dempster spoke directly with Colletti, the Dodgers GM at the time and a former Cubs PR guy.
“I was like: ‘Wow, this really isn’t going to happen,’” Dempster remembered. “‘OK, so where do we go from here?’”
Like Rick Renteria, Colletti ultimately became part of the collateral damage when Andrew Friedman left the Tampa Bay Rays for a president’s job with the Dodgers in October 2014. That triggered the escape clause in Joe Maddon’s contract, allowing the star manager to score a five-year, $25 million contract in Chicago, while Colletti got bumped into an advisory role in Los Angeles.
“We got some criticism for this, but (Dempster) couldn’t actually hear the (other) conversations,” Hoyer said. “It wasn’t like he was forcing the negotiations. He was just there (in the office), so that way we could ask him any questions that we would have, like: ‘Will you do this? Will you do that?’ It wasn’t like we were having him on speaker.”
The Cubs also had a source with connections to the Texas Rangers who recommended a Class-A pitcher with a fluid delivery, pinpoint control and that Dartmouth College education.
“Theo would pop his head in,” Dempster recalled. “He would be like: ‘St. Louis?’ And I’d say: ‘No.’
“‘Yankees?’ ‘Do I have to shave my beard?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Then, no.’ We were going back and forth. And then (Theo said): ‘Hey, we like this package from Texas. It gives us a couple good players.’
“I was like: ‘All right, let’s do it.’”
Whatever tension may have existed in the moment, Dempster earned his World Series ring with the 2013 Boston Red Sox, signed on with MLB Network and rejoined the organization as a special assistant in December 2014, or right around the time the Cubs pushed to close Jon Lester’s $155 million megadeal.
“I love the Cubs,” Dempster said. “To see one of the guys that you got traded for contributing so much to a place that you care so much about, man, every fifth day, I don’t miss (it). I don’t miss when he’s pitching. I don’t miss an inning.
“I’m locked in, because I totally enjoy it. I think it’s awesome to leave somewhere that you care so much about – and the guy that comes back as a piece is much better than you (and) has been such an integral part.”
The Cubs are up 3-2 in the NLCS again, which means the national media will bring up Bartman, etc. But the Cubs will give the ball to a pitcher with poise, the ability to think on his feet and way more stuff than he’s given credit for, even if he’s not Kershaw.
“This is still the same game,” Hendricks said. “You go out there and you’re making the same pitches. It’s the same lineup, same hitters. There’s just more going on outside. So all the attention – the added pressure coming from the outside – you don’t pay attention to it.
“It has nothing to do with the job that you have to do when you go out there.”Jordan Peele’s GET OUT is still one of the most talked about movies of the year, which is a monumental achievement considering the move hit theaters four and half months ago, practically an eternity on movie years. Like with every freshman director of a smash hit, people are wondering what Peele is gonna do next. In an age where Disney can offer top jobs on Marvel and STAR WARS projects, Peele is steadfast in his plans to take it nice and slow with a new, modestly-budgeted thriller
During a joint interview alongside Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Universal’s Donna Langley with THR, Peele was asked about his newest movie (planned for 2019), and though people will indeed be comparing it to GET OUT he says don’t expect any sort of spiritual (or literal) sequel:
I'll tell you this, it's going to be a very different movie than Get Out. Don't expect a sequel.
Earlier this year Peele was linked with the big-budget, live-action version of AKIRA, but ultimately came out saying he would not take on the project. When asked if he would ever consider taking on a blockbuster event film in the near future, Peele stood by his plan to stay in the realm of smaller features…for now:
The most important thing for me is maintaining as much of the virtues of the process of Get Out as possible. My goal and plan is to rise in budget slowly. It doesn’t make any sense for me to jump to an enormous budget when it changes the process entirely. I pinch myself and realize how lucky I am to be able to have created something. And if i can do that again, isn’t that the best?
Peele demonstrated a lot of skill on GET OUT, but he seems to understand he can’t bite off more than he can chew just because he has one hit movie under his belt. Not many young directors would elect to do smaller movies when they’re being offered tentpole pictures, and Peele is making the right call. I want to see his more personal material, and then if he feels ready bring that style and confidence to, say, a Marvel movie. Frankly, I'd like to see him do a Marvel movie with only $5 million. It can be done!
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HOUSTON, Tx. -- When it comes to capitalism in Texas green could become the new, well, green. And investment firms throughout the country want in on the ground floor. That's why Boston-based hedge fund Dutchess Capital Management is sponsoring a first-ever marijuana investment conference in Houston -- with the hopes that if and when pot becomes legal in Texas, they'll be sitting pretty as the backers of all the businesses that come with it.
"Our plan is to form an analytical laboratory in Colorado and then provide lab testing services for producers," says Erol Bakkalbasi with startup laboratory company Cannametrix. Like many small business managers at the conference, he's looking for capital backing for his company. And when you think marijuana conference you probably think head shops and stoners, right? Well, think again, these are serious investors looking for real marijuana, hemp and cannabis-based businesses to take them into the future.
"We call it a startup industry for cannabis but it's unlike any before it because for the first time, we don't have to prove the market, we already know people are consuming cannabis says Michael Blunk," a business development manger with Archview Investment Group. He's here looking for promising businesses to invest in. And in a state driven by agriculture and capitalism, folks here say it's not a matter of if marijuana becomes legal, but when.
"Right now there's some legislation that's in the works to be introduced in the 2015 state legislature for medical marijuana," explains Katharine Neill a Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University. "I would love to see some movement on that in 2015 but I think more realistically it will be 2017 where you'll start to see some movement in Texas."
Meaning that depending what Texas lawmakers do, the guys at this conference could be the next Texas wildcatters.So now that Cincinnati Beer Week and Cincy Winter Beerfest are done for 2014, we look ahead to the next big beer event in Cincinnati – Bockfest! While Bockfest itself isn’t until March 7-9, the Sausage Queen preliminaries have been going for a while now and more events are starting to take place.
This Friday (Feb. 21st), Queen City Glass Arts and Brazee Street Studios in collaboration with Arnold’s Bar and Grill will present the annual Bockfest Bash. Each year, the Bockfest trophy is created out of molten glass and is presented to the winning float in the Bockfest parade. Food and drink will be provided by Arnold’s. The event is held 6-9 pm in the Hot Shop at the Brazee Box building, located at 3235 Enyart Ave.
If you are starting to make your Bockfest plans, here is some information from Arnold’s to help you start planning your weekend.Photo by Dior Rodriguez
Currently, there are about 1.4 million service people in the United States Armed Forces. This includes the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. Each year, approximately 180,000 more people enlist. However, once their active duty's ended, it's difficult for some veterans to reenter society, find employment and housing, and get the medical care they may need to treat mental or physical ailments resulting from their service.
The US Department of Veteran Affairs estimates that 11 percent of the current adult homeless population in the United States are veterans; 45 percent of that number are African American, predominantly male, live in major urban areas; and 41 percent are between the ages of 31 and 50. As well, 50 percent of these veterans suffer from a serious mental illness and/or disability, and 70 percent have substance abuse problems. Additionally, around 1.4 million other veterans could be at risk of homelessness resulting from various factors such as poverty, a lack of support networks, and poor living conditions in substandard housing.
Caring for our former service members is a $182.3 billion a year project, but even with this significant sum dedicated to the effort, there are still veterans who lack access to the funding, support, and housing they need.
Joining Forces is a nationwide program founded in 2011 by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden that, according to their website, aims to work "hand in hand with the public and private sectors to ensure that service members, veterans, and their families have the tools they need to succeed throughout their lives." They focus on employment resources, education programs, and access to wellness services—which includes resources, as well as drawing attention to the urgent issues that veterans and their families confront every day.
The challenges facing veterans in the United States today is the focus of the latest episode of VICELAND's BALLS DEEP with host Thomas Morton, airing tonight at 10 PM EST. The episode follows veteran Wendell Banks as he moves into a new home in a public housing complex being opened as part of the Joining Forces initiative and meets with Michelle Obama to discuss his military service and what it was like transitioning back into civilian life. In anticipation of tonight's episode, we spoke with the first lady over email to discuss why she decided to focus her efforts on this specific issue and some of the greatest challenges she's faced in the process.
Dory Carr-Harris: Obviously America is a nation with a myriad of pressing social issues. Why did you and Dr. Biden decide to rally around eradicating the issue of homelessness in the veteran population of the US?
First Lady Michelle Obama: It is utterly unconscionable that people who fought for our country would ever have to sleep on the streets when they return home. That's why we launched the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness—and I want to emphasize the word "end," because that's really our ultimate goal. We know how to solve this problem—there are tried and true approaches that are working all across this country. And when we issued this challenge, we were thrilled that local, state, and federal government officials, along with businesses, nonprofits, and philanthropists rose to meet it. And today, 35 communities, including four of the largest cities in America, and three states—Virginia, Connecticut, and Delaware—have ended veteran homelessness. So we know this is possible. And the beauty of these successes is that we're showing that if we can end veteran homelessness, then we can end homelessness for other populations, too—families, LGBT youth, senior citizens.
America has a long tradition of supporting our troops, especially on the level of national discourse. But there seems to be a bit of a disconnect when they return from service, often falling off society's radar and ending up without homes, jobs, or care? Why does this happen?
I want to be clear that, generally, our service members make smooth transitions back to civilian society—finding jobs, raising families, and establishing themselves as leaders in their workplaces and communities. But there are folks who, understandably, struggle when they return home, and they deserve our unwavering support. That's why Jill and I felt it was so important not just to shine a light on issues that our veterans and their families are facing, but to actually address these challenges—not just with parades, ceremonies, or kind words, but with real action that makes a difference they can see and feel in their daily lives. I'm talking about things like mental health counseling, job training, help finding a home. These men and women and their families have sacrificed so much for our country, and this is the absolute least we can do for them.
Watch veteran Wendell Clark welcome First Lady Michelle Obama into his new home.
Wendell Banks (who you met during the filming of the BALLS DEEP episode) was obviously so thankful for the support. Is that the normal reaction you receive from veterans in this country? Have people who you've worked with expressed resentment or anger at having served their country and then been unable to find employment or housing? How are veterans feeling about the efforts to provide more support and social infrastructure?
When we first started Joining Forces in 2011, there was a fair amount of skepticism about whether this would be a real effort or just another PR campaign. We heard from young veterans and military spouses who couldn't find work, or were struggling to get the mental health support they needed, and I think some of them were wondering how two women with almost no budget were really going to make a difference. But over the past five years, we've rallied folks across this country to step up and serve our veterans, service members, and their families—and we've been overwhelmed by the response. When it comes to employment alone, companies have hired or trained 1.5 million veterans and military spouses. So while we are nowhere near finished—we have a lot of work ahead of us—I think this is a strong start.
Michelle Obama gives veteran Wendell Banks a housewarming gift basket. Photo by Dior Rodriguez
The problems of PTSD and suicide play a central role |
8 W 48 O 184 ), pieced together by cobalt-based linker molecules.
Whilst metal organic frameworks (MOF’s) are now well established with an efficient combination of robustness and flexibility, they are composed of both inorganic and organic linkers. The flexi crystal is the first of its kind to only employ inorganic metal oxides.
The flexi-crystal undergoes the largest single crystal-to-crystal transformation thus far known. They also show a huge crystal volume contraction and expansion change, which shows conformational flexibility whilst maintaining its robustness. This material challenges the norm that robustness and flexibility are mutually exclusive by employing both principles in a single crystal.
The shape of the building blocks is similar to that of a doughnut. The central void aligns in the assembled crystal to form extended pores that are open to guest molecule inclusion, or exclusion. It is the incorporation and removal of guest molecules that causes the rings within the lattice to transform and re-align themselves. The crystal architectures span across 0-3 dimensional architectures and can occupy 0, 1D, 2D and 3D systems.
The crystal’s transformation ability is attributed to the stability of the ring-shaped clusters, their flexibility and their ability to reorganise themselves within the crystal lattices. The reorganisation capability is due to the W-O(W) and the Co-O(W) bonds in the lattice, as they can be easily broken and reformed.
The rearrangement of the flexi-crystal is activated by the absorption/desorption of small molecules such as water, ammonia and methanol into the crystal. The crystal can undergo dehydration, rehydration and reactions under vacuum to produce the different crystal arrangements, which can be distinguished by the human eye due to the visible colour change exhibited by the crystal(s). The crystals produced by dehydration have found to occupy a smaller unit cell, and vice versa for hydrated crystals.
The original crystal formed by the synthetic process is a 1-dimension chain of tungsten building blocks. Each molecule and/or reaction produces a specific crystal that could either be a 0D molecular crystal, one of two types of 2D columnar crystals, a 2D sheet crystal, one of the two 3D network crystals or a differently orientated 1D chain.
However, once the crystal has changed it orientation into a new crystal, it can never return to its original form. It can however switch continuously between the other crystal forms, with the exception being a 3D network crystal produced by methanol vapour. The other states can switch between each other and have been found to be stable for more than 6 cycles- an indicator that this material is exceptionally robust.
The ability to switch between states, without structural degradation leans itself to many possible applications in the future. Because of the ability to uptake small molecules, and change under different humidities, it may have potential future application as small molecule, VOC and humidity sensors.
Source:
Zhan C., Cameron J. M., Gabb D., Boyd T., Winter R. S., Vila-Nadal L., Mitchell S. G., Glatzel S., Breternitz J., Gregory D. H., Long D-L., Macdonell A., Cronin L., A metamorphic inorganic framework that can be switched between eight single-crystalline states, 2017, Nature Communications, 8, 14185
Image Credit: shutterstock.com/kitchigin
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.This forward introduction originally appeared in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by DC Comics. This website does not claim ownership or copyright of this material. It has been reprinted here simply for your reading pleasure.
THE MARK OF BATMAN: An introduction by Alan Moore
As anyone involved in fiction and its crafting over the past fifteen or so years would be delighted to tell you, heroes are starting to become rather a problem. They aren't what they used to be...or rather they are, and therein lies the heart of the difficulty.
The world about us has changed and is continually changing at an ever-accelerating pace. So have we. With the increase in media coverage and information technology, we see more of the world, comprehend its workings a little more clearly, and as a result our perception of ourselves and the society surrounding us has been modified. Consequently, we begin to make different demands upon the art and culture that is meant to reflect the constantly shifting landscape we find ourselves in. We demand new themes, new insights, new dramatic situations.
We demand new heroes.
The fictional heroes of the past, while still retaining all of their charm and power and magic, have had some of their credibility stripped away forever as a result of the new sophistication in their audience. With the benefit of hindsight and a greater understanding of anthropoid behavior patterns, science fiction author Philip Jose Farmer was able to demonstrate quite credibly that the young Tarzan would almost certainly have indulged in sexual experimentation with chimpanzees and that he would just surely have had none of the aversion to eating human flesh that Edgar Rice Burroughs attributed to him. As our political and social consciousness continues to evolve, Alan Quartermain stands revealed as just another white imperialist out to exploit the natives and we begin to see that the overriding factor in James Bond's psychological makeup is his utter hatred and contempt for women. Whether most of us would prefer to enjoy the above-mentioned gentlemen's adventures without spoiling things by considering the social implications is beside the point. The fact remains that we have changed, along with our society, and that were such characters created today they would be subject to the most extreme suspicion and criticism.
So, unless we are to somehow do without heroes altogether, how are the creators of fiction to go about redefining their legends to suit the contemporary climate?
The fields of cinema and literature have to some extent been able to tackle the problem in a mature and intelligent fashion, perhaps by virtue of having a mature and intelligent audience capable of appreciating and supporting such a response. The field of comic books, seen since its inception as a juvenile medium in which any interjection of adult themes and subject matter are likely to be met with howls of outrage and the threat or actuality of censorship, has not been so fortunate. Whereas in novels and movies we have been presented with such concepts as the anti-hero or the classical hero reinterpreted in a contemporary manner, comic books have largely had to plod along with the same old muscle-bound oafs spouting the same old muscle-bound platitudes while attempting to dismember each other. As the naiveté of the characters and the absurdity of their situations become increasingly embarrassing and anachronistic to modern eyes, so does the problem become more compounded and intractable. Left floundering in the wake of other media, how are comic books to reinterpret their traditional icons so as to interest an audience growing progressively further away from them? Obviously, the problem becomes one that can only be solved by people who understand the dilemma and, further to that, have an equal understanding of heroes and what makes them tick.
Which brings me to Frank Miller, and to Dark Knight.
In deciding to apply his style and sensibilities to The Batman, Frank Miller has come up with a solution to the difficulties outlined above that is as impressive and elegant as any that I've seen. More strikingly still, he has managed to do it while handling a character who, in the view of the wider public that exists beyond the relatively tiny confines of the comic audience, sums up more than any other the essential silliness of the comic book hero. Whatever changes may have been wrought in the comics themselves, the image of Batman most permanently fixed in the mind of the general populace is that of Adam West delivering outrageously straight-faced camp dialogue while walking up a wall thanks to the benefit of stupendous special effects and a camera turned on its side. To lend such a subject credibility in the eyes of an audience not necessarily enamored of super-heroes and their trappings is no inconsiderable feat, and it would perhaps be appropriate to look a little more closely here at what exactly it is that Miller has done. (I hope Frank will forgive me for calling him 'Miller'. It seems a little brusque and rude and I would certainly never do it to his face, but somehow it's just the sort of thing you call people you know quite well when writing introductions for their books.)
He has taken a character whose every trivial and incidental detail is graven in stone on the hearts and minds of the comic fans that make up his audience and managed to dramatically redefine that character without contradicting one jot of the character's mythology. Yes, Bat-man is still Bruce Wayne, Alfred is still his butler and Commissioner Gordon is still chief of police, albeit just barely. There is still a young sidekick named Robin, along with a batmobile, a batcave and a utility belt. The Joker, Two-Face, and the Catwoman are still in evidence amongst the roster of villains. Everything is exactly the same, except for the fact that it's all totally different.
Gotham City, a place which during the comic stories of the forties and fifties seemed to be an extended urban playground stuffed with giant typewriters and other gargantuan props, becomes something much grimmer in Miller's hands. A dark and unfriendly city in decay, populated by rabid and sociopathic streetgangs, it comes to resemble more closely the urban masses which may very well exist in our own uncomfortably near future. The Bat-man himself, taking account of our current perception of vigilantes as a social force in the wake of Bernie Goetz, is seen as a near-fascist and a dangerous fanatic by the media while concerned psychiatrists plead for the release of a homicidal Joker upon strictly humanitarian grounds. The values of the world we see are no longer defined in the clear, bright, primary colors of the conventional comic book but in the more subtle and ambiguous tones supplied by Lynn Varley's gorgeous palette and sublime sensibilities.
The most immediate and overpowering difference is obviously in the portrayal both of The Batman and of Bruce Wayne, the man beneath the mask. Depicted over the years as, alternately, a concerned do-gooder and a revenge-driven psychopath, the character as presented here manages to bridge both of those interpretations quite easily while integrating them in a much larger and more persuasively realized personality. Every subtlety of expression, every nuance of body language, serves to demonstrate that this Batman has finally become what he should always have been: He is a legend.
The importance of myth and legend as a subtext to Dark Knight can't really be over-stated, shining as it does from every page. The familiar Batman origin sequence with the tiny bat fluttering in through an open window to inspire a musing Bruce Wayne becomes something far more religious and apocalyptic under Miller's handling; the bat itself transformed into a gigantic and ominous chimera straight out of the darkest European fables. The later scenes of The Batman on horseback, evoking everything from the chivalry of the Round Table to the arrival in town of Clint Eastwood, serve to further demonstrate this mythical quality, as does Miller's startling portrayal of Barman's old acquaintance Superman: The Superman we see here is an earthbound god whose presence is announced only by the wind of his passing or the destruction left in his wake. At the same time, his doubtful position as an agent of the United States Government manages to treat an incredible situation realistically and to seamlessly wed the stuff of legend to the stuff of twentieth century reality.
Beyond the imagery, themes, and essential romance of Dark Knight, Miller has also managed to shape The Batman into a true legend by introducing that element without which all true legends are incomplete and yet which for some reason hardly seems to exist in the world depicted in the average comic book, and that element is time.
All of our best and oldest legends recognize that time passes and that people grow old and die. The legend of Robin Hood would not be complete without the final blind arrow shot to determine the site of his grave. The Norse Legends would lose much of their power were it not for the knowledge of an eventual Ragnarek, as would the story of Davy Crockett without the existence of an Alamo. In comic books, however, given the commercial fact that a given character will still have to sell to a given audience in ten years' time, these elements are missing. The characters remain in the perpetual limbo of their mid-to-late twenties, and the presence of death in their world is at best a temporary and reversible phenomenon.
With Dark Knight, time has come to the Batman and the capstone that makes legends what they are has finally been fitted. In his engrossing story of a great man's final and greatest battle, Miller has managed to create something radiant which should hopefully illuminate things for the rest of the comic book field, casting a new light upon the problems which face all of us working within the industry and perhaps even guiding us towards some fresh solutions. For those of you who've already eagerly consumed Dark Knight in its softcover version, rest assured that in your hands you hold one of the few genuine comic book landmarks worthy of a lavish and more durable presentation. For the rest of you, who are about to enter entirely new territory, I can only express my extreme envy. You are about to encounter a new level of comic book storytelling. A new world with new pleasures and new pains.
A new hero.
Alan Moore
Northampton, 1986Earlier this month, no less an authority than TeenVogue declared that Bernie Sanders is “killin' it” with millennials.
And polls have consistently shown him with a sizeable lead over Hillary Clinton among younger Democrats. In Iowa, young caucus-goers will be instrumental to a Sanders win — or defeat — in the nation's first presidential contest.
In the Hawkeye State, many young caucus-goers are feeling the Bern while others are backing Clinton, but both candidates are vying for the shrinking pool of undecided Democrats before caucus night on Feb. 1. On a Thursday night in Iowa City, Brothers Bar and Grill is busy with local college students who are here for an event dubbed "Beers for Bernie."
Right inside the entrance is a folding table, stacked with all kinds of Bernie-branded campaign material. During the school year, the 30,000 students here account for a third of Iowa City's population.
Grant Bender, a 21-year-old business major at the University of Iowa, takes a seat at the long, wooden bar and orders a $3 Miller Lite bottle.
He just signed a pledge to caucus for Sanders on Feb. 1. He says Sanders' contempt for money in politics, tirades against income inequality, and vows to break up big banks have won him over.
"I just kind of feel like it is a rigged economy," Bender says. "And most other politicians that are funded by Super PACs, or whatever other money interests they have, lobbyists that they deal with. I just feel like Bernie is the only one that sticks out and will change politics as usual for the better."
Bender says the 74-year-old senator from Vermont has hit a chord with young voters in Iowa. And there's plenty of evidence to support his view. Numerous polls have shown Sanders with double-digit leads in Iowa among voters 45 and younger.
And of the 15,000 people that have put in at least one volunteer shift for Sanders in Iowa, nearly 60 percent are under the age of 34, according to the New York Times.
A few blocks away from the Sanders supporters at Brothers Bar and Grill, a crowd is filling a ballroom on the University of Iowa campus. Morgan Mitchell is from Clinton, Iowa, and Hillary Clinton is her candidate.
"She's very for gender and women equality, and I'm down for that," Mitchell says. "And I really like that she's really open and willing to see things from an open-minded view."
But she says she doesn't necessarily think Sanders would set women back if he were president.
"I just think Hillary has more of a focus on it," Mitchell explains. "And I really enjoy that because, although women technically have equal rights, we're viewed differently in society. And Bernie wants equal pay, but he's not really thinking about the women and children and families, you know."
TeenVogue may say that Sanders is "killin' it" with young voters, but but the Clinton campaign has its own millennial star power; a few blocks away, Clinton is holding a rally on campus featuring 23-year-old pop star Demi Lovato.
Clinton will take the stage for just a few minutes tonight. But first, Lovato warms up the room with a few songs. The crowd, thick with college kids — eats it up.
But savvy Iowans know that the caucuses aren't won with star power, but rather retail politics.
"I am here to work for Bernie," says Isabelle Story. "That's why I took this year off."
Story grew up in Iowa City, and she's taking a break from Carleton College in Minnesota. She says two issues in particular drive her activism for Sanders:
"Equal pay for women, paid maternity leave," Story explains. "As a young woman, who's about to graduate and trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, that really resonates with me."
For many other students here, it is Sanders plan to ensure free college tuition at public universities that seals the deal.
Ann Selzer is a public opinion researcher based in West Des Moines, Iowa. She says Sanders is outpacing his Democratic rival among younger voters here, even in demographics where Clinton has shown particular strength.
"One thing we know is that Bernie Sanders does well with younger people. Hillary Clinton does better with women," Selzer says. "And I was asked, which is the stronger influence? So we took a look at young women, older women, young men and older men, and it turns out, youth is the stronger pull. Hillary Clinton does not win with younger women; Bernie Sanders wins with younger women."
And that seems to hold true for Victoria Hansen.
“Actually, my heart's been set on Bernie," Hansen says.
Hansen was at the Hillary Clinton rally in Iowa City, but a few days later we saw her at a Sanders event in her hometown of Clinton, Iowa. She sat near the back of the crowded room, with her infant on her lap. She likes Hillary Clinton's work for gender equality, but she thinks Sanders is good on that front too. Plus, Sanders has other draws.
“The free tuition. That is one of the main things," says Hansen. "I ended up dropping out of school because I got pregnant. I did go for one semester of college. I only owe $2,000, but with what I want to do, I'd end up owing a lot more."
Hansen says she wants to become a social worker.
"It's not fair to the people that want to get an education, that they have to pay for it," she says. "That's like paying to get a job, to me."
Clinton has campaigned on her detailed policy proposals, including college tuition. But for Victoria Hansen, Clinton's celebrity appearance with Demi Lavato wasn't enough.
“I was a little disappointed to be honest," says Hansen. "Not in Demi, but in Hillary for only being up there for about 10 minutes or so and not really addressing anything other than 'hey, come caucus for me.' That's really the only thing I heard her say."
Young Iowans like Hansen show up in the polls as leaning heavily to Sanders.
But will that make the difference on caucus night? Pollster Ann Selzer says, it depends on how the two campaigns respond. Selzer says Clinton needs to both win over more young women and make sure their older counterparts show up to caucus
VPR’s coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign is made possible in part by the VPR Journalism Fund.I’ve been working with the UC Berkeley start-up ecosystem – the largest in the world – to help improve their odds of success. The stakes are high. Consider the healthcare field alone, and how much can be saved in terms of both lives and money. I included at the bottom of this post a snapshot of some start-ups coming out of that ecosystem.
Now imagine how many more healthcare start-ups are popping up all over the country. That is a lot of stranded potential unless these innovations can make it to market. The hardest challenges are getting funding and, obviously, the FDA approval. That’s a tough road. I’m doing my part today to make that easier by giving them some attention here.
The path to market for these innovations might be a lot easier if Trump appoints someone like Jim O’Neill to head the FDA. O’Neill would like to speed up the approval process by using a more rational risk-management model. The opportunity for improvement is gigantic.
Here are just a few healthcare start-ups to give you an idea of the potential.
Healthcare Start-Ups out of UC Berkeley’s Ecosystem
Dot Labs Non-invasive diagnostic test for endometriosis.
Stroll Health enables ambulatory clinicians to make personalized, value-based referrals. Stroll processes each patient through our intelligence algorithm using millions of healthcare data to show out-of-pocket costs for each location and service in real time. Physicians and patients select and electronically order through Stroll, and we follow through to make sure medically necessary care happens.
Angilytics provides wearable sensors and data analytics for ultimate hypertension management.
NestSense
Safety Solutions for managed dementia care
SwiftMotion
Solutions to assess risks of occupational injuries.
iTreatMD provides a point of care app that guides clinicians with a checklist to treat diseases, and
generates encounter notes for clinicians and personalized treatment plan for patients.
ReThink Medical produces a remote patient physiologic monitor for predicting heart failure related
hospitalizations, enabling preventative interventions.
First Derm is a mobile app that provides users with personalized dermatology information.
Ava is on a mission to empower 360 million people with hearing loss to follow group conversations
again, using state-of-the-art mobile and speech technologies. We connect together devices in a room to
show the user who says what and when, in less than a second.
KNOX Medical Diagnostics:
Mismanagement of asthma leads to hospitalizations and ED visits. Traditional at-home pulmonary
function tests are inaccurate. On-site tests are only available in specialized locations and not readily
accessible. KNOX has developed Spiritus, a reliable and convenient asthma management tool for
families, which includes a portable device that asthmatic kids breathe into to capture consistent
information regarding lung function. Parents can view and immediately act upon the results. Information
sent to the iOS app is saved to SaaS servers for physicians to track patients’ asthma severity in-between
office visits.
BioInspira is a sensor platform startup. At BioInspira, we are advancing airborne chemicals and
pathogens detection for growing industrial and healthcare needs. Our first product is a bio-based natural
gas sensor that is 1000x more sensitive, 100x smaller and 100x lower in cost than current sensors.
—
You can learn more about UC Berkeley-related start-ups at BerkeleyStartupNetwork.com. (Site is new, so some start-ups will not be listed yet.)
—TOBACCO: The Early History of a New World Crop
Hail thou inspiring plant! Thou balm of life,
Well might thy worth engage two nations' strife;
Exhaustless fountain of Britannia's wealth;
Thou friend of wisdom and thou source of health.
-from an early tobacco label
Tobacco, that outlandish weed
It spends the brain, and spoiles the seede
It dulls the spirite, it dims the sight
It robs a woman of her right.
-Dr. William Vaughn, 1617
As these two verses show, tobacco use has long been a controversial subject, considered by turns a vice, a panacea, an economic salvation and a foolish and dangerous habit. However, it was perceived, by the end of the seventeenth century tobacco had become the economic staple of Virginia, easily making her the wealthiest of the 13 colonies by the time of the American Revolution.
The Old World encountered tobacco at the dawn of the European Age of Exploration. On the morning of October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus set foot on a small island in the Bahamas. Believing himself to be off the coast of Asia, the Admiral dressed in his best to meet the local inhabitants. The Arawaks offered him some dried leaves as a token of friendship. Those leaves were tobacco. A few days later, a party from Columbus' ship docked off the coast of Cuba and witnessed local peoples there smoking tobacco through Y-shaped tubes which they inserted in their noses, inhaling smoke until they lost consciousness.
By 1558, Frere Andre Thevet, who had traveled in Brazil, published a description of tobacco which was included in Thomas Hacket's The New Found World a decade later:
There is another secret herb... which they [the natives of Brazil] most commonly bear about them, for that they esteem it marvellous profitable for many things.... The Christians that do now inhabit there are become very desirous of this herb....
Early on, the medicinal properties of tobacco were of great interest to Europe. Over a dozen books published around the middle of the sixteenth century mention tobacco as a cure for everything from pains in the joints to epilepsy to plague. As one counsel had it, "Anything that harms a man inwardly from his girdle upward might be removed by a moderate use of the herb."
In 1560, Jean Nicot, a French ambassador, learned about the curative properties of tobacco when he was on assignment in Portugal. When he returned to France, he used the New World herb to cure the migraine headaches of Catherine de Medicis. The French became enthusiastic about tobacco, calling it the herbe a tous les maux, the plant against evil, pains and other bad things. By 1565, the plant was known as nicotaine, the basis of its genus name today.
By this time, Europeans were discovering recreational uses of tobacco as well as its medicinal ones. As the opening speech of Moliere's Don Juan explains:
... there is nothing like tobacco. It's the passion of the virtuous man and whoever lives without tobacco isn't worthy of living. Not only does it purge the human brain, but it also instructs the soul in virtue and one learns from it how to be a virtuous man. Haven't you noticed how well one treats another after taking it... tobacco inspires feelings, honor and virtue in all those who take it.
Although it is likely that both Nicotiana rustica and Nicotiana tabacum, the two major species of tobacco, were grown as curiosities in the gardens of English botanists and apothecaries, smoking the herb for recreation was virtually unknown until mid-sixteenth century. The general English population was most likely first introduced to tobacco by Sir John Hawkins, who displayed it with the riches he accrued from a voyage to Florida in 1565.
Probably the most famous Englishman associated with the introduction of tobacco is Sir Walter Ralegh. Settlers rescued from his Roanoke Island expedition in 1586 had picked up the habit of tobacco smoking (or "drinking" as it came to be called). Hariot remarks in his account of 1588 that:
We ourselves during the time we were there used to suck it after their [the Native Americans'] manner, as also since our return, and have found many rare and wonderful experiments of the virtues thereof, of which the relation would require a volume of itself: the use of it by so many of late, men and women of great calling as else, and some learned Physicians also, is sufficient witness.
In addition to sponsoring this expedition, Sir Walter also is credited with the introduction of pipe smoking in court circles, where it was at first perceived as a strange and even alarming habit. Tradition tells the tale of Sir Walter's own servant coming upon his master with a smoking pipe, thinking he was on fire and drenching him with a bucket of water. Another legend depicts Ralegh introducing the habit of tobacco-drinking to his sovereign Elizabeth I.
Smoking quickly became the rage among the young court dandies, who loitered around in St. Paul's practicing smoke tricks with such evocative names as the "Gulpe," the "Retention" and the "Cuban Ebolition."
There were those, however, who were convinced that the use of tobacco was both unhealthful and aesthetically distasteful. In a 1602 pamphlet Worke for Chimney-sweepers, the anonymous author commands:
But hence thou Pagan Idol: tawny weed.
Come not within our Fairie Coasts to feed,
Our wit-worn gallants, with the scent of thee,
Sent for the Devil and his Company.
Other authors were less reluctant to expose their identities. In 1604, King James I of England published his pamphlet A Counterblaste to Tobacco, in which he describes smoking as:
A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.
Part of James' disaffection for tobacco may be attributed to his personal dislike of Sir Walter Ralegh. Another factor was the Spanish monopoly over the production and distribution of the plant, which was worth its weight in silver at the end of the sixteenth century. James I solved the former problem by beheading his enemy; his financial difficulty was at an end a decade after the publication of his pamphlet. An English source had been found for tobacco.
In 1606, two years after the publication of Counterblaste, the King granted a charter to the Virginia Company of London. In addition to claiming land for England and bringing the faith of the Church of England to the native peoples, the Virginia Company was also enjoined both by the crown and its members to make a tidy profit by whatever means it found expedient.
After the settlers landed on Jamestown Island in the spring of 1607, they quickly began searching for ways to make a fortune both for themselves and the Company. The gold and jewels they had hoped to find were nonexistent. Harvesting raw materials like fish, lumber and furs was difficult. Industries such as glassblowing, pitch and tar production, silk cultivation and mining required skilled labor and too much start-up time.
Within a few years of the founding of Virginia, both the settlers and the Company were beginning to give up hope of a profit. Fortunately for all concerned, help was on the way. In the spring of 1610, the young John Rolfe arrived at Jamestown, a member of the party which had been delayed by shipwreck on the Bermuda Islands.
This new settler observed the Powhatan Indians growing N. rustica. An English pamphlet of the time reported that:
The people in the South parts of Virginia esteeme it [tobacco] exceedingly... ; they say that God in the creation did first make a woman, then a man, thirdly great maize, or Indian wheat, and fourthly, Tobacco.
Rolfe, however, was not impressed with the quality of N. rustica, which his contemporary William Strachey characterized as "poore and weake, and of a byting tast...," inferior in quality to the fine Spanish weed N. tabacum. Perhaps, however, the crop of the Powhatans gave Rolfe the idea of trying to grow N. tabacum in Virginia soil for himself.
How Rolfe came by fine Trinadad tobacco seed is not known, but he was growing it experimentally by 1612 in Virginia. Rolfe's agricultural attempt was an unqualified success. By 1614, Ralph Hamor, a secretary of the Colony, reported:
... Tobacco, whose goodnesse mine own experience and triall induces me to be such, that no country under the Sunne, may, or doth affoord more pleasant, sweet and strong Tobacco, then I have tasted.... I doubt not, [we] will make and returne such Tobacco this yeere, that even England shall acknowledge the goodnesse thereof.
Although Sir Thomas Dale, deputy-governor of Virginia, initially limited tobacco cultivation in the fear that the settlers would neglect basic survival needs in their eagerness to finally get rich, 2,300 pounds of tobacco were exported to the Mother Country in 1615-16. True, this was a paltry amount compared with the over 50,000 pounds imported from Spain in the same period, but it was a start. In 1616, Rolfe visited England with his new wife Pocohontas and presented James I with a pamphlet in which the Virginian modestly revealed tobacco as "the principall commoditie the colony for the present yieldeth."
Little did Rolfe guess how important his tobacco crop would become to the economic survival of Virginia. Initially, the settlers went overboard, with predictable results. A description of Jamestown in 1617 paints a bleak picture:
"but five or six houses, the church downe, the palizado's broken, the bridge in pieces, the well of fresh water spoiled; the storehouse used for the church..., [and] the colony dispersed about, planting tobacco."
Conditions eventually stabilized, thanks to tight governmental controls. Virginia economy flourished. By 1630, the annual import of Virginia tobacco in England was not less than half a million pounds. By 1640, London was receiving nearly a million and a half pounds a year. Virginia tobacco was acknowledged as equal, if not superior, in quality to the Spanish weed. Soon English tobacconists were extolling the virtues of Virginia tobacco with labels bearing such verses as:
Life is a smoke! -- If this be true,
Tobacco will thy Life renew;
Then fear not Death, nor killing care
Whilst we have best Virginia here.
Tobacco was and is a controversial crop. For Virginians at the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, James I's "noxious weed" would ensure economic survival of the colony by becoming the Golden Weed of Virginia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Berkeley, Edmund and Dorothy Smith Berkeley, editors. The Reverend John Clayton: The Parson with a Scientific Mind. Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1965.
Breen, T. H. Tobacco Culture. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988.
Dickson, Sarah Augusta. Panacea or Precious Bane: Tobacco in Sixteenth Century Literature. New York: New York Public Library, 1954.
Herndon, Melvin. Tobacco in Colonial Virginia: "The Sovereign Remedy." Williamsburg, Virginia: Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, 1957.
James I. A Counterblaste to Tobacco. London: R. B., 1604; reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1969.
Kulikoff, Allan. Tobacco and Slaves. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.
Mackinzie, Compton. Sublime Tobacco. Gloucester, England: Allan Sutton Publishing Limited, 1957; reprint, 1984.
Middleton, Arthur. Tobacco Coast. Newport News, Virginia: Mariners' Museum, 1953.
Ray, Oakley. Drugs, Society and Human Behavior. Saint Louis, Missouri: The C. V. Mosby Company, 1978.
Robert, Joseph C. The Story of Tobacco in America. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1949.
Virginia: Four Personal Narratives. New York: Arno Press, 1972.
Lee Pelham Cotton
Park Ranger
Colonial National Historical Park
February 1998In 1979, Robert Redford launched the Sundance Institute to develop independent films as an alternative to big-budget blockbusters. Three years later, the National Endowment For the Arts granted Sundance $25,000 to launch the initial four-week filmmaker workshop.
The NEA has supported the Sundance Institute ever since, most recently giving the organization a grant of $100,000 for 2017. This is only a small portion of the NEA's $148 million budget, which also gives to thousands of other organizations. And this overall NEA budget amounts for a minuscule fraction of the federal government spending (less than a single F-22 Fighter Jet). But this support might vanish, as President Trump's proposed budget would slash funding to the NEA.
"Sundance Institute vigorously supports the National Endowment for the Arts, and calls upon our country's leadership to do the same," the Sundance Institute said in a statement to Esquire. "NEA support played a crucial role in launching Sundance Institute in 1981 and has helped thousands of museums, arts programs and organizations. The NEA plays a critical role in building a culture that values artists and understands the important economic benefits of investing in the arts. Defunding the Endowment undermines our national artistic heritage, and handicaps our future potential."
This support from the federal government has directly resulted in some of the finest art produced in this country. And specifically, some of today's most iconic filmmakers worked on their early projects in Sundance Institute programs supported by NEA grants. Here's a look at some of the biggest names to come out of Sundance's programs in the last two decades.
Paul Thomas Anderson
In 1993, Paul Thomas Anderson directed and wrote his first film, Sydney, through the Sundance Institute Directors Lab. This film was later retitled Hard Eight, which launched Anderson's career in film—over the course of which he has earned six Oscar nominations.
Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino participated in the Sundance Directors Lab in 1991 after selling his first script, Natural Born Killers. It was through the lab that he honed his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs—which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to career-making buzz (even if it didn't gain distribution from Miramax until months later at Cannes). Considered a milestone in independent filmmaking, Tarantino followed up his debut with his masterpiece, Pulp Fiction, in 1994.
Wes Anderson
Originally a 13-minute short film, which premiered at the Festival in 1993, Anderson developed his debut Bottle Rocket into a feature-length movie through the support of the Institute's Screenwriters Lab. His latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel, was nominated for nine Academy Awards in 2015.
Darren Aronofsky
His first film, Pi won Aronofsky the Director's Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Aronofsky developed his next project, Requiem for a Dream, through Sundance programs. Since then he's gone on to make some of the most critically acclaimed films of the 21st century, including Black Swan and The Wrestler.
Ryan Coogler
In 2012, Coogler joined the Sundance Institute to develop the screenplay for Fruitvale Station. The following |
the top? He thinks wherever Theresa ends up, even if she doesn’t win, she’s in the top three,” said an MP who has discussed the alliance with Fox’s camp. In return, he brings followers she may need.
The lesson of last September’s close shave in Scotland is never to underestimate David Cameron. After the election, Johnson and May could well end up scrapping for jobs in his new cabinet, rather than for his vacant crown. But if it comes to it, May has her cheerleaders – often women she served with or mentored, such as Maria Miller, who took over the cabinet equalities brief from her, or Cheryl Gillan, the former Welsh secretary. “There are a lot of women who owe her: all those coffees she gave them in the tearoom when nobody else wanted to know,” said a friend. What May lacks, however, is a parliamentary power base like that operated by her old enemy Michael Gove, and his good friend George Osborne.
“Michael and Theresa are full-on at war and if Labour wasn’t so crap this would be getting very interesting,” said another MP close to May. It was Gove who rebuked her for disloyalty in front of the whole cabinet when speculation about her ambitions first surfaced in 2013. May’s friends suspect the Gove camp of leaking damaging snippets about her to the Murdoch press. (If the Mail titles are pro-May then Gove, a former Times journalist, and Osborne seemingly have News International sewn up). Osborne’s publicly gushing praise for Johnson, meanwhile, suggests that the interests of these three men may be converging. Anyone, apparently, but May.
There is an irresistible narrative to all this, the age-old story of posh boys closing ranks against a woman – and a party still clinging to its nasty streak. But that is too neat to be true.
If Johnson beats her, it will not be because he is a man, but because he has the electoral Midas touch. And May is no victim. She has fought for causes she strongly believed in, turning them mainstream; to paraphrase Hillary Clinton, if she doesn’t break the glass ceiling she will have cracked it enough to help the next woman. She has sought, and won, not adoration but respect. A decade ago, people would have laughed at the idea of May for leader. Who’s laughing now?
Follow the Long Read on Twitter: @gdnlongreadTomorrow, the New England Patriots will play their highly anticipated matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers – a game that will play a big role in deciding who ultimately gets the number one overall seed in the AFC playoff race. The defending world champions will not be a at full strength as judged by their final injury report of the week.
And after already ruling out defensive tackle Alan Branch yesterday, the team added two more players to the list of absentees today:
#Patriots downgrade LB Kyle Van Noy and DB Brandon King to out for #NEvsPIT.
Both Van Noy and King have been listed as “questionable” yesterday due to calf and hamstring injuries, respectively. With both inactive tomorrow, the Patriots will likely approach the game similarly to last week's contest against the Miami Dolphins in regards to the two positions.
Van Noy will be replaced by a mix of Elandon Roberts, Trevor Reilly and Marquis Flowers and – given the quality of the Steelers' ground game – likely also David Harris. Neither player offers the versatility and quality Van Noy brings to the table, but they all have experience playing in New England's multi-front defensive scheme.
As is the case with Van Noy, replacing King is a team job (especially with Nate Ebner out for the year). Matthew Slater, Jonathan Jones, Brandon Bolden and Johnson Bademosi will all help soften the blow of losing one of the best special teams tacklers on the team: King is tied for third on the squad with seven takedowns in the kicking game.TACOMA, WA – The Sounders U-23 have signed two defenders from North Carolina-based Universities for the 2014 Premier Development League season. Clement Simonin, 22, is a French center back who anchored North Carolina State through the grueling Atlantic Coast Conference. Austin Dunker, 21, is an outside back from one of the stingiest defenses in college soccer, Elon University.
Clement Simonin grew up playing for his home-town club, FC Lorient, in France. At 20 years of age, he changed paths to pursue an education but continued to play soccer at Division II Lander University. Following two All-American years, he transferred to North Carolina State.
Regarding his opportunity with the Sounders U-23, Simonin said, “Playing for the Sounders U23 will be a really good occasion to come back in a professional club and show what I’m able to bring to a new team with a lot of exposure on the professional level. I’m conscious that having a great summer here on and off the field will bring me new opportunities. This is mainly why I thought the club could be a great fit for me and my expectations.”
Sounders U-23 Head Coach, Darren Sawatzky, said, “The Sounders U23 team is a proving ground for future professional players. Clement comes with a good pedigree and we look forward to having him at the back to lead our group.”
Simonin scored four goals and added three assists, despite playing center back last year for NC State, who narrowly missed out on an NCAA Tournament bid despite beating #9 North Carolina in their final regular season match.
Austin Dunker is a three-year starter at Elon University. With six shutouts on the season, and three versus ranked opponents, the left back’s Elon University Phoenix made it to the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to UCLA.
Dunker said what he looks forward to most about playing for the Sounders U-23 this summer is, “Being in a competitive environment and being pushed every day, as well as experiencing the professionalism the Sounders are known for.”
Dunker led the Phoenix with 2,192 minutes from 23 starts last season. He contributed on the offensive end with four assists.
Darren Sawatzky said, “Austin Dunker represents the prototypical attacking left back. He will play a good role in our attack this summer.”
Both defenders are expected to join the team in early May, in time for the PDL season kick off on May 16.
Season Tickets for the 2014 Sounders U-23 season are on sale on SoundersU23.com for only $60. The 2014 Season Ticket Flex Pack eliminates the risk of missing games. Instead of one ticket specifically associated with each match, with the Sounders U-23 Flex Pack, fans will receive eight tickets, and each of those tickets will be accepted at any match during the 2014 season. It’s the ultimate deal in flexibility.
Sounders FC U-23
The Sounders FC U-23 (est.2012) competes in the United Soccer League’s Premier Development League (PDL). The Sounders FC U-23 are independently operated from the Seattle Sounders FC, under the ownership of Lane Smith and Cliff McElroy, with minority owner, Mike Jennings. The club is officially operated with a marketing, branding, and naming affiliation contract with the Seattle Sounders FC. The Sounders FC U-23 franchise has developed more than 15 professional players since the club’s establishment in 2012.
AdvertisementsTime has run out for home owners in a 54-year-old walk-up apartment block in Tanjong Katong Road.
They had until the end of yesterday to move out of their homes and surrender their properties - which has been acquired to build the upcoming Thomson-East Coast Line's (TEL) Amber Station - over to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).
Two of the six property owners - Mr Sim Chiang Lee, 82, and Mr Cheng Quek Hin, 69 - still live in the block and occupy five units.
The other units have been handed over to the SLA.
Related Story Plan for Government to take ownership of SMRT rail assets still struggling after 6 years
The block holds nine units - including a provision shop on the ground floor. Four units, including Sin Aik Provision Store, are owned by Mr Sim.
The SLA, which takes legal possession of the property from today, will serve an enforcement notice on Tuesday to the Sims and Chengs, giving them 28 days, or until May 31, to move out or SLA will take legal action to evict them.
Mr Sim, Mr Cheng and three other owners are seeking higher compensation from the SLA. They have filed appeals with the Appeals Board (Land Acquisition) and the case is pending.
Mr Cheng told The Straits Times that SLA's compensation offered to him and his neighbours - between $1.4 million and $1.6 million each or about $1,000 per sq ft - was too low.
The units in the walk-up apartment block are between 1,420 sq ft and 1,497 sq ft in size.
Mr Cheng added that the owners' valuers gave them a price of $1,500 per sq ft or about $2.2 million per unit, based on the "development potential" of the site.
SLA's valuation is based on market value of the property on the date of gazette.
While their appeal is still pending, all the owners have accepted compensation. The Straits Times understands that should their appeal be successful, they would receive an additional payout.
The apartments and six adjacent semi-detached homes were gazetted for compulsory acquisition in August 2014. SLA offered property owners a total of $45 million for the land. The six semi-detached home owners accepted compensation and are moving out.
Initially, the Sims and Chengs had refused to move until they knew the outcome of their appeal.
Yesterday, they met SLA representatives and asked for more time to move out.
"I want until October to move out... We have a lot of goods to move out and need to look for a new shop space. We need at least three months," said Mr Sim Kim Teck, 65, who runs the provision shop with the elder Mr Sim, his brother.
Mr Cheng said he could not afford an equivalent property in the area with the current payout. He also said he needed more time to look for a flat elsewhere.
An SLA spokesman said Mr Sim's and Mr Cheng's request could not be granted as "as this will delay the construction of Amber Station and the opening of TEL beyond 2023".
Mr Tan Keng Chiam, JLL's head of valuation advisory services, said the market comparison method used by the SLA for valuation was generally quite transparent and fair.
He said units at the King's Mansion condominium, across the road from the walk-up apartments, were transacted at prices ranging from $1,100 to $1,200 per sq ft in 2014.
"But of course, not all properties will have the same features," he said, adding that a "like-for-like" comparison would be impossible.If I told you that Watch Dogs 2 is in development, you would likely respond, "Yes, and?" The original was pretty good, and Ubisoft was clearly committed to it as a major franchise from the outset. Even so, it hasn't actually announced that a sequel is in the works. And, to be clear, it still hasn't.
Nonetheless, it looks very much like it's happening, based on this Videogamer.com report, which noticed the LinkedIn profile of one Julien Risse, a senior gameplay designer at Ubisoft, whose credits include Watch Dogs, the Bad Blood DLC, and—this is the important bit—Watch Dogs 2. Risse has since updated his profile to remove the Watch Dogs 2 reference, but the screen capture tells the tale.
Ubisoft has made oblique references to Watch Dogs 2 in the past. In June 2014, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot suggested that the sequel might not feature Watch Dogs lead Aiden Pearce, and in September, Ubisoft Montreal Vice President Lionel Raynaud told CVG (via Polygon, since CVG no longer exists) that "fixing and refining what worked well [in Watch Dogs] is probably the way to go for Watch Dogs 2."
We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment, and will update if and when we receive a reply.Monday is, of course, Halloween — and for many kids across North America, that means a whole lot of candy.
For Jen and Chris, growing up in Los Angeles, it was Candy all the time. With a capital 'C'. Even though they're all grown up now, they will forever be the kids of Canadian comic legend John Candy.
Jen and Chris Candy are both actors, like their father John. (Courtesy of Jen Candy)
Tonight, the star of such comedy classics as Uncle Buck, Planes Trains and Automobiles, and Cool Runnings — to say nothing of SCTV — would have celebrated his 66th birthday. But as you likely recall — if you were old enough at the time — John Candy died of a heart attack in 1994, while shooting his last movie in Mexico.
The loss was felt acutely here and around the world. But few felt it more than Jen and Chris Candy. Tonight, the star of such comedy classics as Uncle Buck, Planes Trains and Automobiles, and Cool Runnings — to say nothing of SCTV — would have celebrated his 66th birthday. But as you likely recall — if you were old enough at the time — John Candy died of a heart attack in 1994, while shooting his last movie in Mexico.The loss was felt acutely here and around the world. But few felt it more than Jen and Chris Candy.
The siblings spoke with As it Happens host Carol Off from Los Angeles, California. Here is part of their conversation.
Carol Off: Chris, do you remember when you first had a sense of what your dad did for a living? John and Chris Candy on the set of "Harry Crumb." (Courtesy of Jen Candy) Chris, do you remember when you first had a sense of what your dad did for a living?
"[H]e looked like this Eastern European hairdresser. And I just remember looking at this massive man — my father — as this character, going 'OK, this is not normal.' It absolutely makes me smile just thinking of him. -Chris Candy
Chris Candy: Yeah. I think I was maybe five or six. He was working on Harry Crumb, where he played this quirky sleuth. I remember going to set one day in Vancouver where they were filming. And he was dressed up in this incredible blue leather outfit with a bald wig and self-tanner. And he looked like this Eastern European hairdresser. And I just remember looking at this massive man — my father — as this character, going, "OK, this is not normal." It absolutely makes me smile just thinking of him. At that point, I knew there was something unique and interesting happening.
CO: Did you have a favourite character that he did?
CC: A lot of his characters I loved, but I just loved the Schmenge characters [Polka-duo brothers Yosh and Stan Schmenge, with Eugene Levy]. He was just so funny. And such a nerd. I'm a nerd. So I thought that character was so dorky and funny. That one holds a place in my heart.
CO: Jen, did you have a favourite?
Jen Candy: Oh, boy. Like my brother... I do have a soft spot for the Schmenges. But, in SCTV, I always loved Dr. Tongue and Johnny LaRue. I did want to make a sweatshirt that said "Vote for LaRue" during this lovely election time — see how many people got it.
CO: Was he political himself or just really good at being able to lampoon that politician?
JC: Not so much political at home. I think he just knew that character. He loved Johnny LaRue. He was known amongst his friends in Toronto as "Johnny Toronto." Everyone called him "Johnny Toronto." He's the guy that will do anything. You walk into a bar, everyone knows him. You walk into the local store, everyone knows him there. Everyone knows him on the street. LaRue thinks that he can do anything and everything and everyone will love it.
CO: John Candy brings to mind, of course, Uncle Buck, and Dell Griffith in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. But Jen you have said that one of the roles he worked hardest on creating was a dramatic role in the movie JFK.
JC: He played [attorney] Dean Andrews. I think it was the first dramatic role in a long time that he had been up for. Earlier in his career, he had done some more serious stuff and kind of strayed away from that because he liked the comedy more. So I think he worked really hard because he wanted to get it right. He wanted to be considered as a serious actor at some point.
CC: He worked pretty hard on that one with a dialect coach, which was kind of out of his realm of preparation for a character. The tone of that project was different. And I was a kid — it wasn't like I was analyzing his work ethic then — but I just know from hearing people talk about it and also just the weight of that character, you can't wing that. You have to do your work or it won't be believable.
[O]ff of Sunset down to Jefferson Boulevard, the LAPD blocked off that section of the southbound highway for the funeral procession. And that was unbelievable. - Chris Candy
CO: He was such an important person in the lives of a generation. In Canada, of course, we claim him. But this was your dad. When he died very suddenly of a heart attack in 1994, Chris, what do you remember about that time?
CC: It's a devastating experience we went through. You kind of live with it for the rest of your life, the loss of a parent. But you learn a lot, growing up with him gone. But I remember the time. There was a lot of community had come into town — from family to people he worked with. And then you could just tell from what was going on in the news. And what was overwhelming for me — and still to this day is overwhelming — is we live in Los Angeles and there's the 405 freeway and it goes all the way up and down Los Angeles. And off of Sunset down to Slauson or Jefferson Boulevard, the LAPD blocked off that section of the southbound highway for the funeral procession. And that was unbelievable. Because at the time, you didn't ever see that happen. And even today, when I'm sitting in traffic, going, "I can't believe they blocked this highway off for him!"
I think talking about him with people is my homage to him around this time. - Jen Candy
CO: Jen, are you going to spend Halloween in any special way to commemorate his passing?
JC: Yes and no. The whole month is where I commemorate my dad and his birthday, and Halloween and celebrating. I spend it with my family. So I think this year I'll go hang out with my mom. And Chris, I think he'll be around too. But I think talking about him with people is my homage to him around this time. Because a lot of people love to hear stories and a lot of people love to share their stories. And that's really good. And so you always just say, "Happy Birthday, Dad." That's what I do.
For more on this story, listen to our full conversation with Jen and Chris Candy.Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
As a Jew who is familiar with “The Gospels” there is something perplexing about some Christians in America who have risen to power in our political process within the last four decades. Much of Jesus message, as detailed in “The Gospels” has been one of sympathy to the poor, enmity to the rich and love for humanity. I can give you the time tested quotes but just about everyone is familiar with them. Indeed through my childhood and formative teen years Christmastime every year would yield endless repetition of “Peace on Earth, Good Will to All Men”. Sometime in the 1970’s people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell gained prominence and political power preaching their version of Christianity. These Christians became Kingmakers as it was assumed and actually true that their millions of followers would vote as a bloc. The Christianity that they preached had little to do with the American Christianity that I grew up with. To be sure their teachings on sexuality differed little from Christian thought for the previous 1,700 years and so abortion was evil, virginity was prized and sexuality was to be performed in subscribed methodology. What was different was that this version of Christian belief was a far more muscular and mach one. War was good when fought for American principles of capitalism and self interest. The wealthy needn’t worry about the “eye of the camel.” Poverty was seen as the result of moral failure. Rendering unto Caesar (the Government) was no longer the moral thing to do.
Now knowing history there were always periods where certain Christian leaders were in favor of warfare, favored the wealthy and sought to kill non-believers. Nevertheless, all through those era’s the same message of peace and love was preached as doctrine, whilst the religious leadership ignored the dichotomy of their own works. However, hypocrisies have always existed in every religious belief. The overriding principles always remained static, even if logic had to be twisted to ignore the obvious dichotomy. This is certainly true of the religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam, that each give their own interpretation of the “Torah.” The most glaring example of this is the entire Chapter of Genesis, which is literally riddled with dichotomy. Who did Cain, Abel and Seth marry and where did their brides come from? The standard method of dismissing these dichotomies was to ignore them and censor the questioner. Today though, in certain Christian circles these overarching principles derived from the teachings of Jesus have become ignored, to be replaced by a new “Dominionist” view, which would turn Jesus into a warlike, wealthy Republican that hated government and taxes. That is the subject of this guest blog.Chris Hedges is a well-know investigative journalist, who admittedly has a more dyspeptic view of the world than I do. Yet he is a brilliant person and very often nails a particular topic. This week I read an article by him that I received via OpEdNews http://www.opednews.com a blog I subscribe to. The articles title is: “The Radical Christian Right and the War on Government”. http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Radical-Christian-Righ-by-Chris-Hedges-Christian-Right_Government-Bullying_Government-Corruption_Right-Wing-Extremists-131007-879.html
Hedges article begins:
“There is a desire felt by tens of millions of Americans, lumped into a diffuse and fractious movement known as the Christian right, to destroy the intellectual and scientific rigor of the Enlightenment, radically diminish the role of government to create a theocratic state based on “biblical law,” and force a recalcitrant world to bend to the will of an imperial and “Christian” America. Its public face is on display in the House of Representatives. This ideology, which is the driving force behind the shutdown of the government, calls for the eradication of social “deviants,” beginning with gay men and lesbians, whose sexual orientation, those in the movement say, is a curse and an illness, contaminating the American family and the country.
Once these “deviants” are removed, other “deviants,” including Muslims, liberals, feminists, intellectuals, left-wing activists, undocumented workers, poor African-Americans and those dismissed as “nominal Christians” — meaning Christians who do not embrace this peculiar interpretation of the Bible — will also be ruthlessly repressed. The “deviant” government bureaucrats, the “deviant” media, the “deviant” schools and the “deviant” churches, all agents of Satan, will be crushed or radically reformed. The rights of these “deviants” will be annulled. “Christian values” and “family values” will, in the new state, be propagated by all institutions. Education and social welfare will be handed over to the church. Facts and self-criticism will be replaced with relentless indoctrination.”
His description of this movement, called Dominionism, comports with my own view of what has happened to some Christians in America, who have intertwined Jesus with the Republican Party and its current driving force the “Tea Party”, which is a faux movement established by and led by some of the wealthiest families in our country. Hedges goes on to talk about Senator Ted Cruz, who very quickly has been seen as a “White Knight” for this movement and a hopeful Presidential contender:
“U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — whose father is Rafael Cruz, a rabid right-wing Christian preacher and the director of the Purifying Fire International ministry — and legions of the senator’s wealthy supporters, some of whom orchestrated the shutdown, are rooted in a radical Christian ideology known as Dominionism or Christian Reconstructionism.
This ideology calls on anointed “Christian” leaders to take over the state and make the goals and laws of the nation “biblical.” It seeks to reduce government to organizing little more than defense, internal security and the protection of property rights. It fuses with the Christian religion the iconography and language of American imperialism and nationalism, along with the cruelest aspects of corporate capitalism. The intellectual and moral hollowness of the ideology, its flagrant distortion and misuse of the Bible, the contradictions that abound within it — its leaders champion small government and a large military, as if the military is not part of government — and its laughable pseudo-science are impervious to reason and fact. And that is why the movement is dangerous.
The cult of masculinity, as in all fascist movements, pervades the ideology of the Christian right. The movement uses religion to sanctify military and heroic “virtues,” glorify blind obedience and order over reason and conscience, and pander to the euphoria of collective emotions. Feminism and homosexuality, believers are told, have rendered the American male physically and spiritually impotent. Jesus, for the Christian right, is a man of action, casting out demons, battling the Antichrist, attacking hypocrites and ultimately slaying nonbelievers.”
Up until reading this I didn’t know much about Ted Cruz, other than he was a right wing Texas Senator, who was pushing the government shut-down tactic, which we see in play today. I did know he was a Harvard graduate and presumably a bright man. Because of that it seemed to me that his positions were the mere political posturing of yet another sociopathic office seeker. The information about Ted Cruz’s father certainly clarifies the picture more because I can now accept that Cruz is a true believer in what he is spouting.
“This cult of masculinity, with its glorification of violence, is appealing to the powerless. It stokes the anger of many Americans, mostly white and economically disadvantaged, and encourages them to lash back at those who, they are told, seek to destroy them. The paranoia about the outside world is fostered by bizarre conspiracy theories, many of which are prominent in the rhetoric of those leading the government shutdown. Believers, especially now, are called to a perpetual state of war with the “secular humanist” state. The march, they believe, is irreversible. Global war, even nuclear war, is the joyful harbinger of the Second Coming. And leading the avenging armies is an angry, violent Messiah who dooms billions of apostates to death.”
In progressive, moderate and liberal circles the question of why many working class people vote Republican, against their self-interest has risen continually. I think Hedges supplies part of the answer above. We know that far more women than men elected President Obama in both his runs for office. A cult of masculinity has been asserted. A cult that disdains women’s equality, would take control of their bodies, make them subservient to their spouses, refuse them birth control and even take away their right to vote. In our Macho culture, where a male who earns little is scorned; is perpetually afraid of losing his job; yet is nevertheless encouraged to “be a man”; the need to find someone to blame, or something to empower him is overwhelming. In some Churches that preach he is his wife’s boss and those values of macho masculinity are his right/heritage, many men find succor. What has helped with this is the reinforcement of outlets like FOXNews and clever campaigns of propaganda sponsored by billionaires, who are the people actually repressing them.
“Dominionists believe they are engaged in an epic battle against the forces of Satan. They live in a binary world of black and white. They feel they are victims, surrounded by sinister groups bent on their destruction. They have anointed themselves as agents of God who alone know God’s will. They sanctify their rage. This rage lies at the center of the ideology. It leaves them sputtering inanities about Barack Obama, his corporate-sponsored health care reform bill, his alleged mandated suicide counseling or “death panels” for seniors under the bill, his supposed secret alliance with radical Muslims, and “creeping socialism.” They see the government bureaucracy as being controlled by “secular humanists” who want to destroy the family and make war against the purity of their belief system. They seek total cultural and political domination.
All ideological, theological and political debates with the radical Christian right are useless. It cares nothing for rational thought and discussion. Its adherents are using the space within the open society to destroy the open society itself. Our naive attempts to placate a movement bent on our destruction, to prove to it that we too have “values,” only strengthen its supposed legitimacy and increase our own weakness.
Dominionists have to operate, for now, in what they see as the contaminated environment of the secular, liberal state. They work with the rest of us only because they must. Given enough power — and they are working hard to get it — any such cooperation will vanish. They are no different from the vanguard described by Lenin or the Islamic terrorists who shaved off their beards, adopted Western dress and watched pay-for-view pornography in their hotel rooms the night before hijacking a plane for a suicide attack. The elect alone, like the Grand Inquisitor, are sanctioned to know the truth. And in the pursuit of their truth they have no moral constraints.”
Chris Hedges connects many more dots in his article and I urge you to read the rest of it here: http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Radical-Christian-Righ-by-Chris-Hedges-Christian-Right_Government-Bullying_Government-Corruption_Right-Wing-Extremists-131007-879.html
We have seen some on this blog who either subscribe to Dominionist belief, or who are fellow travelers in the movement to “Christianize” America, by turning it into a theologically driven country. Hedges point that you can’t reason with them resonates with me. Despite any surface pretensions of “Christian Charity” or “Love the sinner, hate the sin” the truth is that in power these true believers would ruthlessly destroy all who didn’t publicly adhere to its beliefs. We see in many the blog posts here what happens when Islamic extremists gain power over Countries whose majority is Muslim. Despite the fact of their seeming acceptance of a pluralistic system, once they attain power, they ruthlessly dispose of any who do not follow their particular form of orthodoxy. The same thing is true of the Dominionist Christian Movement in the United States. They will seem to participate in our Constitutional processes as a tactic to gradually assume power. Once that goal has been achieved then they will not hesitate to enforce their views relentlessly and recklessly.
While Dominionists achieving power this would be a disaster for the United States, it also would most probably mark the end of humanity. The end game for these believers is “Resurrection” and the return of Jesus leading his armies to Armageddon marking the end of the world. In power, with nuclear armaments and a pretend Jesus to lead them, their ascendancy could well mark the end of of humanity.
Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
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This is a complete list of GLaDOS' voice lines from Portal and Portal 2.
Portal
Test Chambers 00-02
" Hello and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center. " | Download Play
" | " We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one. " | Download Play
" | " Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper. " | Download Play
" | " Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all enrichment center activities, serious injuries may occur. " | Download Play
" | " For your own safety and the safety of others, please refrain from-- [bzzzzzt] " | Download Play
" | "Por favor bordón de fallar Muchos gracias de fallar gracias" | Download Play
(Translated to "Please refrain from many fail because of failure thanks")
"stand back. The portal will open in three, two, one." | Download Play
" Excellent. Please proceed into the chamberlock after completing each test. " | Download Play
" | " First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit. " | Download Play
" | "This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it - for instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube." | Download Play
If the player manages to take a cube into the material emancipation grill while the door is open
" Please place the Weighted Storage Cube on the Fifteen Hundred Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button. " | Download Play
" | "Perfect. Please move quickly to the chamberlock, as the effects of prolonged exposure to the Button are not part of this test." | Download Play
" You're doing very well! " | Download Play
" | "Please be advised that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill, which may, in semi- rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth." | Download Play
Receiving the Handheld Portal Device
" Very good! You are now in possession of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. " | Download Play
" | " With it, you can create your own portals. " | Download Play
" | " These intra-dimensional gates have proven to be completely safe. " | Download Play
" | " The Device, however, has not. " | Download Play
" | " Do not touch the operational end of The Device. " | Download Play
" | " Do not look directly at the operational end of The Device. " | Download Play
" | " Do not submerge The Device in liquid, even partially. " | Download Play
" | "Most importantly, under no circumstances should you (static, slows to a stop)" | Download Play
Test Chambers 03-04
" Please proceed to the chamberlock. Mind the gap. " | Download Play
" | "Well done! Remember: The Aperture Science Bring Your Daughter to Work Day is the perfect time to have her tested." | Download Play
" Welcome to test chamber four. " | Download Play
" | "You're doing quite well." | Download Play
" Once again, excellent work. " | Download Play
" | "As part of a required test protocol, we will not monitor the next test chamber. You will be entirely on your own. Good luck." | Download Play
If the player manages to trap him/herself
"Despite the best efforts of the Enrichment Center staff to ensure the safe performance of all authorized activities, you have managed to ensnare yourself permanently inside this room."
"A complimentary escape hatch will open in 3, 2, 1."
Test Chambers 05-08
" As part of a required test protocol, our previous statement suggesting that we would not monitor this chamber was an outright fabrication. " | Download Play
" | "Good job! As part of a required test protocol, we will stop enhancing the truth in three, two, [static]." | Download Play
" While safety is one of many Enrichment Center goals, the Aperture Science High Energy Pellet, seen to the left of the chamber, can and has caused permanent disabilities, such as vaporization. " | Download Play
" | " Please be careful. " | Download Play
" | "Unbelievable! You, Subject Name Here, must be the pride of Subject Hometown Here." | Download Play
" Warning devices are required on all mobile equipment. However, alarms and flashing hazard lights have been found to agitate the high energy pellet and have therefore been disabled for your safety. " | Download Play
" | "Good. Now use the Aperture Science Unstationary Scaffold to reach the chamberlock." | Download Play
" Please note that we have added a consequence for failure. Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an 'unsatisfactory' mark on your official testing record followed by death. Good luck! " | Download Play
" | "Very impressive. Please note that any appearance of danger is merely a device to enhance your testing experience." | Download Play
Test Chambers 09-11
" The Enrichment Center regrets to inform you that this next test is impossible. " | Download Play
" | "Make no attempt to solve it." | Download Play
During the level:
" The Enrichment Center apologizes for this clearly broken test chamber. " | Download Play
" | " Once again, the Enrichment Center offers its most sincere apologies on the occasion of this unsolvable test environment. " | Download Play
" | " Frankly, this chamber was a mistake. If we were you, we would quit now. " | Download Play
" | " No one will blame you for giving up. In fact, quitting at this point is a perfectly reasonable response. " | Download Play
" | "Quit now and cake will be served immediately." | Download Play
"Fantastic! You remained resolute and resourceful in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism." | Download Play
" Hello again. To reiterate [slows down] our previous [speeds up] warning: This test [garbled speech] -ward momentum. " | Download Play
" | " Spectacular. You appear to understand how a portal affects forward momentum, or to be more precise, how it does not. " | Download Play
" | "Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals. In layman's terms: Speedy-thing goes in, speedy-thing comes out." | Download Play
|
uit au long de la série. Ce principe d’évaluation morale vise à analyser une action en fonction de sa conformité à une norme considérée comme acquise. Emmanuel Kant en donne une formalisation théorique dans le Fondement de la métaphysique des mœurs lorsqu’il discute le prétendu « droit de mentir ». Aujourd’hui, plusieurs philosophes moraux s’inspirent de cette approche. Jeremy Waldron parle « d’absolutisme » pour qualifier le refus de transiger avec certaines valeurs érigées comme absolues – ici, les traditionnelles notions d’honneur et de respect pour sa famille.
Les déboires réguliers de Jon Snow illustrent l’aspect funeste de la pureté morale. La série porte une charge importante contre cette attitude antipolitique qui ne semble pas être de ce monde (l’on soulignera à ce propos que Jon Snow lui-même a été ressuscité à une saison précédente). L’art de s’emparer et d’exercer le pouvoir est celui de la mise en balance des moyens et des fins. Il ne fait donc pas bon ménage avec les absolus moraux.
La ruse vaut-elle mieux que la force?
Game of Thrones mettrait donc en scène le conflit entre la pureté morale prémoderne et antipolitique et un conséquentialisme confinant au cynisme selon lequel la fin vaut les moyens. Il se traduit dans le choix des moyens employés pour combattre. Jon Snow opte pour un style qui reflète des valeurs guerrières mettant à l’honneur le combat d’homme à homme. Il proposera à Ramsey Bolton un duel. Ce choix met en valeur la bataille et les prouesses martiales : il fait ainsi écho dans l’imaginaire contemporain aux chevaliers.
À l’opposé de cet idéal, les personnages utilisant la ruse et la perfidie semblent discrédités moralement. Le génie maléfique de Cersei est à cet égard saisissant. Son astuce retorse est associée à la dénaturation et à la perversité morale. La série charrie alors la rhétorique de la légende noire attachée à la ruse analysée par Jean‑Vincent Holeindre.
Ce dernier propose une interprétation alternative à celle, culturelle, développée par Victor Davis Hanson pour lequel l’opprobre attaché à la ruse s’expliquerait par un « orientalisme militaire ». Selon lui, la force « vertueuse » des Occidentaux traduirait une supériorité de leur régime politique alors que la ruse « perfide » est historiquement l’apanage des « Barbares ». Sa disqualification comme tactique acceptable est une manière de délégitimer l’ennemi. Jean‑Vincent Holeindre relativise ses travaux en montrant qu’en réalité, ruse et force vont toujours de pair dans l’histoire de la stratégie militaire occidentale.
Vers une « bonne » raison d’État?
Au cours de la saison 6, un modèle alternatif se dégage, incarné par deux femmes : Daenerys Targaryen et Sansa Stark. Elles symboliseraient une figure positive de la modernité politique et une résolution du conflit entre ruse et force, entre loyauté au clan et avidité du pouvoir personnel. Participent-elles d’une version positive de la raison d’État et d’un bon usage de l’art politique? Concept apparaissant au Moyen Âge, la raison d’État pose les jalons d’une autonomie du politique : gouverner est un art spécifique qui obéit à ses propres règles morales.
L’héritière des Targaryen le rappelle : son but est de rendre le monde meilleur tout en étant consciente de ce qu’il est. Sansa, héritière légitime des Stark qui fut mariée de force à Ramsey Bolton, n’est pas en reste. Dans un dénouement surprenant, elle sauve Jon Snow lors de l’épisode 9 de la saison 6 en demandant secrètement à Lord Baelysh que les armées du Val prêtent main-forte à son frère. Leur arrivée inattendue brise l’encerclement ennemi. Ces deux figures féminines délivrent une morale pragmatique témoignant d’une approche réaliste du politique.
Réinterpréter l’histoire politique
Comme le souligne le philosophe Slavoj Zizek, les œuvres culturelles fonctionnent comme une sorte de condensé de réalité qui offrirait davantage à voir que nos expériences quotidiennes. Elles réinterprètent l’histoire politique à l’aune d’interrogations contemporaines. Game of Thrones pourrait par exemple être suspecté de reconduire le récit vantant la supériorité de l’État centralisé comme forme d’organisation politique en produisant un contre-exemple effrayant. En outre, par l’ampleur de la diffusion, le cinéma et les séries TV offrent un contact non partisan des spectateurs avec des dilemmes d’éthique politique, par-delà les frontières nationales.
Les échanges ardents des « fans » peuvent d’ailleurs s’appréhender comme un espace de délibération démocratique cosmopolite qui n’est pas sans rappeler celui que Jürgen Habermas appelait de ses vœux. Les représentations artistiques procurent dans cette perspective un terrain culturel commun permettant d’échanger sur des grandes questions politiques et morales. Elles sont donc un objet d’études riche et original qui oblige à une pensée neuve.Prancercise® is defined as: A springy, rhythmic way of moving forward,similar to a horse’s gait and ideally induced by elation. “This form of movement, along with dietary and spiritual principles can create the most satisfying, holistic and successful fitness program one could hope to experience. I encourage anyone who is ready for a huge change in their lives, from the way they see the world, to the way they see themselves to explore the principles inherent in this program, especially as outlined in my book : Prancercise®:The Art of Physical and Spiritual Excellence.”
Joanna Rohrback, B.H.S. Owner/MGR.M of Prancercise LLC
DISCLAIMER: The protocols or health recommendations on this website are solely the testimonial of the author as to what she has practiced successfully for herself and intends this website to display for educational purposes alone and not medical advice. If you deem it necessary please seek the advice of a medical professional.Any photos showing her moving along side a horse are not a suggestion that anyone should try such an act, but only a depiction of the technique she uses in her movement.January, or as critics call it, “vacation time,” is certainly not the best month for movies. A lot of distribution companies lack the marketing budget to advertise a tent-pole movie after positioning numerous movies for the awards season so they end up placing their smaller movies (or movies that are just terrible) at the beginning of year, leaving critics like me to hate their profession for a month out of the year. Let’s take a look at the worst movies of January that made us all question why we were in the theater.
As a disclaimer, I may have missed out on a few films this month that would probably be contenders for this list (looking at you Monster Trucks, A Dog’s Purpose, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter) because let’s face it, even critics need to have standards sometimes. Nevertheless, here’s the worst movies of January that I dragged myself into the theater to see:
#3: xXx: Return of Xander Cage: Vin Diesel is at it again with a standard action movie that goes hard after the lowest common denominator in every sense. Return of Xander Cage tries so hard to be super duper cool with all its stars that have tattoos, say one-liners, and try to look “dope” whenever possible, except all of those elements are practically insufferable. Every actor, with the exception of Donnie Yen, comes off as just annoying and stupid. Additionally, the movie also shamelessly sets up for more sequels that, judging by the box office, will most likely not happen. Sorry Vin, but keep your idiotic action movies contained to the Fast and Furious franchise.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics’ Score: 43%
Metacritic Score: 41
MovieBabble Score: D
*To read my review of xXx: Return of Xander Cage, please click here
#2: The Bye Bye Man: I give this movie credit for an interesting premise of a being that takes hold of you the more you say his name or think about him, and that’s about all the credit it deserves. The Bye Bye Man has some of the worst acting ever put in a wide release film. This leads to a lot of scenes that are suppose to be scary that end up making you laugh uncontrollably. Filled with horrible pacing problems, The Bye Bye Man is just plain boring for the first half of the movie. Moreover, it sets up for scares that never come. Then, the movie falls into complete lunacy that might be worth your time late at night after many, many adult beverages. I foresee this film having a cult following in a few years, full of people that watch it ironically.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics’ Score: 22%
Metacritic Score: 37
MovieBabble Score: D-
*To read my review of The Bye Bye Man, please click here
#1: Underworld: Blood Wars: Can this franchise just end, please? Underworld: Blood Wars is a tiresome, lousy movie that is neither good enough to enjoy nor cheesy enough to enjoy sarcastically like The Bye Bye Man. The movie is full of scenes of characters talking with zero emotion, putting you to sleep with every passing moment. The one character you may care about, Kate Beckinsale’s Selene, is relegated to doing practically nothing during the film, leading the film to make us try to care about Theo James and other side character’s whose motivations lead to absolutely nothing. You might enjoy this movie a tad if you were a massive fan of the franchise so far. But, otherwise Blood Wars is incomprehensible schlock that has zero payoff.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics’ Score: 17%
Metacritic Score: 22
MovieBabble Score: F
*To read my review of Underworld: Blood Wars, please click here
That’s the list! What movies have you seen this month that you hated? Comment at the bottom of the page with your thoughts!
If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to like. share, and subscribe.
What topic should I discuss next? Whether it’s old or new, the choice is up to you!
AdvertisementsJulianna Pena is set to main event UFC on Fox 23 when she faces Valentina Schevchenko in a title eliminator bout. ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ is not happy with having to take this fight however. She believes she should be given a title shot.
Speaking on the 5ive Rounds Podcast earlier she said
“I’m not happy about this fight and it has absolutely nothing to do with Valentina and everything to do with me acquiring more of a resume than any female in the 135-pound division. I have beaten everybody that they’ve put in front of me. I’ve yet to lose. I’ve still not been able to fight for a title. These girls coming off of knockouts and they get to fight for the title again. Girls that I’ve beaten, girls that didn’t get past me on The Ultimate Fighter getting to fight for the title. I still have yet to wrap my brain around the fact that I have beaten everybody and still can’t sniff a title shot. I don’t understand why that is. In this case I was offered a main event spot with a little bit of a more sweetened deal and that made me realize that this is the fight that I need to take now. Once I get past this one I can set my sights on the title shot which is what I’ve been gunning for this whole entire time.”
She also went on to say that UFC President Dana White doesn’t want be on the receiving end of her wrath if she doesn’t get a title shot with a victory over Shevchenko.
“That’s the notion that I picked up and if not this time I will raise hell. I think Dana knows that I’m a firecracker, and I definitely don’t think that he wants see the wrath that will come if I don’t get a title shot after this. I would be shocked. I won’t say that it couldn’t happen because anything can happen, especially in this sport. But I think that he definitely knows that I’m the clear cut answer for getting a title shot. So I don’t want to even put that in the universe. If I don’t get a title shot, I quit.”
Do you agree with Pena, should she be getting a title shot? Let us know in the comments below.We use Stripe for credit card, debit card, and ACH processing. Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction initially but drops it to 2.2% plus 30 cents for MC/Visa/Discover and 3.5% for American Express (no 30 cents) once you provide proof of 501(c)3 status.
Getting a Stripe account is quick, easy, online, and integrated with our signup -- you can have a donation page live within a day.
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Stripe's fees are simple and transparent. They do not vary depending on the type of affinity card a donor uses. Nor are they loaded up with various other fees you typically see on a merchant account. The 2.2% is not a teaser rate. It is the rate.One of this week's Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 7 has been withdrawn after some users discovered that it blocked installation of software containing digital signatures, including first- and third-party software, and even other Windows updates.
The problem update is called KB3004394. The purpose of this update was to change how Windows updates its collection of root certificates used to authenticate SSL and TLS connections. Without the update, Windows is meant to poll for certificate updates once a week. With the update, this frequency is increased to once a day.
Unfortunately, this apparently simple change has had severe consequences for some users of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1, with users reporting that Windows Update, drivers from both Nvidia and AMD, and some third-party software including Virtual Box are all unable to install correctly. The error code 0x8004FF91 seems to be a common finding.
Microsoft has issued a second update to remove the bad update from affected machines and has withdrawn the original update for Windows 7. However, the company continues to offer, and recommend, the patch for Windows 8, 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and 2012 R2.
This withdrawn update is the latest of several updates that Redmond has pulled this year. The certificate update isn't the only patch from this Tuesday that was withdrawn; an Exchange 2013 update was also withdrawn temporarily after problems were discovered by end users. The Exchange patch has now been updated and reissued. It's unclear how widespread the certificate problem—or any of the previous problems that have caused patches to be reissued—really is, but there's nonetheless a growing sense among many Windows users that patches are less reliable, and more frequently withdrawn, than they used to be. This concern is compounded by Microsoft's decision to lay off many dedicated software testers earlier in the year.
With Windows Update so important to keeping Windows users secure, a loss of confidence would be very bad news. But if this kind of problem continues, that seems like an inevitable outcome. While IT departments might be able to test updates in a lab before deploying them, providing some protection against faulty fixes, home users have no such luxury. Users have to have confidence that installing an update won't break their machine. Broken, withdrawn updates shake that confidence.In a bid to reverse the declining fortunes of St Kilda's once popular Fitzroy Street, the state government has invited the local council to apply for funding for CCTV cameras along the troubled strip.
Local MP Martin Foley has urged Port Phillip Council to apply to the government's Public Safety Infrastructure Fund for money to finance the cameras.
Tolarno Hotel owner Jim Fagan in a near empty Fitzroy Street on Wednesday. "It's so very bleak now," he says. "It should be the most beautiful boulevard leading to the sea." Credit:Wayne Taylor
The strip has long been plagued by drug dealing and crime, but there are now many vacant shops and few pedestrians on weekdays.
"Fitzroy Street is at a lower point than I've ever seen it," Mr Foley said on Wednesday. "I've lived in that area for most of my life, and the whole down-at-heel feel of the street needs some support."Facebook recently rolled out an update for Android devices that's supposed to speed things up for users. If that update delivered on its promise, then you've got the company's trip to Africa to thank -- that's how Facebook's engineers got a taste of how slow the app can be on low-end phones with developing nations' internet speeds. One of the social network's engineers, Alex Sourov, detailed in a blog post how they bought several low-end Android phones in Africa to test out their app, which didn't only crash repeatedly, but also loaded really slowly. Even worse, they ended up consuming a month's worth of data plan within 40 just minutes trying to use the app. It became apparent that they needed to give their Android app an overhaul if the social network wants to reach even more people around the globe -- so they did.A new national study from the RAND Corporation says states choosing not to expand Medicaid under federal health care reform will leave millions of residents without health insurance and increase spending, at least in the short term, on the costs of treating uninsured residents.
Wisconsin is among the 14 states studied in the analysis, which examined the impacts of Medicaid expansion on insurance coverage, federal payments into the states and state spending on care for the uninsured.
“Our analysis shows it’s in the best economic interests of states to expand Medicaid under the terms of the federal Affordable Care Act,” said Carter Price, the study’s lead author and a mathematician at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
The study says that if the 14 states decide not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, as intended by their governors, those state governments collectively will spend $1 billion more on uncompensated care in 2016 than they would if Medicaid is expanded.
The study also says that failing to expand Medicaid could have more than financial consequences. The study estimates that an additional 19,000 deaths could occur annually if the 14 states studied do not expand Medicaid.
Last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act gave states the ability to block the law’s expansion of Medicaid.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker did just that on Feb. 13 of this year when he unveiled what he called a “hybrid” approach that includes tightening income eligibility for Medicaid, lifting a cap on a program that covers childless adults and forcing more people to buy insurance through the new, federally run health care exchange established through the Affordable Care Act.
The State Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on Walker’s plan, along with budget measures on income taxes and school vouchers, on Tuesday.
According to The Washington Post, 23 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to the Medicaid expansion. Nineteen states have decided against the expansion and eight are debating it.
Wisconsin legislators reportedly have engaged in negotiations over a deal that would still reject federal funding, but that would compensate hospitals with state money.
Citizen Action of Wisconsin has voiced opposition to this potential deal.
“By conceding that hospitals will be damaged by an increase in uncompensated care, such a deal would be an admission that Walker’s plan will cause tens of thousands people throughout Wisconsin to lose health coverage. This has been denied by the governor and his allies in the Legislature up to now,” said Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “It would be a stunningly callous and immoral act to compensate hospitals for impact of forcing people of health coverage, when it would be easy to prevent this tragic result in the first place by taking the federal health care dollars that are on the table.”
Women’s health advocacy groups have also voiced opposition to Walker’s decision on Medicaid. On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (WAWH) will mark a Wisconsin Women’s Day of Action for Health Care Coverage supported by American Association of University Women–Wisconsin (AAUW), League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Network, Mid-Day Women’s Alliance, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Reproductive Justice Collective, The Demeter Foundation, Wisconsin Women’s Network, the Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health.
“Women are the primary recipients of Medicaid services because they make up a larger portion of low-income and elderly populations, and are likely to be custodial parents,” said WAWH executive director Sara Finger. “For those committed to advancing Wisconsin women’s health and economic security, they must protect current BadgerCare coverage and improve Gov. Walker’s initial proposal.”
The Wisconsin Nurses Association also released a statement opposing Walker’s proposal, as executive director Gina Dennik-Champion said, “Nurses are deeply concerned about the approximately 88,500 patients that could lose access to Medicaid coverage. These patients would be put into a health insurance exchange that has yet to form and they would face expensive premiums, copays, and deductibles that would limit their access to quality, preventive health care services. This unnecessary barrier to health care will come with a significant cost to our hospitals, providers, and ultimately, Wisconsin taxpayers.”
The Rand Corporation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan global think tank that provides research about issues such as health, education, national security, international affairs, law and business and the environment.Bernie Sanders got one of his big laughs of the night at the debate when he pointed out that he wasn't as much of a socialist as Dwight D Eisenhower. While he thought the top income tax rate should be higher than it is he wasn't suggesting anything as high as the 91% that pertained in the 1950s. Well, yes, ho ho ho and all that:
In order to pay for making college tuition-free for Americans, Sanders said that Wall Street owed the middle class for bailing it out during the recent financial crisis. He said he would demand "that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share." "Well, let’s get specific, how high would you go?" CBS News moderator Nancy Cordes asked. "You’ve said before you’d go above 50 percent. How high?" "We haven’t come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent," Sanders answered.
OK, nice piece of political rhetoric. But just about everyone has misunderstood how to translate this into modern money. That rate applied to income above $200,000 a year (for a single filer) and that's about $1.7 million a year now correcting for inflation. Thus people are thinking, well, if 91% over $200,000 didn't do much harm then 90% or something over $1.7 million won't. But that's to fundamentally misunderstand the difference between goods or consumption inflation and rises in real incomes. If we're talking about incomes that $200k is better thought of as $9 million now. And that does very much change the calculations about how much such a tax rate might raise.
The same WaPo piece makes this mistake:
What does it mean, though? For the duration of Eisenhower’s presidency, that rate affected individuals making $200,000 or more per year or couples making $400,000 and above per year. In 2015 dollars, that's roughly $1.7 million for an individual and $3.4 million for a couple.
No, no, it isn't, it's really not true. That is to upgrade that income by the general inflation rate over that time. And that's not how we should be looking at incomes over time (it's OK over a few years but not over decades and certainly not centuries). The lovely little tool, Measuring Worth, can be used to give us the correct calculation:
If you want to compare the value of a $200,000.00 Income or Wealth, in 1953 there are three choices. In 2014 the relative: historic standard of living value of that income or wealth is $1,770,000.00 economic status value of that income or wealth is $4,450,000.00 economic power value of that income or wealth is $8,900,000.00
That first gives us the same as the WaPo answer: that's that income upgraded by the general inflation rate. So, to live as large today as someone did in 1953 (the year I used) on $200k you need $1.7 million now. But general living standards have risen considerably over the past 60 years. Well more than doubled in fact more like four times. And that's what gives us that economic power. To be similarly high up the totem pole of relative incomes, assuming no change in inequality, you'd actually need that $8.9 million to live as large.
And this is about right: livings standards have risen some eight times since around 1900. That's for everyone, not just the super rich. So, four times in 60 years, eight times across a century or more, we're all about and around in agreement here.
And then there's the economic status idea: we all know that inequality (especially among these very top incomes) has risen over this time period. So, while $8.9 million might be equal to the general rise in incomes over the period, given the way that the very tippy top incomes have soared away, this only puts you in the relative income position of that $4.4 million to equate to the $200k. That is, $8.9 million isn't as close to the top as $200k was then.
The important underlying point here is that incomes do generally rise over time. That is, real incomes rise over time: it's the great achievement of this generally capitalist free market malarkey that this is true. It's the only economic system we've ever stumbled across that manages this in any substantial manner, for any substantial period of time., for any substantial portion of the economy. It's why it's such a freakin' awesome system in fact.
And what this means for public policy discussions is that we can't just adopt old tax policies upgraded for general inflation. Because those real incomes really do rise over time. The effects will be different today because we've an entirely different set of incomes to consider. We need to upgrade our thinking and calculations by how much incomes have changed, not the prices of goods and services.
There is another way of saying this very same thing. "Fiscal drag" in the jargon. If we only upgrade tax brackets or allowances for general inflation then we'll be ignoring the fact that incomes generally rise faster than it does. And after a few decades of this the results become somewhere between absurd and obscene. In my native UK it used to be that income tax started at around median wage. A few decades of Chancellors upgrading the tax free allowance only by price inflation (and not always even that) meant that a few years ago income tax started to bite for someone working part time on the minimum wage.
The result of that is that marginal tax rates might not change (or could even decline) while average tax rates would soar enormously. Something we need to consider in our discussions of the public policy of what tax rates should be.A Regina-based homebuilding company is suing one of its former clients for displaying a sign near its properties which the couple says is an attempt to push forward a lawsuit they filed against the business.
On a few occasions since the spring, Bradford and Sharon Lenz have parked their truck near Crawford Homes’ office, show homes and around Regina with a sign that reads “Buyer beware had our dream house built by Crawford turned into a nightmare,” a statement of claim filed earlier this month reads.
The claim says the sign is innuendo for “if you hire Crawford to build your house for you, you will regret it.” It says the words and their implied meaning are “false” and “maliciously published by the defendants.”
A statement of claim contains allegations not yet proven in court. A statement of defence has not been filed.
The claim further says the company has been the subject of “ridicule, hatred and contempt and has suffered damages to its reputation” because of the sign.
The claim also notes how the sign’s words were reported by the Regina Leader-Post, in a Global News broadcast and online, and the defendants disturbed potential Crawford clients.
Bradford said he never leaves his truck when parking with his sign and doesn’t approach people.
Crawford’s president, Al Bashutski, declined to comment. In June, he told the Leader-Post he was displeased with the sign, but “I guess it’s a free country.”
Bradford said he was trucking around the sign to push Crawford to submit documents related to a suit he and Sharon have filed against the company.
The 2014 lawsuit claims deficiencies with the design, construction and building materials used for a house Crawford built for them in Kronau. None of those allegations have been proven in court, and Crawford denies them.
Bradford imagines he will continue touting the sign around — possibly having a professional one made, he said — but remove the “buyer beware” portion.
“All we’ve ever wanted was our house fixed properly,” he said.
A court order filed Aug. 3 asks that Crawford produce further documents requested by the Lenzes about their home’s construction.
The couple continues to live in the house in Kronau.
Bradford wasn’t too shocked by the defamation case, but said the lawsuits and legal fees are causing stress on his family.
Crawford is asking for $200,000 in damages, and for the Lenzes to be prohibited from publishing the defamatory words.
[email protected]
twitter.com/wordpuddleThe Revolution entered a new era last week when Tom Soehn took over as the team’s interim head coach. For the navy and red, that’s the first of many changes to come. A new coach, staff and system await. Roster moves won’t be far behind.
Looking ahead, it’s entirely possible that New England undergoes a full rebuild in the coming months. That raises an important question: who lives on as the franchise leader?
For much of the past six seasons, Lee Nguyen has occupied that role. And in 2017, he has continued to lead the way for the Revs, putting together one of his most productive seasons yet: 15 assists, 10 goals, 2.7 chances created per match.
Should the Revolution build around Nguyen? Or should the team move on from the 30-year-old midfielder and build around someone else?(Photo: Dreamstime)
Rape and sexual assault are terrible crimes, but they still need to be verified.
The hashtag “#MeToo” is the social-media meme of the moment. In a 24-hour period, the phrase was tweeted nearly a half million times and posted on Facebook 12 million times. Spearheaded by actress Alyssa Milano in the wake of Hollyweird’s Harvey Weinstein sexual-harassment scandal, women have flooded social media with their own long-buried accounts of being pestered, groped, or assaulted by rapacious male predators in the workplace.
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Count me out.
It’s one thing to break down cultural stigmas constructively, but the #MeToo movement is collectivist virtue-signaling of a very perilous sort. The New York Times heralded the phenomenon with multiple articles “to show how commonplace sexual assault and harassment are.” The Washington Post credited #MeToo with making “the scale of sexual abuse go viral.” And actress Emily Ratajkowski declared at a Marie Claire magazine women’s conference on Monday: “The most important response to #metoo is ‘I believe you.’”
No. I do not believe every woman who is now standing up to “share her story” or “tell her truth.” I owe no blind allegiance to any other woman simply because we share the same pronoun. Assertions are not truths until they are established as facts and corroborated with evidence. Timing, context, motives, and manner all matter.
Because I reserve the right to vet the claims of individual sexual-assault complainants instead of championing them all knee-jerk and wholesale as “victims,” I’ve been scolded as insensitive and inhumane.
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“TIMING DOES NOT MATTER,” a Twitter user named Meg Yarbrough fumed. “What matters is what is best for EACH INDIVIDUAL victim. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
CNN anchor Jake Tapper informed me, “People coming forward should be applauded.” But applauding people for “coming forward” is not a journalistic tenet. It’s an advocacy tenet. Tapper responded that he was expressing the sentiment as a “human being not as a journalist.” Last time I checked, humans have brains. The Weinstein scandal is not an excuse to turn them off and abdicate a basic responsibility to assess the credibility of accusers. It’s an incontrovertible fact that not all accusers’ claims are equal.
Some number of harrowing encounters described by Weinstein’s accusers and the #MeToo hashtag activists no doubt occurred. But experience and scientific literature show us that a significant portion of these allegations will turn out to be half-truths, exaggerations, or outright fabrications. That’s not victim-blaming. It’s reality-checking.
It is irresponsible for news outlets to extrapolate how “commonplace” sexual abuse is based on hashtag trends spread by celebrities, anonymous claimants, and bots. The role of the press should be verification, not validation. Instead of interviewing activist actresses, reporters should be interviewing bona fide experts.
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Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist and criminal profiler who heads the Forensic Criminology Institute, is the author or co-author of 16 criminal-justice books, including textbooks on rape investigation, crime reconstruction, behavioral evidence analysis, and forensic victimology.
Turvey’s most recent book, written with retired NYPD Special Victim Squad detective John Savino and Mexico-based forensic psychologist Aurelio Coronado Mares, is False Allegations: Investigative and Forensic Issues in Fraudulent Reports of Crime.
Published research has documented false rape and sexual-assault rates ranging from 8 percent to 41 percent.
Based on their review of decades of scientific literature, Turvey and his colleagues explode the “2 percent myth” peddled by politicians, victims’ advocates, and journalists “claiming that the nationwide false report rate for rape and sexual assault is nonexistent.” In fact, the statistic was traced to an unverified citation in a 1975 book by feminist author Susan Brownmiller.
“This figure is not only inaccurate,” Turvey and his co-authors conclude, “but also it has no basis in reality.”
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Published research has documented false rape and sexual-assault rates ranging from 8 percent to 41 percent. Savino notes that in his NYPD’s Manhattan Special Victim Squad, “our false report rate was in the double digits during all of my years. Sometimes, it was as high as 40 percent.” Turvey, Savino, and Mares make clear to students that based on the evidence, as opposed to Facebook trends, “false reports happen; they are recurrent; and there are laws in place to deal with them when they do. They are, for lack of a better word, common.”
They are common because people lie for all sorts of reasons — from the need for attention to the lure of profit, out of anger or revenge, to conceal crimes or illicit activity, or because of addictions or mental-health issues. Unlike activists or advocates “steeped in bias, denial or self-interest,” Turvey and his colleagues teach criminal investigators and students that true professionals “do not seek confirmation of beliefs or ideas: they seek eradication of false theories. All reports of crime must be investigated. Otherwise, they are merely unconfirmed allegations that the ignorant or lazy may pass along as truth.”
Rape is a devastating crime. So is lying about it. Ignorant advocates and lazy journalists can be as dangerous as derelict detectives and prosecutors driven by political agendas instead of facts.
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When #MeToo bandwagons form in the midst of a panic, innocent people get run over.
READ MORE:
It’s Time to Agree That Betsy DeVos Isn’t a Rape Apologist
DeVos Takes on Campus Tribunals
Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Sexual Assault in HollywoodAs the Federal Reserve debates the timing of its first interest rate hike since 2006, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde is urging central banks to cooperate on policy moves.
"I know that this topic has some very vocal skeptics, but also very ardent supporters," Lagarde said at the European Central Bank (ECB) Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal late Sunday.
"As the crisis has taught us, in times of distress, the potential gains from cooperation can be huge. Cooperation essentially reduced the risk of tail events with large international feedback effects," she added.
Read MoreEurope's crisis not over yet: IMF's Lagarde
The Fed and the Bank of England are expected to start raising interest rates in 2015.
The Fed's decision to unwind quantitative easing last year threw emerging markets into turmoil, prompting sharp currency and equity market declines in India, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa and Turkey, and underscoring the impact of Fed policy on global markets.
Emerging market central bankers have since stepped up calls for policy transparency among central banks.Sly Flourish
Improvising Combat Situations with Advantage, Disadvantage, and Inspiration
by Mike Shea on 10 October 2017
Keeping combat scenes fresh and interesting is a hard job. Many players have |
for property tax payments to rent his own home.Of course, there will be numerous - countless really - other taxes paid over the course of the year... gasoline tax, cigarette taxes, alcohol taxes and numerous others. But, even without including those we are already below $7,000/month.But here is the real kicker. If that person did take the $205,000/year annuity, their retirement funds would only last them fourteen years. Of course, some may state that they could and should be earning a return during that time which will extend it.But your average person who owns mostly 2% paying dividend stocks or 2% paying Treasuries is actually losing nearly 10% per year to monetary inflation. The US central bank's current rate of money printing - which does and will turn into price increases - is over 10%. If they are losing 8% per year on that $3 million then it will only be ten years before that $3 million is actually only worth $1.3 million in real dollars.That $205,000 per annum, at today's monetary inflation rate, also will only be equivalent to $90,000 in ten years time. After all the taxes to be paid that person would be likely eating cat food just to survive.These are the wonders of the American Dream today. It is turning into a nightmare. They have you coming and going from all sides. And then, if you manage to survive all the taxes and inflation, whatever remaining money you have left will be mostly gutted by the death tax. Yes, there is a tax to die in the land of the free. And don't try to commit suicide either. That's illegal.source http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2013/4/8/us-government-to-decide-how-much-is-enough-for-your-retireme.htmlManchester United's hopes of finishing in a Champions League position could suffer a severe blow as fears grow that Wayne Rooney may be out for three weeks with a groin injury.
As David Moyes's squad were given the day off on Wednesday, the manager will have a clearer idea of Rooney's condition when the players return to training at their Carrington base on Thursday.
Last week the striker was sent away for a warm-weather break in Egypt with his family and one of United's fitness experts to help his recovery from an abductor problem. But it now seems that he will miss Sunday's crucial trip to Chelsea and could be out for the rest of the month.
If so, Moyes's hopes of clawing back United's deficit of five points on Liverpool in fourth place would take a severe hit as the forward could miss three Premier League games, with Robin van Persie still recovering from a thigh problem.
Rooney would also miss Wednesday's Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Sunderland at Old Trafford, a tie in which United must overcome a 2-1 deficit from the first match.
Moyes has accepted a Football Association charge of misconduct for questioning the officiating after the game at Sunderland, with the manager requesting a non-personal hearing from the commission that will decide his punishment.
The manager is likely to receive a fine, with Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers receiving an £8,000 penalty last week when accepting the same charge for questioning the integrity of the referee, Lee Mason, who officiated his side's defeat at Manchester City on Boxing Day.
Rodgers erred by asking why Mason, who hails from Greater Manchester, had taken charge of the match. Stoke City's Mark Hughes and Chelsea's José Mourinho have also each been fined £8,000 for accepting the same misconduct charge from the FA.
Moyes was charged after his criticism of the "terrible" officiating at the Stadium of Light. The Scot was unhappy with the free-kick awarded by Andre Marriner that led to Ryan Giggs's own goal and with the second-half penalty awarded by the referee. The manager said then of the officials: "We're having to play them as well as the opposition at the moment. It's really terrible, it really is. We're actually beginning to laugh at them, that's the thing."
Moyes remains hopeful of taking Real Madrid's Fábio Coentrão on loan until the end of the season. Although Carlo Ancelotti, the Real head coach, has repeatedly claimed that no players will leave during this transfer window, a deal is in place between the left-back's agent, Jorge Mendes, and United regarding the player's terms, with the sticking point potentially being if Real can get a replacement to cover the position.
Rio Ferdinand has revealed he has ambitions to manage in the Premier League when he retires, with the defender also insistent that United can finish in a Champions League berth this season.
Ferdinand, answering fans' questions on twitter, was asked where he would like to be in five years time. "Alive.....in London & managing in the PL!!," he tweeted.
Nemanja Vidic is also confident that the champions can improve their form in the latter part of the campaign, with the captain identifying the next few weeks as vital. "We have to win regularly and in the next month we will know exactly where we are," he said. "By the end of January and start of February we will show what our position is and what our capability is in the Premier League. Then, of course, the Champions League starts up again. This is an important time for us and we all want to do well."
He also backed Moyes, who is enduring an inaugural season as manager. "The manager is a good character and does that [manages the squad] but it's up to the players too. We're a group and it's a group responsibility to deal with those situations," Vidic said.Hello again friends! Here at my Pauper Flophouse of fun I bring you a variety of sweet Pauper decks and give them some quick and dirty brawls in the leagues. Hopefully showing off what the decks can do, having some sweet games and making suggestions on how to make things even better. Let’s go!
One of the reasons I love Pauper is the variety of cards you can play. The massive card pool and ever-changing metagame brings so many options when it comes to different styles of decks, but I also mean even within similar kinds of decks. Take for example Pauper’s big trio of mono-red decks at the moment. Burn, RDW, and Goblins. Sure, Lightning Bolt is too good to pass up, and Fireblast shows up most of the time, but each one has their own cards with their own unique sets of strengths and weakness.
There are many reasons to play red in Pauper. You have access to most of the best burn spells ever printed. You can play SO MANY 2-power 1 drops. You get great sideboard cards like Pyroblast, punishing Artifact destruction and creature removal. You at least have a chance to beat any deck by virtue of speed and reach. You don’t need to click so much as the Drake decks. You are a pyromaniac.
Since this week I’m looking at Goblins, I may as well cover some of the reasons why you might want to play that compared to Burn or RDW, if you are the kind of mage that likes to tap Mountains, Mountains and more Mountains.
Strengths
+ Goblins goes wide (makes many creatures) better than the other two. While the creatures may be small, Goblin Sledder plus many creatures often makes blocking to protect their lifetotal a fruitless endeavour for the opponent.
+ Goblins can be surprisingly versatile. While you are obviously mostly a beatdown deck, the deck can shift roles on the fly quite easily depending on the opponent. Slowly grinding out advantages over a long game is a real possibility, using Sparksmith, Death Spark, Goblin Arsonist and so on to control the board.
+ Are your opponents ready with Chainer’s Edicts? Mogg War-Marshall and friends make a mockery of most spot removal.
+ While not always played in high numbers, Sylvok Lifestaff is a wrecking ball in against other mono-red match-ups.
+ Goblins is better against certain sideboard cards like Circle of Protection: Red.
+ Playing a Goblin theme deck may give you flashes of nostalgia if you played around Onslaught Block.
Of course, it has some weaknesses too.
Weaknesses
– Increased vulnerability to commonly played cards like Electrickery, Shrivel, Holy Light and so on. They aren’t always a disaster due to Goblin Sledder/Goblin Raider, but they are annoying compared to ‘irrelevant’ against RDW and Burn.
– Goblins is a bit slower on average. While turn 4 kills are not irregular, you sometimes have a bunch of 1/1’s and can’t find any way to leverage them.
– Goblins is harder to play on average. Sure, you sometimes get the easy games where you play a bunch of 2/2s into War Marshall into Bushwhacker and Fireblast, figuring out what to do against fierce creature resistance and using your cards to 100% effectiveness is complicated. Sometimes you are tired, and might want to cast Lava Spike instead.
Anyway, let me show you some examples of mistakes you can make in these videos!
Deck Tech
Match 1
Match 2
Match 3
Match 4
Match 5
So what did we learn today? Goblins are sweet, but then we knew that already. Don’t keep 4 landers. Remember that Sparksmith counts ALL Goblins in play, not just your own. I never really got Death Spark going too often, but that might just have been my fault.
Goblins is a deck with options though! Let’s look at some of the other options for this deck, including but not limited to:
Goblin Matron: I mentioned in the video that I don’t really like it right now, but if the format slows down a little, the Matron gives you a lot of versatility. Finding Sparksmith might work, but even finding Tarfire, Goblin Heelcutter or even more Matrons sound good in certain situations.
Reckless Abandon: Goblin Grenade is not Pauper Legal online. If it was, I think you’d play it. Abandon I think is worse than Fireblast, but you can build the deck in a direction to maximise 4-ball damage spells.
Jackal Familiar and friends: you can totally make this more of a RDW style of Goblins too by cutting down on various situational cards like Sparksmith. Seems like a fine options if you expect to see few creature decks.
Intimidator Initiate: seems like a fine mana sink, makes dash creatures better too. Like…
Mardu Scout: Is a Goblin, helps your Cohorts out, cheaper than Heelcutter. I would probably play a 2nd Heelcutter ahead of Scout in my deck, but these cards would be great in a Sorcery-speed removal metagame if that comes around again.
Faerie Macabre: I’ve seen this card pop up in sideboards a fair amount, but I don’t like it. Yes, I get that it breaks up a Drake combo, but it slows down your draws without necessarily providing big gains. Unless Reanimator is weirdly popular where you are, I’d stick to trying to disrupt Drake’s mana and Pyroblasts.
Flaring Pain: Superb if Moment’s Peace decks start making their presence felt more regularly, or people are getting cute with Crimson Acolyte.
Those are normal options, but we can go deeper: (try at your own risk!)
Bravado: If any deck can ever use this, this deck can. Might be cute if opponents are relying on many 1/3’s to block, they aren’t so good against a 5/5!
Reckless Charge: One of my favourite cards of all time. Did you know a Cohort/Conscripts count themselves as a creature spell cast this turn? 5 ’em!
Vulshock Sorcerer: It might be possible that Bogles is a match up you can ignore entirely because they always win and Electrickery doesn’t always work. In which case, consider the Sorcerer for your 1-damage needs. A bit expensive, but can dominate certain match ups and is never dead.
Martyr of Ashes: They’ll never see it coming out of this deck! If Elves are popular in your area, you can do worse than slow-rolling some creatures them BAM, wrath!
Fire Whip: Another card that brutalises 1-toughness creature mirror matches that can also kill a 2-toughness thing!
Brimstone Volley: A bit expensive, but if you’re playing in Paper with Grenades, a couple of Volley makes it much easier to finish people off from 10-15 with random burn spells.
Well, that was Goblins. What’s next?
Stephen ‘Jecht’ Murray, over and out.
CommentsHAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is welcome to visit Cuba but not to meddle in its internal affairs, a senior foreign ministry official said on Wednesday on the eve of the first anniversary of the two countries’ historic rapprochement.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro meet at the United Nations General Assembly in New York September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
“The day that the president of the United States decides to visit Cuba, he will be welcome,” Josefina Vidal, director of U.S. affairs in the Cuban foreign ministry, told reporters.
“Regarding what I just said, I’d like to recall that Cuba has always said... it is not going to negotiate matters that are inherent to its internal system in exchange for an improvement in or the normalization of relations with the United States,” Vidal said.
Obama told Yahoo News in an interview about the Dec. 17 anniversary that he hopes to visit Cuba in 2016 but only if enough progress has been made in bilateral relations, he is able to meet with political dissidents, and if he can possibly “nudge the Cuban government in a new direction”.
It was a year ago that Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shocked the world by announcing the former adversaries would normalize relations. By July they had agreed to restore diplomatic ties after a 54-year break.
Obama has about 400 days left in office before handing over to the next president, potentially a Republican hostile to his new Cuba policy.
Castro has 800 days left before stepping down and handing over power to a new Communist leader. Both have some urgency to cement the new relationship while advancing their strategic interests.
“We are playing a game of chess and we have to make a certain number of moves before the time is up,” said Rafael Hernandez, a Cuban political analyst. “We have to make enough moves so that if there is an unfavorable change in the U.S.
administration, we will be too far along to turn back.”
Related Coverage U.S., Cuba say making headway on restoring commercial flights
In the year since detente, more Americans are visiting Cuba, and more Cubans are trying to reach America, concerned that preferential treatment for Cubans migrants may end. Under Cold War-era laws, Cubans are welcomed without a visa and given residency with relative ease.
Since detente, Cuban overland arrivals to the United States have soared nearly 80 percent while the number arriving by sea has more than doubled.
Since Obama eased restrictions on travel, U.S. visits to Cuba have climbed more than 70 percent, with 138,000 arrivals in the first 11 months of 2015.The Android 4.2 update (JOP40D) for the Sprint flavored Galaxy Nexus is now live and hosted by Google. We've not yet seen any reports of an OTA, but adventurous types can manually download the update and install it with one of the various methods you'll find in the Galaxy Nexus forums. To get the roughly 100 MB update package, just click this link and save it somewhere on your computer. As mentioned, this package is direct from Google and won't contain any funny business. Then visit the forums if you need help getting it installed.
We have no idea when the OTA will start to roll out, but we've been watching for it for a few days since a leaked version was discovered at SXTP Developers. Since it's there for anyone to grab, we have to think that the OTA is close. If you see it, be sure to holler.
Your move, Verizon.
Via: XDA-Developers. Thanks, Charlie!The Bq Ubuntu Phone went on sale this morning direct in Europe and as expected sold out — twice!
A ‘flash sale’ for a limited number of the €169 handsets had been due to last between 8am and 5pm GMT on February 11, but was affected by technical issues that prevented many buyers from getting past the registration screen to complete their purchase, while others were left stuck in ‘processing’.
Despite the technical issues the Bq Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition handset managed to sell out its debut run.
Customers successful in bagging a device in time took to social media to share their excitement and their confirmation e-mails which show an expected delivery date of March for both the phone and the official Duo case accessory that early bird buyers got for free.
Unexpected Second Round
To compensate for the technical issues that hampered the initial rush, Bq put a second, still limited, batch of devices on sale at 2pm GMT. No surprise to learn that these also sold out — and sold out in well under 10 minutes.
While the ‘flash sale’ approach frustrated some, it is clear that in copying a page from the Chinese mobile maker book of hype Canonical and Bq have managed to generate noise and demand for the first device.
Bq, in a statement, thanked buyers for their patience, explaining:
“We experienced a huge demand this morning, receiving over 12,000 orders per minute and unfortunately our servers went down as a result. We only had a limited number of units for today’s flash sale. More will be made available as further flash sales are held throughout the month. Please bear in mind that all orders placed for Ubuntu smartphones will not be delivered in any case until March. (sic)”
Quite a strong showing for Ubuntu early on — do you think subsequent flash sales/pre-sales will be able to match this initial demand?
More Flash Sales Coming So Don’t Panic
‘Bq say they have no plans to put the Ubuntu Phone on normal sale’
Were you one of those who missed out? Don’t panic; Bq plan to hold further flash sales throughout the coming weeks.
The flash sales may be the only opportunity most get to snag this device at this time as Bq say they have no plans to put the phone on “normal” sale afterwards. Buyers will need to act fast as soon as availability is announced.
Following us on Twitter is a good way to stay on top of that! ;)
Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition
If the Bq device isn’t quite ‘your’ thing — and boy have some of you made clear it isn’t! — you’ll want to keep an eye on Meizu. The Chinese upstart may not be in the same league as its rivals yet, but it has plans in motion to change that.
Meizu will unveil its first Ubuntu Phone device at Mobile World Congress 2015 later this month. It will be a repurposed version of the MX4 (not the MX4 Pro) and will appear alongside three other devices, each running a different operating system (including Meizu’s own FlymeOS).
A European release date for the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition is, tentatively, pencilled in for either March or April — at least that’s according to Canonical’s Cristian Parrino who in a chat with Sujeevan Vijayakumaran has this to say:
“What definitely is going to happen next month is that we will show the Meizu devices at MWC… We don’t know yet for sure but we are hoping that we can sell those devices in March as well. It could be March, it could be April.”
Back to Bq
Ahead of that the Bq device is still the focus for Canonical this month. With more flash sales planned, and the mainstream press due to receive their hands-on units in the coming week, you’ll be reading, hearing and seeing plenty more of this little 9mm thick device in the meantime…
Did you manage to get an Ubuntu Phone in this first flash sale? Do you plan to try in the next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.is Distinguished Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh. He researches and teaches about police behavior, law enforcement, and national security issues. Author of Good Cops: The Case for Preventive Policing and Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work, Harris offers a new book, Failed Evidence: Why Law Enforcement Resists Science.
In this book, Harris looks at issues involving eyewitness, false confessions, and other areas of investigation in the hope of convincing the legal and law enforcement community to embrace scientific findings that could improve their methods and results.
Since I teach about interrogations, I was interested in comments that he made about the Reid Technique, the most popular approach to police interrogation over the past several decades. Although some groups are testing other methods, the Reid Technique remains the top contender, despite the fact that it has been implicated in a number of false confessions.
Professor Harris agreed to respond to the following questions:
What was the state of psychological science during the 1950s that might have grounded the principles of the Reid technique?
The state of psychological science was very basic compared to where we are now, but even the science that existed then was really irrelevant to the Reid Technique, because the Reid Technique did not stand on any science. It read like a well-thought-out method with a real basis, but in fact it was nothing more than experience-based assertions.
In other words, this very definite set of instructions for the "right" way to go about an interrogation was not based on anything derived from science, proved through experimentation, and arrived at through analysis of experimental data, the way that we would expect science-based ideas and methods to be. It was just asserted.
I'm hardly the first to notice this, but when you read the Reid manuals from back then, there are no footnotes, no references – nothing of what you'd expect to see if what it was had a basis in real science.
The technique seems to be designed for entrapment and even a bit of brainwashing. Is this perception accurate?
I guess I would put it a little differently, though I do understand why you would see it that way. The Reid technique for interrogation is not a process designed for the discovery of facts and evidence. Rather, it is a multiphase process, to be used when the interrogator has already concluded that the subject is, and therefore simply needs the confession out of the person to confirm the guilt and prove it.
The interrogator determines guilt through a phase of interaction before interrogation, in which the officer ascertains guilt or innocence through asking basic questions and observing behavior. The trouble with this is that there is no basis at all for these "truth-determining" methods; again, no science backs it up. Yet officers are trained that this method – observation of how witnesses respond, look, behave, etc. – can be easily observed and interpreted to ascertain whether or not the answers given are true.
There is, quite simply, nothing to this at all, yet the training gives officers absolute certainty that they can in fact tell truth from lies using these methods, and that once they determine the truth, it's just a matter of getting the confirmation out via interrogation.
What do you think was the appeal for police departments, such that it was so readily and widely accepted, without question?
Certainly part of the appeal was that there was almost nothing else out there for training in interrogation. In fact, there was little training of any kind for any aspect of police work. It's not so common any more, but I used to run into very senior officers who would tell me that their training had been, "Ok, here's a badge, here's a gun; here's how you wear your uniform. Now go out and ride with Sgt. Dave and do everything he tells you."
So, having some kind of method in which new officers could be "scientifically" trained would be very appealing. The other thing that made it appealing is that it is delivered with real certainty and clarity in the materials: “You can learn to interrogate. How to tell truth from lies, and here's how you do it." There's no sense of ambiguity.
And in that presentation, it credits police with having special insight that ordinary civilians don't have. And they are effectively told that the method is one of the keys to becoming part of that special group.
What would you advise an interrogator today about relying on this method?
I would advise caution and skepticism. The Reid Technique was not based on any kind of data or rigorous analysis; it was backed by no science or anything that one could even charitably describe that way. There is by now lots of writing and commentary about its unproven, flawed assumptions.
I would say that having a method to learn your craft is appealing, and so much the better when it is well known by others in the field, and has been known for years. But it's actually no big favor when the method is based on dubious assumptions that have, by now, been called into question over and over.
The idea that using the Reid technique improves is rather scary, since this is really an illusion of "rightness." How might we demonstrate in a training session that confidence is not the same as accuracy (if there's even a way)?
I think I would use a few of the central pieces of research on the basic Reid assumptions – research that has proven those assumptions wrong – and present them simply, without commentary, almost unadorned.
And I would present them in this context: accepting these assumptions can hurt you as a cop. It can make you less effective as a cop. Even with the best of intentions, if you follow this, you may be doing a bad or getting the wrong results.
This is the approach I've taken for years in trainings I've done on racial profiling, which (I can tell you for sure) the officers don't want to hear about, and think of as an accusation against them. The approach has to be not about wrongs of profiling (IMHO, very important) or the social costs of profiling (IMHO, very real and very important) but "How can YOU be a better, more effective police officer?"In 2014, researchers published results from the Contraceptive CHOICE project, a study of more than 9,000 women, more than 4,000 of whom were 14 to 24, who were at risk of an unplanned pregnancy. They were given long-acting reversible contraception at no cost, and followed for two to three years to see what would happen. The number of women who reported recent multiple sexual partners went down, not up. There were no increases in the rates of sexually transmitted infections.
Further, if we can get beyond a war of handpicked studies, we can look at what has happened in the real world. The proportion of teenagers who “ever had sex” dropped to 41 percent in 2015 from 47 percent in 2011. The proportion who were “currently sexually active” dropped to 30 percent from nearly 34 percent. The proportion who “had sexual intercourse with four or more persons” dropped to less than 12 percent from 15 percent.
The percentage of those using long-acting birth control, however, has been increasing. “There is no evidence that contraception increases high-risk sexual behavior,” Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and author of the study, told me.
Of course, disparities exist in family planning as in almost any aspect of health care. A 2016 study in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that the unintended pregnancy rate among women who earn less than the federal poverty line was two to three times the national average in 2011. An earlier study showed that in the years before, that rate was up to five times higher.
Effective, long-acting birth control can be expensive. First-dollar coverage, or coverage without co-pays or deductibles, was what the Affordable Care Act required, a requirement the Trump administration’s new rule undoes. Such coverage can offer women who don’t have upward of $1,000 of disposable income options that they otherwise wouldn’t have. The proportion of women who had to pay out of pocket dropped from more than 20 percent before Obamacare to fewer than 4 percent in 2014. Women saved more than $1.4 billion in 2013 because of this change.
“From a societal perspective, contraception saves health care dollars,” Dr. Peipert said. “Every dollar of public funding invested in family planning saves taxpayers at least $3.74 in pregnancy-related costs. It seems clear that providing contraception is a cost-saving preventive service and benefits public health.”
Many things remain unclear with this new rule. We don’t know how many women will actually be affected by it. One survey showed that more than 10 percent of employers with more than 200 employees would stop covering contraception if it weren’t required by law. It’s not clear, though, how many would actually follow through. The administration estimates that only nine employers who use the accommodation process now will make use of this new rule to become fully exempt. It thinks fewer than 10 will end coverage based on “moral objections.” It believes no more than 120,000 women would be affected over all.Source: KWWSPCA via Facebook
A STAFFIE DOG found in horrific condition is believed to have been cooked alive over a low burning fire right beside The Curragh Racecourse this week.
Kildare West Wicklow SPCA (KWWSPCA) were called to the scene on Monday by a jockey who spotted the little dog wandering around. Volunteer Laura Mullally said it was one of the worst cases of animal torture she had ever seen.
“We could see he was in dreadful condition so we wrapped him up in towels and put him in a soft carrier and inside my jacket,” she told TheJournal.ie. “He was ice cold, I mean he was rigid and his head was shaking, his eyes were rolling.”
Source: KWWSPCA via Facebook
The dog was covered in soot from the fire and when they cleaned him up there were marks on his paws and neck from a rope that had been used to tie him up, Mullally said.
The local vet said the Staffie’s organs had cooked slowly over time and failed. His facial ticks and spasms were the result of neurological damage to his brain from the heat of the embers it is thought he was placed on.
“He didn’t stand any hope of recovery,” Mullally said. She believes the young dog had been subjected to long-term abuse as he was “skin and bone” and had been eating dirt to stay alive.
Somebody tied him up like a piece of meat and carried him to that place, put down a fire, sat there and let him roast. Then they just went off and left him.
Source: KWWSPCA via Facebook
Sadly, the little Staffie passed away today, despite the veterinary team doing everything they could to save him. At the end, all they could do was make him comfortable.
“They just kept him warm in heated blankets and cuddled him and reassured him.”
He was still trying to lick your hand – that’s the awful sad part, he’d forgive you, you know, it’s just very sad.
Mullally said the incident has been reported to gardaí. She also urged dogowners to ensure they don’t let their pets wander around outside alone.
“Take care of your animal – don’t leave it out where these kinds of people can pick it up and mistreat it.”Mohammad Isam reports on England's arrival in Bangladesh and the high levels of security in place for the team. (0:55)
Cricket Australia's head of security Sean Carroll has arrived in Dhaka to observe the security measures in place for England's ongoing tour of the country. Australia are due to arrive in Bangladesh in August 2017 to fulfil the two-Test tour of 2015 that was postponed due to security concerns.
Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB chief, said Carroll's visit was "encouraging".
Carroll travelled with the England team's convoy from their hotel to the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur to sample the security arrangements. It is understood that he will further examine the security during the second Bangladesh-England Test starting on Friday.
The move is seen as a positive consequence of England's willingness to tour after being given security assurances by the Bangladesh government following concerns because of the July 1 terrorist attack in Dhaka.
"We are aware of Sean Carroll's arrival," Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. "He came today and travelled with the England convoy to take a practical look at the security arrangements. He will be here for a few days. During the England tour, the Australia high commission has also kept in touch with us about the security arrangements.
"It is certainly an encouraging sign, as it shows that they are keen to have a look at our security arrangements and are positive about coming in August next year."
Australia deferred the tour of Bangladesh last year following a government advisory. Cricket Australia did not send their team for this year's U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh either. Although chief executive James Sutherland had said in April that they were keen to fulfil their commitments in 2017, the terror attacks in Dhaka on July 1 put question marks on the tour.Alternative Title: François-Marie Arouet
Exile to England During a stay that lasted more than two years he succeeded in learning the English language; he wrote his notebooks in English and to the end of his life he was able to speak and write it fluently. He met such English men of letters as Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and William Congreve, the philosopher George Berkeley, and Samuel Clarke, the theologian. He was presented at court, and he dedicated his Henriade to Queen Caroline. Though at first he was patronized by Bolingbroke, who had returned from exile, it appears that he quarrelled with the Tory leader and turned to Sir Robert Walpole and the liberal Whigs. He admired the liberalism of English institutions, though he was shocked by the partisan violence. He envied English intrepidity in the discussion of religious and philosophic questions and was particularly interested in the Quakers. He was convinced that it was because of their personal liberty that the English, notably Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke, were in the forefront of scientific thought. He believed that this nation of merchants and sailors owed its victories over Louis XIV to its economic advantages. He concluded that even in literature France had something to learn from England; his experience of Shakespearean theatre was overwhelming, and, however much he was shocked by the “barbarism” of the productions, he was struck by the energy of the characters and the dramatic force of the plots.
Return to France He returned to France at the end of 1728 or the beginning of 1729 and decided to present England as a model to his compatriots. His social position was consolidated. By judicious speculation he began to build up the vast fortune that guaranteed his independence. He attempted to revive tragedy by discreetly imitating Shakespeare. Brutus, begun in London and accompanied by a Discours à milord Bolingbroke, was scarcely a success in 1730; La Mort de César was played only in a college (1735); in Eriphyle (1732) the apparition of a ghost, as in Hamlet, was booed by the audience. Zaïre, however, was a resounding success. The play, in which the sultan Orosmane, deceived by an ambiguous letter, stabs his prisoner, the devoted Christian-born Zaïre, in a fit of jealousy, captivated the public with its exotic subject. At the same time, Voltaire had turned to a new literary genre: history. In London he had made the acquaintance of Fabrice, a former companion of the Swedish king Charles XII. The interest he felt for the extraordinary character of this great soldier impelled him to write his life, Histoire de Charles XII (1731), a carefully documented historical narrative that reads like a novel. Philosophic ideas began to impose themselves as he wrote: the King of Sweden’s exploits brought desolation, whereas his rival Peter the Great brought Russia into being, bequeathing a vast, civilized empire. Great men are not warmongers; they further civilization—a conclusion that tallied with the example of England. It was this line of thought that Voltaire brought to fruition, after prolonged meditation, in a work of incisive brevity: the Lettres philosophiques (1734). These fictitious letters are primarily a demonstration of the benign effects of religious toleration. They contrast the wise Empiricist psychology of Locke with the conjectural lucubrations of René Descartes. A philosopher worthy of the name, such as Newton, disdains empty, a priori speculations; he observes the facts and reasons from them. After elucidating the English political system, its commerce, its literature, and the Shakespeare almost unknown to France, Voltaire concludes with an attack on the French mathematician and religious philosopher Pascal: the purpose of life is not to reach heaven through penitence but to assure happiness to all men by progress in the sciences and the arts, a fulfillment for which their nature is destined. This small, brilliant book is a landmark in the history of thought: not only does it embody the philosophy of the 18th century, but it also defines the essential direction of the modern mind.
Later travels The failure of some of his plays aggravated his sense of defeat. He had attempted the comédie larmoyante, or “sentimental comedy,” that was then fashionable: after L’Enfant prodigue (1736), a variation of the prodigal son theme, he adapted William Wycherley’s satiric Restoration drama The Plain-Dealer to his purpose, entitling it La Prude; he based Nanine (1749) on a situation taken from Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela, but all without success. The court spectacles he directed gave him a taste for scenic effects, and he contrived a sumptuous decor, as well as the apparition of a ghost, for Sémiramis (1748), but his public was not captivated. His enemies compared him with Prosper Jolyot, sieur de Crébillon, who was preeminent among French writers of tragedy at this time. Though Voltaire used the same subjects as his rival (Oreste, Sémiramis), the Parisian audience preferred the plays of Crébillon. Exasperated and disappointed, he yielded to the pressing invitation of Frederick II and set out for Berlin on June 28, 1750. At the moment of his departure a new literary generation, reacting against the ideas and tastes to which he remained faithful, was coming to the |
.”[54]
During 9/11 Commission hearings, victims’ family members interrupted to demand answers on another Giuliani-related scandal. They wanted an explanation from Giuliani for the first responders’ lack of working radios. The radios used by firefighters in the WTC were a concern, and were actually known by NYC officials to be faulty as early as 1993.[55]
By April 2007, Giuliani had been forced to limit his appearances in New York City due to the increasing protests by family members of 9/11 victims, particularly police, fire and other emergency workers.[56] A general campaign sponsored by The International Association of Firefighters followed, aimed at exposing Giuliani as a fraud with respect to his 9/11 activities.[57]
All of this points to the need to investigate Rudy Giuliani with respect to the environmental crimes of 9/11. His actions and decisions related to the environmental crimes imply that he was hiding something greater, however. What needed to be hidden was evidence of the demolition of the WTC buildings.
During the cleanup of Ground Zero there were many indications that the public was being deceived. These included the discovery of foreknowledge about the destruction that originated with Rudy Giuliani and his OEM staff. Additionally, the steel was destroyed in an unprecedented manner and the black boxes were officially reported as not being found when it was clear that they had been. The restrictions on FEMA investigators and on photographers and the extensive site security are all indications that something was being hidden.
These facts provide additional reasons to suspect that explosive materials were being removed or destroyed during the cleanup. Those who were in control of Ground Zero certainly had the means and opportunity to dispose of any evidence of explosives. The opportunity came in the form of access to the highly secure site, as well as the authority to hire suspected crime syndicate companies to perform the actual cleanup. Theft of evidence by FBI agents at Fresh Kills landfill provides yet more suspicion that remnants of explosive devices were being removed.
Perhaps not surprisingly, those involved with the cleanup had strong links to Saudi Arabia. This included Giuliani, whose law firm represented the Saudi-funded BCCI shortly after Giuliani led enforcement actions against that terrorist network. It also included Bernard Kerik and the British construction companies AMEC and Bovis. Kerik worked for the Saudi royal family for years and AMEC and Bovis had done significant work for the Kingdom. AMEC also went on to win enormous contracts in Iraq.[58]
Rudy Giuliani can be brought up on charges today for his participation in the deception and negligence that led to the deaths and illness of so many workers at Ground Zero. However, his actions in that regard, and his personal history, point to the possibility that he was engaged in greater crimes related to 9/11.
There is no question that 9/11 provided this publicity-greedy man the ideal opportunity to grow a legend around his perceived response to the attacks. But Giuliani’s legend has faded into suspicions that he should be investigated for possible involvement in the crimes. His selection for a high-level cabinet post could re-invigorate interest in those suspicions.
[1] Wayne Barrett, “Rudy Giuliani’s 5 Big Lies About 9/11: On the Stump, Rudy Can’t Help Spreading Smoke and Ashes About His Dubious Record,” Village Voice, August 8–14, 2007, p. 35-36
[2] Wayne Barrett, Thug Life: The Shocking Secret History of Harold Giuliani, the Mayor’s Ex-Convict Dad, The Village Voice, July 4th 2000, http://www.villagevoice.com/2000-07-04/news/thug-life/1
[3] The Smoking Gun, Guiliani: The Hits Keep on Comin’, April 06, 2007
[4] William K. Rashbaum,.Kerik Is Accused of Abusing Post as City Official, The New York Times, November 16, 2005
[5] Dean J. Champion, Police Misconduct in America: A Reference Handbook, ABC-CLIO, 2001, p 15
[6] Timothy Naftali, “There’s Very Little We Can Do:” Gerald Ford and Counterterrorism, Version 1.3, Draft Section for Study of US Counterterrorism Strategy, 1968 – 1993, Washington Decoded, http://www.washingtondecoded.com/files/tngrf.pdf
[7] Gary Webb, Dark Alliance, Seven Stories press, 1998
[8] Christopher Ketcham, The Last Roundup, Radar Magazine, May 5, 2008
[9] Beth Kaswan describes her role as a Giuliani assistant managing the BCCI case in her bio at Scott & Scott, http://www.scott-scott.com/attorney-beth-kaswan.html
[10] Lucy Komisar, Tracking Terrorist Money — Too Hot For U.S. to Handle?, Pacific News Service, October 4, 2001, https://ac.home.xs4all.nl/11sept2001/amerika50.htm
[11] Rachel Ehrenfeld, Evil Money: Encounters Along the Money Trail, HarperCollins Publishers, 1992, pp 177-178
[12] Russ Baker, Family of Secrets, Bloomsbury Press, 2009, p 430
[13] One case in which White & Case represented BCCI is listed here, http://openjurist.org/836/f2d/545/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international-sa-v-akhavan-and-n-na-bank-of-credit-and-commerce-internat
[14] David Sirota and Jonathan Baskin, Follow the Money: How John Kerry busted the terrorists’ favorite bank, Washington Monthly, September 2004, https://web.archive.org/web/20160329162912/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html
[15] James Traub, Rudy’s reversals: Giuliani’s lost convictions, The New Republic, September 9, 1991
[16] Biography, Rudy Giuliani, http://www.biography.com/people/rudolph-giuliani-9312674?page=2
[17] Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11, Harper Collins, 2006, pp 94-101
[18] David DeGraw, The Financial Puzzle Behind 9/11, Consortium News, October 22, 2010, http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/102210a.html
[19] Peter Jennings of ABC interview with Rudy Giuliani, 9/11/01 Rudy Giuliani warned of WTC collapse beforehand – Interview with Peter Jennings, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vCg8Fp8aw8
[20] Jim Hoffman, Giuliani Warned: Mayor Giuliani Had Privileged Warning of Unprecedented Collapse, 911Research.WTC7.net, http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/attack/giuliani.html
[21] See Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, http://www.ae911truth.org/
[22] Peter Jennings of ABC interview with Rudy Giuliani
[23] In 1993 Kroll Associates, an investigative and security consulting firm headquartered in New York, was asked by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the owner and manager of the World Trade Center at the time, to assist it in dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist bombing that took place in February of that year and to help design new security measures. This report’s Principal Investigator, Brian Michael Jenkins, was then Deputy Chairman of Kroll and led the analysis of future terrorist threats and how they might be addressed. The report specifically considered the possibility of “terrorists deliberately crashing a plane into the towers.” http://transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/publications/documents/Sept11.book.htm
[24] World Trade Center Task Force Interview, EMT Richard Zarrillo, October 25, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110161.PDF?scp=1&sq=OEM%20wtc&st=cse
[25] World Trade Center Task Force Interview, Abdo Nahmod, October 11, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110061.PDF
[26] Graeme MacQueen, Waiting for Seven: WTC 7 Collapse Warnings in the FDNY Oral Histories, Journal of 9/11 Studies, January 11, 2008, http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/200701/MacQueenWaitingforSeven.pdf
[27] History Commons Profile for Richard Rotanz, https://web.archive.org/web/20160806175620/http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=richard_rotanz
[28] Graeme MacQueen, Waiting for Seven
[29] World Trade Center Task Force Interview, Fire Marshal Steven Mosiello, October 23, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110141.PDF?scp=3&sq=OEM%20wtc&st=cse
[30] Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11, Harper Collins, 2006, p12
[31] World Trade Center Task Force Interview, Chief Joseph Pfeifer, October 23, 2001, http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/9110138.PDF
[32] Testimony of Richard Sheirer to the 9/1 Commission, May 18, 2004 http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/hearings/hearing11/sheirer_statement.pdf
[33] History Commons profile for John Odermatt, https://web.archive.org/web/20160402154429/http://historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=john_odermatt_1
[34] Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion, p 33-35
[35] History Commons profile for John Odermatt
[36] Suzanne Mattei, Pollution and Deception at Ground Zero: How the Bush Administration’s Reckless Disregard of 9/11 Toxic Hazards Poses Long-Term Threats for New York City and the Nation, Sierra Club, http://www.gothamgazette.com/rebuilding_nyc/sierraclub_report.pdf
[37] Report from the Committee on Science, US House of Representatives, March 6,2002, http://web.archive.org/web/20021128021952/http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/science/hsy77747.000/hsy77747_0.htm
[38] Gail Swanson, Behind-the-Scenes: Ground Zero, A Collection of Personal Accounts, available at this link: http://www.summeroftruth.org/groundzero.html
[39] Jim Hoffman, Black Boxes: Contents of Flight Data and Cockpit Voice Recorders Are Missing, 911Research.com, http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/evidence/blackboxes.html
[40] ABC News, Terrorist Hunt: Suspects ID’d; Rescue Efforts Go On; White House Originally Targeted, September 12, 2001, http://911research.wtc7.net/cache/disinfo/deceptions/abc_hunt.html
[41] Susan Ginsberg testimony to National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Public Hearing, Monday, January 26, 2004, http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing7/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-01-26.htm
[42] Jim Hoffman, Access Restrictions: The Closure of Ground Zero to Investigators, 911Research.WTC7.net, http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/groundzero/restrictions.html
[43] Amy Florence Fischbach, E-J Electric workers survive tragedy, CEE News, Sep 20, 2001, http://ecmweb.com/cee-news-archive/e-j-electric-workers-survive-tragedy
[44] Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion, p 257
[45] U.S. Department of Defense, News Transcript, Mr. Lee Evey, Pentagon Renovation Manager, September 15, 2001, http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=1636
[46] Jacqueline Emigh, GPS on the Job in Massive World Trade Center Clean-up, Access Control & Security Systems, Jul 1, 2002, http://911research.wtc7.net/cache/wtc/groundzero/security_gps.html
[47] Debra K. Rubin
[48] NPR News, Sifting Through the WTC Rubble: ‘Ground Zero’ Effort Nears End, Search Continues at Fresh Kills, May 30, 2002
[49] Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bios of James T. Caruso and Pasquale J. D’Amuro, January 31, 2002, https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/pressrel/press-releases/bios-of-james-t.-caruso-and-pasquale-j.-damuro
[50] Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Announces List of 19 Hijackers, September 14, 2001, https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-announces-list-of-19-hijackers
[51] Anita Gates, “Buildings Rise from Rubble while Health Crumbles,” “New York Times,” September 11, 2006, reporting on the documentary, “Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11”
[52] Ben Smith, “Rudy’s Black Cloud”, New York Daily News, September 18, 2006, p. 14
[53] Wayne Barrett, “Rudy Giuliani’s 5 Big Lies About 9/11
[54] Fletcher Smith, Giuliani Criticized by Firefighters in Letter, Yahoo News Network, May 9, 2007
[55] Wayne Barrett, Rudy Giuliani’s Five Big Lies About 9/11
[56] David Saltonstall, “Rudy gets earful at stop here: Some FDNY survivors rally against him”. Daily News (New York). April 24, 2007
[57] See the website Rudy Giuliani, Urban Legend, http://www.rudy-urbanlegend.com/
[58] See AMEC website, Iraq webpage, and see AMEC description of just one of these contracts, worth $500 million, http://www.amec.com/page.aspx?pointerid=726e2a91da094026b46e1f3239f623b1FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft blasted the NFL on Wednesday for upholding quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension, calling it "unfathomable," while apologizing to the team's fans for agreeing to accept the league's penalties.
"I was wrong to put my faith in the league," Kraft said, noting that in doing so he felt it would help exonerate Brady.
"Six months removed from the AFC Championship Game, the league still has no hard evidence of anybody doing anything to tamper with the psi levels of footballs. I continue to believe and unequivocally support Tom Brady."
Kraft then explained why he agreed to accept the league's penalties of a $1 million fine, 2016 first-round draft choice and 2017 fourth-round draft choice.
"I, first and foremost, need to apologize to our fans because I truly believe what I did in May -- given the actual evidence of the situation, and the league's history on discipline matters -- would make it much easier for the league to exonerate Tom Brady. Unfortunately I was wrong," he said.
"I've come to the conclusion that this was never about doing what was fair and just. Back in May, I had to make a difficult decision that I now regret."
Kraft then ripped the league's investigation, calling it "extremely frustrating and disconcerting." Kraft referenced an ESPN report that stated 11 of the 12 Patriots footballs measured at halftime were significantly under the required range of 12.5 psi to 13.5 psi.
"I will never understand why an initial erroneous report regarding the psi level of footballs was leaked by a source from the NFL a few days after the AFC Championship Game, and was never corrected by those who had the correct information. For four months, that report cast aspersions and shaped public opinion," he said.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft blasted the NFL for Roger Goodell's decision to uphold Tom Brady's four-game suspension. AP Photo/Stephan Savoia
Kraft also took issue Wednesday with the way the NFL communicated the news that commissioner Roger Goodell decided to uphold Brady's four-game suspension on appeal. The NFL's case in New York has been assigned to Judge Richard M. Berman, who's directed the NFLPA to respond to the initial filing by Aug. 13. At the time the union responds, Berman said he would schedule a conference with the sides.
In particular, Kraft was upset by the league's emphasis on the idea that Brady destroyed his cellphone.
"Yesterday's decision by commissioner Goodell was released in a similar manner, under an erroneous headline that read, 'Tom Brady destroyed his cellphone.' This headline was designed to capture headlines across the country and obscure evidence regarding the tampering of air pressure in footballs.
"It intentionally implied nefarious behavior and minimized the acknowledgement that Tom provided the history of every number he texted during that relevant time frame. We had already provided the league with every cellphone of every non-NFLPA employee that they requested, including head coach Bill Belichick."
Kraft did not answer questions, and said he will not talk about the matter until after the legal process plays out, while advising everyone in the organization to do the same.
Brady, who released a statement on his personal Facebook page Wednesday, is not scheduled to hold a news conference.
Radio: Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick The Patriots' Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick address the media following the NFL's decision to uphold Tom Brady's four-game suspension for his involvement in Deflategate. Listen
"Tom Brady is a person of great integrity and is a great ambassador of the game, both on and off the field," Kraft said. "Yet for reasons that I cannot comprehend, there are those in the league office who are more determined to prove that they are right rather than admit any culpability of their own or take any responsibility for the initiation of a process and ensuing investigation that was flawed."
Kraft also appeared to fire a direct salvo at NFL general counsel Jeff Pash, who was a league-based reference for investigator Ted Wells in producing the multimillion-dollar report that was used as the foundation to penalize the Patriots.
"I have often said, 'If you want to get a deal done, sometimes you have to get the lawyers out of the room.' I had hopes that Tom Brady's appeal to the league would provide Roger Goodell the necessary explanation to overturn his suspension. Now the league has taken the matter to court, which is a tactic that only a lawyer would recommend," Kraft said.
Brady's agent, Don Yee, told ESPN's Ed Werder on Wednesday that he believes the timing of Brady's meeting with the Wells investigators and the destruction of his cellphone was coincidental. The league never asked for the phone itself, only the information it contained, Yee said.
Yee also said that Brady cycles through cellphones often, something a close friend of Brady also asserted in an interview with ESPN.
"The period they're looking for [information on the phone] is Sept. 1, 2014 to Feb. 28, 2015. By that time, Tom had cycled through phones," Yee told ESPN. "I don't think he can even recall how many. We happened to find one phone, one old phone and we conducted a forensic search of that phone that covered the September to November time period. That phone was actually only in use for four weeks, which kind of demonstrates how often he cycles through phones. One reason he cycles through phones frequently is given his notoriety, we have always been fearful of him losing his phone in an airport or restaurant, etc. So he has made a regular habit of deleting all emails and texts as well as cycling through phones. He, however, keeps one phone billing account tied to a single number."
The upholding of Brady's punishment is an outcome Kraft said he didn't think was possible when he accepted the league's penalties in May. He said Wednesday that it is routine for discipline in the NFL to be reduced on appeal, even when there is evidence of an infraction.
"I tried to do what I thought was right. I chose not to take legal action. I wanted to return the focus to football," he said.
"I have been negotiating agreements on a global basis my entire life, and I know there are times when you have to give up important points of principle to achieve a greater good. I acted in good faith and was optimistic that by taking the actions I took, the league would have what they wanted.
"I was willing to accept the harshest penalty in the history of the NFL for an alleged ball violation, because I believed it would help exonerate Tom.
"Given the facts, evidence and laws of science that underscore this entire situation, it is completely incomprehensible to me that the league continues to take steps to disparage one of its all-time great players and a man for whom I have the utmost respect.
"Personally, this is very sad and disappointing to me."
Belichick took the podium after Kraft, but the coach refused to discuss Brady's situation, answering repeated questions on the matter by saying, "It's already been addressed."
The NFLPA filed motions Wednesday on Brady's behalf challenging the decision to uphold the suspension. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota and assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle. The union had hoped for Judge David Doty, who historically has ruled in favor of players in labor cases against the NFL.
"We as a union are going to fight it," said Steelers guard Ramon Foster, the team's player rep. "That's what we're supposed to do as a union is fight those types of things so he's given every opportunity as a player."
The NFL told Brady that if he acknowledged that Patriots ball attendants Jim McNally and John Jastremski were doing something illegal, and if he acknowledged that he didn't cooperate with the league, the NFL would be willing to reduce his suspension to two or maybe even one game, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter. Brady declined to agree to the offer, which as one source said, "tells you how Tom feels about this case."
Attorney John M. Dowd, the investigator and author of the report that led Major League Baseball to ban Pete Rose, weighed in Wednesday and said Brady was "ambushed" by Goodell and that the "entire NFL disciplinary process lacks integrity and fairness."
"The record of the Wells investigation shows that this cellphone was not an issue or charge below. Tom and his counsel made it clear the cellphone would not be produced. He was not cited by Wells for failure to cooperate -- a separate charge never made -- because he did cooperate," Dowd said. "Thereafter, [Goodell] punished him for the tampering and made no reference to the absence of the phone or lack of cooperation.
"Meanwhile, the flawed Wells report was demolished publicly which put Goodell between a rock and a hard place given his dismal record with disciplinary decisions. As a result, Wells and the commissioner ambushed Brady on appeal with the phone and a new charge, to wit: failure to cooperate. But they knew and had no quarrel with the non-production of the phone before they learned it had been destroyed. By adding it to the reason for the suspension, the NFL commissioner has denied Tom Brady the fundamental right to notice of a charge and the right to defend against it."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, meanwhile, commended the job Goodell has done.
"He's got obviously a very tough job," Jones said. "Now I see some people doing that, that's that old violin that's not feeling too sorry for him because that's why you pay the big bucks is to deal with the big problems. But he's doing an outstanding job."
Elsewhere, police in Scarborough, Maine, are patrolling the area around Goodell's home after the NFL reached out to them Tuesday.
"They did reach out and let us know about the decision and that it might not be popular," Scarborough Police Chief Robbie Moulton said, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Brady, who turns 38 on Aug. 3, will miss the first four games this season unless the case goes to court. Jimmy Garoppolo, a second-round draft pick in 2014, would replace Brady.
New England hosts Pittsburgh on Sept. 10, a Thursday night game that kicks off the regular season. The Patriots then go to Buffalo, host Jacksonville, have a bye, and are at Dallas in the last game of Brady's suspension. Oddsmakers at William Hill US, though, continue to keep the Patriots at 7-2 to win the AFC title and 8-1 to win Super Bowl 50.Total War developer The Creative Assembly will appear at Rezzed: The PC and Indie Games Show to exclusively show the future of its strategy series.
Attendees at the Eurogamer event will get the first look at the developer's next project during a presentation celebrating the studio's 25th anniversary, scheduled to take place 6th July at 1pm UK time.
"This year, The Creative Assembly is celebrating a quarter of a century making games," said Total War lead designer James Russell. "I'll be at Rezzed giving a talk on the making of the Total War series, and showing a sneak peek of what we're doing next. Exciting times - see you there!"
Rezzed takes place on Friday 6th July and Saturday 7th July at the Brighton Centre. That's in Brighton. Tickets are on sale now at www.rezzed.com, priced £12 for one day or £20 for both.
Eurogamer is now revealing the event's full line-up thick and fast: earlier this week 2K announced that Borderlands 2 will be playable at Rezzed for the first time in the UK.
Also playable: Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines, Introversion's Prison Architect, Croteam's Serious Sam 3 and Xenonauts, with many more set to be announced before July.
Expect developer sessions, too, including one from Carmageddon Reincarnation developer Stainless Games and a 15-minute narrated demo of XCOM: Enemy Unknown.Although many people consider Plastic Surgery as a relatively new specialty, the origin of the plastic surgery had his roots more than 4000 years old in India, back to the Indus River Civilization. The mythico-religious shlokas (hymns) associated with this civilization were compiled in Sanskrit language between 3000 and 1000 B.C. in the form of Vedas, the oldest sacred books of the Hindu religion. This era is referred to as the Vedic period (5000 years B.C) in Indian history during which the the four Vedas, namely the Rigveda, the Samaveda, the Yajurveda, and the Atharvaveda were compiled. All the four Vedas are in the form of shlokas (hymns), verses, incantations and rites in Sanskrit language. 3 ‘Sushruta Samhita' is believed to be a part of Atharvaveda. 4
‘Sushruta Samhita'(Sushruta's compendium), which describes the ancient tradition of surgery in Indian medicine is considered as one of the most brilliant gems in Indian medical literature. This treatise contains detailed descriptions of teachings and practice of the great ancient surgeon Sushruta (Figure-1) which has considerable surgical knowledge of relevance even today.
Figure 1 Figure 1: Sushruta (600 B.C.)
The ‘Sushruta Samhita' contains the major surgical text of the Vedas and is considered to be the most advanced compilation of surgical practices of its time. ‘Sushruta Samhita' encomprises not only the teaching regarding the plastic surgery but contains composite teachings of the surgery and all the allied branches including midwifery and making it a comprehensive treatise on the entire medical discipline. Sushruta believed that knowledge of both surgery and medicine are essential to constitute a good doctor who otherwise “is like a bird with only one wing.” In fact, Sushruta emphasized in his text that unless one possesses enough knowledge of relevant sister branches of learning, one cannot attain proficiency in one's own subject of study. According to Sushruta, “Any one, who wishes to acquire a thorough knowledge of anatomy, must prepare a dead body and carefully observe and examine all its parts”. The method of study was to submerge the body in water and allow it to decompose followed by examination of the decomposing body at intervals to study structures, layer by layer, as they got exposed following decomposition. The most important point to note here is that the dissection was performed without using knife.
The exact period of Sushruta is unclear but most scholars put him him between 600 to 1000 BC. 5, 6, 7, 8 Sushruta lived, taught and practiced his art in the area that corresponds presently to the city of Varanasi (Kashi, Benares) in northern part of India. Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges is one of the holiest places in India and is also the home of Buddhism and Ayurveda, one of the oldest medical disciplines. The followers of Sushruta were called as Saushrutas. The new student was expected to study for at least 6 years. Before starting his training he had to take a solemn oath, which can be compared to that of Hippocrates. 9, 10 He taught the surgical skills to his students on various experimental modules, for instance, incision on vegetables (like watermelon, gourd, cucumber etc.), probing on worm eaten wood, preceding present day workshops by more than 2600 years.(Figure-2)
Figure 2 Figure 2: ‘‘Saushrutas'‘ doing mock surgeries on gourds, watermelons, cucumbers
This master literature remained preserved for many centuries exclusively in the Sanskrit language which prevented the dissemination. of the knowledge to the west and other parts of the world. Later the original text was lost and the present extant one is believed to be a revision by the Buddhist scholar Vasubandhu (circa AD 360-350). In the eighth century A.D., ‘Sushruta Samhita' was translated into Arabic as Kitab-Shaw Shoon-a-Hindi and Kitab-i-Susrud. The translation of ‘Sushruta Samhita' was ordered by the Caliph Mansur (A.D.753 -774). 11 One of the most important documents in connection with ancient Indian medicine is the Bower Manuscript, a birch-bark medical treatise discovered in Kuchar (in Eastern Turkistan), dated around AD 450 and is housed in the Oxford University library. 12 The first European translation of ‘Sushruta Samhita' was published by Hessler in Latin and into German by Muller in the early 19th century. The first complete English translation was done by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna in three volumes in 1907 at Calcutta. 1
The treatise's insight, accuracy and detail of the surgical descriptions are most impressive. In the book's 184 chapters, 1,120 conditions are listed, including injuries and illnesses relating to ageing and mental illness. The compendium of Sushruta includes many chapters on the training and practice of surgeons. The Sushruta Samhita describes over 120 surgical instruments (Figure-3), 5, 13 300 surgical procedures and classifies human surgery in 8 categories.
Figure 3 Figure 3: Surgical instruments as described by Sushruta
The ancient surgical science was known as Salya-tantra.Salya-tantra (surgical science) embraces all processes aiming at the removal of factors responsible for producing pain or misery to the body or mind. Salya(salya-surgical instrument) denotes broken parts of an arrow /other sharp weapons while tantra denotes maneuver. The broken parts of the arrows or similar pointed weapons were regarded as the commonest and most dangerous objects causing wounds and requiring surgical treatment. Shushruta has described surgery under eight heads Chedya (excision), Lekhya (scarification), Vedhya (puncturing), Esya (exploration), Ahrya (extraction), Vsraya (evacuation) and Sivya (Suturing). 9, 10
All the basic principles of plastic surgery like planning, precision, haemostasis and perfection find an important place in Sushruta's writings on this subject.Sushruta described various reconstructive methods or different types of defects like release of the skin for covering small defects, rotation of the flaps to make up for the partial loss and pedicle flaps for covering complete loss of skin from an area. 14 (Figure -4)
Figure 4 Figure 4: Sushruta doing earlobe reconstruction
One of the great highlight of Sushruta's surgery was the operation of Rhinoplasty. The making of a new nose captured the imagination of the medical world and brought him fame as the originator of plastic surgery. 1 The famous Indian Rhinoplasty (reproduced in the October 1794 issue of the Gentleman's Magazine of London) is a modification of the ancient Rhinoplasty described by Sushruta in 600 B.C. 15 (Figure-5). Even today pedicled forehead flap is referred to as the Indian flap.
Figure 5 Figure 5: Reconstruction of the nose by forehead Rhinoplasty
Ackernecht has aptly observed -”There is little doubt that plastic surgery in Europe which flourished in medieval Italy is a direct descendant of classical Indian surgery”. 5, 16
In describing the method of Rhinoplasty (Nasikasandhana) Sushruta says 17 :
“The portion of the nose to be covered should be first measured with a leaf. Then a piece of skin of the required size should be dissected from the living skin of the cheek, and turned back to cover the nose, keeping a small pedicle attached to the cheek. The part of the nose to which the skin is to be attached should be made raw by cutting the nasal stump with a knife. The physician then should place the skin on the nose and stitch the two parts swiftly, keeping the skin properly elevated by inserting two tubes of eranda (the castor-oil plant) in the position of the nostrils, so that the new nose gets proper shape. The skin thus properly adjusted, it should then be sprinkled with a powder of liquorice, red sandal-wood and barberry plant. Finally, it should be covered with cotton, and clean sesame oil should be constantly applied. When the skin has united and granulated, if the nose is too short or too long, the middle of the flap should be divided and an endeavor made to enlarge or shorten it.” (SS. 1.16).
Speculations have been raised as how, in the absence of anesthetics, the Indian surgeons carried out such major operations. Sushruta writes that “wine should be used before operation to produce insensibility to pain.” He again remarks: “The patient who has been fed, does not faint, and he who is rendered intoxicated, does not feel the pain of the operation.”
Sushruta considered surgery the first and foremost branch of medicine and stated 1, 3 : “Surgery has the superior advantage of producing instantaneous effects by means of surgical instruments and appliances. Hence, it is the highest in value of all the medical tantras. It is eternal and a source of infinite piety, imports fame and opens the gates of Heaven to its votaries. It prolongs the duration of human existence on earth and helps men in successfully fulfilling their missions and earning a decent competence in life.”
Health, according to Sushruta is a state of physical and mental well-being brought about and preserved by the maintenance of humours, good nutrition, proper elimination of waste products and a pleasant harmony of the body and the mind. Sushruta says there can be nothing more magnificent than the act of treating human suffering, life giving, indeed is virtue and fame personified.
He warns that improper intervention with surgical maneuver due either to ignorance of the progress of the disease-process, greed for money or lack of judgment, lead only to complications. Sushruta's general advice to physicians would certainly apply to doctors in any age and anywhere in the world: ‘‘A physician who has set out on this path should have witnessed operations. He must be licensed by the king. He should be clean and keep his nails and hair short. He should be cheerful, well-spoken and honest'‘.
The genius of Sushruta prompted eminent surgeon Whipple to declare - “All in all, Susruta must be considered the greatest surgeon of the premedieval period.” 18 Rhazes repeatedly quoted Sushruta as the foremost authority in surgery. 13
The Sushruta's contribution in the field of Plastic Surgery can be enumerated as follows 2, 5, 10, 11, 14, 17 :
Rhinoplasty (cheek) Classification of mutilated ear lobe defects and techniques for repair of torn ear lobes (15 different types of otoplasties) Cheek flap for reconstruction of absent ear lobe. Repair of accidental lip injuries and congenital cleft lip. Piercing children's ear lobe with a needle or awl. Use of suture materials of bark, tendon, hair and silk. Needles of bronze or bone (circular, two finger-breadths wide and straight, triangular bodied, three finger - breadths wide) Classification of burns into four degrees and explaining the effect of heat stroke, frostbite, and lightening injuries14. Fourteen types of bandaging capable of covering almost all the regions of the body and different methods of dressings with various medicaments. Use of wine to dull the pain of surgical incisions. Described 20 varieties of sharp instruments *(sastra) and 101 types of blunt instruments (yantra) and their handling techniques. Systematic dissection of cadavers. Advocated the practice of mock operations on inanimate objects such as water |
quinol, a drug used to treat amoebic dysentery. The green hairy tongue and green urine, it turned out, had been caused by the breakdown of clioquinol in the patients’ systems. One month after the discovery, Japan banned clioquinol, and the SMON epidemic — one of the largest drug disasters in history — came to an abrupt end.
It appeared that the epidemic was concentrated in Japan in part because the drug was routinely used not just for dysentery, but to prevent traveler’s diarrhea and various forms of abdominal upset; and in part because Japanese doctors prescribed the drug at far higher doses and for longer periods than was customary in other countries.
The illusion that SMON was an infectious disease was compelling: When patients with abdominal upset or diarrhea were treated with clioquinol and developed SMON, family members, doctors, and nurses often took the drug thinking it would protect them — inadvertently creating the very disease they feared. The resulting cluster outbreaks made SMON look like an infectious disease. In short, what people thought was a cure for SMON was in fact its cause.
Few doctors know the story of SMON, and perhaps even fewer use the catchphrase “cure as cause.” Yet the phenomenon is more relevant today than ever. A study published last year suggests that medical interventions, including problems with prescribed drugs and implanted medical devices — from cardiac stents to artificial hips and birth control devices — are now the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
The green tongue fur of a patient with SMON, rendered as blue in this image. Visual: Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B
The pigment in a SMON patient’s urine was found to be the anti-diarrheal drug clioquinol, broken down by the body’s metabolism. Visual: Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B The green tongue fur of a patient with SMON, rendered as blue in this image. The pigment in a SMON patient’s urine was found to be the anti-diarrheal drug clioquinol, broken down by the body’s metabolism. Visuals: Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B
Examples abound in virtually every specialty, from cardiology to psychiatry to cancer care. Jerome Hoffman, an emeritus professor of medicine at UCLA, says it isn’t surprising: Because drugs and medical devices target disordered body systems, it’s all too easy to overshoot and make the disorder worse.
Few doctors know of SMON. Perhaps even fewer use the catchphrase “cure as cause.” Yet the phenomenon is more relevant today than ever.
In the 1980s and 1990s, for instance, patients were widely treated with heart rhythm drugs to prevent the abnormal heartbeats called premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) from triggering deadly ventricular fibrillation. The drugs were quite good at reducing the abnormal beats, and doctors prescribed them widely, believing they were saving lives. But in 1989, the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial, or CAST, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated that although the drugs effectively suppressed PVCs, when they did occur they were much more likely to trigger deadly rhythms. Treated patients were 3.6 times as likely to die as patients given a placebo. The drugs could fix the PVCs but kill the patient; as the old joke goes, the operation was a success but the patient died. The problem was invisible for more than a decade because doctors assumed that when a patient died suddenly it was from the underlying heart condition — not the treatment they prescribed.
In another case of cure as cause, a landmark study of Prozac to treat adolescent depression found that it increased overall suicidality — the very outcome it is intended to prevent. In the study, 15 percent of depressed adolescents treated with Prozac became suicidal, versus 6 percent treated with psychotherapy, and 11 percent treated with placebo. These numbers were not made obvious by Eli Lilly, the manufacturer, or the lead researcher who claimed that Prozac was “the big winner” in the treatment of depressed teens. Doctors, unaware that the drug could increase suicidality, often increased the dosage when teens became more depressed in treatment, thinking the underlying depression — not the drug — was at fault. Studies of other drugs in the same class as Prozac, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, have shown similar problems.
There are many other instances of cure as cause: cardiac stents that caused clots in the coronary arteries; implanted pacemaker-defibrillators that misfired or failed to fire, causing deadly heart rhythms; and vagus nerve stimulators to treat seizures that instead have led to increased seizures.
One of SMON’s lessons is the danger of perverse financial incentives. Japanese doctors were paid for each prescription they wrote, a practice considered unethical in most peer nations. Doctors in some prefectures in Japan can still sell drugs to their patients. No wonder they prescribed such high doses of clioquinol for prolonged periods.
More than half of doctors in the U.S. receive money or other blandishments from Big Pharma and device manufacturers. The amounts can be stupendous: Some doctors have received tens of millions of dollars to implant certain devices or to promote certain drugs. Such influence takes a toll on the humans exposed to harmful treatments. The nonprofit group Institute for Safe Medication Practices conducted a study to quantify drug harms and concluded that prescribed medicines are “one of the most significant perils to human health resulting from human activity.” With the rise of the medical-industrial complex and its extraordinary profits, industry has a vested interest in blaming bad outcomes on a patient’s underlying disease and not on their own products.
Industry claims often mislead doctors and patients alike. Ciba-Geigy, the main manufacturer of clioquinol, said the drug was safe because it couldn’t be absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestines. Yet legal filings from a lawsuit against the company show that Ciba-Geigy was aware of the drug’s harmful effects for years. As early as 1944, clioquinol’s inventors said the drug should be strictly controlled and limited to 10 to 14 days’ use. In 1965, after a Swiss veterinarian published reports that dogs given clioquinol developed seizures and died, Ciba was content to issue a warning that the drug shouldn’t be given to animals.
In the U.S., pharma’s influence over what doctors and the public believe about drugs and devices has increased by orders of magnitude, as virtually all research is now conducted by industry and genuinely independent research has all but vanished. In 1977, industry sponsorship provided 29 percent of funding for clinical and nonclinical research. Estimates today suggest that figure has increased to around 60 percent. Even most “independent” research, such as that conducted by the National Institutes of Health, is now “partnered” with industry, making our reliance on industry claims nearly complete.
Stemming the tide of medical interventions that do more harm than good will require a deep examination of cure as cause — and a willingness to stop depending on the industry that perversely promotes it.
Jeanne Lenzer is an award-winning medical investigative journalist, a former Knight Science Journalism fellow, and a frequent contributor to the international medical journal The BMJ.3 of 4
Mike Trout
Great bat, great glove, speed to burn, and power to spare.
If you glanced at Mike Trout's 2012 stats without knowing whose they were, you'd assume he was a mid-career Willie Mays rather than a rookie who finished the season at age 21.
Calling what Trout possesses "natural" seems unfair to ordinary humans—he looks more natural for football. But once he's on the bases, he's the most effective runner in the game and a disciplined hitter. His secret?
"I just run as hard as I can," he says. "I used to get made fun of in the minor leagues. I'd be 0 for 2, and then in my last at-bat, I'd hit a chopper that wouldn't even reach the shortstop and I'd get a hit out of it. The guys would be all over me, but a hit's a hit. I'll take 3,000 of 'em."A refrigerator death is death by suffocation in a refrigerator or similar appliance such as a freezer. Because, by design, such appliances are air-tight when closed, a person trapped inside will have a limited supply of oxygen. Early refrigerators could only be opened from the outside, making accidental trappings a possibility, particularly of children playing with discarded appliances; several such deaths have been recorded. [1] [2] Modern designs close with a magnetic mechanism that can be opened from the inside, reducing the danger of accidental trappings.
Children would occasionally play in abandoned appliances, such as refrigerators and washing machines, and become trapped.[2] Deaths were not uncommon for children in the United States before the passage of the Refrigerator Safety Act in 1956.[3][4][5] The first reactions to the deaths were to ask people not to abandon refrigerators and to detach the doors of unused refrigerators. At least one state, Oklahoma, enacted legislation making the abandonment of a refrigerator with a latch in a location where a child might find it a felony.[6] At least as early as 1954, alternative methods of securing air-tight closures had been suggested, such as in patent 2767011, filed by Francis P. Buckley et al. in 1954 and issued in 1956.[7] In the mid- to late 1950s troops of people would sometimes search out abandoned refrigerators, detaching the doors and smashing the locks. However, these efforts were not entirely effective, and children were still dying inside refrigerators that had not been found and dismantled.
The continued occurrence of refrigerator deaths led to a law that required a change in the way refrigerator doors stay shut. The Refrigerator Safety Act is codified at 15 U.S.C. 1211-1214 as Public Law 84-930, 70 Stat. 953, on August 2, 1956.[8] The act applied to all refrigerators manufactured in the United States after October 31, 1958, and is largely responsible for the adoption of the magnetic mechanism that is used today instead of a latch.[3] Individual American states also have similar laws, such as California[9] and Washington.[10]
The number of deaths due to suffocation in refrigerators declined a significant amount in the years after the law.[1][11] Nevertheless, some deaths have occurred recently. Three children ages, 1yo, 4yo, & 6yo died after climbing into an unused freezer/fridge outside of Tallahassee, FL after mother left them unattended for 20 mins. - Jan 2019. [12]The following is, as far as we know, the first English translation of this article, based on the German reprint published in June 1977 by “Die Anarchistische Vereinigung Norddeutschland” (Anarchist Union of North Germany) which was a direct reprint of the article from Der Syndicalist (Berlin) in 1908, originally from Les Temps Nouveaux. It was translated by J.Goddard and proofread by L.Guenther in 1994. We are publishing it because, although dated, it still has many relevant points for today.
From all sides, people are always asking us, “What is Syndicalism and what is its relationship to Anarchism?”. Here we will do our best to answer these questions.
Syndicalism is only a new name for an old tactic in which the workers of Great Britain have taken successful refuge for a long time: the tactic of Direct Action, and the fight against Capital in the economic sphere. This tactic, in fact, was their favourite weapon. Not possessing the right to vote, British workers in the first half of the nineteenth century won important economic gains and created a strong trade union organisation through use of this weapon alone, and even forced the ruling classes to acknowledge their demands with legislation (including an extension of the franchise).
Direct Action has proved itself, both in achieving economic results and in extracting political concessions, to be a significant weapon in the economic arena.
In Britain, the influence of this idea was so strong that in the years 1830 to 1831 Robert Owen attempted to found one big national union, and an international workers organisation, which using direct action would struggle against Capital. Early fears of persecution by the British government forced him to abandon this idea.
This was followed by the Chartist movement, which used the powerful, widespread and partly secret worker's organisations of the time in order to gain considerable political concessions. At this point British workers received their first lesson in politics: very soon they realised that although they backed political agitation with all means at their disposal, this agitation won them no economic advantages other than those they themselves forced the employers and lawgivers to concede through strikes and revolts. They realised how pointless it was to expect serious improvements to their conditions of life to come from parliament.
French workers came to exactly the same conclusion: the revolution of 1848 which had given France a Republic convinced them of the complete fruitlessness of political agitation and even of political victories; the only fundamental changes to workers conditions of life are those which the ruling classes are forced to concede by Direct Action.
The revolution gave the French another lesson. They saw how completely helpless were their intellectual leaders when it came to finding out about new forms of production which would secure for the workers their share and bring about the end of their exploitation by Capital. They saw this helplessness both in the Luxembourg Commission, which met between April and June 1848, and in the special Chamber chosen to study this question in 1849, on which over 100 Social Democratic Deputies sat. From this, they realised that workers themselves had to work out the main lines of the social revolution, on which they must travel if they are to be successful.
The use of direct action by Labour against Capital, and the necessity for workers themselves to work out the forms of economic organisation with which to eliminate capitalist exploitation: these were the two main lessons received by the workers, especially in the two countries with the most developed industry.
When, then, in the years 1864/66 the old idea of Robert Owen was realised and an international worker's organisation was set up, this new organisation adopted both of the above fundamental principles. As the International Workers Association (IWA) had been brought into being by representatives of the British trade unions and French workers (mainly followers of Proudhon), who had attended the second World Exhibition in Paris, it proclaimed that the emancipation of the workers must be the task of the workers themselves and that from then on the capitalists would have to be fought with mass strikes, supported internationally.
Following on from this, the first two acts of the International were two such mass strikes, causing enormous agitation in Europe and a salutary fright for the middle class: a strike in Paris, supported by the British trade unions, the other in the Genoese building trade, supported by French and British workers.
In addition, congresses of the Internacional workers no longer bothered with discussing nonsense with which nations were entertained by their rulers in parliamentary institutions. They discussed the fundamental question of the revolutionary reconstruction of society and set in motion the idea which since then has proved so fruitful; the idea of the General Strike. As to what political form society would take after the social revolution, the federations of the Latin countries openly stood against the idea of centralised states. They emphatically declared themselves in favour of an organisation based on a federation of free communes and farming regions, who in this way would free themselves from capitalist exploitation and on this basis, on the basis of federal combination, form larger territorial and national units.
Both basic principles of modern Syndicalism, of direct action and the careful working out of new forms of social life, are based on trade union federations: from the beggining, both were the leading principles of the IWA.
Even them within the Association, however, there were two differing currents of opinion concerning political activity which divided the workers of different nations: Latin, and German.
The French within the International were mainly supporters of Proudhon, whose leading idea was as follows: The removal of the existing bourgeois state apparatus, to be replaced by the workers own organisation of trade unions, which will regulate and organise everything essential to society. It is the workers who have to organise the production of life's necessities, the fair and impartial exchange of all products of human labour, and their distribution and consumption. And if they do that, we will see that there will be very little left for the state to do. Production of everything needed, and a more equitable exchange and consumption of products, are problems which only the workers can solve. If they can do all this, what remains to be done by existing governments and their hierarchy of officials? Nothing that workers can't organise themselves.
But among the French founders of the International there were those who had fought for the Republic and for the Commune. They were insistent that political activity should not be ignored and that it is not unimportant for the proletarian whether they live under a monarchy, a Republic, or a commune. They knew from their own experience that the triumph of conservatives or of imperialists meant repression in all directions, and an enormous weakening of the power of workers to combat the aggressive politics of the capitalists. They were not indifferent to politics, but they refused to see an instrument for the liberation of the working class in electoral politics or successes, or in the whole to-ing and fro-ing of political parties. Accordingly, the French, Spanish, and Italian workers agreed to insert the following words into the statutes of the International: “Every political activity must be secondary to the economic.”
Among British workers there were a number of Chartists who supported political struggle. And the Germans, unlike the French, did not yet have the experience of two republics. They believed in the coming parliament of the German Reich. Even Lasalle – as is now known – had some faith in a socialist Kaiser of the united Germany he saw rising.
Because of this, neither the British nor the Germans wanted to rule out parliamentary action, which they still believed in, and in the English and German texts of the same statutes inserted: “As a means, every political activity must be secondary to the economic.”
Thus was resurrected the old idea of trust in a bourgeois parliament.
After Germany had triumphed over France in the war of 1870-71 and 35,000 proletarians, the cream of the French working class, were murdered after the fall of the Commune by the armies of the bourgeoisie, and when the IWA had been banned in France, Marx and Engels and their supporters tried to re-introduce political activity into the International, in the form of workers candidates.
As a result, a split occurred in the International, which up to then had raised such high hopes among proletarians and caused such fright among the rich.
The federations of the Latin countries, of Italy, Spain, the Jura and East Belgium (and a small group of refugees from France) rejected the new course. They formed their own separated unions and since this time have developed more and more in the direction of revolutionary Syndicalism and Anarchism, while Germany took the lead in the development of the Social Democratic Party, all the more so after Bismarck introduced the universal right to vote in parliamentary elections following the victory in war of the newly established German Reich.
Forty years have now passed since this division in the International and we can judge the result. Later, we will analyse things in more detail but even now we can point to the complete lack of success during these 40 years of those who placed their faith in what they called the conquest of political power within the existing bourgeois state.
Instead of conquering this state, as they believed, they have been conquered by it. They are its tools, helping to maintain the power of the upper and middle class over the workers. They are the loyal tools of the Church, State, Capital and the monopoly economy.
But all across Europe and America we are seeing a new movement among the masses, a new force in the worker's movement, one which turns to the old principles of the International, of direct action and the direct struggle of the workers against capital, and workers are realising that they alone must free themselves – not parliament.
Obviously, this is still not Anarchism. We go further. We maintain that the workers will only achieve their liberation when they rid themselves of the perception of centralisation and hierarchy, and of the deception of State appointed officials who maintain law and order – law made by the rich directed against the poor, and order meaning the submission of the poor before rich. Until such fantasies and delusions have been thrown overboard, the emancipation of the workers will not be achieved.
But during theses 40 years anarchists, together with these workers who have taken their liberation into their own hands, making use of Direct Action as the preparatory means for the final battle of exploited Labour against – up to the present day – triumphant Capital, have fought against those who entertained the workers with fruitless electoral campaigns. All this time they have been busy among the working masses, to awaken in them the desire for working out the principles for the seizure of the docks, railways, mines, factories, fields and warehouses, by the unions, to be run no longer in the interests of a few capitalists but in the interest of the whole of society.
It has been shown how in England since the years 1820-30, and in France following the unsuccessful political revolution of 1848, the efforts of an important section of the workers were directed at fighting Capital using Direct Action, and with creating the necessary worker's organisations for this.
It has also been shown how, between 1866 and 1870, this idea was the most important within the newly established International Workers Association but also how, following the defeat of France by Germany in 1871 and the fall of the Paris Commune, political elements took the upper hand within the International through this collapse of its revolutionary forces and temporarily became the decisive factor in the worker's movement.
Since this time both currents have steadily developed in the direction of their own programmes. Worker's parties were organised in all constitutional states and did everything in their power to increase the number of their parliamentary representatives as quickly as possible. From the very beginning it could be seen how, with representatives who chased after votes, the economic programme would increasingly become less important; in the end being limited to complete the trivial limitations on the rights of employers, thereby giving the capitalist system new strength and helping to prolong the old order. At the same time, those socialist politicians who competed with the representatives of bourgeois radicalism for the capture of worker's votes helped, if against their intentions, to smooth the way for a victorious reaction across Europe.
Their whole ideology, the ideas and ideals which they spread among the masses, were focused on the one aim. They were convinced supporters of state centralisation, opposed local autonomy and the independence of small nations and devised a philosophy of history to support their conclusions. They poured cold water on the hopes of the masses while preaching to them, in the name of “historical materialism”, that no fundamental change in a socialist direction would be possible if the number of capitalists did not decrease through mutual competition. Completely outside their observations lay the fact which is so obvious in all industrialised countries today: that British, French, Belgian and other capitalists, by means of the ease with which they exploit countries which themselves have no developed industry, today control the labour of hundreds of millions of people in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. The result is that the number of those people in the leading industrialised countries of Europe who live off the work of others doesn't gradually decrease at all. Far from it. In fact, it increases at a constant and alarming rate. And with the growth of this number, the number of people with an interest in the capitulation of the capitalist state system also increases. Finally, those who speak loudest of political agitation for the conquest of power in the existing states fiercely oppose anything which could damage their chances of achieving political power. Anyone who dared to criticise their parliamentary tactics was expelled from international socialist congresses. They disapproved of strikes and later, when the idea of the General Strike penetrated even their own congresses, they fought the idea fiercely with all means at their disposal.
Such tactics have been pursued for a full 40 years, but only today has it become clear to everyone that workers throughout Europe have had enough. With disgust, many workers have come to reject them. This is the reason we are now hearing so much about “Syndicalism”.
However, during these 40 years the other current, that which advocates the direct struggle of the working class against Capital, has also grown and developed; it has developed despite government persecution from all directions and in spite of denunciation by capitalist politicians. It would be interesting to plot the steady development of this current and to analyse its intellectual as well as personal connections with the social democratic parties on the one hand, and with the anarchists on the other. But now is not the time for publication of such work, all things given it is perhaps better that it has not yet been written. Attention would be turned to the influence of personalities, when it is to the influence of the major currents of modern thought and the growth of self-confidence among the workers of America and Europe, a self-confidence gained independently of intellectual leaders, to which special attention has to be directed in order to be able to write a real history of Syndicalism.
All that we now have to say about it is the bare facts that completely independently of the teachings of Socialists, where working masses were gathered together in the main industrial centres, that these masses maintained the tradition of their trade organisations from former times, organising both openly and secretly, while all the time growing in strength, to curb the increasing exploitation and arrogance of the employers. At the same time that the organised working masses grew larger and stronger, becoming aware of the main struggle which since the time of the great French revolution has been the true purpose of life of civilised peoples, their anti-capitalist tendencies became clearer and more certain.
During the last 40 years, years in which political leaders in different countries have used the widest possible means to try to prevent all worker's revolts and to suppress any of a threatening character, we have seen workers' revolts extend even further, becoming ever more powerful, and workers' aims expressed more and more clearly. Ever increasingly, they have lost the character of mere acts of despair; whenever we have contact with the workers, more and more we hear the prevailing opinion expressed, which can be summarised in the following few words: “Make room, gentlemen of industry! If you can't manage to run the Industries so that we can scrape a living and find in them a secure existence, then away with you! Away, if you are so short sighted and incapable of coming to a sensible understanding with one another over each new turn of production which promises you the greatest instant profit, that you must attack without regarding the harmfulness or usefulness of its products like a flock of sheep! Away with you, if you are incapable of building up your wealth other than with the preparation of endless wars, wasting a third of all goods produced by each nation in armaments useful only for robing other robbers! Away. If from all the wonderful discoveries of modern science you have not learnt to gain your riches other than from the poverty to which a third of the population of the big towns and cities of our exceptionally rich countries are condemned! Away, if that is the only way you can run industry and trade! We workers will know better how to organise production, if only first we succeed in eradicating this capitalist pest!”
These were the ideas fought over and discussed in workers' households throughout the entire civilised world; they provided the fertile ground for the tremendous workers' revolts we have seen year after year in Europe and in the United States, in the form of strikes by dockers, rail workers, miners and mill workers, etc., until finally taking the form of the General Strike – soon growing into major struggles comparable with the powerful cycles of the force of nature, and next to which small battles in parliaments appear as a children's game.
While the Germans celebrated their ever growing electoral success with red flags and torchlit possessions, the experienced Western people's quietly set to work on a much more serious task: that of the internal organisation of the workers. The ideas with which these last peoples occupied themselves were of a much more important nature. They asked themselves, “What will be the result of the inevitable worldwide conflict between Labour and Capital?”, “What new forms of industrial life and social organisation will this conflict create?”.
And that is the true origin of the Syndicalist movement, which today's ignorant politicians have just discovered as something new to them.
To us anarchists this movement is nothing new. We welcomed the recognition of syndicalist trends in the programme of the International Workers Association. We defended it, when it was attacked within the International by the German political revolutionaries who saw in this movement an obstacle to the capture of political power. We advised the workers of all nations to follow the example of the Spanish who had kept their trade union organisations in close contact with the sections of the International. Since this time we have followed all phases of the worker's movement with interest and know that whatever the coming clashes between Labour and Capital will be like, it will fall to the syndicalist movement to open the eyes of society towards the tasks owing to the producers of all wealth. It is the only movement which will show to thinking people a way out of the cul-de-sac into which the present development of capitalism has given our generation.
It goes without saying that anarchists have never imagined that it was they who had provided the syndicalist movement with its understanding of its tasks with regard to the reorganisation of society. Never have they absurdly claimed to be the leaders of a great intellectual movement leading humanity in the direction of its progressive evolution. But what we can claim is to have recognised right from the beginning the immense importance of those ideas which today constitute the main aims of Syndicalism, ideas which in Britain have been developed by Godwin, Hodgkin, Grey and their successors, and in France by Proudhon: The idea that workers' organisations for production, distribution, and exchange, must take the place of existing capitalist exploitation and the state. And that it is the duty and the task of the workers' organisations to work out the new form of society.
Neither of these two fundamental ideas are our invention; nor anyone else's. Life itself has dictated them to nineteenth century civilisation. It is now our duty to put them into reality. But we are proud that we understood and defended them in those dark years when social democratic politicians and pseudo-philosophies trampled them underfoot, and we are proud that we stand true to them, today as then.We're lucky to have a modern, high performance club fleet at the YGC - and those of us not yet fortunate enough to have our own glider, or a share in one are spoilt with a choice of either Discus or DG-303 to go and have an adventure in.
As you would correctly imagine, this system doesn't work so well on the good days.
I arrived on the airfield at 8:30am intending claim the Discus for later in the day. Normally, nobody is around at that time - but this was going to be a good day (we have a had a few quite recently). To my shock, the hangar doors were already open (and thus, so was the flying list) and to my disappointment, both aircraft had been claimed for cross countries - even the Astir had names next to it.
With one two-seater out of action due to a split tail wheel, and another away at a competition, the very idea of taking the DG-500 and flying it solo was also a non-starter.
What to do on a fine Saturday then. Wait in the clubhouse to see whether any of the people cla…A mature student at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point has taken a professor to court, asking the judge to order the staff member to assign her an A for her Advanced Creative Writing Poetry class.
Donna Kikkert, 56, filed the complaint against Professor Patricia Dyjak, claiming that the faculty member's choice of teaching material had alienated'mainstream" students, and contributed to her receiving an F grade for the class.
"She has swung the pendulum far to the side of LGBT students and, in doing so, has chosen to totally discount the importance and the validity of the mainstream student population," Kikkert argued in her complaint.
She also alleged that her F grade had been 'capricious retaliation' on Dyjak's part in response to Kikkert having made complaints about course content, and about Dyjak's behaviour towards her students.
"For the reading material in this course, Ms Dyjak chose five poetry textbooks... which focussed on lesbians, illicit sexual relationships, incest and frequent swearing," Kikkert's complaint stated.
"A rational person would surmise these textbook choices to be myopically degrading and insulting to the intelligence of university students, who would have greatly benefited from a balanced study of poets."Honestly, I think it's hilarious when you guys shitpost some of the dumbest threads in this sub (like this one), and then rush to defend it.
Umm ok.
It's the difference between responsible gun ownership and gun nuts. You guys are gun nuts, through and through, because I'm in a thread saying "don't diddle your fucking kids" and you can't just say "yeah, that makes sense" because I don't like guns so you have to disagree on everything no matter what.
Because you think "Don't touch your privates or other peoples" is the sum total of sex education needed by a 7 year old. It's wallowing in ignorance. It has nothing to do with "don't diddle your fucking kid" which any human can agree with. That however was the strawman argument, I said that you were ignorant for thinking that you were doing your kids a favor by keeping them ignorant and then you somehow turn that into "don't diddle your kids". Yea, that says a lot about you my friend. The only person who brought up diddling kids was you. Like I said, that speaks to more about you than it ever could about me or anyone else in here. That focus is solely on you.High Sugar Content : Excessive soda consumption can lead to too much sugar intake. This in turn will give rise to various health problems such as weight gain, high cholesterol and blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety, etc.
: Excessive soda consumption can lead to too much sugar intake. This in turn will give rise to various health problems such as weight gain, high cholesterol and blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety, etc. High Caffeine Content : Caffeine in soda provides instant boost in energy; however, as the effect of caffeine fades away, you may start experiencing headaches, sleepiness, and fatigue. As a result you will find yourself drinking soda again. This eventually leads to addiction of soda, which will lead to stomachaches, irritability, restlessness, difficulty sleeping, etc.
: Caffeine in soda provides instant boost in energy; however, as the effect of caffeine fades away, you may start experiencing headaches, sleepiness, and fatigue. As a result you will find yourself drinking soda again. This eventually leads to addiction of soda, which will lead to stomachaches, irritability, restlessness, difficulty sleeping, etc. High Calorie Content : A can of regular soda may contain about 100-150 calories. When you drink a can of soda, you are taking empty calories as these calories are not mixed with any nutrients. The empty calories get directly infused in your blood which might increase blood sugar level and harm your health.
: A can of regular soda may contain about 100-150 calories. When you drink a can of soda, you are taking empty calories as these calories are not mixed with any nutrients. The empty calories get directly infused in your blood which might increase blood sugar level and harm your health. Zero Nutritional Value: Soda completely lacks vitamins and minerals, and at the same time, it is laden with loads of sugar and caffeine, which are not at all beneficial for health. Long-term soda intake can give rise to vitamin and calcium deficiencies.
There are no vitamins, proteins, or fiber in soda. It has a high water and sugar content. Following are some of the reasons why you should avoid drinking soda:Diet soda too can be harmful for the health. It contains zero calories which makes it impossible for a person to gain weight through its consumption. But if diet soda is consumed regularly, your body may get accustomed to zero calories that come from artificial sweeteners. This will desensitize your body from zero calories, and the next time you have regular sugar, it may cause a sudden weight gain, no matter how less calories you consume.MEPs say that the Commission exceeded its mandate by proposing to exempt substances which are actually designed to attack an organism’s endocrine system, e.g. in pests, from the identification criteria.
Next steps
The objection, proposed by MEPs Jytte Guteland and Bas Eickhout, was approved by 389 votes to 235, with 70 abstentions, producing the absolute majority needed to block the proposal. The European Commission will therefore have to draft a new version of the text, taking into account Parliament’s input.
Quick Facts
EU legislation requires that pesticides or biocide substances have no endocrine-disrupting effects on other species than the ones targeted. To apply this legislation, the EU needs a list of scientific criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors.
The Commission proposal related to the scientific criteria for identifying endocrine-disrupting properties of chemical substances. The identification of these scientific criteria is a first step towards measures reducing their presence and protecting citizens’ health.
The European Court of Justice ruled in December 2015 that the EU Commission had breached EU law by failing to publish criteria for determining endocrine disrupters due at the end of 2013. MEPs have repeatedly urged the EU to clamp down on the substances.
A UNEP/WHO report called endocrine disruptors a “global threat”, referring inter alia to the upward trends in many endocrine-related disorders in humans and wildlife populations. There is evidence of adverse reproductive effects (infertility, cancers, malformations) which could also affect thyroid function, brain function, obesity, metabolism, insulin and glucose homeostasis, it says.FILE - This Feb. 1, 2016, file photo provided by the Nevada Department of Wildlife shows a Nevada game warden displaying the carcasses and wings of two golden eagles and a hawk seized from an Arizona man accused of killing an eagle and illegally possessing raptor parts at the department's office in Elko. A two-year undercover operation in South Dakota has led to indictments against 15 people for illegally trafficking eagles and other migratory birds. The case in federal court in South Dakota offers a rare window into the black market for eagle feathers, parts and handicrafts. (Joe Doucette/Nevada Department of Wildlife via AP, File)
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A two-year undercover operation that led to indictments against 15 people for illegally trafficking eagles and other migratory birds offers a rare |
CEOs of U.K., Canadian, and other Anglophone firms tend to earn at close to American levels.
These kind of local differences matter so much because, as Ray Fisman has explained for Slate, executive compensation decisions are typically made by peer group comparisons. Media CEOs are compared to other media CEOs and oil executives to other oilmen.
American executives argue—conveniently enough—that their compensation should be compared to what other American executives are paid. This argument has tended to be persuasive to American boards, which—conveniently enough—are made up primarily of American corporate executives. And big American investment management firms—also led by American corporate executives—likewise think this makes sense. Which is all quite nice, but if you tried convincing one of these very same executives that he shouldn’t replace an American factory worker with a cheaper Chinese one, he would laugh you out of the room.
Apologists for this arrangement, such as the University of Chicago’s Steven Kaplan, argue that pay for U.S. CEOs has merely risen in line with pay for other kinds of very highly compensated individuals. Others dispute this math, but one might also dispute its relevance. It is true to some extent that America’s unusually well-paid CEOs are matched by an unusually large and aggressive financial sector and an unusually lucrative legal profession. Compared to the United States, continental Europe and Japan rely much less on lawsuits and much more on preventative regulation. They’re also much less gung-ho about the nonbank financial institutions—hedge funds and private equity shops—that provide for a very large share of the non-CEO element of the superrich.
But the thought that American executives need to be paid more than German ones because America also has more superrich hedge-fund managers does not provide me with enormous comfort. At best, this argument would prove that we should add skyrocketing CEO pay to the list of social ills exacerbated by an inadequately regulated American banking system. Meanwhile, nobody is going to be crying for the poor oil executives, but the huge and seemingly nonsensical gaps between CEOs of one company and another should give us pause. Executives are compensated lavishly but arbitrarily, and there’s no end in sight to the upward trajectory.A former FBI special agent-turned disinformation expert says a propaganda tracking tool he helped develop took less than a week to pinpoint evidence of Kremlin efforts to exploit current White House political divisions at the highest levels of national security.
The tracker developed by Clint Watts and a bipartisan group of U.S. information operatives found that Russian-backed social media campaigns played a critical role in amplifying a conservative whisper campaign demanding the dismissal of former Gen. H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser. Mr. McMaster was accused of purging hawkish members of the White House staff, including former senior director of intelligence programs Ezra Cohen-Watnick, and Mr. Trump was forced to issue a public statement supporting Mr. McMaster late last week.
The tool — a web dashboard named “Hamilton 68” after Alexander Hamilton’s essay warning in “The Federalist Papers” against foreign influence in American elections — monitors Russian online influence campaigns in the United States and abroad, with a specific focus on Twitter. It also aims to alert journalists to Kremlin disinformation campaigns as they’re underway.
“The dashboard displays the content and themes being promoted by Russian influencers online, including attributed sources such as RT (Russia Today) and Sputnik, as well as Twitter accounts that are involved in promoting Russian influence and disinformation goals,” the site says.
The dashboard was developed by Mr. Watts; International Center for Counter-Terrorism fellow J.M. Berger; Center for Cyber and Homeland Security fellow Andrew Weisburd; CEO of New Knowledge AI Jonathon Morgan; and the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy director Laura Rosenberger, which provided significant logistical and funding support.
Russian manipulation of social media has long been a focus of the probe looking into the Kremlin’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential campaign. Last month at the Aspen Security Forum, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said during a rare public appearance that Russian meddling was a historic trend.
“They have been at this a hell of a long time,” Mr. Pompeo said. “And I don’t think they have any intention of backing off.”
Scholars argue Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoys a cultlike status among some Western nationalist and populist groups for his willingness to challenge the dominance of Western liberal ideas.
While early Soviet Union propaganda promoted a “socialist future of the world,” these days Russia is seen as merely opportunistic in defense of its national interests. “Russian propaganda tends not to push the political right or the left,” said Ms. Rosenberger. “It promotes what is in the Kremlin’s best interest — which is exploiting cultural, racial and economic divisions in society.”
Hamilton 68 does not track so-called fake news, but instead monitors the activities of 600 Twitter accounts known to be linked to Russian online influence efforts.
These accounts, Hamilton 68 backers say, are likely controlled by Russian government influence operations, “patriotic” pro-Russians or automated “bots” which can pump the Kremlin’s messaging priorities into the social media conversation with robotic precision. The 600 accounts are monitored in real time — with deeper analytic reports issued regularly.
Last week, amid the McMaster-White House infighting rumors, the dashboard identified that of the 600 Twitter accounts it watches, #FireMcMaster was the top hashtag and was tweeted more than 50,000 times.
Ms. Rosenberg called the episode a clear example of Russian attempts to amplify American political divisions. Both the left-leaning New York Times and right-leaning Weekly Standard noticed and reported on the finding.
When asked how long she thought it would take for Hamilton 68 to be targeted by the Kremlin, Ms. Rosenberg laughed. “We don’t expect the Russians to take kindly to this,” she said. State-owned Sputnik News, she noted, “has already done five stories trashing this effort.”Story highlights Writer remembers Achebe for his generosity, humility and guiding presence
Chinua Achebe wrote more than 20 books
Nigeria's president hails him as a "globally acclaimed writer, scholar, cultural icon, nationalist"
South Africa's Jacob Zuma mourns the loss of a "colossus of African writing"
Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, a literary icon whose 1958 novel "Things Fall Apart" captured the world's attention, has died, his publisher said.
He was 82.
An author of more than 20 books, he was celebrated worldwide for telling African stories to a captivated world audience.
He was also accorded his country's highest award for intellectual achievement, the Nigerian National Merit Award.
Achebe is a major part of African literature, and is popular all over the continent for his novels, especially "Anthills of the Savannah," which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987, and "Things Fall Apart."
The latter was required reading in countless high schools and colleges in the continent, and has been translated into dozens of languages.
Set in precolonial Nigeria, "Things Fall Apart" portrays the story of a farmer, Okonkwo, who struggles to preserve his customs despite pressure from British colonizers. The story resonated in post-independent Africa, and the character became a household name in the continent.
Achebe's stories included proverbs and tackled complex issues of African identity, nationalism and decolonization, adding to his books' popularity.
A critic of Conrad, poor governance
Achebe once wrote an essay criticizing Joseph Conrad, author of "Heart of Darkness," as a racist for his depiction of Africans as savages. Conrad's popularity took a hit after the accusation -- a testament to Achebe's credibility.
He also criticized corruption and poor governance in Africa, and had been known to reject awards by the Nigerian government to protest political problems.
In a tweet, his publisher Penguin Books described him as a " brilliant writer and a giant of African literature. Nelson Mandela said he 'brought Africa to the rest of the world'."
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan paid tribute to Achebe, hailing him as a cultural icon, a nationalist and an artist.
Achebe's "frank, truthful and fearless interventions in national affairs will be greatly missed at home," Jonathan said. "While others may have disagreed with his views, most Nigerians never doubted his immense patriotism and sincere commitment to the building of a greater, more united and prosperous nation."
South African President Jacob Zuma said he was saddened by the loss of a "colossus of African writing" who had helped many define themselves.
"It was in his famous novel "Things Fall Apart" that many Africans saw themselves in literature and arts at the time when most of the writing was about Africans but not by Africans," Zuma said.
Biafran War
Born in Nigeria in 1930, Achebe was raised in the large village of Ogidi, one of the first centers of Anglican missionary work in eastern Nigeria.
He was an early graduate of University of Ibadan, established in Nigeria before the end of British colonial rule in 1960.
He worked in radio, but in 1966, left his post during the national upheaval that led to the bloody Biafran War, in which Nigeria's southeastern provinces attempted to secede.
Achebe joined the Biafran ministry of information and represented Biafra on diplomatic and fundraising missions before the civil war came to an end after two and a half years.
His 2012 memoir, "There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra," draws on his recollections of that painful period in Nigeria's past.
A review by Adam Nossiter for the New York Times talks of how the book gives "glimpses of this immense human tragedy in Achebe's characteristically plain-spoken narrative" but is also "tinged with odd nostalgia for the ephemeral moment when Biafra seemed to birth a national culture."
Fellow Nigerian writer Ben Okri, whose novel "The Famished Road" won the 1991 Booker Prize, first met Achebe in the 1980s, when they did a radio interview together.
It was "startling" how kind he was, he said, and how "generous toward a younger, somewhat angrier writer."
"He was one of the most important writers to deal with the issue of the historical clash of civilizations, and the sometimes disastrous and sometimes benevolent consequences," Okri said.
"He was without any doubt a very important figure, not only as a writer but as a guiding presence. He combined humility with forcefulness. He wrote clearly and truthfully, and was a touchstone for many African writers and many writers around the world."
'Generosity of spirit'
In the course of a long academic career, Achebe took up university posts in Nigeria and overseas, including teaching at Brown University in Rhode Island, where he was professor of Africana Studies, and Bard College in New York.
Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, described him as "a brilliant novelist, storyteller, and eloquent voice from the opposite side of Joseph Conrad, with respect to the relationship of the West to Africa."
He also highlighted Achebe's "extraordinary generosity of time and spirit" during more than 20 years as a member of the Bard College community, adding that he will be deeply missed.
"For many, he was considered the father of African literature, and for many of his students, he introduced them to an extraordinary literary tradition," Botstein said. "His importance to literature, and to those he taught and knew personally, will never be forgotten."
Corey D. B. Walker, an associate professor and chair of the department of Africana Studies at Brown University, said Achebe's loss was a great one.
"He was more than just a colleague, faculty member, and teacher at Brown. He was a gift to the world," he said.
"At a time like this we could draw many words of wisdom and comfort from the deep wells of various African cultures and traditions to honor him. The most fitting is the simple and elegant phrase, 'A great tree has fallen.' "
In an interview for the Paris Review of Books in 1994, Achebe spoke of how his early love of stories made him realize that they only reflected the point of view of the white man. That spurred him to write himself.
"There is that great proverb -- that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.... Once I realized that, I had to be a writer. I had to be that historian," he said.
"It's not one man's job. It's not one person's job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail -- the bravery, even, of the lions."Donald Trump speaks at the Kentucky International Convention Center on March 1, 2016, in Louisville, Kentucky. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
The president is once again in legal hot water because of something he said. A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by three protesters who were assaulted at a March 1, 2016, Trump rally in Louisville, Kentucky. Henry Brousseau, Kashiya Nwanguma, and Molly Shah say then-candidate Trump riled up his supporters when he pointed at the protesters and repeatedly said “get them out.”
U. S. District Judge David J. Hale said the lawsuit against Trump, his campaign, and three of his supporters could proceed. Although Trump’s lawyers had argued that the lawsuit threatened constitutional protections because it would chill political speech, the judge said there was no protection for speech that may have incited violence. And, according to witnesses at least, the aggression toward the protesters began when Trump called on supporters to remove them. This was a particularly memorable case of aggression against Trump supporters because it was caught on video and went viral during the campaign.
“It is plausible that Trump’s direction to ‘get ‘em out of here’ advocated the use of force,” the judge wrote. “It was an order, an instruction, a command.” And he’s not the only one who thinks so. One of the alleged aggressors clearly said that he “physically pushed a young woman down the aisle toward the exit” after “Trump kept saying ‘get them out, get them out.’ ” The judge added it was “particularly reckless” of Trump to order the removal of a black woman considering known hate groups were in the crowd and violence had broken out at his rallies in the past.
The Friday ruling marked the latest example of the Trump administration trying to convince judges “that Trump’s words shouldn’t be taken at face value—that he didn’t mean what he actually, literally said,” writes the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake. Lots of voters seem to believe that argument, but the judicial system so far has shown no signs of budging. The president’s lawyers made a similar argument when they told a federal judge in Hawaii that words uttered by Trump and his team regarding the reasons for the travel ban shouldn’t be taken into account. That judge also didn’t buy it.Ah, laser tag. You probably played it a few times as a kid, maybe once at one of those mandatory company outings, and then promptly forgot it even existed.
Fake-zapping your friends under the black lights is a recruiting staple in Louisville, apparently, because it forced the men's basketball program to self-report two separate Level III NCAA violations from a laser tag trip it took in April.
MORE: Kentucky told Drake to cease and desist | How to watch Louisville's Puerto Rico trip
On April 19, six members of the men's basketball team took a trip to a local laser tag facility where they were given admission money by the program, according to information obtained by Sporting News in an open records request. But because those players received money for admission outside of the playing season, Louisville's compliance office had to self-report the news to the NCAA. All six players were then ordered to donate their $7 admission fee to charity.
The fun didn't stop there.
On that same day, two recruits accompanied the team to laser tag. Louisville basketball was allowed to pay the cost of admission for the two prospective student-athletes, but their host students forgot — we've all done this, naturally — to take the cost of admission out of the money they'd been given to act as hosts.
Louisville's compliance staff made the two host players pay up, and then reminded them it's not cool to forget to deduct expenses from their host money budget.
Yet another way the NCAA is really cracking down on what matters: limiting a team's ability to fake-shoot each other for fun. Shucks. Rules are rules, guys. *finger wag*The UK Daily Mail reported in its article, “Hunt for the Isis killers: One terrorist identified as ‘young Frenchman known to authorities’ – another two found with Syrian and Egyptian passports,” that:
One of the terrorists involved in last night’s attacks in Paris has been officially identified as a Parisian, according to local media reports. The man, who was killed at the Bataclan, was identified using his fingerprints and was from the southern Parisian neighbourhood of Courcouronnes. French reports say that the man, who was around 30 years old, was already known to French anti-terrorist authorities prior to last night’s attacks. (emphasis added)
Similarly in January 2015 in the wake of the “Charlie Hebo attack” which left 12 dead, it was revealed that French security agencies tracked the perpetrators for nearly a decade beforehand, having arrested at least one terrorist a total of two times, incarcerating him at least once, tracked two of them overseas where they had trained with known terrorist organizations and possibly fought alongside them in Syria, before tracking them back to French territory.Astoundingly, French security agencies never moved in on the terrorists, claiming that after a decade of tracking them, they had finally decided to close their case for precisely the amount of time needed for them to plan and execute their grand finale.
More Wars and More Surveillance Can’t Help
With a similar scenario now emerging, particularly in the wake of the “Charlie Hebo attack,” where French security agencies knew about extremists but failed to stop them before carrying out yet another high-profile attack, even with enhanced surveillance powers granted to them by recent legislation, it appears that no amount of intrusive surveillance or foreign wars will stem a terrorist problem the French government itself seems intent on doing nothing to stop.The problem is not France’s immigration laws. Dangerous people are in France, but they are being tracked by French security agencies. The problem is not Syria. Terrorists have left to fight there, acquired deadly skills and affiliations before returning to France, but have likewise been tracked by French security agencies. Instead, the problem is that French security agencies are doing nothing about these dangerous individuals knowingly living, working, and apparently plotting in the midst of French society.In the coming hours and days, the French government and its various co-conspirators in their proxy war against Syria will propose a plan of action they claim will stem the terrorist threat France and the rest of Europe faces. But the reality is, the problem is not something the French government can solve, because the problem is clearly the French government itself.
ISIS is Behind the Paris Attacks, But Who is Behind ISIS?
With the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS) emerging as being behind the attack, the question that remains is, who is behind ISIS itself? While the West has attempted to maintain the terrorist organization possesses almost mythological abilities, capable of sustaining combat operations against Syria, Iraq, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, support from Iran, and now the Russian military – all while carrying out large-scale, high-profile terrorist attacks across the globe – it is clear that ISIS is the recipient of immense multinational state-sponsorship. The rise of ISIS was revealed as early as 2007 in interviews conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his 9-page report “The Redirection.” The interviews revealed a plan to destabilize and overthrow the government of Syria through the use of sectarian extremists – more specifically, Al Qaeda – with arms and funds laundered through America’s oldest and stanchest regional ally, Saudi Arabia. A more recent Department of Intelligence Agency (DIA) report drafted in 2012 (.pdf) admitted:
If the situation unravels there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).
The DIA report enumerates precisely who these “supporting powers” are:
The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition; while Russia, China, and Iran support the regime.
And to this day, by simply looking at any number of maps detailing territory held by various factions amid the Syrian conflict, it is clear that ISIS is not a “state” of any kind, but an ongoing invasion emanating from NATO-member Turkey’s territory, with its primary supply corridor crossing the Turkish-Syrian borderbetween the Syrian town of Ad Dana and the western bank of the Euphrates River, a supply corridor now increasingly shrinking.
Image: ISIS-held territory seen in dark grey forms a corridor directly up to the Syrian-Turkish border – or more accurately, begins at the Turkish-Syrian border. In recent days, this corridor has faced being completely cut off by joint Syrian-Russian gains in and around Aleppo and toward the western bank of the Euphrates River. East of the Euphrates is already held by Kurds and Syrian forces. NATO is clearly providing ISIS’ primary support, and yet ISIS is alleged to have been behind an attack on a NATO member.
In fact, the desperation exhibited by the West and its efforts to oust the Syrian government and salvage its proxy force now being decimated by joint Syrian-Russian military operations, is directly proportional to the diminishing size and stability of this corridor.
Just last week, Syrian forces reestablished firm control over the Kweyris military airport, which was under siege for years. The airport is just 20 miles from the Euphrates, and, as Syrian forces backed by Russian airpower work their way up toward the Turkish border along the Syrian coast, constitutes a unified front that will essentially cut off ISIS deeper inside Syria for good.
Should ISIS’ supply lines be cut in the north, the organization’s otherwise inexplicable fighting capacity will atrophy. The window for the West’s “regime change” opportunity is quickly closing, and perhaps in a last ditch effort, France has jammed the spilled blood and broken bodies of its own citizens beneath the window to prevent it from closing for good.
The reality is that France knew the “Charlie Hebo” attackers, they knew beforehand those involved in the most recent Paris attack, and they likely know of more waiting for their own opportunity to strike. With this knowledge, they stood by and did nothing. What’s more, it appears that instead of keeping France safe, the French government has chosen to use this knowledge as a weapon in and of itself against the perception of its own people, to advance its geopolitical agenda abroad.
If the people of France want to strike hard at those responsible for repeated terrorist attacks within their borders, they can start with those who knew of the attacks and did nothing to stop them, who are also, coincidentally, the same people who helped give rise to ISIS and help perpetuate it to this very day.What is ALTCAP.XDR?
1 XDR
Special Drawing Rights (ISO 4217 currency code XDR also abbreviated SDR) are supplementary foreign-exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The XDR is an international reserve asset, created in 1969 to supplement member countries’ official reserves. The value of the XDR is based on a basket of key international currencies reviewed by IMF every five years.
https://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/rms_sdrv.aspx
Special Drawing Rights (ISO 4217 currency code XDR,[1] also abbreviated SDR) are supplementary foreign-exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The XDR is the unit of account for the IMF, and is not a currency per se.[2] XDRs instead represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged.[3] The XDR was created in 1969 to supplement a shortfall of preferred foreign-exchange reserve assets, namely gold and the U.S. dollar.[3]
XDRs are allocated to countries by the IMF. Private parties do not hold or use them. The amount of XDRs in existence was around XDR 21.4 billion in August 2009. During the global financial crisis of 2009, an additional XDR 182.6 billion were allocated to "provide liquidity to the global economic system and supplement member countries’ official reserves". By October 2014, the amount of XDRs in existence was XDR 204 billion.
The value of the XDR is based on a basket of key international currencies reviewed by IMF every five years.[3] The weights assigned to each currency in the XDR basket are adjusted to take into account their current prominence in terms of international trade and national foreign exchange reserves.[3] In the review conducted in November 2015, the IMF decided that the Renminbi (Chinese yuan) would be added to the basket effective October 1, 2016.[6] From that date, the XDR basket now consists of the following five currencies: U.S. dollar 41.73%, Euro 30.93%, Renminbi (Chinese yuan) 10.92%, Japanese yen 8.33%, British pound 8.09%.[7]
Where are ALTCAP.XDR's prices derived from?
https://openexchangerates.org/
https://currencylayer.com/
https://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/data/rms_sdrv.aspx
Why trade ALTCAP.XDR?
Because it's more stable than holding a single FIAT currency.
Because until now XDRs have been allocated solely by the IMF & private parties have been unable to use them.
Perhaps you'll attract countries to trade directly with your crypto of choice?
What is BTSBOTS?
BTSBOTS is an automated trading platform which utilizes the Bitshares platform.
Relevant BTSBOTS threads
@CM-Steem's experience with BTSBOTS
@jonnybitcoin’s video tutorials
@scythian’s market making tutorial
Like/Retweet my tweet at the IMF:
https://twitter.com/customminer/status/862988378140270592
Best regards,
CM.There’s an Indian connection to the multi-million-dollar blow dealt to the ailing Canadian smartphone maker, (RIM), in an American court on Friday, July 13. A jury in San Francisco’s US Federal District Court of Northern California found the BlackBerry maker, guilty of infringing patents belonging to American firm and ordered RIM to pay $147.2 million in damages.
Mformation, a provider of mobile device management technology, and headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, was founded by Indian American Rakesh Kushwaha, who is currently the company’s chief officer. While Kushwaha was the lead inventor of the patents in question, Chief Scientist was listed as the co-inventor.
The patents related to wireless mobile device management, and the software found to infringe Mformation’s patent was RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server, used by corporate enterprise customers to manage and secure their BlackBerry devices. The patents were applied for in 2001 and awarded in 2005 and 2008.
In a statement after the verdict, Kushwaha said: “Mformation created the mobile device management category in the late 1990s and was innovating in this area well before most of the market understood the fundamental importance of wireless mobility management.”
Mformation’s President and CEO told Business Standard: “With the court’s decision validating our pursuit of this case, our focus now is on bringing this chapter to an end for both companies, so we can focus on our core businesses.”
Responding to questions from Business Standard, a RIM spokesman said: “This is not core to RIM’s product line. RIM’s future products operate differently and are not the subject of a claim.”
Mformation had filed a suit in October 2008, alleging infringement of its patents by RIM after reportedly disclosing information about the to the Canadian company during potential licensing talks. Mformation alleged RIM did not purchase a licence but incorporated the patented technology after modifications.
The lead trial counsel arguing Mformation’s case in court was Amar Thakur, a San Diego-based attorney. He explained after the verdict that the jury’s award was for royalties on sales to non-government customers in the US. The award does not include future royalties, past and future US government sales, or past and future non-US sales, according to Mformation. The RIM spokesman also reiterated that any Mformation recovery could not include damages for sales outside the US or to government customers.This is the second part of my SQL result set mappings series. We had a look at some basic result type mappings in the first post Result Set Mapping: The Basics. In this one, we will define more complex mappings that can map a query result to multiple entities and handle additional columns that cannot be mapped to a specific entity.
The example
Before we dive into the more complex mappings, lets have a look at the entity model that we will use for the examples. We used the Author entity with an id, a version, a first name and a last name already in the first post of this series. For the more complex mappings, we need the additional Book entity which has an id, a version, a title and a reference to the Author. To keep it simple, each book is only written by one author.
I used Wildfly 8.2 with Hibernate 4.3.7 to test the examples in this series. But as these are standard JPA features, you should be able to use them with every JPA 2.1 implementation, e.g. with the GlassFish 4.1 application server which uses EclipseLink.
You can find the source code on my github account.
How to map multiple entities
In real life applications we often select multiple entities with one query to avoid the additional queries that would be required to initialize lazy relations. If we do this with a native query or a stored procedure call, we get a List instead of entities. We then need to provide a custom mapping that tells the EntityManager to which entities the Object[] shall be mapped and how this is done.
In our example we could define a query that returns books and its author in one query.
As the Author and the Book table both have an id and a version column, we need to rename them in the SQL statement. I decided to rename the id and version column of the Author to authorId and authorVersion. The columns of the Book stay unchanged. OK, so how do we define a SQL result set mapping that transforms the returned List of Object[] to a List of fully initialized Book and Author entities? The mapping definition looks similar to the custom mapping that we defined in the post about basic result set mappings. As in the previously discussed mapping, the @SqlResultMapping defines the name of the mapping that we will use to reference it later on. The main difference here is, that we provide two @EntityResult annotations, one for the Book and one for the Author entity. The @EntityResult looks again similar to the previous mapping and defines the entity class and a list of @FieldResult mappings.
If you don’t like to add such a huge block of annotations to your entity, you can also define the mapping in an XML file. As described before, the default mapping file is called orm.xml and will be automatically used, if it is added to the META-INF directory of the jar file.
The mapping definition itself looks similar to the already described annotation based mapping definition.
Now we have a custom result set mapping definition, that defines the mapping between our query result and the Book and Author entity. If we provide this to the createNativeQuery(String sqlString, String resultSetMapping) method of the EntityManager, we get a List. OK, that might not look like what we wanted to achieve in the first place. We wanted to get rid of these Object[]. If we have a more detailed look at the Objects in the array, we see that these are no longer the different columns of the query but the Book and Author entities. And as the EntityManager knows that these two entities are related to each other, the relation on the Book entity is already initialized.
How to map additional columns
Another very handy feature is the mapping of additional columns in the query result. If we want to select all Authors and their number of Books, we can define the following query.
So how do we map this query result to an Author entity and an additional Long value? That is quite simple, we just need to combine a mapping for the Author entity with an additional @ColumnResult definition. The mapping of the Author entity has to define the mapping of all columns, even if we do not change anything as in the example below. The @ColumnResult defines the name of the column that shall be mapped and can optionally specify the Java type to which it shall be converted. I used it to convert the BigInteger, that the query returns by default, to a Long.
As before, this mapping can also be defined with a similar looking XML configuration.
If we use this mapping in the createNativeQuery(String sqlString, String resultSetMapping) of the EntityManager, we get a List that contains the initialized Author entity and the number of her/his Books as a Long.
This kind of mapping comes quite handy, if your query becomes complex and the result has no exact mapping to your entity model. Reasons for this can be additional attributes calculated by the database, as we did in the example above, or queries that select only some specific columns from related tables.
ConclusionThe boy Rae Carruth wanted dead is working hard.
He sits in the Charlotte office of his occupational therapist, practicing one of the mundane tasks he finds so difficult because of his cerebral palsy and brain damage. On this day, his task is to button a single button on his shirt.
One minute ticks by. Then another. Six months ago, it took the boy 15 minutes to button this one button. He furrows his brow, concentrating.
The boy’s mother, Cherica Adams, was murdered in 1999. She was killed because of a murder conspiracy masterminded by Carruth, the first-round draft choice of the Carolina Panthers in 1997. Carruth wanted to kill his on-and-off girlfriend because she was eight months pregnant with his child and he didn’t want to pay child support. He hired a hit man to pull the trigger.
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The four bullets that struck and ultimately killed Cherica Adams in a south Charlotte drive-by shooting also severely damaged her unborn baby.
That baby is now this boy. He will turn 17 in November – only seven years younger than his mother was when she died. His name is Chancellor Lee Adams. He’s wearing a purple shirt because that’s his favorite color.
Suddenly, Chancellor Lee gets his body to obey him for one sweet second and threads the button perfectly through the button hole.
It has taken him two and a half minutes, with several false starts and the aid of a buttonhook. Still, this is the fastest he has ever done it.
“That was incredible, Lee!” says Abbey Wash, the therapist from Child & Family Development who is guiding this session. “A new record!”
Saundra Adams, Cherica’s mother and the lady who has raised her beloved grandson from birth, wipes a single tear from her cheek and breaks into applause.
Chancellor Lee is thrilled by the acclaim. Everyone who ever meets him comes away talking about his ear-to-ear smile. He flashes it now, then raises his arms above his head.
“Yeah, yeah!” Chancellor Lee shouts. “Oh, yeah!”
Two years away
At a minimum-security prison in Columbia, N.C. – 323 miles east of Charlotte – the boy’s father does his own work.
Rae Carruth has been trained as a prison barber. Paid $40,000 per game by the Panthers in the late 1990s, he now cuts the hair of other inmates. He makes one dollar per day.
Carruth, 42, won’t be in prison too much longer. He has served about 90 percent of his sentence. His projected release date is two years away – Oct. 22, 2018.
Carruth was convicted in a jury trial in Charlotte in 2001 of conspiracy to commit murder, but acquitted of a first-degree murder charge. He did not testify in his own defense.
He has not seen his son since Chancellor was a year old, at a heavily supervised prison visitation before Carruth was convicted.
It is possible Carruth will be transferred to another N.C. prison – one that specializes in preparing inmates for their return to society – in the next year or so. But no matter where Carruth is on Oct. 22, 2018, Saundra and Chancellor Lee Adams plan to be standing just outside the prison gates when Carruth goes free.
Why?
They have some things to tell him, Saundra Adams says.
SHARE COPY LINK When former Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth is released from prison in 2018, his son, Chancellor Lee Adams and his grandmother Saundra Adams will be waiting.
Carruth’s coach
Jon Embree coaches tight ends for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but before that he spent 17 years at the University of Colorado – first as a standout player, then as an assistant coach and the head coach.
That’s where, in the 1990s, he met Carruth.
Embree still remembers the first time he saw Carruth, who had flown in from his California home to Boulder, Colo., for his official recruiting visit.
“Rae carried a briefcase,” Embree says. “He had a suit on, too – the whole nine yards. He was all about business. He wanted to know about everything, not just the football aspect, but the academics, social life and all of that.”
Embree was close to Carruth, and saw a side of him at Colorado that he has a hard time reconciling with the man who would plot such a heinous crime.
“Rae was tremendous with kids,” Embree says. “I remember once a kid asked him for his autograph and told him he was his favorite player. And then the next weekend was the kid’s birthday party. Rae showed up at the party – and he brought a present for the kid, too.”
Enamored with his speed, the Panthers drafted Carruth with the 27the overall pick in the 1997 NFL draft. Carruth had a good rookie year – scoring all four of his career NFL touchdowns – but tailed off significantly after that, in part because of a foot injury.
Embree kept up with Carruth occasionally, as he did many former Colorado players. He says he was shocked by the shooting in 1999 and Carruth’s subsequent arrest. The coach still remembers the shock of hearing about Carruth’s capture in Tennessee – Carruth had jumped bail and was found hiding in a car trunk that also contained $3,900 in cash and two bottles of Carruth’s |
the quest for self-knowing–is a journey inward that eventually dis-identifies with everything but the Soul. It begins with your family, as the song goes, but soon it comes down to race, sex, even species. So the idea that we can be whatever we feel like being, biologically, through a mixture of desire and technology, is a literalization and hence an inversion of the truth that we are infinitely more than our biology. It is a way of insisting that what we are is not something we have to discover, but something we get to choose. This leaves out the rather obvious problem that, if we do not know who or what we are, our choices are going to be influenced, and severely compromised, by that same lack of awareness.
To erase the biological difference of the other–as trans ideology does–in this quest for identity is to eradicate the other’s identity while claiming it for one’s own. It’s psychic cuckoo-land. It is also the absolute inverse of self-discovery.
On the other hand, I recognize the need to be careful when using words like pathology or, its inverse, well-adjusted, because, in an exploitative culture, adjustment isn’t itself necessarily such a great sign, and “pathology” can be a necessary response to an unhealthy environment. But on the other other hand, when someone responds to confusion about their bodily identification with a literalized bid for transformation, it’s essential to recognize that this may be an unconscious cry for help, rather than a true, conscious step towards wholeness. Simply providing such people with the justification and means to act on their desire may not be the most compassionate or healthy way to address such a complex unknown as this.
The notion that people know what they need and ought to be allowed to have it is a central principal and value in the consumer capitalist mosh-pit of human exploitation which we live in today. Ironically, this same culture works 24-7, using every known form of technology and psychological manipulation to tell people what they need and give it to them. It thereby proves highly effective at preventing most people from ever discovering their true orientation.
The truth is we don’t know what we need: we have been cultured and conditioned to want all the wrong things and to turn to the ruling power structures to get them. We are given (or sold) anything and everything but what will allow us to move our attention inward, where what is of true value is to be found. All these solutions that are offered, as means to autonomy and self-empowerment, in fact lead to the opposite: increased dependency on the Dream State that is selling us its manufactured imago of being.
*
The following is from “Exiles in their own flesh: A psychotherapist speaks” by Lane Anderson (a pseudonym), “a practicing psychotherapist who has worked extensively with ‘trans teens’ and their families”:
“When I am suddenly and without warning discouraged from exploring the underlying causes and conditions of certain of my patients’ distress (as I was trained to do), and instead forced to put my professional stamp of approval upon a prefab, one-size-fits-all narrative intended to explain the complexity of my patient’s troubles, I feel confused. It’s as if I am being held hostage. No longer encouraged or permitted to question, consider or discuss the full spectrum of my patient’s mental health concerns, it has occurred to me that I am being used, my meager professional authority commandeered to legitimize a new narrative I may or may not wish to corroborate. It’s been perilous to simply admit to not fully understanding it all–let alone disagree with the trans narrative. There was no training or teaching. I was just suddenly told that some of my patients thought they were trapped in the wrong body and that was that.”
….
“There are so many complex forces, from many different realms, coming into play with this trans wave. Most people are completely unaware of these intersecting interests. Unfortunately the culture war has done a number on the concept of critical thinking. I have considered myself liberal my entire adult life, and I still am. But for a long time I couldn’t find anyone questioning this trans explosion who wasn’t on the far right. It made me feel like only conservatives were allowed to think, to consider this issue, but ultimately their thoughts were rendered meaningless due to their branding by the culture war. It’s essential that left-leaning people model critical thinking for the masses in this regard.
“It’s important to link people like us together, who have been silenced, so we can resume contact with our critical thinking skills and reduce our growing sense of self doubt. Divide and conquer is best accomplished through silencing, through calling into question those who speak out. There is so much of this attached to the trans movement. Even just wondering about a profound concept such as transgender is labeled transphobic. What I think has happened is that people are now phobic about their own gut responses to life. We are being systematically separated from our own intuition. This is fatal for a civilization, I think. Not that our intuition always tells the truth with a capital T, but it is a critical piece of who we are. Without it, we remain profoundly directionless, and more susceptible to coercion of all types. [Emphasis added.]
“What frightens me most about the trans movement is that the establishment has gotten involved and is leading it. I think that’s really weird. Clearly they are benefiting from it financially. So sad. It disturbs me to see how giddy my former medical director is to be part of this growing craze. We used to treat kids with mental health problems, but now it’s all about validating their emergent and shifting identities. As professionals, if we don’t loudly prioritize their identities as being the most important thing about them (and identities do shift constantly in kids and teens), we risk coming across as unsupportive and even immoral. Identity development has always been a teen task, but in the past it wasn’t necessarily supposed to become a lifestyle, or colonize the entirety of your existence.... What saddens me the most is the way children are being trained to think their parents do not love them if mom and dad don’t jump aboard the trans train. To me, this is a brutal aspect of a near-dictatorship being foisted on everyone.”
….
“One common trait I’ve noticed in nearly all the trans kids I’ve met has been their profound sense of being different, and too alone. They often have had little success with making friends, or what I would call contact with ‘the other.’ Because of their psychic isolation, they are prime targets for group think narratives. But in addition to looking for a way to belong, they are also craving protection and the stamp of legitimacy, perhaps because they feel a profound lack of it.
“Now that the government and medical communities are involved in the creation of who trans folks are, this class of individuals have finally found their safe havens. Now, rather than being merely invisible and awkward, they have been transformed into veritable leaders of a revolution. Now, rather than cower in the shadows, they have commandeered the narratives of others into a similar dark and brooding place where they once were. The tables, as they lived and viewed them, have now turned.”
….
“A large part of the problem comes with the revolution in health care. More and more, we are giving people the power to define their own treatments. This is good in many ways, but the trans movement is using this moment, and is actively recruiting young, psychologically undefined and frightened people to push their agenda through the medical community. It’s clearly not that difficult to do. These kids are just pawns. That’s how it looks to me anyway. The trans community needs more converts so that the narrative becomes more cohesive. I’m guessing the push for this comes from a need to further cohere so they will have more members to fully cement a fragile, constructed reality.”
From the comments section, the therapist responds to a question from a transitioning-gender person, as to how she would approach someone wishing to make the change:
“This development of the self would be a process whereby a client is assisted in the difficult task of creating a kind of consolidated sense of who they are. Personally, I think these core parts of us should function, or ideally function best when they are functionally somewhat autonomous, yet healthfully interdependent with others. I guess what I’m saying is, if a person doesn’t really yet know who they are independently, if they have a sort of ‘empty center looking to be filled from without,’ I would work with them until they were able to find some weight within their own psychic core before they engaged in any sort of drastic changes. Signs that this consolidation is happening would be the individual not requiring others to excessively validate who they are. Ideally the individual should not be excessively too dependent upon the thoughts and opinions of others to maintain their sense of self.
“... Unstable folks are neurologically incapable of observing others outside of how these others can fulfill their immediate needs (think narcissism, which is basically a sign a person is too dependent upon external others to construct the self. In being overly dependent in this way, the empty person uses others to create an image of themselves, they use others to literally ” feel” who they are. Obviously, this is all unconscious. Most people with a lack of a cohesive self are not aware they are using others in this way, but they will feel the effects of this habit and often not understand why they continue to have poor interpersonal and disrupted relationships with others).
“So, for me, to get back to your question, I would work to look at whether or not a person has accomplished basic psychological developmental tasks before I would encourage their transitioning. However, this is all a bit of a mute point [sic], for my exploring such with people who come to me saying they seek to transition will now classify me as transphobic and out of compliance if I explain what I’ve here explained to you. The fact is, not one of the kids I met with who wanted to transition was manifesting psychological health. They were very hurt individuals and had attributed their very real pain to the theory that their bodies and gender brains were misaligned. The vast majority of them had severe deficits interpersonally, experienced profound social anxiety, suicidality, to name just a few of the issues I saw emerging. These were souls fearing psychic extinction, living with the terror of being too different, too alone. They nearly all found their new identities, along with a whole new slew of friends, in others who experienced similar or equal psychic terror. How could I take seriously their sudden belief that they were trapped in the wrong body? How could I not see that they had stumbled upon a very viable and critical path to locating themselves amongst similar others. [Emphasis added.]
“Of course, I could not say this to any of them as they would claim, as they had been schooled online, that I too didn’t understand and was transphobic.”
Part TwoDaniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.
Jordan’s Queen Rania told Europeans that they could either take in the Syrian refugees that her country doesn’t want or the refugees would turn to terrorism. And what if these “refugees,” like so many of the other Muslims who had settled in Europe over the years, decide that they like terrorism anyway?
A tenth of London approves of ISIS now. Support for the Islamic State among the younger population in the UK, where Muslim demographics predominate, reaches as high as 14 percent.
What will it look like when tens of thousands of Muslims from the homeland of the Islamic State are added to the population? How much support will there be for Islamic terrorism a decade from now when the mass Muslim migration has fundamentally reshaped the UK’s religious demographics?
A recent poll of Syrians showed that 22 percent believed that ISIS had a positive influence on their country. And that’s only the level of support for the most controversial Jihadist group there. They haven’t bothered to measure the level of support for more “moderate” Jihadist groups like the Al-Nusra Front, which is linked to Al Qaeda, or even the Islamic Front, whose components were included in the Free Syrian Army. The Sunni rebels backed by the West are universally Jihadist fighting forces.
Even the New York Times admitted that, “Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.”
How much support do the Sunni rebel groups have among the refugees? 1 out of 5 would be bad enough, but the numbers for the entire Sunni Jihadist opposition are likely to be a lot higher.
And these Jihadist groups are terror risks almost as much as ISIS. A Syrian migrant at the Gates of Hungary was caught musing, “If the Free Syrian Army was here, they’d shoot that helicopter down.”
But plenty of FSA fighters are already in Europe or on the way there. How many of them will turn to terrorism in Europe? Even one is too many. But Europe is expected to take them in and find out later.
That’s not an argument for taking in more Syrians. That’s an argument for taking in zero refugees.
Muslim refugees in the United States have been a consistent vector for terror. Taking in tens of thousands more just makes the problem even worse.
Queen Rania tells us that we must either take in Muslim migrants or face Muslim terror. But if we stopped taking in more Muslims, we wouldn’t be facing so much Muslim terror. You don’t make a boat more seaworthy by drilling a bigger hole in it. Europe is taking in more Muslim migrants to appease a terror threat that would not exist if it stopped the tidal flow of Muslim migration to its borders.
No amount of “preventing violent extremism”, outreach, profiling, airport scanning and mosque surveillance will ever be enough as long as immigration provides fresh recruits for the Jihad.
UNHCR refugees with terror ties have already been caught by Norway. More are being found in Europe. But even if you could somehow catch all the terrorists, there is no way to intercept future terrorists who will only turn to Islamic violence once they are safely living in Europe.
Instead of doing the sensible thing, European countries are not only taking in “refugees”, but they’re even taking back Muslims from Europe who went to join in the fighting in Syria before deciding to come back. Not only is Europe taking in unknown terrorists, but it’s taking in known terrorists and trying to reeducate them out of their “extremism” before they go off on another killing spree.
But the surest way to stop them from killing isn’t to have some blonde social worker accompanied by a Taqiyya Imam preach to them about “moderate” Islam. It’s to keep them out of the country.
Queen Rania offers Europe a choice between Muslim refugees and Muslim terror. Historically, Europe has gotten both, taking in Muslim migrants and getting Muslim terror anyway. The most reliable way to stop Muslim terrorism is to stop Muslim immigration. No refugees, no terror.
And that’s something Queen Rania knows. Even as she lectures her European hosts on labeling the Muslim migrants with “with blunt pejoratives, as if some lives have lesser value than others. Invaders. Marauding foreigners”, her country has worked hard at keeping down its own Muslim brethren.
Her Hashemite Kingdom, a foreign transplant, has done everything it could to disenfranchise and expel the Palestinian Arabs who, unlike her husband’s family, actually belong there. Generations of Muslims have lived in Jordan without ever receiving citizenship. There are hundreds of thousands of stateless children in Jordan. Instead of taking them in, Jordan stripped citizenship from 1.5 million “Palestinians”.
Jordan is no more willing to accept the huge numbers of Syrians it has been burdened with than it was willing to accept the huge numbers of Palestinian Arabs already in the country. It’s not a matter of money. Not when the Jordanian king can order a $1.5 billion theme park built to cater to his whims.
But the refugees risk tilting the demographic balance in Jordan toward a Muslim Brotherhood takeover.
Jordan doesn’t want Palestinian Arabs or Syrians because it fears terrorism, violence and a takeover. Instead its rulers would like Europe to accept those risks while lecturing it on its intolerance for refusing to commit suicide. Jordan, like its Saudi masters, wants Europe to take in the Muslims that it fears.
Jordan and Turkey may have been forced to host huge numbers of Syrians, but they aren’t giving them citizenship the way that America, Canada and Europe are expected to. Turkey calls its 2 million refugees “guests”. Jordan tries to use the UN to move them out as fast as possible to European countries.
Muslim countries claim to care a great deal about their Palestinian Arab brethren, but no Muslim country has been willing to take them all in permanently. The same is true for the Syrian Arabs. Instead they are being calculatedly transformed into a stateless people to be inflicted on the gullible West.
No Muslim country wants to permanently take in large numbers of foreigners even when those foreigners share their religion and culture. No Muslim country wants to host people who support terrorist groups. And who can blame them? We don’t want to do it either. And why should we?
Why are we expected to permanently take in Muslims that the Muslim world doesn’t want?
What does the Muslim world know that we don’t? It knows that no refugees means no terrorism. After the Gulf War, Kuwait expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs for siding with Saddam. When the PLO took over parts of Israel, Jordan stripped Palestinian Arabs of citizenship.
Muslim countries have been very pragmatic about tossing their own cousins out the door the moment they show any signs of causing problems. Meanwhile Europe takes in known terrorists in the hopes of teaching them the joys of “moderate” Islam.
If we ought to learn anything from the Muslim world, it’s immigration policy. The United States ought to have the immigration policy of Mexico and Europe ought to have the immigration policy of Jordan.
Instead of trying to find out how many of the Syrians we are taking in support ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups, we can spare ourselves the effort by only taking in genuine Christian refugees while letting Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Saudi Arabia figure out their own Muslim refugee problem.
Because the surest way to keep Muslim terrorists out is not to let any Muslim immigrants in.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Art historian Godfrey Barker spoke to the BBC about the significance of this discovery
A collection of 1,500 artworks confiscated by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s has been found in the German city of Munich, media reports say.
The trove is believed to include works by Matisse, Picasso and Chagall, the news magazine Focus reports.
Some of the works were declared as degenerate by the Nazis, while others were stolen from or forcibly sold for a pittance by Jewish art collectors.
If confirmed, it would be one of the largest recoveries of looted art.
Investigators put the value of the works at about one billion euros (£846m; $1.35bn), Focus said.
Tax investigation
The magazine said the artworks were found by chance in early 2011, when the tax authorities investigated Cornelius Gurlitt, the reclusive son of an art dealer in Munich.
He was suspected of tax evasion, and investigators obtained a search warrant for his home in Munich.
Image caption The Nazis detested Picasso, whose artwork Guernica depicted a German bombing during the Spanish Civil War
There, they found the cache of some 1,500 artworks which had vanished from sight during the Nazi era.
The younger Mr Gurlitt had kept the works in darkened rooms and sold the occasional painting when he needed money, Focus reports.
The Nazis categorised almost all modern art as "degenerate". It was banned for being un-German or for being the work of Jewish artists.
Some works were confiscated or destroyed; others were sold to collectors for a low price.
There are international warrants out for at least 200 of the works, Focus reports. The collection is being held in a secure warehouse in Munich for the time being.
One of the pieces is said to be a portrait of a woman by Matisse which belonged to the grandfather of French TV presenter Anne Sinclair.
Paul Rosenberg, an art dealer who represented Picasso as well as Matisse, was forced to leave his collection behind when he fled France in 1940.
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates the Nazis seized about 16,000 works of art in all.
Correction 4 November 2013: We initially reported that Paul Rosenberg had fled Germany in the 1930s, which was incorrect - he fled France in 1940.In a bid to clear the air on tax exemption to political parties, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said they can not accept donations in old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes since these bills were junked last month and clarified that there is no new exemption granted. The conditional tax exemptions historically given to income of registered political parties continue and no new concession or exemption has been granted either post November 8 demonetisation announcement or in the last two-and-a-half years, he said.
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“Post demonetisation, no political party can accept donations in 500 and 1,000 rupee notes since they were rendered illegal tenders. Any party doing so would be in violation of law,” he said in a statement. He said just like anyone else, political parties can also deposit their cash held in the old currency in banks till December 30 “provided they can satisfactorily explain the source of income and their books of accounts reflect the entries prior to November 8”.
“If there is any discrepancy in the books or records of political parties, they are as liable to be questioned by the Income Tax authorities as is anyone else. They enjoy no immunity whatsoever,” he said. “There is no question of sparing anyone, and the political class is no exception.”
“Political parties have not been granted any exemption post demonetisation and introduction of Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 2016 which came into force on December 15, 2016,” he said. Under the Income Tax Act, income of political parties is exempt from tax subject to condition that all donations above Rs 20,000 are taken through cheque and lower ones are properly documented with full detail of donors. These accounts also have to be audited.
“Under Section 13A of IT Act 1961, political parties have to submit audited accounts, income & expenditure details and balance sheets,” Jaitley said. In Mumbai, he told reporters that “the legal and taxation regimes for all registered political parties remain as they were 20-25 years ago. Our government has not made any changes to these rules, nor we are planning to make any”. He warned the political parties not to misuse the system. “There is no relaxation in the tax scrutiny of political parties. This is a complete media creation. We will take strong action against those parties which misuse the system.”
Stating that no changes have been made in the law regarding political funding, he said, “Not a single change has been made in the last two months or so, or in the last two-and-a-half years with regard to taxation of political parties. Nothing has been done, whatever was the existing system which has existed for the last 15 years is continuing and if somebody creates a political party for the purpose of channelising funds… obviously law will step in,” Jaitley said.
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“Income and donations of political parties fall in the purview of Section 13A of the Income Tax Act 1961 & there is no change in its provisions. In this era of instant outrage, a 35-year old law is presented as a new law being passed by the NDA government,” Jaitley said in the statement. “I implore all journalist friends to be fully outraged against any step of the government, if it is not against corruption. But in equal measure, I would also implore them to do adequate research before jumping the gun,” he added.This post may contain referral/affiliate links. If you buy something, MSA may earn a commission. Read the full disclosure
We have FULL SPOILERS for the first Macy’s Beauty Box! (Thanks, for the heads up, Sinda!)
The theme is The In Crowd. How cute is this bag?
The August box will include:
Here are the two shades from the Smashbox palette you will receive:
What do you think of the spoilers for the August 2017 Macy’s Beauty Box?
Macy’s Beauty Box Box is $15 a month. Each month you will receive five deluxe beauty samples, one bonus item, a collectible cosmetics bag and a $5 beauty coupon exclusively for Beauty Box subscribers, available for use online and in-store.
Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She’s been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!In political campaigns in India, the people,
the second and third words respectively in the preamble of the Constitution, have been the centre of an energetic tussle. (PTI)
The Congress loses its aam aadmi, the BJP can’t see beyond one khaas aadmi.
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It’s 2014 and with about a hundred days to go for polling, campaign season is upon us. However, we are still some distance from clarity on what either of the two largest parties has to offer. Perhaps it is because both sides are trying to cater to a homogenised, media-savvy “voter-consumer” that the contest so far sounds too much like an ad war. There are “war rooms”, banal, flashcard references to the “young vote” and a bitter battle of words that is supposed to stand in for a clear articulation of policy.
The face of the Congress, which has been in power for a decade, and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, who has ruled his state for 13 years, are both trying to project themselves as outsiders. Both claims sound hollow, to be polite about it.
The Congress is struggling to recover from the loss of its aam aadmi slogan, which had helped it so far in putting forward its Manmohanomics-meets-welfare-economics positions. The “aam aadmi”, a term loose enough and yet specific enough for a wide range of persons to identify with it, had come to signify a utilitarian test for whatever works. With the AAP now part of the discourse, the Congress clearly has an aam aadmi problem.
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The BJP, ever since 1980, has resisted calls to turn itself over to the regular Western idea of a rightwing party — free-market, nationalist, Thatcherite. Now, it finds itself very much under RSS control and freighted with the latter’s ideological baggage. So it is difficult for the BJP to model itself on Western rightwing parties like the Tories or the Christian Democrats. It has chosen, instead, to invest in the “khaas aadmi”. One might say it has a khaas aadmi problem.
In political campaigns in India, “the people”, the second and third words respectively in the preamble of the Constitution, have been the centre of an energetic tussle. The past several decades have seen the need for a moniker that justifies actions and around which ideas can be built, whether its “the people”, “makkal” (Tamil), “jana”, “gana” or “lok”. With the invasion of politics by the management-walas, especially in the Eighties and Nineties, it became even more important for parties to brand such terms more forcefully. So the “garibi hatao” slogan had to find and directly address its subject.
The Congress, which had initially had the garib aadmi at the heart of discussions, moved on to the well-branded aam aadmi. With “aam aadmi”, a thought-out departure from “garib aadmi”, the Congress set its sights on a broader demographic. And with citizens anxious to come out of the garib classification, this new term found a wider response and helped the Congress regain ground. Meanwhile, the BJP, especially in its NDA avatar, reworked the antyodaya idea, which meant reaching out to those at the end of the line. This also served it well, especially in the states.
Damaged deeply by the AAP in its showpiece state, the Congress is looking for a new phrase to articulate whom it wants to draw in and focus on for its campaign. Rahul Gandhi, in his speech at the AICC, hinted at a version of the not-quite or the neo-aam aadmi — the “70 crore” who are not part of the middle class and not poor — as the new target. But that phrase is yet to find a proper home in the Congress’s campaign lexicon.
Unlike the Congress, the BJP is not beset by the problem of someone walking off with its best campaign pitch. But how does it provide more wind in the sails of the khaas aadmi it has appointed as leader? It will now be watched closely for how skillfully it uses Narendra Modi so that he does not lose his core base and yet succeeds in winning over a sizeable section of the Hindu vote that doesn’t yet respond to his image or attempts at a makeover. In short, how does someone like Modi appear true to his Hindutva allegiance while also appearing committed to just building bridges, drains or toilets. The party’s central challenge is to forge a cohesion in the Hindu vote, while ensuring that the “rest of India” does not get spooked into parking all its votes with the Congress.
The BJP had said recently that it would articulate its “solutions”. But it turned out to be a laundry list, throwing no light on what the party’s position is on some very obvious contemporary policy questions. Modi’s silence on the AAP, economic policy and even the Supreme Court order to immediately disqualify sitting MPs and MLAs who have been convicted cannot go on for ever. Though Modi is still loath to making himself available to the press or for questions, never mind the Muslim question, the BJP will eventually have to spell out what its idea of India is.
Perhaps it is the “benaam aadmi”, a term coined by Delhi-based commentator Samir Saran recently, that should get more attention now from the aam aadmi-free Congress as well as the khaas aadmi-ridden BJP. Saran’s contention is that, in the race to sort out the nightmares of the middle class, whether it is gas, water or electricity bills, several basic questions that assail India today, concerning the truly dispossessed, or the benaam aadmi, have been completely ignored.
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In the weeks ahead, it will be important to observe if the two very similar ad campaigns eventually give way to honest and cogent ideas. So we are still waiting to see what the BJP commits itself to and what it has to offer beyond its khaas aadmi. It would have to establish that its vision of Hindutva Plus is what the doctor has prescribed for India in 2014. And the Congress will have to effectively communicate that it stands for cohesion in an astoundingly diverse country, in a way that is different from imposing a oneness on it. It would have to convey that personal wellbeing is eventually dependent on the welfare of all — the benaam and the aam. A pitch for “hum sab”, anybody?
[email protected] National Enquirer story that alleges Ted Cruz had extramarital affairs with five women is a "festering boil" that could sink the Texas senator's presidential bid unless takes immediate legal action to discredit it, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay tells"I think if he would sue The Enquirer right now, it would put the story to bed," DeLay, a Texas Republican, said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."Cruz has angrily denied any truth to the Enquirer report and charges that Republican presidential front-runner is behind it — an allegation Trump strongly denies."He needs to get a hold of some people that know how to handle this kind of thing because this is so typical of politicians. They just wish that the story would go away," DeLay said."He's got to do something. He cannot ignore this. This is a kind of festering boil that will get worse and worse if you try to ignore it and pray that it will go away. You have to address it and have to address it soon or it'll drag you down."The Enquirer article emerged after a super PAC supporting Cruz released an anti-Trump ad featuring a nude photo of Melania Trump during her fashion model days before she wed the billionaire developer.DeLay also believes Roger Stone, a veteran Republican operative who once advised the Trump campaign and is quoted in the Enquirer story, had a hand in it, although Stone has denied it."Roger Stone's a hit man. I've known him for a very long time. He is a hit man. This has to have come out of the Trump camp," he told Malzberg."I don't know for a fact, but I just ask myself, have we sunk so low now to have this kind of stuff going through the campaign? You'd expect it out of the Democrats but it's really sad that we're getting this kind of thing at the end of the campaign."World Rugby has announced the schedule for the Americas Pacific Challenge 2016, a new "A” team tournament funded by the game's governing body.
The inaugural event, which includes two teams each from the Pacific Islands, North America and South America, will be hosted in Montevideo, Uruguay, from 8-16 October, 2016.
The Americas Pacific Challenge has been introduced to boost the high-performance pathway for the test arena and supports the Americas Rugby Championship and Pacific Nations Cup as well as November international test window preparation.
Pool A features Argentina XV, USA Selects and Samoa A, while Fiji Warriors, Canada A and Uruguay A are in Pool B. The tournament will be a round-robin, first-past-the-post tournament format played across three competition rounds. Teams will play each side in their opposite pool once, with the winner and final rankings determined by the total number of competition points accrued across the three rounds.
Matches will be played at the Estadio Charrua, Montevideo, on 8, 12 and 16 October.
World Rugby Vice-Chairman Agustín Pichot said: "The Americas Pacific Challenge is part of World Rugby's strategy to enhance the performance pathway for tier-two teams in a Rugby World Cup cycle.
"With teams already preparing for Rugby World Cup 2019 as well as the upcoming November test schedule, the APC will give teams an opportunity to bring through young players and give competitive game time to players who want to step up to the next level.
World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge 2016 fixtures:
"With the buzz from rugby still resonating after the Olympics in Rio, this gives us another opportunity to bring international tournaments to the region and really grow the game in South America.”Unión de Rugby del Uruguay President Sebastian Piñeyrua said: "The APC will be a great chance for Uruguay to continue developing rugby in the country. The six-team tournament is an exciting challenge, not only for our players, but also for our rugby community."This competition for our A team, outside the international window, will help prepare new players and it's another step to ensure strong competition for tier-two unions. We'd like to thank World Rugby for this great opportunity."
12:30 - Argentina XV v Canada A
14:30 - USA Selects v Fiji Warriors
16:30 - Samoa A v Uruguay A
Wednesday, 12 October:
12:30 - Samoa A v Fiji Warriors
14:30 - USA Selects v Canada A
16:30 - Argentina XV v Uruguay A
Sunday, 16 October
12:30 - Samoa A v Canada A
14:30 - USA Selects v Uruguay A
16:30 - Argentina XV v Fiji Warriors
(All times local, GMT – 4)President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state on Tuesday morning after former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney ruled himself out.
Trump, who teased an announcement on Monday night, met with Tillerson twice during the past week and pointed to the CEO's deep relations with Moscow as a selling point during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
As ExxonMobil's head, Tillerson maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded the Order of Friendship by President Vladimir Putin - a sticking point among several Republican senators who find his cozy relationship troublesome.
After the initial favorite, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani withdrew himself from consideration, Tillerson emerged as a frontrunner several weeks into the deliberation.
Romney and other contenders such as former CIA director David Petraeus and Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, all received calls on Monday informing them of Trump's decision to nominate Tillerson, the New York Times reported.
Romney shared a statement on his Facebook that read: 'It was an honor to have been considered for Secretary of State of our great country. My discussions with President-elect Trump have been both enjoyable and enlightening.
'I have very high hopes that the new administration will lead the nation to greater strength, prosperity and peace,' he added.
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Trump (left) is expected to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson (right) as the US secretary of state after they met twice during the past week
Trump revealed his plans on Monday night. He praised Tillerson on Sunday and told his Twitter follower to'stay tuned'
Trump reportedly called Romney to break the news that he was not selected
Romney then ruled himself out of the running, saying it was an 'honor to be considered'
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, was a vocal critic of Trump, although the two appeared to make up as the president-elect considered him to head the State Department.
But some of Trump's senior advisers warned that tapping Romney for the job would anger the president-elect's loyal supporters.
Trump was not familiar with Tillerson until he was recommended by former defense secretary Robert Gates and James Baker III, who worked as secretary of state under George H. W. Bush, the Times reported.
Both Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and his chief strategist Stephen Bannon backed Tillerson, who hit it off with Trump, according to the Times.
NBC News first reported Tillerson would be chosen as secretary of state, citing two sources close to the transition team. Fox News also reported the ExxonMobil executive as Trump's pick on Monday.
The president-elect praised Tillerson during a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, saying: 'He’s more than a business executive – he’s a world-class player.'
He added that it was ‘a great advantage’ that Tillerson knew ‘many of the players’, and did ‘massive deals in Russia’.
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks with Rex Tillerson in Sochi in 2011
In 2011, ExxonMobil signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia's largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson |
a restaurant near the water of Buttermilk bay. Three months later on April 3 2004, his body was discovered under a dock at the Continental Marina only 100 yards away. The water had supposedly been frozen until recently and authorities said it appeared to have been in the water for some time, though the marina owner described the body as “very visible”. David’s death was ruled an accidental drowning.
John Pike was a 23 year old Syracuse University graduate in Public Communications, where he made Deans List and honors society. He was an athlete and avid musician, the drummer for a band called Ra Ra Riot. In June 2007 his band had played a show and was attending an after party in Fairhaven MA. Several friends saw John step outside at about 3am, but were concerned when he did not return later. His girlfriend received a text from him around this time saying he loved her, but this was not unusual. The house backs up to a Buzzards Bay beach, but Pike was notorious for his dislike of water and the tide was out. Later on that day at about 3pm John’s phone was found in shallow water on the west side of Wilbur Point. The next day his body was found about 200 yards away in 7 feet of water. Police said no foul play was suspected. Ra Ra Riot was enjoying growing success and John was passionate about the band.
Charles M. Allen Jr. was a senior psychology major at Umass Dartmouth. In his past he had been a relatively famous online gamer, well known for his abilities in the Valve game Half-Life. His passions shifted in college toward Tennis, and his dream was to become a professional player. “Charlie” had recently legally changed his name to “Neo Babson Maximus” perhaps in a effort to have a ‘famous persona’. His loved ones still knew him as Charlie, and insisted his name change was unrelated to his disappearance or mental illness. Charlie suffered from Bipolar disorder, though until not long before his disappearance it was well managed with medication. The trouble seemed to begin when Charlie’s sister contacted him asking him why he had deleted his facebook. Charlie became alarmed and insisted he had not. He told her that he believed he was in danger after sending some emails to “important people” and that she needed to be careful. He also said that the “answer” was in the “periodic table” then hung up. He later left a voicemail on his parents phone that sounded as if he was running through the woods. He was not heard from again until several days later when he reportedly broke into the second floor of a strangers house at 3am on October 13th 2007. He seemed confused and told the stranger he thought he was at his friends house, then he hurried off. Charlie’s car was found abandoned at his University’s parking lot, his backpack was found on Slocum Rd. and his shoes were found off Chase Rd.
His computer at home had been completely wiped. He has never been found.
If you have any info on Charlie please contact the Dartmouth Police at (508) 910-1700
Justin Marshall was a star high school football player, went to West Point, and graduated from Notre Dame. He then graduated from Suffolk Law with honors, and was working at Boston City Hall in Mayor Menino’s legal department. In June of 2006 Justin was out with friends in the Charlestown neighborhood on Pier 6, when the others in the group realized he was missing around 1am. His body was found in the water nearby. There has been little follow up to indicate a cause of death or other info.
Christopher Martin lived in New Bedford and worked at Barden’s Boat Yard in Marion. He was 24 years old and intoxicated when he was last seen in Downtown New Bedford at 1:30 am on December 17th 2011. His girlfriend reported him missing at 3:45 am. His body was discovered in the water behind a seafood restaurant the next morning, tangled in several life preservers. Authorities found this suspicious, as it appeared that someone may have tried to help Christopher. The stairs to the water near where he was found had been ripped up. No further information is known at this time.
D’Anthony Green was a 23 year old student at Suffolk University. He was very athletic and active, as well as artistic, enjoying everything from photography to skydiving. Because he lived alone, the exact date he went missing is unknown. He was found in the water, having been there ‘several days’, wearing his running pants under his regular pants, as if he had been coming or going from a work out. D’Anthony was a very capable swimmer with no history of suicidal tendencies, leaving his family suspicious about his death. Despite this, police ruled his death a suicide.
Pedro Colon-Rodriguez had immigrated from Puerto Rico to Boston. He had five children with his late wife, whose death hit him hard. In his recent years he had become a heavy drinker, and spent most of his time with Cambridge’s homeless community. He was well liked for his giving nature. In early October 2012 Pedro went to Cambridge Hospital for treatment of a fall related injury. He was not seen again until his body was discovered in the Charles River monday the 8th. He was still wearing his hospital bracelet. Pedro was found the day before Jonathan Daily, leading to his case being largely underreported.
Joseph A. Gage was a 32 year old New Hampshire native with a degree in Mathematics from University of Hartford. He was athletic, a musically gifted guitar player, and loved to travel. On January 1st 2013 at about 3am, witnesses reported seeing Joseph crossing the Harvard Bridge with another man. Halfway across they hailed a cab, but instead of getting in Joseph apparently intentionally hurled himself over the rail of the bridge and into the Charles. Despite an intense search and theoretically knowing the exact location of the body, Joseph was not recovered until March 14th. One site described his death as a “tragic accident”.
Shiloh Morgado was from Vallejo California, and lived in Westborough Ma. He had two children. Shiloh was known by many to be a “tech wizard” and was happiest while doing things like building his own computers. His body was discovered near Quincy Yacht Club on August 30th 2015, at around 6am. No foul play was suspected.
********
Already the similarities between these cases and those in the previous post may be jumping out at you. You’ll notice in this group several technologically gifted men, several musicians, and many very intelligent individuals.
There are multiple men missing in a cluster around Buzzard’s Bay that I found intriguing.
Again, as far as I can tell, the locations of these similar deaths are not sporadic, and do not happen along every coast or waterway. There seems to be several “hot spots” in Massachusetts alone, indicating that whom or what is causing the deaths may have a sort of “territory”. Whether it is a single migrating cause or two separate causes I cannot say.
I have charted the cases I have researched so far here to better illustrate the cluster areas.
As most of Eastern Massachusetts is surrounded or in close proximity to water, it stands to reason that other cities should be seeing similar deaths if this was a “normal” occurrence, particularly areas with high populations of young people and bars (cities such as Salem and Provincetown come to mind). And if this was a problem related to college aged drinkers, surely students in the western MA college areas have many lakes and rivers that could pose dangers?
The average temperature of Boston Harbor varies greatly between October and March (the peak months for disappearances). Here are some stats:
Even at it’s coldest, Boston’s water never dips below freezing point at 32°, nor does it come close to the estimated 28° of the Atlantic when the Titanic sank. Death from hypothermia in freezing water can happen in as little as 15 minutes, but even in that small window it seems that someone could be crying out for help or trying to climb out of the water.
Normally alcohol in the system increases ones chances of hypothermia, but there is evidence to suggest that sometimes the exact opposite is true. Charles Joughin survived the 28° water after the Titanic for an astounding two hours until a lifeboat picked him up. Joughin was an avid drinker, carrying a flask with him everywhere, and said that thanks to his intoxication he barely felt the cold.
While this may be an unusual case, it does make one think. I have never heard of a case of a drunk college kid falling off a pier, climbing back out, laughing it off and going home to warm up. (If this has happened to you or someone you know, please let me know in the comments.) My only other thought on the matter is that perhaps in many of the cases the men suffer shock from the coldness of the water almost immediately as they hit it, causing them to gasp deeply and inhale water, speeding up the drowning process. Still, it seems unlikely that so many men would not survive the critical moments after entering the water, as hypothermia is a slower process.
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I hope you have found part 2 of my research interesting and informative, and I hope you join me in the comments for discussion! Thank you.
AdvertisementsSince putting LCD Soundsystem on the shelve, James Murphy has split his time between producing music and DJing. What he really wants to do, however, is soundtrack New York City’s subway system.
Murphy first announced a desire to install music into the city’s turnstiles back in 2011, though he’s apparently been working on the project for nearly 15 years. He explained to Sound Opinions recently, “I want to make every station in New York have a different set of dominant keys so that people who grow up will later on in life hear a piece of music and say, ‘Oh, that’s like Union Square.”
Now, The Wall Street Journal has shared a video interview with Murphy discussing the project and previewing some of the sounds he would install into the turnstiles. As Murphy notes, now is the perfect opportunity to launch the project, as New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently announced a $900,000-a-year project to renovate the turnstiles.
The MTA deemed Murphy’s proposal a “very cool idea,” but questioned its feasibility. MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg explained to The Wall Street Journal said the city wouldn’t want to temporarily disable each of the city’s 3,289 turnstiles “for an art project.” In response, Murphy has launched a petition to support his efforts.
Watch the video interview below:Syria is home to four million of the world’s 1.8 billion young people. Syria’s youth population is on the rise and is estimated to surpass four million soon.
The masses of young people represent a huge opportunity for our country. Yet, in countries like Syria, where a crisis has been going on for years and has substantially destroyed infrastructure, young people face tremendous challenges. Crisis has left behind a cracked education system, hunger and displacement, mountains of lost opportunities, and the list goes on.
Around the world, this year’s International Youth Day is being commemorated under the theme “Youth Building Peace.” In my opinion, education is the vital link connecting all of the 17 Global Goals to create a sustainable and peaceful future for everyone.
Without dedicated action and investment in education for children and youth, the entire generation risks being shaped by violence, displacement and an increasing lack of opportunity. A June 2017 U-Report poll, specifically for young people in transit from their homes, indicated that 68 per cent of the 190,810 young respondents believe that peace, stability, prosperity, friendships, happiness and healthy societies are all at stake if we don’t educate young people. It is a fact that without education the world will witness more conflicts and go through replicated cycles of violence in the future.
In Syria, and worldwide, education is at risk because of ongoing crises, and due to these crises, more needed than ever. Young people around the world understand the gravity of the situation – it’s why we have started to take matters into our own hands.
In 2016, I co-founded ChangeMakers Academy with a group of motivated young advocates for education. It held its first pilot supported the United Nations Population Fund in Syria as a complementary programme to formal education, teaching coding to young girls and providing them with the confidence they need to present innovative ideas. The initiative was born out of the need to close the gender gap in STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
Today, more than ever, we need to realize the necessity of involving both girls and boys in the process of peacebuilding. This can only happen if we provide equal education opportunities to both. Moreover, we must understand that the innovation power of young people is virtually infinite, as long as we support them in their endeavours.
As a young global advocate, on this International Youth Day, I call on my peers around the world to join the effort of making education more accessible for young people, including the most vulnerable, in order to make our societies more peaceful, just and prosperous.
Salam, 23, is a former Voices of Youth blogging intern who says “I’m a global citizen and aspiring entrepreneur, passionately working to build a sustainable future for young people in Syria.” Read more of her posts.
Read more about Voices of Youth.Reductionism is always the Achilles heel of ideological zealots, who in the case of Brussels’ bureaucrats, are committed to a solely materialist view of humanity and nations. We have seen the “successes” of the materialist view of humanity and nations in the past, most notably in the form of communist ideology, which purportedly would end all class structures and therefore all wars, as class struggle due to economic inequality was the chief cause of violence. End the class system and establish equality, especially economic equality, and peace would ensue.
The fatal flaw of the European Union has been its leaders’ assumption that human beings and nations can be regulated and managed as easily and thoroughly as cabbages are grown, bought and sold.
The ideology behind the EU is also materialist in nature, and therefore very similar to that of communist and socialist beliefs. “Equality” is the goal, with the accompanying postulation that the end of nation states is a realistic solution to the internecine wars that have afflicted Europe, especially the wars of the twentieth century. Nations are seen as the cause of violence, and as such inherently evil. End national identities as once classes were to be eliminated; and establish a super state which encourages uniformity of nations along with the obliteration of differences among humans, and peace will reign. Laws and regulations for the economic union would establish equality among humans, tribes and nations as surely as one can establish the proper length of bananas.
But the top down system of economic control has meant the incipient annihilation of Europe’s nation states and the end of democracies. In return, a faceless bureaucracy centered in Brussels has been churning out rules and regulations that routinely override national laws, thus ensuring the diminishment if not the end of national sovereignty as well as the ability of citizens to have a say in matters important to them.
The push for uniformity also ensures the erasure of national memory; which in turn means the erasure of identity as Europeans have traditionally known identity. Which leads to the next point; namely, the erasure of Western history, as the erasure of national identity ensures the past will drop into a memory hole while the present and future are written in terms acceptable to the globalist EU.
The fact is that the last thousand years of European history have been written in terms of the rise of nations, national identity and the struggles of nations. At stake is the erasure of European history, which to date has been written as the history of nation states—their origins, rise and fall. Erasure of that history in favor of a global narrative favored by the EU would ensure the death of the histories of England, France, Spain, Hungary and so forth.
Historical memory is a key to national as well as to individual identity. One’s country, nation and faith are critical keys to human identity. The amorphous and formless global citizen does not exist except as a malleable abstraction in the minds of utopian globalists.
The above is why leaders like Angela Merkel believe it’s just fine to import millions of people who are diametrically opposed to a still largely Christianized Europe and whose manners, ways and attitudes cannot be digested by Europe without grave and deleterious consequences. For globalists like Merkel, one human unit is just like another human unit, measureable chiefly in terms of economic impact.
Which brings us to the next point; namely, the totally reductionist secularist ideology of the EU rids individuals and nations of memory, faith and hope, as it is centered only on the idea of humans as economic units who are to be pushed around on a chessboard by faceless bureaucrats.
As Eric Hoffer wrote in 1951 (The True Believer: Thoughts On the Nature Of Mass Movements):
“It is obvious that a proselytizing mass movement must bread down all existing group ties if it is to win a nationwide following. The ideal potential convert is the individual who stands alone. When a mass movement finds the corporate pattern of family, tribe, and country, etcetera, in a state of disruption and decay, it moves in and gathers the harvest…The milieu most favorable for the rise and propagation of mass movements is one in which a once compact corporate structure is, for one reason or another, in a state of disintegration.”
The man without a country, without a faith, without a family is the ideal man of the EU, as he is easily persuaded to focus only on bread and cabbages for survival. The purely economic view will appeal only to a rudderless and aimless populace without faith or roots.
But as the poet, philosopher and theologian T.S. Eliot asked in his prescient book Christianity and Culture (1938):
“Is society “assembled round anything more permanent than a congerie of banks, insurance companies and industries; and has it any beliefs more essential than a belief in compound interest and the maintenance of dividends?”
According to the European Union, the answer to Eliot’s question is, “No.”
Society is to be measured only in economic terms. As far as the EU is concerned, practical purposes are holy causes, with economics as a materialistic faith replacing Christianity; and a plethora of regulatory minutiae replacing the Ten Commandments.
The omnipotence of economics replaces the omnipotence of God. Faith and family are irrelevant.
As Beverly Stevens, a professor of finance and editor of Regina magazine puts it:
“…[P]eople from the ancient ruling families of France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain were very worried about the EU’s assault on the family. After the EU specifically rejected the idea that it had Christian roots, many of these people became genuinely alarmed. Since then, they have been monitoring the myriad of regulatory ‘fixes’ — especially concerning education — which demonstrated that the EU’s self-styled ‘masters’ were aiming at shaping a society where ‘the family’ simply didn’t exist. “And it has worked. Basically, wherever the EU has reached, the birthrate has plummeted, and the Faith is all but dead… “And the EU’s vision of their brave new world? A flattened globe, where borders are crumbling and identities are fluid. Banking, commerce and media elites bind the nations together into a seamless new tapestry. People are free, finally, to seek opportunity and pleasure, without the confining strictures of tradition, family or morality. In this world, ‘morality’ is also a fluid concept; people can hook up, produce children or abort them, hire technology and surrogates to make babies — it’s all the same to the Super-State. It collects high taxes, grants eye-wateringly lucrative contracts to its corporate supporters, turns a blind eye to bad behavior by any group it is protecting and increasingly persecutes anyone who dares to oppose the Super-State’s version of ‘morality’.”
We Americans should be grateful that Great Britain has recovered some of its memory as a nation and has indicated she does not wish her national identity to disappear down the memory hole. We can be glad she sees herself and her people in more than economic terms or as part of a faceless bureaucratic super state.
One can even hope that she and America as well may also recover the memory of her Christian past and put it to work in visualizing a Christian framework for the nation. That effort would be heroic, largely because the effort of recovery of memory and the actualization of a vision for the future is supremely heroic work.
Today’s concerned Christians find themselves in the situation of England’s Christian community during 1938, when their country was facing the prospect of totalitarian aggression and absorption into a secularist super state determined to rule all of Europe. T.S. Eliot quoted the letter from a troubled colleague that inspired his book. The words are applicable to Europe and America today, including applicability to the current events in Dallas, Texas and the Hillary Clinton email scandal. The symptoms all point to the same spiritual malaise:
“…The period of grace that has been given us may be no more than a postponement of the day of reckoning unless we make up our minds to seek a cure. Our civilization can recover only if we are determined to root out the cancerous growths which have brought it to the verge of complete collapse. “Whether truth and justice or caprice and violence are to prevail in human affairs is a question on which the fate of mankind depends…The basal truth is that the spiritual foundations of western civilization have been undermined…What clear alternatives have we in this country? The mind of England is confused and uncertain. “May our salvation lie in an attempt to recover our Christian heritage, not in the sense of going back to the past but of discovering in the central affirmations and insights of the Christian faith new spiritual energies to regenerate and vitalize our sick society? [Is not] the path of wisdom an attempt to work out a Christian doctrine of modern society and to order our national life in accordance with it? [Our institutions] feature a complete denial of the Christian understanding of the meaning and end of man’s existence; and of the stupendous and costly spiritual, moral and intellectual effort that any genuine attempt to order the national life in accordance with the Christian understanding of life would demand…But if the will were there, I believe the first steps to be taken are fairly clear: The recognition that nothing short of a really heroic effort will avail to save mankind from its present evils and the destruction which must follow in their train.” --J. H. Oldham
It is 1938 in England, Europe and in America. Britain has made the giant step toward recovering her national identity and sovereignty. It remains to be seen if the Christians within her and her cousin America will take the next step and heed Mr. Oldham’s clarion call.
Will our nations once again seek to make the Christian understanding of the meaning and end of man’s existence ascendant in national life?
With God’s help, we can.
--Fay Voshell holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, which awarded her its prize for excellence in systematic theology. Her thoughts have appeared in many online publications, including American Thinker, National Review, RealClearReligion, CNS, Fox News and Russia Insider. She may be reached at [email protected] was reported earlier this month that Apple was close to striking a deal where it would make a large upfront investment in LG’s OLED production lines in return for output being exclusively devoted to iPhone screens.
A fresh report today supports this, and claims to have more detailed information on the as-yet-unannounced arrangement …
NordVPN
Korea Economic Daily (via The Investor) claims that the amount Apple is paying LG is 3 trillion won ($2.7B), which represents the bulk of the $3.5B estimated setup cost for the facility. The deal would help LG kickstart its smaller OLED production while providing Apple with a secure supply.
Samsung currently dominates smartphone-sized OLED panel production, with a market share of around 95%. The company is seeking to further strengthen its lead by building the world’s largest OLED production plant.
For this reason, Samsung is expected to be the sole supplier of OLED screens for the iPhone 8, but Apple will be seeking to diversify suppliers as it reportedly looks to introduce the newer display technology to its entire iPhone range from 2018.
OLED technology is likely to be a stopgap measure for Apple, with microLED expected to replace it within the next few years. Early reports had claimed that the company might make this switch as earlier as this year following Apple’s acquisition of LuxVue back in 2014.
Apple is believed to be trialling microLED production, with the Apple Watch the likely first product to use it, perhaps from next year.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:ANALYSIS/OPINION:
In early January 2014, the Washington Redskins were looking for a new head coach, having fired Mike Shanahan on Dec. 30.
There were a number of candidates available — two of them from Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis’ staff — defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and offensive coordinator Jay Gruden.
The Redskins reportedly had both candidates on their list, among others, but interviewed Gruden first. He was well known to general manager Bruce Allen, who had worked with Gruden in Tampa Bay. Allen also was close to Gruden’s brother Jon going back to their days in Oakland.
AUDIO: Author and producer George Pelecanos with Thom Loverro
Allen reportedly couldn’t let Gruden leave the building at Redskins Park and signed him to a five-year, $20 million contract.
On Jan. 9, 2014, the Redskins announced Gruden as their new head coach. “We were looking for a new leader, somebody who can inspire our football team,” Allen said at the introductory press conference. “We knew it was more than just X’s and O’s. It was about finding the right person to build the team chemistry that we needed. We needed someone who would be a good teammate to the coaches, the organization and the players in the locker room, and through this search, we kept looking for that leader and teacher.”
They stopped looking after Jay Gruden.
One week later, Mike Zimmer was hired as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Since then, Gruden has gone 26-34-1 with one NFC East division title.
Zimmer has gone 36-25 — including an 11-5 season in 2015 (the Redskins haven’t won more than 10 games in a season since 1991) and the NFC North Division crown, and currently is coaching one of the best, if not the best, team in the NFC, with a 10-3 record.
Gruden has struggled of late this season keeping his team ready to play — a 5-8 team decimated by injuries and the losses of key offensive and defensive players. But he has kept his starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins, under center.
Zimmer had his young promising quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, sidelined for the season last year with a devastating knee injury. Then this year Sam Bradford was knocked out early with knee surgery.
He was replaced by journeyman Case Keenum, who has led Minnesota to its successful season to date.
Along the way, Zimmer has had eight eye surgeries, while Gruden has lost weight.
Maybe, just maybe, the Redskins got the wrong Bengals coordinator.
Gruden, of course, was supposedly hired to fix quarterback Robert Griffin III, so it was unlikely that Washington would have hired a defensive coordinator to be the next head coach.
And then there is Allen, the Prince of Darkness, and taking care of his Tampa mafia, which Zimmer was not part of.
But as the two franchises are seemingly going in different directions, it is reasonable to wonder if Zimmer might have been the better choice to be an NFL head coach than Gruden.
The same questions that dogged Gruden at the end of last season — his ability to be the head man, the CEO on the field — are on the table again this season in the final month after the two embarrassing losses to the Cowboys and Chargers.
Last year after the 26-15 loss to Carolina on Monday Night Football, Gruden said, “First of all, we were outcoached today. There’s no question about that, and they played better than us, so you’ve got to give credit to the Carolina Panthers. It’s my responsibility to get these guys ready to play, and we didn’t execute like I would’ve liked to have seen. That falls on my shoulders.”
Two weeks later, the shameful season-ending 19-10 loss to the Giants that kept Washington out of the playoffs, Gruden yet again said, “We’re very disappointed at the outcome,” he said. “We feel like we have personnel good enough to win the game. I take responsibility for us having our season over. It’s on my shoulders. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches.”
Eight months later, after a 21-17 preseason loss to the Green Bay Packers, Gruden said, “”You know, we’re a work in progress, no question about it.”
And now, following the 30-13 loss to the Chargers, there is the latest Gruden declaration of failure. “”We have not been competitive, and we weren’t ready to play today, and that’s on me, the staff,” Gruden said. “We’ve got to do a better job to get these guys ready.”
The same questions I raised in January are still on the table — what if Gruden is not the guy? What if he is Norv Turner?
What if he isn’t Mike Zimmer?
⦁ Thom Loverro hosts his weekly podcast “Cigars & Curveballs” Wednesdays available on iTunes, Google Play and the reVolver podcast network.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
BALLWIN, MO (KTVI) – A first-grade student at Carmen Trails Grade School was bummed out about a bathroom necessity. She thought her grade school had some tough “TP.”
“I kept telling them and they just ignored me, so I brought a sample home,” said student Penny Hoffman.
Figuring her school could spare a square or two of unused paper, Penny tried to get to the bottom of why it was not like the toilet paper at home.
“Penny had a theory about the toilet paper and, by this point, she had told us she thought it was worse than jail,” said Lynn Hoffman, Penny’s mom.
Penny took her toilet paper project all the way to the top authority at her school.
“This is the first time I’ve had a six-year-old with a full presentation like this, so I was really proud of her,” said Principal Gina Piccinni, Carmen Trails Grade School.
Using a sample from school, Penny compared the comfort of her family brand against others who obliged.
“She requested from family to get the samples, and it was her idea to put it all together,” said Lynn Hoffman.
Needing more to go on, she decided to flush out the facts of whether school toilet paper is better than jails.
A family member, who works at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, heard of Penny’s plight; soon a letter arrived with a roll of toilet paper from the St. Louis City Justice Center, with a letter of sworn authenticity.
“Like a whole roll of toilet paper,” Penny said.
On Thursday, Penny made her presentation to the principal, complete with samples and a letter from the police department.
“It ends with a note that says, ‘continue to respectfully stand up for what you believe in,’” said Lynn Hoffman. “Which, I think, is a really cool message.”
The principal has encouraged the scientific six-year-old to look into how the school might change brands and a possible softer toilet paper could be within reach.
And after all her research so far?
“It’s the same and I can’t believe I use this,” Penny said.If you shop on Google’s online store or just about anywhere else, the Nexus 5X starts at $349 and the larger Nexus 6P will run you $499 or more. Those are fantastic prices for Google’s cutting-edge smartphones, making them a tremendous value for shoppers. They’re also the first smartphones to get Android updates. In fact, you can already install Android N on them while most Android phones haven’t even gotten Marshmallow yet.
As great a value as they are though, there’s always room for improvement and BGR just found out about a special limited-time sale on 12 different Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P models.
While supplies last, B&H is offering big discounts on both the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. Where the smaller 5X is concerned, the retailer is offering $50 off the standard selling prices of both the 16GB and 32GB models. That drops the 16GB version to $299 while the 32GB model falls to $349.
Here are the key specs for the Nexus 5X:
GSM + CDMA / 4G LTE Capable
Compatible with All Major US Carriers
North American Variant
Rear 12.3MP Camera + 5MP Front
f/2.0 Aperture, 1.55 µm Pixels
1.8 GHz Snapdragon 808 Hexa-Core CPU
2GB of RAM
5.2″ LCD Touchscreen Display
Full HD 1920 x 1080 Resolution
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Google Nexus 5X (16GB, White)
Google Nexus 5X (16GB, Mint)
Google Nexus 5X (16GB, Black)
Google Nexus 5X (32GB, White) — promo code BHNEXUS5X saves an extra $50
Google Nexus 5X (32GB, Mint)
Google Nexus 5X (32GB, Black)
Note that the site is offering a special bonus deal on the white Nexus 5X with 32GB of storage. Use the promo code BHNEXUS5X at checkout to knock an extra $50 off the price, which means you save $100 total. That also drops the white 32GB Nexus 5X to the same discounted price as the 16GB models.
Moving on the Nexus 6P, the deals are even better. The site is offering a $50 instant discount plus a $50 gift card with each purchase, which effectively knocks the price of the 32GB model down to $399 while the 64GB Nexus 6P’s price drops to $449.
The Nexus 6P’s key specs are as follows:
GSM + CDMA / 4G LTE Capable
Compatible with All Major US Carriers
North American Variant
Rear 12.3MP Camera + 8MP Front
f/2.0 Aperture, 1/2.3″ Sensor
2.0 GHz Snapdragon 810 Octa-Core CPU
3GB of RAM
5.7″ AMOLED Display with Gorilla Glass 4
WQHD 2560 x 1440 Resolution
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Google Nexus 6P (32GB, Graphite)
Google Nexus 6P (32GB, Gold)
Google Nexus 6P (32GB, Aluminum)
Google Nexus 6P (64GB, Graphite)
Google Nexus 6P (64GB, Gold)
Google Nexus 6P (64GB, Aluminum)
Follow @BGRDeals on Twitter to keep up with the latest and greatest deals we find around the web.
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Far too many Democrats are still in denial, and desperately trying to avoid the obvious conclusions about their stunning collapse at every level in the 2016 election.
During the campaign, when Hillary Clinton and the media widely expected the "blue wall" of Rust Belt states (Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) to remain in Democratic hands, no one raised any objections to the system under which this country has elected its executive since 1792. Democrats from Clinton down scorned Donald Trump for suggesting that electoral results were worth checking before accepting them. "Horrifying," Clinton remarked when Trump refused to commit to an unquestioning acceptance on Election Night.
Five weeks later, Democrats and the media have seized on the Russians as their latest explanation for losing the presidency, and in a panic, are questioning the legitimacy of the outcome. That is based on a CIA analysis that the Russian government deliberately acted to assist Trump. But remember, the White House has repeatedly stated that there is no evidence of Russian hacking in the voting process. And while WikiLeaks' release of hacked Democratic emails certainly didn't do the Clinton campaign any favors, there's hardly definitive proof that these revelations clearly and directly changed voter behavior on some massive scale.
But the panic over Russian meddling is nothing compared to Democrats' shifting attitudes about the Electoral College. Democrats have gone from total apathy before the election to total outrage in its immediate aftermath. Many have suddenly decided that the Electoral College is the bulwark of democracy against the dark night of Donald Trump.
In the immediate aftermath of the election, Clinton supporters kept tabs on her expanding popular-vote lead, now up to nearly 3 million. Many Democrats argued that a win in the Electoral College alone made the outcome illegitimate, even though we have used this system for more than two centuries and have had similar outcomes in multiple elections. Outgoing Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) demanded an end to the Electoral College, calling it "an outdated, undemocratic system."
That might be because it's not a democratic system; it's a representative system designed to balance the interests of the states in a federalist system. It prevents presidential elections from focusing on the needs of a few highly populous states and forces candidates to appeal to a wider breadth of populations.
But Trump opponents have seized on the Electoral College as a last-gasp measure to change the outcome of the election. Democrats want electors from states Trump won to change their votes, arguing that voters elected them to exercise their judgment. Clinton campaign chair John Podesta demanded intelligence briefings for electors on the Russian hacking threat — the same one they knew about in October when scolding Trump for approaching results with due caution. "Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution," Podesta wrote, "and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed."
Forget the practical issue that any briefing of significance would require 538 electors to get security clearances in the space of a week. Electors do have a "solemn responsibility under the Constitution," but it's not to act as a shadow Congress or a substitute for the voters they represent. They have one job, and one job only: to fulfill in person the results of the presidential election in each of their states. They have no other authority or jurisdiction in the Constitution or by judicial precedent.
A few of the electors have argued otherwise, claiming that voters vested in them an authority to act in exigent circumstances. This is entirely false. So-called "Hamilton electors" in Colorado lost that argument this week, thanks to a ruling from a federal |
1545) † German: Luther (1912) † German: Schlachter (1951) † Gothic (Nehemiah, NT Portions) [Latin Script] Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) † Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Tischendorf 8th Ed. † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants [Parsed] † Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek: Modern † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants Only) † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants & Vowels) † Hebrew OT: Westminster Leningrad Codex † Hebrew OT: Aleppo Codex † Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants Only) Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants & Vowels) Hebrew: Modern † Hungarian: Karoli † Icelandic Italian: Giovanni Diodati Bible (1649) † Italian: Riveduta Bible (1927) † Japanese: JKUG Kabyle: NT Korean † Latin: Nova Vulgata ² ª Latin: Vulgata Clementina ² ª Latvian New Testament Lithuanian † Manx Gaelic (Esther, Jonah, Four Gospels) Maori Myanmar/Burmse: Judson (1835) Norwegian: Det Norsk Bibelselskap (1930) Portuguese: Almeida Atualizada † Potawatomi: (Matthew, Acts) (Lykins, 1844) Romani NT: E Lashi Viasta (Gypsy) Romanian: Cornilescu Russian: Synodal Translation (1876) † Russian: Makarij Translation (Pentateuch) (1825) † Russian: Victor Zhuromsky NT † Scots Gaelic (Gospel of Mark) Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas Spanish: Reina Valera (1909) † Spanish: Reina Valera NT (1858) † Spanish: Sagradas Escrituras (1569) Swahili NT † Swedish (1917) Tagalog: Ang Biblia (1905) Tamajaq Portions Thai: from KJV † Turkish Turkish: NT (1987, 1994) Ukrainian: NT (P.Kulish, 1871) Uma NT † Vietnamese (1934) † Wolof NT Xhosa † Parallel Version 2 English: New American Standard Bible English: New Revised Standard Version ² ª English: King James Version ² ª English: American Standard Version English: Basic English Bible English: Darby Version English: Douay-Rheims ² ª English: Webster's Bible English: Weymouth NT English: World English Bible ² ª English: Young's Literal Translation Afrikaans 1953 † Albanian † Amharic NT Arabic: Smith & Van Dyke † Aramaic NT: Peshitta † Armenian (Eastern): (Genesis, Exodus, Gospels) Armenian (Western): NT Basque (Navarro-Labourdin): NT Breton Gospels Bulgarian Chamorro (Psalms, Gospels, Acts) Chinese: NCV (Traditional) † Chinese: Union (Simplified) † Chinese: NCV (Simplified) † Chinese: Union (Traditional) † Coptic: Bohairic NT Coptic: New Testament Coptic: Sahidic NT Croatian ² ª Czech BKR † Czech CEP † Czech KMS † Czech NKB † Danish † Dutch Staten Vertaling † Esperanto † Estonian † Finnish: Bible (1776) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1933/1938) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1992) † French Jerusalem Bible ² ª French: Darby French: Louis Segond (1910) † French: Martin (1744) French: Ostervald (1996 revision) Fulfulde (Ajamiya) Georgian (Gospels, Acts, James) German: Elberfelder (1871) † German: Elberfelder (1905) † German: Luther (1545) † German: Luther (1912) † German: Schlachter (1951) † Gothic (Nehemiah, NT Portions) [Latin Script] Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) † Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Tischendorf 8th Ed. † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants [Parsed] † Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek: Modern † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants Only) † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants & Vowels) † Hebrew OT: Westminster Leningrad Codex † Hebrew OT: Aleppo Codex † Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants Only) Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants & Vowels) Hebrew: Modern † Hungarian: Karoli † Icelandic Italian: Giovanni Diodati Bible (1649) † Italian: Riveduta Bible (1927) † Japanese: JKUG Kabyle: NT Korean † Latin: Nova Vulgata ² ª Latin: Vulgata Clementina ² ª Latvian New Testament Lithuanian † Manx Gaelic (Esther, Jonah, Four Gospels) Maori Myanmar/Burmse: Judson (1835) Norwegian: Det Norsk Bibelselskap (1930) Portuguese: Almeida Atualizada † Potawatomi: (Matthew, Acts) (Lykins, 1844) Romani NT: E Lashi Viasta (Gypsy) Romanian: Cornilescu Russian: Synodal Translation (1876) † Russian: Makarij Translation (Pentateuch) (1825) † Russian: Victor Zhuromsky NT † Scots Gaelic (Gospel of Mark) Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas Spanish: Reina Valera (1909) † Spanish: Reina Valera NT (1858) † Spanish: Sagradas Escrituras (1569) Swahili NT † Swedish (1917) Tagalog: Ang Biblia (1905) Tamajaq Portions Thai: from KJV † Turkish Turkish: NT (1987, 1994) Ukrainian: NT (P.Kulish, 1871) Uma NT † Vietnamese (1934) † Wolof NT Xhosa † Parallel Version 3 English: New American Standard Bible English: New Revised Standard Version ² ª English: King James Version ² ª English: American Standard Version English: Basic English Bible English: Darby Version English: Douay-Rheims ² ª English: Webster's Bible English: Weymouth NT English: World English Bible ² ª English: Young's Literal Translation Afrikaans 1953 † Albanian † Amharic NT Arabic: Smith & Van Dyke † Aramaic NT: Peshitta † Armenian (Eastern): (Genesis, Exodus, Gospels) Armenian (Western): NT Basque (Navarro-Labourdin): NT Breton Gospels Bulgarian Chamorro (Psalms, Gospels, Acts) Chinese: NCV (Traditional) † Chinese: Union (Simplified) † Chinese: NCV (Simplified) † Chinese: Union (Traditional) † Coptic: Bohairic NT Coptic: New Testament Coptic: Sahidic NT Croatian ² ª Czech BKR † Czech CEP † Czech KMS † Czech NKB † Danish † Dutch Staten Vertaling † Esperanto † Estonian † Finnish: Bible (1776) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1933/1938) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1992) † French Jerusalem Bible ² ª French: Darby French: Louis Segond (1910) † French: Martin (1744) French: Ostervald (1996 revision) Fulfulde (Ajamiya) Georgian (Gospels, Acts, James) German: Elberfelder (1871) † German: Elberfelder (1905) † German: Luther (1545) † German: Luther (1912) † German: Schlachter (1951) † Gothic (Nehemiah, NT Portions) [Latin Script] Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) † Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Tischendorf 8th Ed. † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants [Parsed] † Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek: Modern † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants Only) † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants & Vowels) † Hebrew OT: Westminster Leningrad Codex † Hebrew OT: Aleppo Codex † Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants Only) Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants & Vowels) Hebrew: Modern † Hungarian: Karoli † Icelandic Italian: Giovanni Diodati Bible (1649) † Italian: Riveduta Bible (1927) † Japanese: JKUG Kabyle: NT Korean † Latin: Nova Vulgata ² ª Latin: Vulgata Clementina ² ª Latvian New Testament Lithuanian † Manx Gaelic (Esther, Jonah, Four Gospels) Maori Myanmar/Burmse: Judson (1835) Norwegian: Det Norsk Bibelselskap (1930) Portuguese: Almeida Atualizada † Potawatomi: (Matthew, Acts) (Lykins, 1844) Romani NT: E Lashi Viasta (Gypsy) Romanian: Cornilescu Russian: Synodal Translation (1876) † Russian: Makarij Translation (Pentateuch) (1825) † Russian: Victor Zhuromsky NT † Scots Gaelic (Gospel of Mark) Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas Spanish: Reina Valera (1909) † Spanish: Reina Valera NT (1858) † Spanish: Sagradas Escrituras (1569) Swahili NT † Swedish (1917) Tagalog: Ang Biblia (1905) Tamajaq Portions Thai: from KJV † Turkish Turkish: NT (1987, 1994) Ukrainian: NT (P.Kulish, 1871) Uma NT † Vietnamese (1934) † Wolof NT Xhosa † Parallel Version 4 English: New American Standard Bible English: New Revised Standard Version ² ª English: King James Version ² ª English: American Standard Version English: Basic English Bible English: Darby Version English: Douay-Rheims ² ª English: Webster's Bible English: Weymouth NT English: World English Bible ² ª English: Young's Literal Translation Afrikaans 1953 † Albanian † Amharic NT Arabic: Smith & Van Dyke † Aramaic NT: Peshitta † Armenian (Eastern): (Genesis, Exodus, Gospels) Armenian (Western): NT Basque (Navarro-Labourdin): NT Breton Gospels Bulgarian Chamorro (Psalms, Gospels, Acts) Chinese: NCV (Traditional) † Chinese: Union (Simplified) † Chinese: NCV (Simplified) † Chinese: Union (Traditional) † Coptic: Bohairic NT Coptic: New Testament Coptic: Sahidic NT Croatian ² ª Czech BKR † Czech CEP † Czech KMS † Czech NKB † Danish † Dutch Staten Vertaling † Esperanto † Estonian † Finnish: Bible (1776) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1933/1938) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1992) † French Jerusalem Bible ² ª French: Darby French: Louis Segond (1910) † French: Martin (1744) French: Ostervald (1996 revision) Fulfulde (Ajamiya) Georgian (Gospels, Acts, James) German: Elberfelder (1871) † German: Elberfelder (1905) † German: Luther (1545) † German: Luther (1912) † German: Schlachter (1951) † Gothic (Nehemiah, NT Portions) [Latin Script] Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) † Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Tischendorf 8th Ed. † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants [Parsed] † Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek: Modern † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants Only) † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants & Vowels) † Hebrew OT: Westminster Leningrad Codex † Hebrew OT: Aleppo Codex † Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants Only) Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants & Vowels) Hebrew: Modern † Hungarian: Karoli † Icelandic Italian: Giovanni Diodati Bible (1649) † Italian: Riveduta Bible (1927) † Japanese: JKUG Kabyle: NT Korean † Latin: Nova Vulgata ² ª Latin: Vulgata Clementina ² ª Latvian New Testament Lithuanian † Manx Gaelic (Esther, Jonah, Four Gospels) Maori Myanmar/Burmse: Judson (1835) Norwegian: Det Norsk Bibelselskap (1930) Portuguese: Almeida Atualizada † Potawatomi: (Matthew, Acts) (Lykins, 1844) Romani NT: E Lashi Viasta (Gypsy) Romanian: Cornilescu Russian: Synodal Translation (1876) † Russian: Makarij Translation (Pentateuch) (1825) † Russian: Victor Zhuromsky NT † Scots Gaelic (Gospel of Mark) Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas Spanish: Reina Valera (1909) † Spanish: Reina Valera NT (1858) † Spanish: Sagradas Escrituras (1569) Swahili NT † Swedish (1917) Tagalog: Ang Biblia (1905) Tamajaq Portions Thai: from KJV † Turkish Turkish: NT (1987, 1994) Ukrainian: NT (P.Kulish, 1871) Uma NT † Vietnamese (1934) † Wolof NT Xhosa † Step 2: Choose a Section or Book of the Bible. 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Select a Default Version English: New American Standard Bible English: New Revised Standard Version ² ª English: King James Version ² ª English: American Standard Version English: Basic English Bible English: Darby Version English: Douay-Rheims ² ª English: Webster's Bible English: Weymouth NT English: World English Bible ² ª English: Young's Literal Translation Afrikaans 1953 † Albanian † Amharic NT Arabic: Smith & Van Dyke † Aramaic NT: Peshitta † Armenian (Eastern): (Genesis, Exodus, Gospels) Armenian (Western): NT Basque (Navarro-Labourdin): NT Breton Gospels Bulgarian Chamorro (Psalms, Gospels, Acts) Chinese: NCV (Traditional) † Chinese: Union (Simplified) † Chinese: NCV (Simplified) † Chinese: Union (Traditional) † Coptic: Bohairic NT Coptic: New Testament Coptic: Sahidic NT Croatian ² ª Czech BKR † Czech CEP † Czech KMS † Czech NKB † Danish † Dutch Staten Vertaling † Esperanto † Estonian † Finnish: Bible (1776) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1933/1938) † Finnish: Pyhä Raamattu (1992) † French Jerusalem Bible ² ª French: Darby French: Louis Segond (1910) † French: Martin (1744) French: Ostervald (1996 revision) Fulfulde (Ajamiya) Georgian (Gospels, Acts, James) German: Elberfelder (1871) † German: Elberfelder (1905) † German: Luther (1545) † German: Luther (1912) † German: Schlachter (1951) † Gothic (Nehemiah, NT Portions) [Latin Script] Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) † Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) † Greek NT: Textus Receptus (1550/1894) [Parsed] † Greek NT: Tischendorf 8th Ed. † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants † Greek NT: Westcott/Hort, UBS4 variants [Parsed] † Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Unaccented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek OT: LXX [A] Accented Roots & Parsing ² ª Greek: Modern † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants Only) † Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants & Vowels) † Hebrew OT: Westminster Leningrad Codex † Hebrew OT: Aleppo Codex † Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants Only) Hebrew OT: BHS (Consonants & Vowels) Hebrew: Modern † Hungarian: Karoli † Icelandic Italian: Giovanni Diodati Bible (1649) † Italian: Riveduta Bible (1927) † Japanese: JKUG Kabyle: NT Korean † Latin: Nova Vulgata ² ª Latin: Vulgata Clementina ² ª Latvian New Testament Lithuanian † Manx Gaelic (Esther, Jonah, Four Gospels) Maori Myanmar/Burmse: Judson (1835) Norwegian: Det Norsk Bibelselskap (1930) Portuguese: Almeida Atualizada † Potawatomi: (Matthew, Acts) (Lykins, 1844) Romani NT: E Lashi Viasta (Gypsy) Romanian: Cornilescu Russian: Synodal Translation (1876) † Russian: Makarij Translation (Pentateuch) (1825) † Russian: Victor Zhuromsky NT † Scots Gaelic (Gospel of Mark) Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas Spanish: Reina Valera (1909) † Spanish: Reina Valera NT (1858) † Spanish: Sagradas Escrituras (1569) Swahili NT † Swedish (1917) Tagalog: Ang Biblia (1905) Tamajaq Portions Thai: from KJV † Turkish Turkish: NT (1987, 1994) Ukrainian: NT (P.Kulish, 1871) Uma NT † Vietnamese (1934) † Wolof NT Xhosa †
Read Through the Bible in a Year: February 27 - Day 58 Original Bible 365 Numbers 6; Numbers 7; John 14 [Month] Chronologically (1) Leviticus 8-10; Mark 6:30-56 [Month] Chronologically (2) Numbers 8-10 [Month] Whole Bible Joshua 1; Joshua 2; Joshua 3 [Month] Old Testament Exodus 33-34 [Month] New Testament John 14 [Month] NT, Psalms, Proverbs Luke 14; Psalms 27 [Month] Epistles Philippians 1 [Month] Words of Jesus Luke 14 [Month] Get the reading for: January February March April May June July August September October November December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
What's New? Look for the [Map] link at the top of your Bible searches. This allows you to view the location of Bible places on Google Maps. Thanks goes to OpenBible.info for collecting the needed data.
at the top of your Bible searches. This allows you to view the location of Bible places on Google Maps. Thanks goes to OpenBible.info for collecting the needed data. Added Doré's Bible illustrations, as well as links to the categorized biblical art from "Biblical Art on the WWW". When you display Bible texts, an image icon will show up in the chapter headers that links you to a list of art resources for each chapter. You can also search using the Biblical Art and Illustrations link in the Bible Study Tools section.
, as well as links to the categorized. When you display Bible texts, an image icon will show up in the chapter headers that links you to a list of art resources for each chapter. You can also search using the Biblical Art and Illustrations link in the Bible Study Tools section. Coptic Versions: New Testaments in Coptic (Bohairic and Sahidic) from sahidica.org. (2007-01-17)
New Testaments in Coptic (Bohairic and Sahidic) from sahidica.org. (2007-01-17) Exact Matches: The default search is now Exact Match. That means if you search for "king", you will only find "king" and not "walking" or "speaking" or "kingdom", etc. If you want to find "king" or "kingdom" or "kingly" etc., you can search for "king%", where the "%" acts as a wildcard. Searching for "%king" would find "walking", "speaking", "king", etc. Searching for "%king%" would find "walking", "speaking", "king", "kingdom", etc.
The default search is now Exact Match. That means if you search for "king", you will only find "king" and not "walking" or "speaking" or "kingdom", etc. If you want to find "king" or "kingdom" or "kingly" etc., you can search for "king%", where the "%" acts as a wildcard. Searching for "%king" would find "walking", "speaking", "king", etc. Searching for "%king%" would find "walking", "speaking", "king", "kingdom", etc. We still need people to help translate the site into other languages. Click the [Translate] link at the top of this page to volunteer.Why Einstein Was Not Qualified To Teach High-School Physics
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In a column for the New York Times Magazine, Jacob Goldstein writes that there are more than 1,000 licensed professions in the U.S. In theory, licensing rules protect consumers from shoddy service. In practice, they can also screen highly qualified workers out of the job market.
Charles Wheelan, who teaches public policy at Dartmouth and the University of Chicago, has studied flaws of the licensing system for years, mostly out of academic interest. It became personal, however, when his wife attempted a mid-career switch into a licensed profession. We asked him to elaborate in the following post.
Strict licensing laws can end up excluding some really excellent service providers from a profession. I had always used the hypothetical example that when Albert Einstein retired to Princeton, New Jersey, he would have been legally barred from teaching high school physics (because he lacked courses in first-aid, among other things).
When my wife tried to make a mid-career switch to teaching math in the Chicago Public Schools, I no longer needed a hypothetical example. I realized that licensing had the potential to be every bit as harmful in practice as I'd been saying it was in theory.
My wife Leah graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth. She was a computer science major with an emphasis on math. She worked in the software industry, built a company, and then sold it. She seemed, in every respect, perfectly qualified to teach middle-school math.
She found a job at a school adjacent to a public housing project on Chicago's South Side. On about day three of that job—after she had met the students, decorated the classroom, and started teaching—the principal informed Leah that she did not have a "middle-school math endorsement," which the State of Illinois requires.
Leah had to give up the job and spend the year teaching third grade. The next year, she obtained her middle school math endorsement and quickly found a job teaching algebra.
Until Leah was informed that she did not possess an algebra endorsement. Another school year would have to go before she would be "algebra ready."
And this isn't just one case. A study in Los Angeles showed that students of certified teachers fared no better, on average, than students of uncertified teachers.
Leah's whole experience underscores some of the more subtle problems with licensing.
First, even in professions that require a great deal of skill, the licensing requirements do not necessarily measure or confer those skills. Leah will tell you that she struggled mightily in her first year of teaching; she'll also tell you that most of her required education courses did not help her become a better teacher.
Second, these requirements can deter great candidates who do not have a prodigious ability to navigate and fight the bureaucracy. In the case of teaching, Leah was leaving about 85 percent of her private sector salary behind. For this nonsense?
And last, the real losers are often the customers — in this case the poor kids in Chicago's public schools who could really have used a smart, dedicated math teacher.Elementary classroom setting. Focus on teacher and chalkboard. iStockphoto
When it comes to government budgets, there are cuts, and then there are cuts. The Providence, Rhode Island school district definitely took budget cutting to the extreme when it sent a letter out to its teachers on Tuesday: you're all fired.
With a projected deficit of nearly $40 million for the school department, Superintendent Tom Brady told teachers the budget situation was dire. So dire, it seems, that the department sent dismissal notices to all 1,926 of its teachers, according to CBS affiliate WPRI.
In his letter to the entire school department, republished in The Providence Journal, Brady wrote, "Since the full extent of the potential cuts to the school budget have yet to be determined, issuing a dismissal letter to all teachers was necessary to give the mayor, the School Board and the district maximum flexibility to consider every cost savings option."
State law requires that teachers be notified about potential changes to their employment status by March 1. In a news release from the Major Angel Taveras' office, the city explains, "The March 1 deadline requires that teachers be notified now about any potential changes to their status, despite the fact that budget planning for next year is still ongoing."
As the department works on the budget for next year, they will eventually determined how many teachers will need to be let go. Not every teacher will lose their job, even though they all just got a letter to that effect.
But don't tell that to Providence Teachers Union President Steve Smith, who told The Providence Journal that the decision was "beyond insane."
"To take this approach is unconscionable," Smith told the Journal. He claims he was caught completely off-guard by Superintendent Brady's letter. Referencing a different surprise attack, Smith said, "Now I know how the United States State Department felt on December 7, 1941."Written By: Mathew ‘JJ’ Simoes
Suicide Squad is a film that has many problems. The cast however was not one of them as, for the most part, the Squad themselves seemed to have great chemistry on screen. One casting however that has left fans divided was Jared Leto as The Joker. Some hate his incarnation while others love Leto’s new take on the classic character. While the film was seen by a lot of people (grossing over $740 million), one person who hasn’t seen the film is in fact, Jared Leto.
In an interview with Syfy Wire, Leto revealed that he hasn’t seen Suicide Squad. But he hasn’t watched the film because of critic reviews. Leto went on to explain that he hasn’t watched most of his films in general:
“No, I never did. I just think with watching your own films, it can be too self-conscious of a process. You either like what you did and you’re prone to repeat it, or you didn’t like it, and it can make you self-conscious. I’m not sure how much win there is for me. But I read the scripts, so I know what’s going to happen.”
It’s not uncommon for actors and actresses to not watch themselves on the big screen. Not long ago, Johnny Depp also revealed that he hasn’t watched a single film over his storied career and Leto is following suit.
Leto’s version of the character was seen by many as a radical take on the clown prince of crime. He was unhinged, more romantic, had tattoos and was… we’ll say very weird. Personally, I did not like his performance, but I know my Talkies partner Nick is a huge fan of Leto’s Joker.
Catch Jared Leto in Blade Runner 2049 which premieres in theatres on October 6, 2017.
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About Weather Underground: Founded in 1995 as the first online weather service, Weather Underground supplies weather data solutions to the many of the leading media companies and millions of users across the globe through their mobile apps and website wunderground.com. With over 270,000 personal weather stations worldwide, Weather Underground is able to provide meaningful and reliable weather data to people in real-time. Weather Underground is part of the Weather Company and based in San Francisco, California.By John Murgatroyd and John Blake, CNN
Atlanta (CNN)– Megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar was arrested in suburban Atlanta for an alleged assault on his 15-year-old daughter, police said Friday.
Deputies in Georgia's Fayette County responded to a call about a domestic disturbance about 1 a.m. Friday. Dollar's daughter said she argued with her father over attending a party, said Investigator Brent Rowan of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office.
The daughter says the argument got physical.
She told the deputies that her father charged her, put his hands around her throat and began to choke her, according to a police report. She said he then slammed her to the ground, punched her and beat her with his shoe.
CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories
Dollar's daughter was able to get away and dial 911, Rowan said.
Deputies noticed a scratch on the daughter's neck and arrested Dollar on charges of simple battery, family violence and child cruelty.
Deputies also spoke with another daughter, 19, who corroborated her sister's account of what happened.
Dollar was booked into the Fayette County jail early Friday. A judge set his bail at $5,000 during a morning hearing, and he was released.
Dollar said in a statement released to the media from his attorney, "As a father I love my children and I always have their best interest at heart at all times, and I would never use my hand to ever cause bodily harm to my children. The facts in this case will be handled privately to further protect my children. My family thanks you for your prayers and continued support."
Dollar is a senior pastor of World Changers Church International in suburban Atlanta, which claims about 30,000 members and has an $18 million sanctuary that resembles a golden-domed spaceship atop a hill.
He built an international religious empire, with broadcasts of his sermons beamed worldwide and speaking engagements in Europe.
A barrel-chested man who favors impeccably tailored pinstripe suits in the pulpit, Dollar preaches the Prosperity |
heart of power since the revolution. His candidacy was regarded as a significant threat to all other contenders.
Though the presidency is subordinate to Khamenei, who succeeded as supreme leader on Khomeini’s death in 1989, the possibility the Rafsanjani might recalibrate domestic and foreign policies to limit economic and diplomatic stresses had already led to a groundswell of public support for him and his candidacy was quickly endorsed by reformist groups.
Given a rivalry between Rafsanjani and Khamenei that goes back 50 years, the former president may not go quietly.
MASHAIE
Ahmadinejad ally Mashaie was quoted by Fars news agency as saying he would contest the Guardian Council’s decision: “I consider my disqualification unjust and I will pursue a resolution to it via the supreme leader.”
His campaign office issued a statement calling for restraint by his followers: “We ask all grassroots and spontaneous staff and supporters of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie to stay calm,” it said, “And organize their activities so that they do not provide the means for malice by enemies of the Islamic Revolution.”
The Guardian Council, a 12-strong panel of clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader and Islamic jurists nominated by the judiciary and approved by parliament, has the power to reject any candidate it deems unfit. No reasons were given for its decisions to bar Rafsanjani and Mashaie. A statement quoted by state media said there would be no recourse to appeal.
A new president would be unlikely to make any rapid change to Iran’s nuclear or foreign policy, both of which are controlled by the supreme leader, but analysts say Rafsanjani would have sought a thaw in relations with the West.
In the United States, the “Great Satan” for Iran’s leaders, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell urged the Tehran authorities to give Iranians a free vote: “The Council narrowed the list of almost 700 potential candidates down to eight officials based solely on who the regime believes will represent its interests, rather than those of the Iranian people.”Gregory Hancock Hemingway (November 12, 1931 – October 1, 2001), also known as Gloria Hemingway in later life, was the third and youngest child of author Ernest Hemingway. He became a physician and authored a memoir of life with his father.
Early life [ edit ]
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, to novelist Ernest Hemingway and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, he was in childhood called Gigi or Gig and was, according to a close observer, "a tremendous athlete" and a "crack shot."[1][2] As an adult, he preferred the name Greg.[3] Hemingway attended the Canterbury School, a Catholic prep school in Connecticut, graduating in 1949.[4] He dropped out of St. John's College, Annapolis, after one year[5] and worked for a time as an aircraft mechanic[6] before moving to California in 1951.
Greg married against his father's wishes. Problems with illegal drugs eventually led to his arrest.[5] The incident prompted his father to lash out viciously at his mother, Pauline, in a phone call. Unknown to anyone, Pauline had a rare tumor of the adrenal gland that can cause a deadly surge of adrenaline in times of stress. Within hours of the phone call with Ernest, she had died of shock on a hospital operating table. Ernest blamed his son for Pauline's death, and Greg was deeply disturbed by the accusation. It was years before Greg and Ernest spoke with each other, and Greg never saw his father alive again.[6]
Greg Hemingway retreated to Africa, where he drank alcohol and shot elephants.[5] He spent the next three years in Africa as an apprentice professional hunter but failed to obtain a license because of his drinking.[6] He joined and left the U.S. Army in the 1950s, suffered from mental illness, was institutionalized for a time, and received several dozen treatments with electroconvulsive therapy.[5] Of another period shooting elephants he wrote: "I went back to Africa to do more killing. Somehow it was therapeutic."[6] It wasn't until nearly a decade later, in 1960, that he felt strong enough to resume his medical studies and respond to his father's charges. He wrote his father a bitter letter, detailing the medical facts of his mother's death and blaming Ernest for the tragedy. The next year, Ernest Hemingway killed himself, and again Greg wrestled with guilt over the death of a parent.
He obtained a medical degree from the University of Miami Medical School[7][8] in 1964.[9]
Relationship with Ernest Hemingway [ edit ]
Club de Cazadores in Cuba. The photo is not dated but Gregory's apparent age and Hemingway's beard (worn mid-1942–1945) suggests early 1940s, probably 1943. Ernest and Gregory shooting live pigeons at thein Cuba. The photo is not dated but Gregory's apparent age and Hemingway's beard (worn mid-1942–1945) suggests early 1940s, probably 1943.
Father and son were estranged for many years, beginning when Gregory was 19.[2] As an attempt at reconciliation, Hemingway sent his father a telegram in October 1954 to congratulate him on being awarded the Nobel Prize and received $5,000 in return. They had intermittent contact thereafter.[6] He wrote a short account of his father's life and their strained relationship, Papa: A Personal Memoir that became a bestseller.[10] When it appeared in 1976, the preface by Norman Mailer said: "There is nothing slavish here....For once, you can read a book about Hemingway and not have to decide whether you like him or not."[6] The New York Times called it "a small miracle" and "artfully elliptical" in presenting "gloriously romantic adventures" with "a thin cutting edge of malice."[11] Hemingway wrote of his own ambitions in the shadow of his father's fame: "What I really wanted to be was a Hemingway hero."[7] Of his father he wrote: "The man I remembered was kind, gentle, elemental in his vastness, tormented beyond endurance, and although we always called him papa, it was out of love, not fear."[7] He quoted his father as telling him: "You make your own luck, Gig" and "You know what makes a good loser? Practice."[12] Time magazine criticized the author's "churlishness" and called his work "a bitter jumble of unsorted resentments and anguished love."[13] His daughter Lorian responded to Papa with a letter to Time that said, "I would also like to know what type of person the author is...I haven't seen him for eight years...I think it sad that I learn more about him by reading articles and gossip columns than from my own communication with him."[14]
According to his wife Valerie, Hemingway enjoyed his father's portrayal of him as Andrew in Islands in the Stream (1970) and later used the text as the epigraph to his memoir of his father.[3] Valerie included this text as the epigraph to her own tribute to "Gregory H. Hemingway" written two years after his death:[15]
The smallest boy was fair and was built like a pocket battle-ship. He was a Copy of Thomas Hudson, physically, reduced in scale and widened and shortened. His skin freckled when it tanned and he had a humorous face and was born being very old. He was a devil too, and deviled both his older brothers, and he had a dark side to him that nobody except Thomas Hudson could ever understand. Neither of them thought about this except that they recognized it in each other and knew it was bad and the man respected it and understood the boy's having it. They were very close to each other although Thomas Hudson had never been as much with this boy as with the others. This youngest boy, Andrew, was a precocious excellent athlete and he had been marvelous with horses since he had first ridden. The other boys were very proud of him but they did not want any nonsense from him, either. He was a little unbelievable and anyone could well have doubted his feats except that many people had seen him ride and watched him jump and seen his cold, professional modesty. He was a boy born to be quite wicked who was being very good and he carried his wickedness around with him transmuted into a sort of teasing gaiety. But he was a bad boy and the others knew it and he knew it. He was just being good while his badness grew inside him. — Islands in the Stream
Middle years [ edit ]
In the course of his first four marriages, Gregory Hemingway had eight children: Patrick, Edward, Sean, Brendan, Vanessa, Maria, John, and Lorian. One of his marriages, to Valerie Danby-Smith, Ernest Hemingway's secretary, lasted almost 20 years.[1][16] Gregory's fourth marriage, to Ida Mae Galliher, ended in divorce in 1995 after three years, though they continued to live together and remarried in 1997.[9]
In 1972, Maia Rodman, Hemingway's childhood tennis coach and a family friend who had fallen in love with him, dedicated her book The Life and Death of a Brave Bull to Gregory.[17]
He practiced medicine in the 1970s and 1980s, first in New York and then as a rural family doctor in Montana, first in Fort Benton and later as the medical officer for Garfield County, based in Jordan, Montana.[9] Interviewed there, he said: "When I smell the sagebrush or see the mountains, or a vast clean stream, I love those things. Some of my happiest memories of childhood were associated with the West."[7] In 1988, authorities in Montana declined to renew Hemingway's medical license because of his alcoholism.[18] Hemingway battled bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and drug abuse for many years.[19]
Hemingway and his brothers tried to protect their father's name and their inheritance by taking legal action to stop the popular local celebrations called "Hemingway Days" in Key West, Florida.[6] In 1999, they collaborated in creating a business venture, Hemingway Ltd., to market the family name as "an up-scale lifestyle accessory brand".[5] Their first venture created controversy by putting the Hemingway name on a line of shotguns.[citation needed]
Gender identity [ edit ]
For years, Hemingway claimed, he had experienced gender dysphoria.[20] He experimented with wearing women's clothes on a number of occasions.[21] Wife Valerie wrote:[9]
All his life Greg fought a losing battle against this crippling illness. He lacked critical early help because his parents were unable or unwilling to accept his condition nor could he come to terms with it himself for a long time, taking up the study of medicine in the hope that he would find a cure, or at least a solace. Failing that, he developed an alternate persona, a character into which he could retreat from the unbearable responsibilities of being, among other things, his father's son, and of never ever measuring up to what was expected of him, or to what he expected of himself.
Hemingway considered sex reassignment surgery as early as 1973.[22] He had the surgery in 1995 and began using the name Gloria on occasion.[23] Despite the surgery, Hemingway, presenting as a man, remarried Galliher in 1997 in Washington State.[24]
Hemingway's public persona remained male. As Gregory, he gave interviews about his father as late as 1999.[25] In July of that year he attended events marking the centenary of Ernest Hemingway's birth in Oak Park, Illinois.[26] He also spoke at the dedication of the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum in his mother's family home in Piggott, Arkansas, when it opened on July 4, 1999.[27]
Hemingway's transition from male to female was a long process left incomplete at his death. He had breast implant surgery on one breast and then had it reversed.[9] He was sometimes seen in women's attire;[9] yet, dressed as a man, he frequented a local tavern and presented as what a patron called "just one of the guys."[9] When he was arrested just days before his death, he first gave the police the name Greg Hemingway, then changed it to Gloria.[18]
Death [ edit ]
Hemingway died October 1, 2001 of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in Miami-Dade Women's Detention Center. That day, Hemingway was due in court to answer charges of indecent exposure and resisting arrest without violence.[18] Hemingway had been living in Florida for more than ten years.[7]
In most obituaries, he was called Gregory, but Time magazine published a brief notice of the death of "Gloria Hemingway, 69, transsexual youngest son turned daughter of novelist Ernest Hemingway" and noted the novelist once said Gregory had "the biggest dark side in the family except me."[28] The gravestone reads: "Dr. Gregory Hancock Hemingway 1931–2001". He is buried next to his father and half-brother Jack in the Ketchum, Idaho cemetery.
Hemingway left two wills. One will left most of the $7 million estate to Galliher. The other left most of it to Hemingway's children.[24][29] The children challenged the will that named Galliher as heir, claiming that Galliher was not legally Hemingway's widow since Hemingway's home state of Florida did not recognize same-sex marriages. The parties eventually reached an undisclosed settlement.[19]
Children [ edit ]
Daughter Lorian Hemingway wrote about her father in the 1999 book Walk on Water: A Memoir.[30] Son Edward, an artist, has written and illustrated the children's books Bump in the Night, and "Bad Apple".[31] Son John wrote the critically acclaimed memoir Strange Tribe: A Family Memoir.[32] Son Patrick is a professional photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Son Seán is the curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.The City of Waukesha says it doesn't have an adequate drinking water supply because of radium contamination in its groundwater. Here, Fox River flows through the Wisconsin city's downtown area.
Updated: 1:30 p.m. | Posted: 12:43 p.m.
Representatives from eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces gave their recommendation Wednesday to a controversial application from Waukesha, Wis., to pump water from Lake Michigan, 15 miles to the east, as a replacement water supply for its radium-contaminated wells.
The vote was 9-0, with Minnesota abstaining. Julie Ekman with the Minnesota Department of Resources told the group that Gov. Mark Dayton and DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr "are still consulting with stakeholders on changes made" to Waukesha's application. "This should not be considered a negative reflection" on it, she added.
The recommendation now goes to the governors of the eight Great Lakes states, who will vote on the proposal on June 21. A unanimous vote is required to approve Waukesha's application.
The city agreed to scale back its plans after receiving initial feedback from the states in March. Waukesha originally proposed pumping about 10 million gallons a day from Lake Michigan, and wanted to use it to expand its service area, something it said it was required to do by Wisconsin state law.
But other states balked at those provisions, and Waukesha agreed to reduce its daily take to about 8 million gallons and not expand its service distribution area. It also agreed to strict water conservation goals.
Groups opposing Waukesha's initial application are encouraged by those changes, said Marc Smith with the Great Lakes office of the National Wildlife Federation. "But we are disappointed that the Regional Body did not completely reject Waukesha's flawed diversion proposal," he said.
Still, Smith added that his and other groups will examine the new conditions placed on the application to "determine if they uphold the letter and spirit of the Great Lakes Compact."
The compact was passed in 2008 to protect the lakes from attempted water grabs. The compact only allows cities located within the Great Lakes Basin to withdraw water from the lakes. But it allowed for two exemptions, for towns that sit right on the edge of the watershed, or for cities located in a county that straddles that basin dividing line.
The latter exemption would apply to Waukesha, and this application is the first test-case of that exemption in the Great Lakes compact. For that reason, this application has generated intense scrutiny from some groups who fear granting Waukesha an exemption could open the floodgates to other thirsty communities requesting a straw into the Great lakes bountiful waters.
That's why it's important to get this application right, according to the National Wildlife Federation's Smith. "We want the compact to work," he said. "This is really important, because this is the first test."In an offseason of change for the New York Giants where the team has undergone an unprecedented overhaul of both the roster and the offensive coaching staff, the Giants will set another precedent during the 2014 NFL Draft. The NFL has announced that for the first time in their history the Giants will allow a 'War Room' camera from NFL Network to follow the proceedings.
The Giants will be one of 16 NFL teams to allow such 'War Room' cameras. Those will be used by NFL Network to record behind-the-scenes footage as team executives make decisions about which players to select.
The other teams allowing 'War Room' cameras are:
Houston Texans, St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks.
As an aside, the Giants remain one of the teams who could be forced by the league to be featured on HBO's 'Hard Knocks.'The kids are alright. We’ve seen time and time again examples of shifting perceptions on gay and gender issues in young people. That’s not to say they’re golden — suicide, depression and bullying remain huge hurdles. But it feels like the needle is generally moving in the right direction.
We wish we could say the same about their would-be stewards through adolescence. It seems unimaginable that a teacher would go out of his or her way to put down, demean and inflict harm upon their students.
But a teacher at Parkersburg South High School in West Virginia has done just that. Meet David Foggin, our least favorite person of the day.
David finds the idea of a Gay/Straight alliance on campus just preposterous, and posted this message on facebook along with a photo of an alliance flier:
So just to break it down, David, you see gay/straight as polar opposites analogous to drunk/teetotaler and drugged/sober, and you find the notion of the club as ridiculous as a group that would promote street racing or deer poaching.
The post was widely shared among students and faculty, and the school district says it’s “looking into it.”
David, if this post makes it to your inbox, we know this might be a little bit of a stretch for you to grasp, but gay and questioning youth have enough problems to deal with without feeling bullied by their teachers. Keep your opinions to yourself next time, though we’re hoping this ends in you being nowhere around kids ever again.
Oh and lay off the sarcasm, it’s not really working for you.Josh Thomson re-emerged in the UFC in a big way with a TKO win over Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox 7. It was the first time Diaz had been stopped by strikes in his career, and it rocketed Thomson into the top 10 in the UFC official rankings. A few weeks after the fight, Diaz was a guest on BJPenn.com radio and went off on Thomson, accusing him of running and making "woman noises" throughout their fight. He also demanded a rematch. Thomson responded in his own interview on BJPenn.com radio, and he hurled quite an accusation at Nate - that he never actually made weight for the bout:
"I think the biggest thing is this; he is interested in a rematch with me, one thing he needs to remember before the fight even happened, he was complaining after weigh in's about how he was moving back up to 170, so he couldn't even make weight when we fought the first time. Nate knows this."
"I am going to say this directly to him. Nate, you didn't make the weight, so how are you going to make the weight when we fight again? That's the thing that's discerning, we all let it slide because it was a huge fight, but you didn't make the weight and you still lost. So unless you plan on fighting me a 170 then I'm not really interested. Like I said, I'm looking forward to the title shot, I'm looking forward to getting in there for the title. If I have to go through him again to do it, then so be it. Maybe you should start watching what you eat, maybe you should start doing that to take care of yourself. You couldn't make the weight the first time and that was something I was going to keep to myself, but you want to start talking trash? Saying all these things, knowing that I beat you fair and square, I guess next time we'll take 20% of your purse if you don't make weight."
"It's an issue I could have brought up and made a big deal about but I didn't do it because that's not the kind of person I am. I could have made a big fuss and taken it, rubbed some salt in the wound and taken 20% percent of your purse after you lost, but I didn't That's the kind of person I am, I moved on and I suggest you do the same thing."Transformers Prime has been, all along, basically a hodgepodge of different bits of continuity from previous Transformers cartoons, movies and comics--basically a rolling "greatest hits tour," incorporating elements of the histories of generations of the popular robot protagonists without letting itself get bogged down by all that continuity. It was essentially their way of rebooting the long-running cartoons so that they jived better with Michael Bay's blockbuster movie franchise.
And as a result, you get things coming in from those movies. The character designs certainly owe something to the Bayformers, and for the duration of the series--until the finale, anyway--Bumblebee couldn't talk.
When he did, it was Will Friedle whose voice came out, and so it's no surprise, given the popularity of the character and the extent to which he's a key part of the Autobots, that Friedle has a major role to play in today's Predacons Rising direct-to-video feature. Friedle, who has also starred on Boy Meets World and Batman Beyond, joined ComicBook.com to talk about Beast Hunters, what it's like to work with actors whose work he loved as a kid and whether he'd like to continue on as Bumblebee in whatever the next iteration of Transformers cartoons is.
ComicBook.com: What was it like coming on late and joining the show's ensemble as it was a moving bus? Will Friedle: It was incredible. It was one of those things where I joined in the last episode of the entire series and then did the movie afterwards. But I was a fan of not only the show but of the ensemble cast of actors for a long time. So being able to join playing anybody would have been amazing but getting to go and play Bumblebee was pretty incredible.
Being a fan of the show and a fan of the actors, I didn't want to go in and screw it up. The last thing you want to do is go in and be the weak link on this fantastic show. Hopefully I did the character justice, and the movie--which comes out Tuesday on Blu-ray--is amazing. Just absolutely gorgeous if you're an animation fan at all. It's all state-of-the-art and it's just beautiful from start to finish. I started watching the original Transformers when I was a kid. It came out in '84 and I was eight years old so I was watching every day, running home from school. So to be able to be involved was pretty incredible. ComicBook.com: And joining any show late in the run, you'll have that concern you were talking about, being the weak link, but you get guys here who have been playing the parts for thirty years and who have seen Bumblebees come and go.
Friedle: Oh, yeah, of course. When you've got Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, you've got to those guys that started back in the day, you certainly don't want to make a fool of yourself when you walk into the room. And you're right--they have seen the Bumblebees come and go so you want to go in there and make the best impression that you can, not just from an acting standpoint and a professional standpoint but from the standpoint of a fan, where you have been listening to them your whole life. It was difficult to come in starting at the last episode but it was written so well that--that's when Bumblebee had to speak. You had to wait 'til the very end because it had to be a big deal and a big reveal. They absolutely did it right; I just hope I didn't screw it up.At the TV awards ceremony held in central London, other winners included "Broadchurch" in the best drama series category and Idris Elba as best male actor for his role in "Luther."
LONDON – HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones reigned supreme at the Royal Television Society Awards Tuesday evening in central London, winning this year's international program award.
The HBO show triumphed over French sci-fi thriller The Returned and Storyville -- Pussy Riot in the category.
PHOTOS: 'Game of Thrones' Stars Invade New York for Season 4 Premiere
Held annually, the RTS program awards aim to recognize the work of exceptional actors, presenters, writers and production teams, as well as celebrating the programs themselves.
In the best drama series category, ITV-commissioned Broadchurch, starring David Tennant and Olivia Colman, won, while Colman herself picked up the RTS female actor nod for her turn in the show and Run.
Colman saw off competition from fellow Broadchurch castmember Jodie Whittaker and Sharon Rooney (My Mad Fat Teenage Diary).
The best male actor was picked up by Idris Elba for his turn in Luther, beating Lennie James for his outing in London drug drama Run and Stephen Dillane for his outing in French-British co-production The Tunnel.
The group is the oldest TV society in the world and is chaired by David Liddiment.
This year's shindig was hosted by comedian and actor Tim Vine at a ceremony in central London.
The complete winners list is below.
Actor (Female)
Olivia Colman -- Broadchurch / Run Kudos for ITV / Acme Films for Channel 4
Actor (Male)
Idris Elba -- Luther BBC Drama Production London for BBC One
Arts
Imagine … Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures? BBC Arts for BBC One
Children's Fiction
Dumping Ground -- CBBC
Children's Program
Hard Times -- A Newsround Special CBBC
Comedy Performance
Brendan O'Carroll -- Mrs Brown's Boys BBC Scotland/BBC Comedy Production
Daytime
Four Rooms Boundless for Channel 4
Documentary Series
Educating Yorkshire -- Twofour Broadcast for Channel 4
Drama Serial
Broadchurch -- Kudos for ITV
Drama Series
Peaky Blinders -- Caryn Mandabach Productions, Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Two
Entertainment
A League Of Their Own -- CPL Productions for Sky 1
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway -- ITV Sudios and Mitre Television for ITV
The Last Leg -- An Open Mike Production for Channel 4
Entertainment Performance
Alan Carr -- Alan Carr: Chatty Man -- An Open Mike Production for Channel 4
History
Richard III: King In The Car Park -- Darlow Smithson for Channel 4
International
Game Of Thrones -- HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions broadcast on Sky Atlantic
Live Event
The Ashes -- 2013 Sky Sports
Popular, Factual and Features
Gogglebox -- A Studio Lambert Production for Channel 4
Presenter
Stephen Fry -- Stephen Fry -- Out There Maverick Television and Sprout Pictures for BBC Two
Science and Natural History
Africa -- BBC NHU, Discovery Channel, CCTV9, France Television for BBC One
Scripted Comedy
PLEBS -- Rise Films for ITV2
Single Documentary
The Murder Trial -- Windfall Films West for Channel 4
Single Drama
The Challenger -- BBC Films, Erste Weltweit Medien, Moonlighting Films, The Open University, Pictureshow Productions (US Unit) and Science Channel for BBC Two
Soap and Continuing Drama
Coronation Street -- ITV Studios for ITV
Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit
Gary Neville -- Sky Sports Sky Sports
Sports Program
World Athletics -- Mo Farah's Double Gold Win BBC Sport for BBC One
Writer -- Comedy
James Corden and Mathew Baynton -- The Wrong Mans BBC Comedy Production London/Hulu co-production for BBC Two
Writer -- Drama
Marlon Smith and Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan -- Run Acme Films for Channel 4Ben Tate is back on the street.
The Vikings have released the veteran running back less than a month after claiming him off waivers from the Cleveland Browns, per the league's transaction wire.
Tate was cut free after amassing just 38 yards off 13 attempts over three appearances for Minnesota. His 2.9 yards per carry were even lower than the paltry 3.1 yards per tote he accounted for in eight games with the Browns, who surprised many by releasing the former Texans runner after Week 11.
It's not a good sign that Tate has been shipped out of town by two teams in less than a month. Whispers of a bad attitude in Cleveland don't help, but even more concerning is the apparent on-field decline for a runner still just 26 years old.
Tate hasn't been healthy this season, which has contributed to his ugly play. If the playoff-bound Colts and Cardinals don't come calling, we expect another team to take a long look this offseason in order to find out if Tate is worth keeping around for 2015.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps every Week 16 game and breaks down the playoff picture. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.With Jon Favreau set to direct Disney's highly-anticipated live-action adaptation of The Lion King, the focus has now turned to casting. Jon Favreau himself has taken to social media to announced that Donald Glover has been cast as Simba, with James Earl Jones portraying his iconic father. It remains to be seen if the filmmaker will continue to make more casting announcements through social media, but it certainly seems possible. The studio hasn't announced when production will begin at this point yet.
Jon Favreau made these casting announcements on Twitter this afternoon, revealing who will play two of the most important roles. James Earl Jones will essentially be reprising his role from the original animated classic, where he also provided the voice for Mufasa. In the original animated movie, the young Simba was voiced by Home Improvement star Johnathan Taylor Thomas, while the adult Simba was voiced by Matthew Broderick. It remains to be seen if Jon Favreau is considering other voice cast members from the original Lion King to star in this live-action project.
The last update we got on this reboot was that director Jon Favreau plans on using virtual reality technology for this film. He revealed that they used some VR technology to create virtual environments, and then go on location scouting expeditions within these virtual locations, and that he could move assets around these virtual locations in real time with VR technology. The filmmaker also added in that interview that he plans on using the same "photoreal" technology that he used to bring the animals to life in his hit adaptation of The Jungle Book with the animals in this new Lion King project.
Related: The Lion King Remake Ignites Big Debate: Is It Animation or Live-Action?
Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) came aboard in October to write the screenplay for The Lion King. The original film follows the adventures of a young lion cub named Simba, who just can't wait to be king. The sudden death of his father, Mufasa, and the treacherous actions of his Uncle Scar lead Simba into exile and ultimately on a hero's journey of self discovery. Adopting the "hakuna matata" philosophy of his comical jungle guardians, a warthog named Pumbaa and a meerkat named Timon, Simba grows to maturity, but eventually comes to terms with his destiny and returns home to Pride Rock to help put things right. It isn't clear how much the story will change in this new version.
Donald Glover recently signed on to play a young Lando Calrissian in Disney's highly-anticipated Star Wars spin-off Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, and he recently created and starred in the critically acclaimed FX comedy series Atlanta. He also has an unspecified role in this summer's Spider-Man: Homecoming, which hits theaters July 7. James Earl Jones recently reprised his Mufasa role in the animated TV movie The Lion Guard, and he returned to lend his iconic voice to the villainous Darth Vader in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Take a look at Jon Favreau's tweets below announcing the first two cast members for The Lion King.A “micro” service should only demand a “micro” amount of time. Yet it seems like few actually do: too often there are buggy implementations, inconsistent behavior, poor failure handling, and the like. These make many a microservice a nightmare to deal with.
Rust’s powerful type-checker and borrow-checker eliminates a whole class of errors. The thoughtful design of its standard library and community packages also help prevent yet more mistakes.
A few months ago we at Everlane need a microservice to parse and aggregate metrics from log files. Sort of like StatsD but with more front-ends besides just the StatsD protocol over TCP and UDP. I considered extending StatsD to add an HTTP log drain front-end. But instead went with Rust for its greater performance and out-of-the-box safety guarantees.
The design
The system we arrived at, powered by metrics_distributor, has a simple aggregate-and-forward pattern.
It uses an HTTP log drain front-end to read log files and extract formatted metrics from those. Metrics are then rolled up over a certain window (default 10 seconds). At the end of every window it forwards the aggregated metrics to a storage service, in our case Datadog.
Why Rust
Rust enabled us to achieve our two primary goals for this system: safety and performance. It’s not the most developer-friendly language, but we were still able to be productive. Unfamiliar engineers were able to read the code and understand its operation.
Safety: Rust has a smart compiler. Its standard library (and community packages) encourage measured, thoughtful design. The result is a safe, stable application with linear, predictable behavior. Performance: We didn’t want to have to worry about the performance of this system. Since LLVM provides the back-end for the Rust compiler, we get native, highly-optimized performance. Because of this, we were able to deploy this onto minimal hardware and still have a great deal of headroom.
Rust affords us forgettability
This service has been in production for 4 months now. It handles on average 40 requests per second with a 10ms response time. Its memory usage rarely goes above 100MB.
Over this lifetime it’s had two bugs; both of my own doing. The first was I forgot to have good error handling of responses from Datadog. (Be diligent even in the lead up to shipping!) The second was more subtle in that we forwarded requests to Datadog on the aggregation thread. The fix was simple: put those forwarding requests onto a separate thread.
2 defects in 4 months for a high-volume—for us at least—service is pretty good in my book. That dependability and performance means we could ship this service and forget about it. And the less you have to worry about critical infrastructure (micro-)services, the better.Last week’s episode of Sleepy Hollow began with Abbie Mills extolling the virtues of baseball for Ichabod Crane. Of course, Sleepy Hollow being Sleepy Hollow, where subtext is as conspicuous as a catcher flashing signs, Abbie wasn’t only talking about the American Pastime. She was talking about America, too. Or America as it should be. “For me, baseball is about three things,” she told the 18th-century Rip Van Winkle, recently awakened from a 232-year-long dirt nap. “First, tradition. Rules never change. You can always count on the grass to be green, the lines to be white. No matter how crazy the world gets, it makes you feel safe, like everything is going to be okay. Second, it’s about teamwork. Players have to have faith in each other and watch each other’s backs. Because without that the team won’t work. But what I love is that this sport does not discriminate. You can be a short long reliever or long shortstop, black, white, Hispanic — now that is the American dream.”
Crane’s eyes flashed with enlightenment. Abbie was speaking his language: Logical if fancifully articulated idealism. Like Thomas Paine applying Common Sense to sports. “So baseball represents the spirit of democracy?”
“It is what you guys were fighting for, right?” By “it,” Abbie meant “freedom.” Specifically the freedom the criticize authority, be they leaders of state or arbiters of sporting matches. And so Ichabod exercised the right he and his fellow old-school revolutionaries bled for by rising up and chewing out the umpire. “You! Basket face! I thought only horses slept standing up!”
All this, from a show that re-imagines Washington Irving’s classic 1820 short story as a cheeky-creepy buddy cop apocalypse pop, in which The Headless Horseman is not a twisted joke gone awry but Death, the Pale Rider of Revelations. Yet Sleepy Hollow, now entering the second half of its 13-episode |
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